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 Posted - August 04 2019 : 10:52:59 PM
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Those of you who have been following my posts from other forums already know that while I was chasing the UP 4014 I also discovered a really cool hobby shop in the Chicago area called "America'a Best Train, Toy & Hobby". In addition to the Varney F3 that I bought from this shop, I also brought home some other pieces of cool rolling stock. Pictured below is one of the cars I found....
I picked up this car mainly for the neat Tiger caricature, it reminds me of Hobbs from the Calvin and Hobbs comic strip but predates the cartoon by six years.
The car itself is also interesting, I thought at first it was an AHM product but it is not. I had to remove the trucks to find the makers mark on the under frame, "Playart". I'm not really familiar with this brand, I know they made some really cheap HO locomotives at some point but this is the first car I have found that was produced by them. Of note, it's a fairly accurate representation of a PS-1 boxcar, it would make a really nice model by simply replacing the roof walk, corner stirrups, brake wheel, trucks, and couplers.
I think I will replace the trucks and couplers but leave the rest of the car "as is".
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Posted - August 04 2019 : 11:23:01 PM
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Mike
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Posted - August 05 2019 : 06:21:36 AM
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Here is a bit of model railroading hobby shop history, E&H Model Hobbies of Philadelphia. This is a Varney two bay covered hopper. I have another one in blue somewhere. This is a dated promotional car date Feb 1956 could be when this car was made.
frank
toptrain
" It's a Heck of a Day " !!!
Edited by - toptrain on August 05 2019 06:30:13 AM
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Posted - August 05 2019 : 4:04:51 PM
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I glommed onto this Armstrong Thrall piece cause my grand dad worked for Armstrong
all his life. He had some stories.
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Posted - August 05 2019 : 4:11:15 PM
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Playart was the brand Model Power used to make their freight cars
& they also made diecast vehicles
Plus Road Mates is a Sears brand but is Playart too
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Posted - August 05 2019 : 6:48:51 PM
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quote:Playart was the brand Model Power used to make their freight cars
& they also made diecast vehicles
Plus Road Mates is a Sears brand but is Playart too
Originally posted by microbusss - August 05 2019 : 4:11:15 PM
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Wait what? Playart made Model Power products?
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Posted - August 05 2019 : 7:47:55 PM
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quote: quote:Playart was the brand Model Power used to make their freight cars
& they also made diecast vehicles
Plus Road Mates is a Sears brand but is Playart too
Originally posted by microbusss - August 05 2019 : 4:11:15 PM
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Wait what? Playart made Model Power products?
Originally posted by Srenchin - August 05 2019 : 6:48:51 PM
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yes cause I have a Rio Grande hopper car in a Model Power box that has Playart on the bottom
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Posted - August 06 2019 : 07:26:45 AM
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From what I understand Playart was an existing toy company (I remember having a few of their old toy cars from the 70s as a kid) that got into making cheap HO trains, and later sold their product line to Model Power. Could be wrong tho
--CRC
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Posted - August 06 2019 : 10:28:46 AM
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quote:From what I understand Playart was an existing toy company (I remember having a few of their old toy cars from the 70s as a kid) that got into making cheap HO trains, and later sold their product line to Model Power. Could be wrong tho
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â August 06 2019Â :Â 07:26:45 AM
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like these?
yup trucks were made too
& the 66 Batmobile!
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Posted - August 06 2019 : 6:32:56 PM
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quote:From what I understand Playart was an existing toy company (I remember having a few of their old toy cars from the 70s as a kid) that got into making cheap HO trains, and later sold their product line to Model Power. Could be wrong tho
Originally posted by PRR 4800Â -Â August 06 2019Â :Â 07:26:45 AM
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I did briefly own this Playart HO Steam locomotive which came in a lot of engines I won on Ebay...
It is clearly a crudely made product based on a German prototype, the box was still factory sealed so I didn't test run it to see how it performed. I am just surprised that this reasonable well rendered PS-1 boxcar model shown here...
was produced by the same outfit.
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Posted - August 08 2019 : 10:19:21 AM
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That's a crazy loco Strenchin. I've got a couple of Play Art British
locomotives, a few wagons. Fun stuff, that.
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Posted - August 08 2019 : 6:26:45 PM
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I have a Playart BN center flow hopper lying around somewhere, the printed (sprayed on?) decals are terrible, all the text is crooked and distorted. I first thought it was a Tyco when I got it at a model train show but noticed it was slightly different when I got back home and then saw the Playart logo under the car.
One thing to note about Playart freight cars, the trucks are made out of regular hard plastic rather than nylon (or whatever the normal self-lubricating plastic is), and without adding lube to the axle boxes (pencil lead in my case) they will ream themselves out in no time. The trucks clip into the car exactly the same way as Tyco, Life-Like and Lima so it shouldn't be too hard to replace them if they are worn out.
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