Does anyone know of a good on-line source for 1:43 vehicles with reasonable shipping rates? The best I've found so far was $10 for the first car and $3 for each additional. This still seems high when ordering 3 or 4 cars.
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Live near a Rite Aid??? They all have a display of 1/43 scale die cast. They range from great to OK but often go on sale for $5 with no shipping!!! My son is a manager for a local Rite Aid and he always alerts me when new ones come in.
WalGreens and CVS also have similar offerings.
I actually stopped in one the other night after reading one of your posts. They had a lot a modern stuff but I'm looking for pre 1960. I plan on stopping in every few weeks to see if the selection changes.
Haven't tried Wal-Greens yet. That will be my next stop.
I ordered 9 Yat Ming 1:43 cars from modeltrainstuff.com that I heard about on this forum. They were $6. each, shipping for 9 cars was $12.52. I was so pleased I ordered another 11 cars, shipping for 11 was $13.20
Not sure on shipping costs but these 2 have a lot of selection;
Click on the US flag for US pricing.
Both have a great selection of the quality stuff and some cheaper.
Bought from both great selections.
For the 2nd one if you are in a model train club they sometimes give a bit of a discount.
Have you tried Diecast Direct in Kentucky?
Al K.
I'm one of the few that think drug store car models leave a lot to be desired. To save money, go to Diecast Direct, make a list of what you want, and order them all at once. For variety, shop eBay for higher priced cars, and pay the postage.
Everyone needs to ask themselves, "Do I just want to fill roads, or do I want models to work with realisic scenics?".
Originally Posted by Joe Hohmann:
I'm one of the few that think drug store car models leave a lot to be desired. To save money, go to Diecast Direct, make a list of what you want, and order them all at once. For variety, shop eBay for higher priced cars, and pay the postage.
Everyone needs to ask themselves, "Do I just want to fill roads, or do I want models to work with realisic scenics?".
Well, I am another of those few. I always make a point when in any drug store to look at their offerings and in the last few years all I found were a 1:43 Ford food (hot dogs) truck and an Ford RV that looked both good and scale. Most I find are 1:32 or so or 1:64.
As observed above, Klein (modeltrainstuff) isn't too bad when ordering a bunch.
But I always check Amazon first: Prime items are shipped free (at least to me ). A good source of inexpensive cars for which you do pay shipping there is to use Amazon's search feature for "Amer hobby 1:43" - you get a Polish supplier whose cars are $10-12. shipping is a lot for one car but group them together and they are reasonable.
As noted, diecastdirect is pretty reasonable shipping charges to.
Appreciate all the suggestions. Rattler - I've got plenty of pickups but thanks for sharing the post.
I placed my order with Klein's today. I picked up 4 cars, a tractor-trailer and some odds and ends. Very good prices and selection. Shipping was fair as well. I'm glad it was suggested because judging by the name of their website I always assumed it was a fly-by-night internet only company.
I bought half a box or 16 MTH cars and then bought a bunch of New Ray cars from Nicholas Smith. Problem is everybody on my layout is driving an $80,000 or better car. there are no regular people cars
The irony is, regular people cars can be had in 1/43 - but they cost five or ten times what a Corvette or Ferrari does. In the model world, the pricing structure is upside down because everybody wants a Ferrari Testa Rossa and not so many people want a '36 Terraplane. The tooling cost for the Testa Rossa gets spread over thousands of copies while the Terraplane is a limited production collectors' item.
I well understand the irony above...I have not looked in drugstores at all for I'd fear
bad models of recent production autos (sounds like a third problem is one I am familiar with...luxury cars only), fourth problem is that many are open cars rarely
seen on the streets (not too many were out in this winter's blizzards). The bad
thing is back when some of these vehicles were current, models were not being made but only sandcast iron and other crude toys. (I had Tootsietoys on my childhood
layout, but they are not what I want now)
The latest catalog from Fairfield Collectibles has some 1/43 scale cars and trucks. They are not cheap as far as I'm concerned.
Norm
I have found my collection of '50's and early '60's cars at Cracker barrel.
Pontiac787:
I have a bunch of 40's and 50's cars I want to sell ($5.00 each plus a minimum shipping charge). If you're interested, email me, and i'll go through all my stuff and let you know exactly what I have.
Bob
Thanks Bob. As is usually my luck, I just ordered some cars yesterday so I am all set for the time being.
Originally Posted by Bob Severin:
Pontiac787:
I have a bunch of 40's and 50's cars I want to sell ($5.00 each plus a minimum shipping charge). If you're interested, email me, and i'll go through all my stuff and let you know exactly what I have.
Bob
What are your 50's vehicles?
Quizshow:
I would have to go through my spare car collections. I know there are Mid 50's Fords and Chevys. There may be Pontiacs and Buicks. Let me look through them and I'll get back to you if you think you're interested.
Bob
Wal Mart used to have them really cheap.
There used to have cars which were "plain jane", not exact to any model, eally cheap. Great for places away from the front of the layout. But everything now is connected to an exact model. That means the model has a contract with the automaker, which increases the price.....
I can see the automakers having some sort of agreement. But to the point it overprices the model.....
