I'd be willing to bet that if Overland ever announced a plastic diesel, there would be a huge outcry of dissatifaction.
This "metal vs. plastic" debate has been going on since the late 1950's and frankly, will never be settled.
Rusty
When it comes down to FINE details, they pretty much have to be metal, so you better put a caveat on the plastic vs metal discussion, because if it has metal details, it's not ALL plastic. The size of "O" is such that even some details done in metal are flimsy! (I'd vote for making some of those things (even when done in brass) a bit more robust [thicker], but then it would be out of scale [Oh, the horror!!!
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As for Overland and plastic, I suspect you are correct, as some time back they came out with a series of models under the name "Tower 55" that were plastic or mostly that (as best I recall). As I remember, they were mostly HO, so not in my realm of interest, but I think there was a lot of gnashing of the HO scale teeth, and Tower 55 went away fairly quickly.
As with most things each material has pros and cons, and the bottom line always comes down to personal preference and cost. My personal lament is that Intermountain failed to put metal details on the "O" scale cars. They would have been great had they done so.
My biggest gripe is that many times the existence of a poor model (no matter what material) will prevent the introduction of a decent one of the same ilk. Trash is trash, no matter what the material.
Regards,
Simon
