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 Posted - February 12 2009 : 11:20:35 AM
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Hi, New Guy Here, I have tons of experiance with
restoring Tyco Slot Cars and I recently found a Tyco
Spirit of 76 Alco 430 that was given to me by my
Grandmother, it was used & abused when she
found it at a yard sale back in the 80s and gave it to me
to play with, I figured I would try to restore it instead of
just picking up a "nicer one", so in a few weeks when I
get a chance to learn to post some photos I'll show
some in progress photos, I hope when I'm done to have
some of the hard to find parts & decals available for reproduction,
(I usually start projects and swith to a new one so it might take
a long time to get this done lol! Dont hold your breath for parts)
Eventually, I'd like to produce screen printed decals of the
late & earlystyle presidential seals,flags, ect. and maybee some
"what if" spirit of 76 box cars that would look like Tyco made them.
I'm thinking of a Valley Forge Car, a Boston Tea Party Car, Moving
the Liberty Bell Car, all with the same style graphics & stripes.
I'm a graphic designer by trade so the art is not the problem,
finding spare time is.
I'd also like to make my own Truck side covers & airhorns from
cast resin, (unless I hit the tyco spare/junk parts jackpot at the
local Allentown train show in a few weeks.
Wish me luck, I always had a soft spot for Bicentennial stuff
I was born in 1976, I would feel pretty good if I could save a few
direlect 76 engines from the "parts pile"
If anyome has some Very Good, clear, large size Photos
of the decals on these 76 engines it would help alot!
Could you post some? All I have to go by is my scratched up originals.
I'm also looking for a Paul Revere short stripe box car to complete my
set, I dont want to spend a whole lot for one I dont need mint or in a box.
Anyone looking to sell or trade their Spirit of 76 "Junk" let me know
I might be interested in it.
Thanks for such a great & helpfull site Guys!
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 Posted - February 12 2009 : 11:27:00 AM
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welcome sprit of 76 check this out ken
http://shodell.net/mytrains/tyco_ultra_rare_restore.htm
http://shodell.net/mytrains/american_bicentennial_special.htm
these were done by this guy
/tyco/forum/uploaded/catfordken/3273906811_1cacafce41_b.jpg
Edited by - catfordken on February 12 2009 11:41:21 AM
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Posted - February 12 2009 : 2:16:23 PM
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Thanks for the link, I actually stumbled on that site about
6 months ago and its what got me looking for my 76 train set,
I contacted him and the guy listed who made the decals
but neither one had the computer file anymore,
I thought about finding a set of streamliner cars for a good price
and duplicating what he did someday.
If I produce decals I would try as much as possible to make them 100%
correct, I am worried about people faking the earlier rare
lettered seal version so I dont know if I would bother making
them or not, if a bunch of guys get upset about the value of
the originals going down and stuff I'd just make them for my self
if lots of guys become interested in having a set and want to save
some good running trains with bad paint then i'll try to make a few sets.
The last thing I want to be called is a "forger"....but I see a lot of good
76 engines parted out because the decals are bad. It would be nice to
have a source to fix them, a nice original engine usually sells for
$25-$40 an ebay so its not like "faking" a $500 Lionel or something
Am I right or wrong on this? It seems like tyco guys have to do
a lot of "pirateing" or "parting out" to complete a good engine or car,
I would be nice to have a source for parts to save cars instead of
just cuttting them up.
The slot car hobby has several guys who reproduce bumpers, windshields ect. Is there a demand among Tyco Train Collectors for parts like that? I know the serious scale modelers could care less
about Tyco but there is a bigger following on here than I imagined.
I'm glad they are still pretty affordable trains, I just love them
cause I grew up on Tyco slot cars & trains.
Any comments would be appreciated on my Idea for this project.
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Posted - February 12 2009 : 2:21:43 PM
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| like i have said before rivets cost pounds Tycos cost pennies,this i believe is the fun end,if i drop a Tyco i am annoyed and upset,but i can afford it to be replaced,if i drop a Tenshodo big boy i am angry and broke ken
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Posted - February 12 2009 : 3:07:24 PM
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I'm also a graphic designer but by hobby not by trade, yet I get along pretty well. I've made rerproduction decals as well as originals, and also made accurate standins of cars Tyco never released (with subtle clues to betray them as non-original). Look around here enough, you'll see my work...
I'll tell you this - and this is all my opinion - the demand for repro Tyco train parts is NOT there. I don't know what it is about slot cars that makes those guys so insane, but as for the trains - Tyco is simply, usually, not worth the effort. You can often obtain an entire parts loco or car for less than what a single replacement part would cost, without too much effort. I know Yardbird trains has good stuff at fair prices but even those give pause; it has to be a VERY rare or desirable version of a locomotive - only christened by ORIGINAL paint - to make a $7-10 part worthwhile for a loco that's otherwise usually a mere $20 or so.
There are not as many dedicated collectors here as you might think, to make such a venture worthwhile. 95% of the people here only a casual / curious interest in Tyco. Most are of the self-scavenging mindset. And thanks to the internet there's a bottomless pit of original parts available.
That said, don't let me discourage you from playing around... I've spent hours recreating graphics and custom painting and repairing Tycos just because I think it's fun... but even if I sold my Streamliner decals I'd be very lucky to make just a few dollars as the demand simply is not there and the cars themselves are not worth much. If you have parts to sell, they better be CHEAP. Like, a dollar for a truck, or 25 cents for a brakewheel... otherwise the few serious collectors will be more than happy for pick up more $5 junkers and get even more parts than what they needed.
Then again, if you made some president's decals for fun and managed to sell a few on the side, great! The repros on that site were good, but not exact replicas though. Might be just thew ticket for restoring the "intent" without faking originality. To be an original decal you'd need a subtle gold foil for starters - good luck with that!
Edited by - GoingInCirclez on February 12 2009 3:21:24 PM
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Posted - February 12 2009 : 3:12:38 PM
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Hey Spirit of 76. Welcome to the forum! I like your idea about reproducing Tyco parts, especially the truck side frames. I wish someone would do it, because it's annoying to have an almost complete engine, but not be able to run it because of small missing details parts like truck frames and horns. If someone was ever to make an ebay business of selling reproduction ladders for Tyco's F-7s...WOW...I bet that would bring in some money
-cheez
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Posted - February 13 2009 : 08:44:28 AM
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Thanks for the input guys,
I figured there is a small demand
that would require super cheap parts
to be worth trying it, the Casting Resin Kit
is about $65 that would be alot of .25 air horns
to sell to make up the cost, plus the shipping
would be more than the parts cost.
.....still it stinks when you have a engine thats
missing 2 parts and the common $5 donor engine
is in nicer shape than the one your trying to fix up.
I'm only repairing mine out of sentimental value
if it was not the same one I had since I was 7
I dont think I would care enugh to fix it I would
probley look for a mint original one. It took alot of
thinking before I pulled apart a very nice Virginian
alco for its trucks, windows & front & rear steps.
Slot cars always cost a fortune to buy, repair & restore
but they get used hard so parts are not as common
as a train that some kid dropped a few times or burned
a motor out in. The longer I look arround I see what you guys
mean about the parts being available, its the nice original stuff
that is hard to find. I still might make my own truck covers
and sell them on a (I'll make them as some one needs them) basis.
I was a screen printer for 10 years so I'm determined to duplicate
the original decals as close as possible as a personal challenge.
I can print the metallic gold ink.
Thanks again, Jason
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Posted - February 13 2009 : 11:05:51 AM
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I think making reproduction parts would work on a small scale. A cottage industry kind of thing.
An other idea I had was to start out with resin casting the parts then have a set of dies made and have an injection molding company use them to do a small run. Then as the parts sell , have another run made.
A lot of the early model railroad companies would farm out their injection molding.
I wouldn't limit the parts to just Tyco or molded parts either.
Stamped parts and formed wire parts like stantions and railings would sell.
Ray
Edited by - Ray Marinaccio on February 13 2009 11:19:45 AM
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Posted - February 19 2009 : 11:30:39 AM
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It would be nice to injection moldparts but I think the
dies would be very expensive, maybee some one can start a
postto see which parts of wich engines/cars are the most in
need of replacement parts, it might be possible to
make a "kit" of different parts on one mold,
Brake Wheels, caboose railings, truck covers,
air horns, ect. call it a "Tyco restoration pack"
or something, I bet a few parts box spares would
end up back on the rails.
I dont have the means or time to take on such a project though.
If a member ran a poll and collected enugh people interested
it might be worth a small run if everyone interested chipped in together
to develop & produce such parts, maybee an aftermarket supplier
would be interested in taking it on if he saw a demand for it.
I hate the idea of buying a nice caboose just to rob the railings off of it
or buying a flat car to stea l the trucks & brake wheels off of it......
down the road i end up wanting to fix up the one I stole the parts from,
its a neverending circle of swapping parts lol!
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