HO vehicles

[Joe323]

I am looking for an economical way of populating my layout with HO scale cars trucks etc.  Seems as though even on Ebay you could spent like $10 for a car.  Hot wheels matchbox etc are too big and toy like so I removed most of them (some of the trucks are ok) any ideas?

[jward]

You are about 5 years too late. there was a line of ho scale cars called fresh cherries which sold in wal mart for about 2-3 bucks. i haven't seen them there in several years.

[rbryce1]

I have over 80 vehicles on our Christmas layout, which includes a large car show, and will have around 50 vehicles on my permanent layout.  

I really feel your pain, and am going to open myself to ridicule from the purest out there, but I have gone completely to 1/64th scale motor vehicles.  If they are all the same, it's not that noticeable to spectators, and there is just no fargen way in Hates I am spending 10-35 bucks PLUS SHIPPING for some 1/87th scale car, many of which still don't have good detail.  Yes, many Hot Wheels cars are really toyish and funky, but I don't use those either.  There are a lot of really nice looking 1/64th cars from the 60's, 70's and 80's that are not toy looking.  

I also had to design my roads and parking lots to be consistent with the slightly larger cars, which consumes a very slight bit more real estate, which was not that big a problem as I did all that before I laid any track.

If the 1/87th scale cars were not priced like they were made of gold, I would have gone with them.  I think it's more important to be able to afford the hobby than be "perfect".  Just be consistant.  If I were being judged in a show, I would loose the points, but I am not in a show.

[Joe323]

The problem with the 1/64 scale vehicles is that they are oversized in my parking lots.  Now I suppose I could redraw the lines to make them wider.  Meanwhile I found a few of the fresh cherries on Ebay for about $5 each inc shipping I can live with that.

[rbryce1]

The problem with the 1/64 scale vehicles is that they are oversized in my parking lots.  Now I suppose I could redraw the lines to make them wider.  Meanwhile I found a few of the fresh cherries on Ebay for about $5 each inc shipping I can live with that.

Joe,

That's great ... Hope you find lot's more like that.  

It's amazing how cost can drive the ultimate scope af a hobby or project.  The 1/64th scale vehicles cost me $2.00-$4.00 each, plus tax, but no shipping charges, and the same vehicle in HO 1/87th scale normally costs about 5 -15 times that, depending on the size, type and quality of the vehicle, and usually plus shipping.  

I have 21 locomotives (none brass) or so right now.  If instead of the $200-$300 each they cost me, each one was 5 times that or $1,000 to $4,500 each, I bet I would have at best about 3-4 of them instead!

[Johnson Bar Jeff]

I wish I had back the Matchbox cars I had when I was kid 45 years ago. My memory impression is that they weren't too big or too toylike to work on an HO layout.

[Doneldon]

Joe-

I understand what you're saying. Vehicles are far too expensive to use in large numbers. Yet our layouts appear incomplete without them.

One way I try to keep costs within a broad range of sanity is to approach vehicles the same way I approach scenery, structures and trees: I make sure the up fronts are excellent but I'm willing to compromise on background items. In the case of vehicles that means that I make castings of more-or-less appropriate vehicles for background areas and use the fully detailed models up front.

Most people who look at our layouts notice the trains most of all. That's not surprising since we showcase them and they attract attention because they are about the only moving things on our layouts. Cars and trucks are noticed for their colors but I don't think most viewers get into serious inspections of them. Lots of us model a specific time and place. For me that means August 1939 in the American west, just before the world caught fire. However, I have a number of vehicles from the '20s, vehicles which would have been fairly uncommon at that time. Heck. Cars were still rusting to death in three to five years right up into the '80s. I also have some vehicles from the '40s. No one has ever asked why I have a 1920s Horch convertible or a 1949 Ford pick-up on my layout which has an August 1939 calendar hanging on the wall next to it. (I am occasionally asked about the 1974 E-type Jaguar roadster but that's because my friends know I am still mourning the one I had to get rid of when my wife and I downsized to a place with only a double garage.) And I know I am far from the only model rail with improbable cars on my streets.

As long as vehicles look about right and aren't painted outrageous colors, no one seems to focus on them. So my cheapie castings at the rear, the ones with the black-painted windows and nothing silver except the bumpers, don't seem to bother anybody. Maybe my friends are too courteous to tell me that some of my cars suck, but I think they just haven't noticed that fact. So ... don't be a perfectionist with your cars and trucks. Put some great ones front and center but populate background areas and parking lots with something a little less elegant. Believe me, if it works with trees it'll work with vehicles.
                                                                                                         -- D

[Jerrys HO]

Jeff
Did those fresh cherries ever come in anything other than a Vega,Pinto,or Mustang?
Joe
Hope you don't mind me pickin up a few since you went through all that trouble to find them.

Jerry

[jward]

yes, they also had a ford tempo, amc gremlin and pacer. other lines included a vw beetle and a microbus, as well as a 70s pickup. there was quite a variety available at one time.