Best model kit for the price?


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nickf06gli

Member
I'm new to the hobby and trying to do a nice layout on the lower budget (don't want to pay $30+ a building ) I'm pretty crafty with paint and glue what are the most affordable buildings, and where is the best place online to uy model railroad stuff? Thanks for the help.
 
I have always got good deals at your local swap meet. Most towns have them 2-4 times a year. You can get good deals by bunching a few items together. Most of these are items modelers get tired of looking at & usually let them go for just a few bucks. I also buy on ebay. I mostly scratch build most of my structures but occasionally I go back to the kits.
 
Not exactly sure if this answers your question.

I like to order from modeltrainstuff.com i personally like pikestuff brand structures
They are very reasonably priced, easy to put together.

I model modern day so the pikestuff structures is down my alley

I also like walthers cornerstone structures but some are pricey in my opinion
 
You didn't mention any particular era or type of area you want to build but here are a few general suggestions.
City Classics, Design Preservation Miniatures, Rix & Pikestuff that has been mentioned. Those are all plastic kits and most are under $20 and even cheaper if you find a deal.

Laser Kits Express, Laser Art by Branchline, Blair Line all offer their smaller buildings in the 12 to 25 dollar price range and are wood kits. Model Power has some of the old AHM plastic kits still in production at affordable prices and with a few added details look quite good.
 
NH Mike said:
You didn't mention any particular era or type of area you want to build but here are a few general suggestions.
City Classics, Design Preservation Miniatures, Rix & Pikestuff that has been mentioned. Those are all plastic kits and most are under $20 and even cheaper if you find a deal.

Laser Kits Express, Laser Art by Branchline, Blair Line all offer their smaller buildings in the 12 to 25 dollar price range and are wood kits. Model Power has some of the old AHM plastic kits still in production at affordable prices and with a few added details look quite good.
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I bought 2 of Rix or $13 each the first building looked good the second one was descent at best ($13bucks is good though) I will check out the others you suggested I am doing a modern theme (not actual real life scene) I am just learning so not trying to get super complex (mostly trying for modern Norfolk southern layout (my brother, dad and cousin all work for NFS. My brother bought me kato sd80mac so that will be centerpiece
 
Cant go wrong with modeltrainstuff.com

Ive ordered many different times from them and i was always very happy with the prices and the way my products came shipped, i havent had to try different stores online because i found one that works for me
 
Nick, Welcome to the hobby.

Like most things, you generally get what you pay for. With building kits, less expensive kits tend to be smaller buildings, and you need to pay more for a building that's large enough to look good on a layout.

Some other info, which you may or may not be interested in..

The kits sold by Model Power are nice kits, and they tend to be for older era modeling, like 50's and 60's and they can be small.

Walthers kits and Pikestuff kits tend to be large enough to justify a rail spur, and are for more modern era modeling.

Pikestuff kits are good for representing the generic general purpose buildings that are plentiful near railroad tracks in the real world.

For the money, I like the Walthers ADM Grain Elevator kit, the Red Wing Milling kit, and the Medusa Cement kit. They are large buildings compared to the Model Power kits. Unfortunately, these do sell for about $30, sometimes less. If you find either of these kits for less than 30, it is a good deal. I like the Pikestuff kits too. The Model Power kits were sold under various names throughout the 60's 70's etc.., like AHM, TYCO, IHC. I like these too, but for modeling buildings that are near the tracks and not served by rail because they are sometimes not even longer than a modern boxcar.

Modeltrainstuff dot com, ebay, and local train shows/swap meets are good sources. Local Hobby Shop's (LHS) can have some reasonable prices too.
 
Doughless, thanks for the tips, I am not "super Cheap" but trying to keep it under $50 a month is always the goal. Since Im starting off I have been trying to get the best bang for the buck. I will be putting up some pics real soon.
 
nickf06gli said:
I'm new to the hobby and trying to do a nice layout on the lower budget (don't want to pay $30+ a building ) I'm pretty crafty with paint and glue what are the most affordable buildings, and where is the best place online to uy model railroad stuff? Thanks for the help.
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Nick, in your post you don't make any indication as to what sort, or size, buildings you are thinking about, but I'm assuming that you aren't talking about very small, or crude, old-school, buildings. That being said, I'm going to be a little more blunt than previous posters with my response.

There simply are few worthwhile structure kits of any real quality and of any significant size available in the hobby these days that list for under $30. The level of accuracy and complexity of even many of the smaller structures today commands far more money than those available even just a decade ago in the hobby.

If you are interested in some sort of urban-type, multi-story buildings, or perhaps 2-3 story small town stores, then City Classics and Woodland Scenics structure kits are probably your best choices at under $30, plus they are simple to assemble. Beyond those, I really don't see a lot. All of the classic wooden craftsman-type kits, once the standard of the more frugal modeler, are nowadays steadily going out-of-sight in price. Likewise, nearly all of the latest plastic buildings of just about every type demand $50, or more. The latest already built versions of same are pushing $100, or better.

Impressive structures can still be built on the cheap if you are willing to learn how to scratchbuild, something I'm sad to say that fewer and fewer so-called model railroaders wish to do today. However, there are a number of excellent how-to books on the subject offered by companies like Carsten Publications that can teach anyone with at least a little modeling talent to build anything and this is the way I would recommend to go if you like really nice buildings at relatively little cost.

The image below is of a building I scratchbuilt, complete, for about $40 a few years back. The commercial kit for the exact same building was selling for around $250-$300 at the time, so it shows what can be done with a little personal effort on the modeler's part. Now it is doubtful that your very first effort will come out quite as well, but after a couple of tries your scratchbuilt models will impress all your friends and your buildings won't look just like all the plastic kit clones seen on the other guy's layouts either. Plus, you'll have the pride of saying, "I built that myself!"

models010b-2.jpg


NYW&B
 
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I would agree with the other posters that good quality kits cost more than $30, but it is possible. Some of the kits I mentioned are pretty reasonable. Many kits can be overpriced compared to the competition, so study-up a bit and compare.

Laser kits tend to be for older era modeling. If you're modeling modern NS, there won't be too many industrial type buildings offered as laser cut kits. They would be more for business-district buildings, general store's etc..

For modern era modeling, I would put the model power, ahm, ihc, and tyco kits into the same category as the laser-cuts...for how they would be used on a modern era layout. Don't laugh, some of the brick detail can be very convincing. BTW, most of these kits are of brick buildings. Wood siding doesn't really look good when molded in styrene, so I would prefer laser-cut kits if I wanted wood structures for the layout.

good luck
 
Nick, Sometimes you can combine structures to create larger buildings or complexes, just like real life. If you plan it right and paint building to match and add similar signage and perhaps fencing, you can build up over time. This would help keep your monthly costs down but let you ultimately model a larger industry.
 
Books I'd recommend addressing scratchbuilding.

From Carstens Publications:

Model Railroad Structures From A to Z by Wayne and Mary Cay Wesolowski
(Wayne is the master scratchbuilder of all time!)

Scratchbuilding for Model Railroaders by Bob Walker

Kalmbach also used to offer several good books about scratchbuilding. Infact, their monthly magazine Model Railroader was once upon a time a treasure trove of detailed scratchbuilding plans, but with their currently leanings toward the RTR hobby such material no longer appears to be available from them.

NYW&B
 
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