What scale modeler earns the most money? Or who has the most to spend?


Who has the most income?

  • HO Scale modelers

    Votes: 4 16.7%

  • N Scale modelers

    Votes: 3 12.5%

  • O Scale modelers

    Votes: 8 33.3%

  • Z Scale modelers

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • HOn3 modelers

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Other

    Votes: 8 33.3%
  • Total voters
    24
dieselfan1

dieselfan1

Member
A recent discussion on who made the most money seems to be up for debate. Some say HO modelers are the most wealthy and have more expendable income, and others argue it is the O scalers that make the big coin.
I always say the more you make, the more you spend. Especially on hobbies, cars, motorcycles, boats. etc. I know the more I make, the more I spend on trains.

Who do you say makes the most income?
 
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I don't know which scale attracts the "wealthiest" modelers. What I do know, was that I changed my interest from O Hi-rail to HO primarily because for the price of a single Lionel 6464- series box car, I could buy and build three Athearn yellow box, Round House or Mantua box car kits. I've been in HO since the early 1960s, and nothing I have observed has changed my mind. BTW: N appears to cost around the same as HO, so my guess would be that O scale or hi-rail requires greater financial resources. Your experiences may vary.........

Joe
 
Having worked in a hobby shop back in late '80s have to say the few G scalers had the most money. Alot of them came in Fri. nites w/ rolls of money & bought several hundred dollars worth of stuff.
 
When I started as a tire salesmen and old experienced salesmen told me "kid, you never know how much a man has in his pocket, you can't judge him by his clothes, car or anything"

I learned he was right.

I don't believe there is an answer to this question.

Louis
 
I would guess the garden railroad scales cost the most........but I voted for N anyway to keep it in the family. :eek:
 
I agree there isn't really a set answer, I've seen a lot of money spent on many scales .
However I would lean towards G scalers having some dough to spend on the hobby.
Or at least they had before they bought that 1:20 scale big boy! :)
 
Louis has a very good point. In my expierience, if a man brags about it, he probably doesn't have it. I've known a couple of very wealthy individuals and one was a silent partner in the company I owned. You would have never known his family owned United Health, The National Association for the Self-Employed, or any of the other 150 companies they had interest in. He only drove used cars...they were nice cars...but he bought them used. He was not pretentious or anything like that. Very nice guy but passing him on the street you would have never known.

I want to get into G-scale when I get back into a house but I have to admit, I would have to slow down on other hobbies taking some dollars from those to pay for G-scale stuff. I priced the track and was blown away. Almost guilty blown-away so I dunno if I will do it or not. $600+ for a loco is almost nuts as well.
 
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Motley said:
Heck I don't know, I'm so broke because I keep buying trains. LOL
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LOL Michael. My wife told me that I was to stay off eBay now. I have gone wayyyyy overboard but I'm set now....for awhile lol. I do need a CMX track cleaning car though......hmmmmmm.
 
I really didn't consider G Scale for the poll because mainly because its a whole different animal than the indoor scales. That being said I'm pretty sure you need some deep pockets to run a decent sized G scale pike.
 
RCShadow said:
LOL Michael. My wife told me that I was to stay off eBay now. I have gone wayyyyy overboard but I'm set now....for awhile lol. I do need a CMX track cleaning car though......hmmmmmm.
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Oh man, I would die if I couldn't go on ebay and buy stuff. I have that CMX cleaning car, and its the best purchase I ever made. No more cleaning rails with my finger wrapped in a rag dipped in paint thinner.
 
I don't think there is an answer to this question either. Maybe which scale costs the most would be a better question. It also depends on what you're buying. O scale (not tinpate) can get to be big bucks, especially of you are into brass, and will rival G. HO can also be expensive if you are into certain facets of the hobby. Brass steamers by Glacier Park can approach three grand with maybe 25 pieces in a run. You can also do all of these scales on a budget if you want to, or allocate your funds. Would you rather have 50 average locomotives or five or six high quality pieces? I don't see how you can judge a man's income by what scale he models. I know several older guys who moved to S or On30 or even O when their eyesight began go peter out. They funded their new purchases by selling off existing collections, and in one or two cases bought what they wanted and put money in the bank!
 
Motley said:
Oh man, I would die if I couldn't go on ebay and buy stuff. I have that CMX cleaning car, and its the best purchase I ever made. No more cleaning rails with my finger wrapped in a rag dipped in paint thinner.
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So it's that good? I really want one now...
 
I think we all spend too much money, but it's so much fun and I always "need" just one more thing!

What about Z? I hear that is super expensive. Any Z guys want to comment?

Louis
 
You hit the nail on the head! I think Z scale is defiantly a young mans game. My old eyes are long past being able to see them and my hands, forget about it, I would drop it straight away!

I have never checked the stores, but I have a feeling the price tag would be easy to see.

WJLI26 said:
Z Scale? I cannot even see Z scale items, let alone the price tag:confused:.

Joe
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This is what I want to do one of these days...

[video=youtube;RySkAOGkp1I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RySkAOGkp1I[/video]

I got pricing at the first of the Summer. It seems to get one going, it's around $20K-$25K and thats if you can find them. My undertanding that one of the big makers/owner passed-away this year.
 
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Now that's one bad a$$ Dobsonian! I had one but nearly that impressive. My was just a 10" with GPS control. I sold all my astronomy stuff a few years ago except for a few plossl eyepieces, camera eyepiece, and a laser spotter in lou of a finder scope. I still have a copy of Starry Night Backyard software too....somewhere.

I bet you could get some stellar images of DSO's with that thing! I'd love to see the Horsehead or some other nebula through that! What was the F rating on it? Focal length? What was the glass? Lot's of questions come to mind.
 
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I finally voted and after much consideration (about 5 minutes) I went with O-gauge because if anyone can spend more then $2000 for a locomotive then they must have deep pockets.

HO is the cheapest, but that is it's main advantage too. It has more availability for all kinds of items. If a millionaire wants to play with trains and he is looking for lots of choices then HO is the way to go.

Although I still think that how much someone spends does not equate to how much they have. It does not take into consideration how much they are willing to spend compared to how much they have to spend.

I still say we all spend too much for our toys, but I know I enjoy my toys. I don't blame anyone for spending their money anyway they want.

Louis
 
Hi Bad Order,

I am using 3 rail Lionel FasTrack. I am not big on realism. I just love my trains. FasTrack is so easy to use and to make changes is literally a snap! Another thing is wiring is much easier with 3 rail. I have both traditional O 3 rail and standard O (full scale) 3 rail.

I think the same about my HO trains when I switch from my O-gauge layout. I was going to incorporate my HO trains into my O-gauge layout but they were dwarfed by my O-gauge and I had to build an HO layout.

Louis
 
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