Show us your recent HO purchases

Colonel Mar 29, 2013

  1. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    Does a basement count? It will be full of HO Scale in the coming years. We bought it in June and I already have a track plan for it (after plenty of finish work this fall)
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  2. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    Last week, I posted a photo of a Lake Erie, Franklin and Clarion covered hopper in the weekend proto fun thread, and lo and behold, look what showed up on ebay.
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    It's an old Athearn/Bev-Bel kit. I couldn't resist. Only question now is whether to grime it up and patch it out or build it as is and lightly weathered for use in earlier period op sessions. It's a distinctive and attractive car, so I'm kind of leaning toward the latter idea.
     
  3. WM183

    WM183 TrainBoard Member

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    That is a pretty hopper! I'd weather it quite lightly.
     
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  4. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    I bought a Frisco U30B XR low nose road number 846 from a gentleman on frisco.org. It's the only HO Frisco locomotive in my collection, all of the other HO locomotives are Santa Fe. Started with HO scale in 1967 and went to N scale in 1984. Have about 250 N scale items and about 30 HO. In 1998 started collecting Frisco and have about 135 items. GE only manufactured two U30B XR locomotives, one for Frisco and the other went to L&N.

    Joe

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  5. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Joe, We need to see if we can fit a decoder in that beast Bubba!
     
  6. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    Dale, I will have to buy some track, still have several turnouts that I bought back in the 70's. Believe that's when nickel silver track first came out. Don't have a HO scale layout but it wouldn't be hard to do. I have a track plan for a time saver layout that I had when we lived in Owasso. Will have to print out and post.

    Joe
     
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  7. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Joe,

    I told you I would hook you up with a DCC system for it.
     
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  8. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    Dale, let me install some feeder wires and I will get back with you on the DCC equipment. It should be sometime later in the week. May I can come to your house on Saturday or Sunday to pick it up? When would be a good time for you?

    Joe
     
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  9. James Fitch

    James Fitch TrainBoard Member

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    It counts!

    Pat, how is it going? Had a chance to start the basement finishing?

    I did the same thing Nov 2017. Basement at purchase was unfinished but framed.

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    I designed a track plan for my space the following year:

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    However, other house projects (esp. kitchen and master bath) were designated first in-line by my better half. Basement finishing didn't begin until last December (thats how we spent Christmas day to the dismay of my sister). Wife and I are doing most of the work ourselves.

    As of early June this year walls sheetrocked, mudded, sanded and painted, and drop ceiling grid installed (presently working on the basement bathroom - photo taken from the opposite end vs. the original photo:

    [​IMG]
     
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  10. dalebaker

    dalebaker TrainBoard Member

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    Joe,

    I have to deliver some cars to Coweta on Saturday. Why don’t I call you and we could meet up somewhere and I give the stuff to you? If you do that switching puzzle, the system will work great.
     
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  11. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett TrainBoard Member

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    Dale, Saturday sounds great!!! Would you want to come to our apartment and see what I've done on my layout? I will send you the address in a PM if it's okay for you to come by.

    Joe
     
  12. GP30

    GP30 TrainBoard Member

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    No I haven't started yet. We're renovation the kitchen and repainting the whole main floor of the house and hopefully moving the rest of our stuff over the next two weeks. There is a separate 39'x16' area in the basement that will be a recreation/play room for the kids, that is priority #1 this fall to finish. Layout area comes after that, hoping to get started by December!
     
  13. LegomanBill

    LegomanBill TrainBoard Member

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    Haven't purchased a HO car in several years, so on a whim, I bought an Atlas HO Trainman car kit (Yeah, I decided to buy a kit car of all things (mostly due to cost)). Here it is, a Monon AAR 40ft Boxcar.
    [​IMG]
     
  14. James Fitch

    James Fitch TrainBoard Member

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    That kit built up into a nice looking box car!
     
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  15. James Fitch

    James Fitch TrainBoard Member

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    I was where you are now in early 2018. House was built in 2006 but former owners neglected it and the kitchen, especially, kept it on the market for a lot longer. The original appliances were on their last legs, the laminate counters were peeling, the faucet squirted water out the side, the disposal didn't work and the cabinets were dirty gungy and dated. But needing to keep costs down, we removed the cabinet doors and sanded them and stained them - it was a LOT of work to do it right and tricky (pre-stain, stain and coat with poly). We found a company which installed granite counters for about half of what all the others were quoting ($1370 including plumbing new sink)

    Kitchen at purchase - laundry room to the right and no washer dryer either:

    [​IMG]

    Staining doors:

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    Finished kitchen - all new applicance bought in Thanks Giving sale:

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    New faucet, sink, disposol and subway tile back splash.



    The entire renovation cost about $2700 apart from the applicances, which cost $3200 (6 items Frig, Microwave, Dishwasher, Oven/stove and new Washer and Dryer)

    Then wife noticed soft spots in the master bath floor on either side of the shower door so we gutted it down to the studs and had a local carpenter replace the floor and build a new tub frame. The shower stall was too small so we had a bigger walk-in shower stall and replaced the triangle shaped jacuzzi tub with a 2 - person side-by-side jetted tub. My wife found someone selling one that cost $2500 new but never installed it and they sold it to us for $600 still in the box. We roped the box to the luggage rack on our RAV4 and drove it from Gettysburg PA down to northern Virginia!

    Here is the bathroom gutted - you can see the water damage rotted out the sub floor in two places but thank fully was limited to that.

    [​IMG]
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    I don't have a finished photo but it was finished last January. Between the kitchen, master bath and replacing the front door (water damaged threshold), basement finishing didn't begin in earnest until Christmas day when we started drywalling.

    The carpenter guy did a decent job on the subway tiles ($700 labor) so we thought we would have him do the bathroom. The walls and around the tub came out pretty good but the shower floor (we had him install a styrofoam preformed base) came out awful. He was young and not so smart and he laid the mosaic tile on the foam he mashed down with his feet and after finished, water would pond in low spots rather than all go down the drain.

    Rather than have a big blowout with this guy, we took matters into our own hands. I put mortar down over his shower floor and give it the proper level slope and my wife took our 8$ second hand tile saw and she relaid the floor with 6 inch tiles in diamond pattern. I don't have a photo handy but she is doing the basement bathroom shower right now and has done the shower floor and is now working on the walls with 12x12 tiles and the shower curb.

    [​IMG]

    You mentioned the main floor. We planned on doing all main floor stuff before the basement but the master bath changed that and I wanted to get the basement going. The main thing left on the main floor is to refinish and stain the hardwood floors but my wife now wants to remove ALL the main flooring, hardwood and carpet, and put in laminate flooring throughout. Thats next year anyway.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2019
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  16. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    There have been a lot of nice vehicles introduced lately, so I've kind of gone on a bender over the last couple of months, especially since there's been an opportunity to somewhat even the balance between Fords and everything else. (Well, OK, couldn't resist the 60 Ford pickup with the camper, but everything else was either Chevy or Mopar.) Thought I had missed the 2 tone blue Desoto and the Shell towtruck, but managed to find them at a reasonable price.
    I got an interesting reaction from my wife over the four Oxford models- she said the Chrysler ragtop was pretty, the 57 Dodge sweptline pickup was interesting, and the 68 Charger was nice. When she looked at the 46-48 Desoto, she said "Ooh, that's ugly!" I guess if you disagree with her, you just might be an old car guy (or gal). I've got to say i like 'em all and reccomend any of them that fit in your modeling era.

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    Last edited: Sep 15, 2019
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  17. montanan

    montanan TrainBoard Member

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    I really like the Mini Metals and the Oxford vehicles. I model the transition era set in 1957 and offer a great variety for that time period.

    I managed to pick up this Rapido RDC with DCC and sound for $125 from a modeler who was changing from HO to N scale.

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  18. RailMix

    RailMix TrainBoard Member

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    My scrolling era will give me the opportunity to use a lot of different vehicles, rotating them on and off the layout, but I do really like the 50s and 60s. A lot of memories there.
    I'm suspecting that CN interchanged with NP somewhere, or at least close enough so you can get away with it without raising eyebrows. Nice model and good catch for the price.
     
  19. montanan

    montanan TrainBoard Member

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    I started collecting HO scale vehicles around 30 years ago trying to get the most accurate ones I could. It has been a lot easier in recent years. Neo also offers some nice vehicles but they can get pricey. Here are a few pics.

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    Vehicles are one of he easiest ways to set a time period such as this Chevy dealership.

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    When it comes to the RDC, I was thinking of repainting it, but I like the warpaint on it. They could have just bought it from the CN and haven't repainted it yet.
     
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  20. Nick Lorusso

    Nick Lorusso TrainBoard Member

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    I've been rethinking my era's for a while. So this past week I picked up 2 Canadian National Railway steam locomotives. a Van Hobbies 2-8-0 N5d and a Key 2-8-2 S3a

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