Check willmodels, he has an (something)bay store. The selection of late model cars and heavy trucks is decent, and apparently soon to get better....
I bought a few a month or so ago just to sample the quality and came away very impressed. I placed my second order last weekend and it should be here soon. The shipping to southern Ontario is pretty fair, under 6 dollars, and Jim has been outstanding to deal with. When I get a few painted up I'll post some pics.
What era are you looking for? RTR Vehicles: Classic Metal Works (CMW) has a large assortment focusing on the 1930-1960's. They produce cars, trucks and busses. Atlas produces a variety of Ford passenger cars and trucks from the 1970's to the late 1990's. Wiking produces a large variety of European vehicles that date from the 1960's Beetles to modern VW Passats. Many of these models were imported to the US. Herpa/Promotex produces a smaller line of modern vehicles. They have also purchased ROCO's minitank line which produces an M109 and an M113. Busch is yet another German company that makes modern Euro vehicles as well as a few 50's era GM products. Rietze is the forth of the German model car makers in n scale. They produce a small line of VW and Audis from the 1990's as well as a few European buses. Fleischmann no longer produces n scale vehicles as far as I can tell, but they did have a large line of VW, BMW Mercedes and Audi vehciles from the 1980's Kato produces a line of modern passenger vehicles that are intended for the Japenese market, but many of these vehicles were either imported to the US, or resemble Toyota models produced in the US. Kato also has a growing line of tractors intended for their North American intermodal collection. Tomytec/Tomix/Greenmax These companies share a lot of parts. Tomytec produces some of the highest quality vehicles on the planet. Although they are produced in 1/150 (Japanese N scale) and intended for the Japanese market, many of these vehicles fit right into a North American scene. The vehicles fill a huge hole in modern N scale: asian import sedans, mid-sized cab-over trucks and construction equipment. Fujimoto/Maruka/F-Toys Confect each produce a line of construction vehicles although they are not as well detailed as the Tomytec versions. Marlks Metalmodelclassics/MZZ/Lemke are all small production companies that offer high quality cast metal and plstic models RTR. Metal Kits: REM produces a line of mine and MofW vehicles in pewter. I was not very happy with their quality. CinC produces a very nice line of passenger cars and trucks in pewter. The line may be small compaired to GHQ but the quality is great! GHQ is a full line producer of pewter vehicle kits in N scale. They cover everything from the 1930's to today from passenger cars to construction and farming machines to intermodal loaders. Very nice stuff! Showcase Miniatures may no longer be producing their line of pewter trucks and cars. They has some nice trucks that are not available anywhere else. Showcase vehicles were designed and produces by CinC, but the model lines are not otherwise related. Resin Kits: Willmodels has the highest quality resin vehicle line without a doubt. The quality easilly matches GHQ pewter vehicles. Road Apples/Lineside Models has a very large list of resin vehicles, but the quality can vary wildly. Car-N-Scale is the vehicle division of Fine-N-Scale. These kits focus on the 1950's. Ultimate N Scale has a line buses and trailers from the 1930's till the 1950's.
Daniel has given a great summary of the vehicle models that are and have been available in N scale. However, actually finding the models to purchase can be a problem. The online hobby shops usually sell out quickly, and many of the brick and mortar hobby shops don't carry them. If you care to join the N Scale Vehicle Association's Yahoo Group, you can access the convention handout found at this link. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NScaleVehicleAssociation/files/N Scale Vehicle Information/ The handout concentrates on autos, SUVs, light trucks and vans in injection molded plastic, die-cast metal and pewter. There are way too many producers of resin vehicles out there for me to try to maintain a list of what has been produced. Carter
