ON EBAY RIGHT NOW-A WALTHERS O SCALE PALACE MOVIE THEATER IS UP TO 275.00.
I USE TO BUY KITS AND HANDMADE MY BUILDINGS BUT AFTER NEEDING THE RIGHT TOOLS.
PAINTS(EXPENSIVE NOW)-I ONLY USED FLOQUIL AND AT THAT TIME A BOTTLE WAS 2.25.
SPECIAl ORDER WINDOWS,DOORS,ETC. FROM GRANDT LINE,SPRAY GUN-AND THE TIME
INVOLVED-IT'S BEtTER TO BUY THE ALREADY MADE STUFF-MTH DID HELP A LOT
TO PROVIDE US WITH MUCH NEEDED BUILDINGS,WAlthers cornerstone buildings were
great and woodland scenis new buildings are fantastic .it would cost me as much or more to build
the scenic woodlands hardware store and add a interior,lights,details.
most of all- patience-we all are not sirt,vulcan and csx al with great skills.
Mike,
While I can't speak for other people here, my answer to your question has 3 parts 1. I don't have enough time (I work a full time job) 2. I don't have the patience and I suppose the most important excuse is because I have only the use of one of my hands which even makes putting together Fastrac something of a challenge for me!
Thank God for the ready built structures that I mostly buy from my local MTH guy. I have the Plasticville assemble it yourself diner (I want to replace) I bought this on a lark and because it was cheap. What a mistake!
Thanks for asking.
PS. There is plenty of O gauge stuff available from Walther's.com if you look!
Mike Maurice
While I can't speak for other people here, my answer to your question has 3 parts 1. I don't have enough time (I work a full time job) 2. I don't have the patience and I suppose the most important excuse is because I have only the use of one of my hands which even makes putting together Fastrac something of a challenge for me!
Thank God for the ready built structures that I mostly buy from my local MTH guy. I have the Plasticville assemble it yourself diner (I want to replace) I bought this on a lark and because it was cheap. What a mistake!
Thanks for asking.
PS. There is plenty of O gauge stuff available from Walther's.com if you look!
Mike Maurice
The time and money is a big issue. It was far easier to buy that 8 pack of buildings from Gryzbowskis and now all I have to do is detail them to my liking. Now if there were kits like the "City Classics" I built for HO, that would be great, but still the time issue gets to be tough.
I think it is a combination of things, time is a biggie, plus given the quality of a lot of RTR items out there, you don't need to build a kit/kitbash to get a quality structure, you can easily modify an existing one. Plus kits are pretty expensive, not saying they shouldn't be (lot of parts, time and small runs), and that factors in. For some it also could be they would prefer to scratchbuild what they don't buy RTR.
I don't think it is what beertrain said, I don't think it is that people lack the skills they might have once had, building a kit is very different then rebuilding a foundation wall or putting up sheetrock or doing the plugs on a car. Likewise, it isn't instant gratification as much as the lack of time others point out, time spent on building a kit could be used building the layout,or the myriad things we all have to do in limited time. One of the big differences between 'back then' and now is many people are working much longer hours and there are a lot more demands on their time. up until 30 or 40 years ago most people worked 9-5 jobs and worked relatively close to their homes, so there was leisure time after they got home.....and if you have kids these days, they are so scheduled it isn't funny, sports, outside activities, etc, etc, so they need driving. And people are working longer hours then they have in a long time, many people are working 10, 11, 12 hour days, others have multiple jobs........so leisure time is at a premium, and then when people have time off, like weekends, things kids are doing, or work around the house, or social visits, etc, take up the 'free' time.
I don't think it is what beertrain said, I don't think it is that people lack the skills they might have once had, building a kit is very different then rebuilding a foundation wall or putting up sheetrock or doing the plugs on a car. Likewise, it isn't instant gratification as much as the lack of time others point out, time spent on building a kit could be used building the layout,or the myriad things we all have to do in limited time. One of the big differences between 'back then' and now is many people are working much longer hours and there are a lot more demands on their time. up until 30 or 40 years ago most people worked 9-5 jobs and worked relatively close to their homes, so there was leisure time after they got home.....and if you have kids these days, they are so scheduled it isn't funny, sports, outside activities, etc, etc, so they need driving. And people are working longer hours then they have in a long time, many people are working 10, 11, 12 hour days, others have multiple jobs........so leisure time is at a premium, and then when people have time off, like weekends, things kids are doing, or work around the house, or social visits, etc, take up the 'free' time.
Walthers O Gauge/O Scale Cornerstone kits are much easier to assemble than their HO Scale counterpart kits. They are very easy to assemble compared to most other kits.
It is a mystery why the people at Walthers stopped producing Sur-Sweet Feeds and Walton Lumber Company when the demand for those kits was very high and still is very high.
Andrew
It is a mystery why the people at Walthers stopped producing Sur-Sweet Feeds and Walton Lumber Company when the demand for those kits was very high and still is very high.
Andrew
Some, like me, are challenged at building models...I think that's partly why 3-rail O-gauge in general is still around. I do appreciate the layout articles, mostly in older OGR issues, where the 2-rail O-scalers built everything by hand. I've kept all those issues, whereas others have it the recycle bin.
I undersand the time restraints and the cost. I've scratch built building that cost well over $200 in parts alone. But, there's nothing more satisfying to me than building something of your own. Plus you won't see it on any other layout. Don 
My reason?
I'm having a hard enough time getting an hour or 2 on weekends to build my bench work. I've been building bench work for 8+ months and I still don't have enough bench work in to actually put down any track!
It's getting better though. With luck this weekend I should be putting down my first rails.
Anyway TIME is the only reason I'm not building kits. I have several kits in boxes that I do plan on building. Also, when my son and soon to be sons (as in 2) are old enough I hope and pray that they are interested and will help me build kits for the layout. By time they are old enough to build kits I should be to the stage in the layout where I'm doing scenery! One can only hope!
I'm having a hard enough time getting an hour or 2 on weekends to build my bench work. I've been building bench work for 8+ months and I still don't have enough bench work in to actually put down any track!
It's getting better though. With luck this weekend I should be putting down my first rails.
Anyway TIME is the only reason I'm not building kits. I have several kits in boxes that I do plan on building. Also, when my son and soon to be sons (as in 2) are old enough I hope and pray that they are interested and will help me build kits for the layout. By time they are old enough to build kits I should be to the stage in the layout where I'm doing scenery! One can only hope!
quote:Build more kits?
Turn off the **** TV.
KD
I like that! Very good point. Sometimes I feel like I should turn off the Forum as well. Time and the rest of life's pressures (family, job) cut into my hobby time.
I happen to like building kits and scratchbuilding.
Just for the heck of it, I collected some info about my own number of kits, scratchbuilt, and RTR buildings. Most of these are still to become reality. I only counted buildings that I had thought of or planned, acquired, or acquired materials for. At this point:
39% of my buildings are or will be scratchbuilt
56% are kits
5% are pre-built structures
What are your percentages in these categories?
George
Before I retired I worked for many years in a LHS. It was fun in the early days to listen to the complaints about not enough DETAIL in the rail car KITS. Enter good tooling and injection molding expertise. Then the complaints started to ship to the DETAILS were to HARD to put on the new rail car kits. Next came the RTR super detailed cars that were really EXPENSIVE but really cool!
During this time structures were kind of going through the same transitions but not quite as fast or as complete. As the structures got bigger and more complex they got HARDER and . . . .
Now we have these really cool LaserKits buildings that make everybody look like a master builder and still we hear the complaints. Glad I'm not a manufacturer trying to figure out exactly what EVERYBODY wants!
Russ
During this time structures were kind of going through the same transitions but not quite as fast or as complete. As the structures got bigger and more complex they got HARDER and . . . .
Now we have these really cool LaserKits buildings that make everybody look like a master builder and still we hear the complaints. Glad I'm not a manufacturer trying to figure out exactly what EVERYBODY wants!
Russ