Model manufacturers from the old days

Bob, I'm not of seniorizenship at the age of 24, BUT I have ran into a few of the ole timer kits, Central Valley, and Varney. However I grew really fond of the Central Valley kits. Being wood craftsman kits these would stomp alot of the todays detail in the ground litterally. And not to mention the only thing you have to buy for these kits is some pain an good contact cement! No extra details needed as its all packed in the box when you buy them! Old kits I know... I've got about 50 or so of these kits an really enjoy them for the most part. I like the "Do-It-Yourself" thing with these kits. Not to mention the fact the trucks are equalized an sprung.

Now, I know these are WOODEN kits but. They are endless in what can be done with them with no trouble of assemly and or the likes their of. But I tell ya, these kits are superb compared to even the highest quallity an detail offered today... Even Brass! Not many cars of today you can take an peel a little wood off the side an make it look the the boards rotted out an weather it an looks real.... Like todays plastic stuff, you'd have alotta sanding to do an all to then make it smooth to paint it. Unlike the Central Valley kits, no sanding required just take a No.11 exacto blade take a sliver off the bass wood, going from the bottom an then gran it an give a slight "yank" and you just made "instant rott" effect! Not to mention all within like 5 minutes for a whole car! I tell ya, it'll take you longer to paint an decal one of these then it will to assemble it to have it ready for paint! I wish their were still companies like "Central Valley" still around

 

My favorite from back in the 1950's was Ambroid. They made a good tube cement and a series of wood craftsman kits. I buillt a wooden combine in HO with an added cupola for use on mixed train consists.

 

I guess in cast metal locomotives, my favorites would have been Mantua and Varney. Bowser, Penn Line and MDC were way more difficult, perhaps because of my teenage impatience at the time.Worst job....riveting up a set of CV valve gear, and doing it poorly.

Early diesels ? The Athearn Hi-F drive was an amazing innovation, not good, but unique!
The most powerful early diesel I remember was the Varney F-3, good gear drive, and heavy. Mantua wasn't as good as I remember. Also, and to be fair, I don't ever remember seeing a Penn Line F unit or Lindsay SW unit on anyone's layout, only in hobby shops.

Cars ? Red Ball, Ulrich and Silver Streak each had their own special attributes. Ambroid has been mentioned, excellent. I never tried a LaBelle woodworking kit when they came out, they got rave reviews.

Most difficult to get looking good, and to get weight added down low ?? ...All-wood Northeastern freight cars, Walthers passenger cars.
There was an early Japanese HO line of kits in the late 50's in Canada, known as "Pacific Pike "....pretty interesting to build...passenger cars were wood & cast metal, and the freight cars were wood and tinplate sheet metal.
Thanks to Friscobob for kicking off a FogeyForum topic.
regards / Mike

 

I started in HO in 1954 and the first kit I built was a Varney West India Fruit box car. I still have it and there weren't any other WIF cars made until just recently. The second kit I attempted was an Athearn UTLX tank car. Both of these cars were metal but the Athearn was much more difficult to put together. Shortly after that plastic kits started coming on the market. The first plastic kit that I built was a Varney.

My first engine was an Athearn diesel. You bought the drive unit (geared) as a kit that you purchased seperate from the body. The first F-7 body that I bought was in a Globe box and the second was marked Athearn.

To the list of wood kits available I wood add Mainline Models. I still have several that I haven't assembled. Anyone know where I can get the matching 410M paint so I can finish them?

The Amroid kits mentioned were part of the 1/5000 series but Ambroid also had a regular production line on the market.

The first "detailed" plastic kit that I bought was a flat kit from Kurtz-Kraft. For the day they were very well detailed with individually applied grabs and ladders.

Does anyone remember the HObbgyline plastic dummy loco kits? They had a Berkshire, an 0-4-0 with tender, and an RS switcher, as well as a line of freight cars.

It was really great when Revell came out with their line of detailed buildings, some of which are still on the market in the Con-Cor line. I sure wish that they would re-issue the auto carrier that was in that line. The ones that show up on e-bay are way to expensive for my use. I want at least a dozen of them.

 

Revell made some good deisels at the time (New Haven). They were some of the early geared units. Remember the rubber band drives? Varney car kits were affordable and provided good detail.