How is the quality today? Several years ago I purchase some for our store. I was very disappointed in the quality. I never put it back in the store. Back then I found the pieces of the buildings were bowed , some buildings were missing pieces and some buildings would not stay together.
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Mr Sutter you just described all or most of the plastic Ville I have ever seen. I know some people love the stuff but I now build all my own structures. Nick
Nick, thank you for that information. When I was young boy, for Christmas in either 1951 or 1952 I awoke to find Santa Claus had left me some Plasticville buildings. The quality of those buildings was so much better.
I wonder why? The molds were the same and the plastic should have been more stable than the old stuff.
RoyBoy,
The quality of the new Plasticville isn't even close too my old Plasticville.
Here are some pictures of my old Plasticville on my Flyer layout from the 70's.
If the kits are older, they may have warped from heat and age. Also those molds are very old and could have need work at the time your kits were run. I used to build a lot of model cars and planes and some of the older rerun kits could be a pain to build.
Steve
The new kits use a newer “slippery “ plastic that doesn’t stay together as well. The quality of the plastic is great, it just doesn’t snap and stick .
Jon 
When I want plasticville, I buy vintage plasticville from train shows and eBay. For me, the new stuff is just more Chinese crap. Plus it lets my family know that I do my part for recycling. I buy and use antiques whenever possible.
RoyBoy posted:I wonder why? The molds were the same and the plastic should have been more stable than the old stuff.
Its all about cooling time after the mold is shot. If you remove the shot too soon or the cooling is ineffective in the injection mold machine, the plastic will warp.
Lou N
I'm using the signal bridges which I modify with leds which5mm fit perfically to apply to my layout .they really look great.
I have fond memories of my many original Plasticville structures in the 1950's on my Gilbert Flyer layouts. The hospital, gas station, police and fire depts, barn, log cabin, pond and bridge, ranch house, cottage, church and super market among others. All snapped together well and stayed together with no parts were ever missing! Never had a Frosty Bar though!
The last new Plasticville I bought was about 30 years ago and it was fine then. In the process of finishing the basement in the new house for my new layout and plan on having a section for my Plasticville most of which was my father's form the 50's will have to replace a lot of small parts but most are still available.
My guess is that it has to do with the polymer that's being shot into the die, as much as die wear.
Clearly the new Plasticville is of a different plastic than that of the 50's. On the good side, I think the newer plastic is less brittle than the old in handling by the hobbyist. No 'data' for that....just a sense of it's feel when handling. It may, in fact be less of a pure styrene, and be more of an ABS (butyl...think rubber...content) type of plastic.
And, different polymers have different characteristics in going through the same die. Some shrink more than others in the cool-down process. The die temperature can have an impact....some must be cooled throughout processing in order to stabilize the process temperature. Handling of some polymers before they're fully cooled can result in warpage (think falling into a tub, randomly stacked, impacted by subsequent parts coming out of the die. Then there's the re-grinds....taking the sprues and offal and grinding them back up into pellets to be re-used; after a while, that's not healthy for some polymers, so you need to mix in re-grinds at a percentage of virgin material. Etc., etc., etc., blah, blah, blah.
IOW, there are multiples of variables in plastic molding. Just grabbing a different sack or tub of XYZ-plastic pellets and pouring it into the molding hopper at the front end of the injection machine is not a guarantee of success.
Oh, and did I mention that not every manufacturer's version of a seemingly generic polymer may yield a part of the same quality/function? So, P-Ville was clearly made here in the good ol' U. S. of A. in the 50's....perhaps of a plastic polymer and source long since upgraded.....or even gone! Now P-Ville comes from China from who-knows-whom, made of who-knows-what. When I worked for an automotive components division making mechanical instruments, the manufacture of the small plastic pinion gears in an odometer was nigh unto a career in and of itself. The slightest variation of materials, processes, handing, and, yes, die wear, could create havoc in a heartbeat at the rate these were being made. Then, of course, was the coddling of these parts through subsequent assembly into an odometer to avoid damage.
So, today's P-Ville? It's still a classic. It still sells at our store (LHS), but there's so much of the stuff at garage sales and in grandpa's attic, it's not as 'hot' as it was back in the 50's, that's for sure.
My biggest 'gripe', if you will........Bachmann, purveyor of P-Ville since Adam and Eve, has added nothing to the line. C'mon, guys! This is not rocket design! Create a renaissance for P-Ville! Something NEW!!
Just MHO.
KD
I have a Plasticville Coaling Tower project in the plans and the kits look fine to me. Obviously the kit does not come with the finer detail parts, but, it appears that it can made into a nice structure.
While I no longer use them, Plasticville Structures offer an inexpensive and easy way to populate your layout with buildings. They are more S scale than O scale but the thing about them that I dislike the most is that when illuminated the whole building glows. IMO, Ameritown buildings and fronts are more realistic cost a slight bit more and look more in place on an O gauge layout.
jim sutter posted:RoyBoy,
The quality of the new Plasticville isn't even close too my old Plasticville.
I am not a collector and certainly not an expert, but I have a bit of both and can see no difference.
Gentlemen,
Long ago I gave my nephew most all our Lionel Plasticville building. The originals were great for kids dexterity and learning how to assemble structures. Our originals were not warped, went together without glue and for a kid learning some were decently comply to build.
Jim Sutter is correct, the later made plasticville structures were not made with the same quality as the originals. I compare this to the Lionel FasTrack where the 1st and 2nd generation FT was made with great QC, and the later not so much.
PCRR/Dave
If the molds are maintained the warping and twisting has little to do with plastic than methods. Modern plastics should be better than 1950's era stuff. Moving molds to China where time is money x 10.....they are running the molds to fast. Bachmann, to get the price they want, may allow a certain amount of warping. You can understand the price difference if you order 5,000 kits and to get issue free kits you can run one kit every 90 seconds but a few warped kits you can run 4 kits in 60 seconds. Good molds do not create warped kits...method does.
If OGR can get their great buildings made in USA, why can’t plasticville? This China stuff is getting old now.
romiller49 posted:If OGR can get their great buildings made in USA, why can’t plasticville? This China stuff is getting old now.
There are many factors. More factors than need to be detailed on a model train forum. PRICE was the number one reason many years ago companies shipped their molds to China. As the cost of China vs USA manufacturing gets closer to being even some is coming back. Don't curse just the Chinese for poor quality control....I work with a company that has all it's products made in China and is considered the leader in it's hobby quality wise. But that's what we demand and PAY for......
Global manufacturing is 100 times more complicated than the average citizen wants or cares to know....take my world it's very complex and changing daily.
My dad had a beautiful 60’s Lionel HO SantaFe passenger set along with many HO Plastiville structures - I loved the gas station, car dealer, fire house - they ent great with my Matchbox cars. It would’ve been neat to have the car dealer, bank and men’s store in O/027
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