$50 HO Box Car?

[Rusty Spike]

I frequently search e-Bay for "weathered ho" to get ideas for weathering and to watch for ideas on structures as well.

There are two sellers who seem to weekly put up weathered HO stock and get nearly $50 a car!

I've attached a photo - their work looks pretty awesome, but what do you think?

 

[Ray Marinaccio]

If these guys can get $50 a car, more power to them.
What they are selling is a custom paint job. The car is the medium.
In my opinion, a custom built and/or painted car, loco or structure is a work of art.
Just my opinion

 

[brakie]

Sadly that is what I call bidding madness.That car should not be worth much over $20.00..Sure it is custom weathered but still a USED Athearn car..Sorry,I can not see $50.00 for that or any other weathered car..Now,a friend on mine at the club will weather you car for $12.00 and he is very good at it..Perhaps I should commission him to do some cars for me and put them up for bids on e-bay?

 

[billk]

As long as the seller's descriptions are not misleading, I have no problem with what they're doing.

 

[Gary Pfeil]

I had to think for a minute before deciding I probably wouldn't spend that much. But that doesn't mean they're not worth it. worth is highly subjective and what you're talking about buying is not an Athearn car but the effort to weather it so nicely. I spend quite a bit more than that to have my locos painted and weathered. And I supply the loco! It's a matter of how you decide to spend your money. That railcar boxcar in the photo is fine looking, but too modern for me. If I were to make the mistake of looking on ebay and found his work on say a NYC boxcar I may get weak and bid that high. I wouldn't try to build a fleet of such cars, I couldn't afford it. But one or two a year, could happen.

 

[Ralph]

Yeah that's real nice looking...weatherng art work actually...but fifty bucks for one freight car?!...not me!
Ralph

 

[Blake]

I'm quite sure that this car was done by a Gauge member called Mello Mike. His stuff is incredible. I had to look pretty hard to determine if his stuff was actually a model. $50? Worth every penny and more. This guy is a true artist with a keen eye for detail. His equipment is not just weathered, it is painted from the begining to look that way. To most people, weathering is a shot of rusty brown on the trucks and underframe. This is much more than that. I hope he signs his work. It may be worth much more some day.

 

[Brunob1]

I don't think I'd pay $50 for that car - it's too modern for me as well. But I can see having a few of them around gathered over time. It truly is beautiful. It's far better than my attempts at weathering.

 

[Vic]

Most Anybody Can Do It

It is nice looking in the photo but I just can't help but wondering what it looks like "in person"

Anybody with a "half a lick" of sense and with patience and practice can do the same thing. Of course I realize that some folks neither have the time or the patience (and truly a few don't have the ability) and would just rather pay for it. I call that "shake the box" mentality. Guess I'm just "old school" but 50% of my enjoyment is making it real myself.

Painting and weathering rolling stock isn't an art its a learned process. Try it....you'll amaze yourself at what you can do.

 

[Brunob1]

Re: Most Anybody Can Do It

Originally posted by Vic
Anybody with a "half a lick" of sense and with patience and practice can do the same thing. [/B]

Must be I'm the one that dosn't have "half a lick".

 

[Rusty Spike]

This car is now at $75 on eBay! Wow!

 

[Bill Stone]

That is a beautifully finished box car. Kudos to the guy who did the work.

But I feel sorry for the people who think of themselves as model railroaders, but miss what, at least to some of us, is a very big part --- the very best part --- of the hobby: Modeling.....

Anyone who hasn't the skills to do work like this, just hasn't DEVELOPED the skills to do work like this. It costs more to pay someone else to do it, but the results are worth a whole lot more --- to you --- if you do it yourself.

BillS

 

[Pete]

Here's the auction link for that particular car, with lots more photos:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3165509733&category=19130
And here are some links to some of his previously auctioned works of art:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19130&item=3158139554
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19130&item=3162347698



Pete

 

[brakie]

Unbelievable $172.02 for a weathered Athearn car..Sadly shaking my head..A work of art or no its not worth that price..But to each his own..Perhaps I should commision my friend at the club in doing some weathered cars for me after all???

 

[Rusty Spike]

$76 now, not $172 - if it $172 I'll hire an artist and make a business out of this.

P.S. This is what I love about eBay especially on custom stuff like this - access to a big market.

I just sold several engines I had in a big lot and over 500 people viewed them and I got just about what I thought was fair. If I put them at my LHS on consignment (which they don't do), I'd wait months and months before 50 people saw them and I'd probably get a fraction of what I thought was possible.

I still like the LHS, but for something like this I don't think you could beat it.

 

[Vic]

Someone Try This One

As usual I always see something interesting when I don't have my camera with me but the other day I spied a tank car with a load of corn syrup. Apparently, the car had been over filled or was leaking or venting. Anyway it had syrup running down one side. They syrup had hardened in the cold weather and had to be 2-3 inches thick in places. On top of that it was covered with maybe "a zillion" ants. Sounds like an interesting "weathering project"

 

[brakie]

Rusty,Perhaps I should have made myself clearer?
I was referring to this car.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19130&item=3162347698

Sorry about the mix up. ops:

 

[Rusty Spike]

Holy freaking cow! I kept some pics of that car for weathering ideas - I didn't see what it ended at.

All right, lets get the kids, some paint, some brushes - we're gonna pay for college even if we can only get a 1/4 of that per car.

Wow, hats off to the artist - do you think he might have giggled just a little when the first check that size arrived?

 

[geep15]

Some folks have more money than brains, it seems

You'd be better off ( and have more money) weathering an already-painted Athearn 50-foot boxcar yourself (which is what this guy did). I wouldn't spend that much money on that car, when I could do one myself.

Guess P.T. Barnum was right........

 

[rdivizio]

I did those $50 cars. rdivizio

Well Hello there,

This is Rich, the one who's cars everyone's talking about.
I am not Mellow Mike like someone thought.
He is another guy that weathers cars.
I am new to the selling of my cars on EBAY since around Oct 14th.

Since that time I have made some great friends, took some criticism and some advice.
I created a website for my learning experience of weathering along the way.

http://home.comcast.net/~rdivizio/trains/

FIRST OFF: These cars are not used. They are brand new out of the box.

SECOND: I upgrade these cars from what comes in the box to
INTERMOUNTAIN BRASS WHEELS, KADEE #58 COUPLERS,
PHOTO ETCHED CROSS OVER WALKS, REAL GRAB IRONS and COUPLER LIFT BARS.

THIRD: I only do READY TO ROLL, ATLAS, INTERMOUNTAIN or GENESIS cars.

My thing is, If I'm going to Weather a car and put all that work into the detailing, it's going to be done on the cars that I spoke of. I'm getting to the point where I'm not liking the molded grab irons. I now have to have better quality.
I say, nothing wrong with that!

ADD UP the price of a READY TO ROLL
$15.00
$5.00 more to add nicer wheels and couplers.
That's $20.00 already.
Then ADD your time to weather the car.
The research you do in trying to get the best looking rust techniques that others boggle over.
It's not a simple dusting of chalk.
Your right, It is an ARTFORM, One that I am glad to be a part of.
I do not use AIR BRUSH either. This is all hand work.

I would also like to include other people's cars that influence me
on my website. It only fair that they be mentioned and also
promoted. My attitude is a positive one. I'm open to your thoughts. We make this HOBBY STRONG!

I looked around and did not find that many weathering sites,
so I figured this might be a nice place for model railroaders to go.
I will probably not be doing the EBAY thing for too long due to the fact that many people who bid on my cars never get the car in the end.
Also...The price gets too high, and I would like this to be a business where everyone can afford a weathered car. I am working on the structure of the business right now and hope this begins in 2004.

I appreciate all the nice things said, and bad things.
You can't have the good without the bad.
I use the bad as motivation to become better.
EMAIL ME if you like.
rdivizio@comcast.net

We will talk grime shop.