Does anyone have experience with these autos? They are inexpensive with reasonable shipping. They look good in the photo. Thanks for any comments.
I bought a bunch (50?) a few years ago. They are decent quality, generic (never figured out a prototype) cars. They are closer to 1:150 (kato) scale, but look OK with other vehicles. They are definitely better than what the price would lead you to believe. They work great to fill up parking lots, but are too modern for my layout.......I just use them on my NTRAK modules. Mine had a couple of other styles of cars. I also have some lighted ones that are built on the same basic car.
Thanks for your post, Dave. It’s very helpful. My upcoming layout will be contemporary (2000 to the present) so these are the right era for me. I just ordered a pack of 100 cars for a total price of $12.29, tax and shipping included. They are supposed to arrive between October 14th and the 23rd. I’ll post photos when they arrive.
I've been buying these for years. Some of them (if not most) are 1:150 scale instead of 1:160 scale but I find them interchangeable. I have hundreds of them. I go over each one, removing excess flash and then painting the headlights and taillights and sometimes the wheels. I thing these are absolutely great for the price.
Looks like a good price. Mine came from Amazon but a quick check shows they are now slightly more expensive there. I have a bunch of those. They blend in just fine. I even used a bunch to load autoracks with.
They work fine as filler in city scenes and parking areas. There are even a few that work in foreground scenes.
Just ordered a 40 pack off Amazon. Should be here by Thursday. They will be 'filler' cars on the roads. My best looking Kato cars and possible a few of these will be in areas that may be looked at more closely!
Thanks for the input, guys. It is very helpful. Eric, cars look great on your layout. It’s hard to believe these vehicles are so cheap.
I didn’t think of looking for them on Amazon, duh. Please post a picture when they arrive. I’m wondering if these vehicles, sold by different vendors, are all made by one factory in China?
I wouldn't doubt it. But wait, there's more... Some years ago there was an article, in The Atlantic I think, about how factories in China made batteries for cell phones for brand names, and then marketed any extra production of the exact same batteries under off brands for one-quarter the price of the brand names. So I bought one as a trial. I figured, if it costs 25 percent of the name brand price, as long as it lasts more than 25 percent as long as the brand name, I'm ahead. It lasted as long as the brand name battery it replaced. I would not be surprised to see this become more common in model railroading at some point, probably in HO Scale first. In fact, there is an eBay seller that is offering HO Scale cylindrical covered hoppers that look quite a bit like Bachmann's. They may be just different enough to sidestep any agreements that may be in place about "exclusivity." I would share the link to illustrate, but I didn't keep it. I also wouldn't be surprised to see model trains on Temu, you know, where you can shop like a billionaire... but I have never been to their site and don't have any interest in checking.
I filled up several RC autoracks with these cars (at least I think they're the same cars), where any scale discrepancy is hardly noticeable.
These are nice little filler cars. The lighted versions are pretty great, too. Bright lights and no light bleed through the bodywork. My main complaint is that there's no equivalent for earlier-era cars! I've got some old school open autoracks I'd love to put decent 70s cars into.
Woodland Scenics makes 1950s era lighted vehicles and Kato makes 1980s Toyotas but I don't think there are many vehicles from the 70s available.
And the used-to-be-inexpensive-but-now-sellers-think-they're-a-gold-mine Bachmann automobile packs were first released in the late 1960s. Even though they are still pretty easy to find, they're a bit too early for the 1970s. Also too early, and too crude by today's standards (and possibly even the standards of when they were released!) are the original fillers of Atlas First Generation auto racks, presented here as a pack...
Those goofy little Atlas cars are exactly the sort I've been hoping to replace. The body molding is actually pretty decent, but the colors, underbodies, and lack of windows- woof! The eBay bulk cars are leaps and bounds better.
Also over on that Internet Auction (and "Buy It Now") Community... I just saw a five pack of automobiles marketed under the "Rock Island Hobby" or "RIH" brand. It appears that these may be repackaging of the larger quantities of the Chinese cars into smaller ones, but I'm not 100 percent sure of this. A search on "RIH N Scale" should bring them up. Avoiding the violation of rules about sellers in place here on TB.
The last two train shows I have been too, I saw that exact thing happening. Both sellers had 5 packs of these cars for $10. That's incredible mark up. I hate it for anyone who bought them that way. Like I noted before, these look good and made much better auto rack loads than those old Atlas/Bachman cars.
^^ That's a result! I reckon if I bought a handful and picked out some details I could fill a Depot carpark... I've been reduced to paying the high priced help for the foreground vehicles....
