1/87 scale....

Aurora. That's a name that brought both fun and arguments to the kitchen table. My brother Tim got his first Model Motoring set on his 11th b-day in 1969. He bought every accessory with his allowance, and collected every car at Christmas. His set and cars were the first with the 'pancake' geared motors, rather than the 'clicker' drives Aurora previously used. Among my favorite cars he had were the '65 Mustang convertible, the Green Hornet 'Black Beauty' and the George Barris Batmobile, among his dozen or more cars. Unfortunately, he has none of them anymore, as someone stole the track set and he lost the tackle box with the cars during a move. I think they grew legs and walked away, also....

 

Today, I made another score on Tyco and Bachmann autorack load autos, so I now have enough Camaros and AMXs to fill two tri-deck autorack cars. Won't be 100% prototypical, but at least i can make them appealing with paint that closely matches GM and AMC factory colors and schemes. I need to dig out my other Bachmann sedans and wagons to see if I have enough of them to fill a tri-deck car.

 

Oh, and five Tyco tractors, just for a fun flatcar load.

 

Oxford now makes 1/87 scale , HO scale, 1957 Chevy Nomad wagons, and they are currently in stock at American Excellence and Walthers. The link shows the current HO vehicles available at American Excellence.

https://www.american-excellence.com/?p=list&scale=87

 

That's nice. I'll have to consult the 2017 Walthers catalog and the website to see what colors are available, and *gulp* how much.

 

The initial color offering is the dusk rose one shown. Later in the year they will be releasing one in red I believe. The Oxford diecast cars in 1/87 scale are usually priced below $10.

On Oxford's page you can view the future releases for later this year.
http://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/collections/1-87

 

Thanks, I'll check it out.

 

This thread hasn't been added to for a while. I've recently started building an HO scale (1/87 scale) diorama. I started on it as I haven't yet reassembled my old HO scale train layout after moving to a new home a few years ago (dreading the necessary rewiring). I had some structures that would never be used on the actual train layout and I had a Motel structure kit I liked and decided to build as it would have looked in the late 50's or 60's. The Motel and my "American Graffiti" Mel's Drive in, both took up way too much real estate for the train layout. So I'm almost finished with this HO scale diorama thats currently set up to be 60 years ago today. Its was a time when gas was 31 cents a gallon, you could expect a 6% interest rate on the mortgage of your new $16,000 average priced home, a hotel or motel room averaged about $12 per night (you could expect a black & white TV in every room at that price), and as a college graduate just out of college with an Engineering degree, you could expect to start your career at a salary of about $7200.00 per year. A doctor (General Practitioner) made about $12,000.00 per year. A brand new 1961 Plymouth Valiant station wagon's price started at $2329.00 while you could expect to pay just under $5000.00 for a new 1961 Imperial Crown Coupe.
Still some details to add and I'm waiting on decals for the Phillips 66 sign for the gas station.
Among the 1/87 scale wagons on this diorama, are vintage Revell 1961 Valiant and Plymouth Suburban wagons from 1961, a Road Ragers Aussie Falcon wagon which can kind of pass for an American 1961 Falcon wagon, a BOS 1958 Buick Caballero, an Oxford 57 Chevy Nomad, and by Classic Metalworks, a 48 Ford woody wagon, 53 Ford Ranch Wagon and 53 Ford Country Squire.


View attachment 69200 View attachment 69209

 

Oh, that is so very cool! I spotted the Chryslers on the auto carrier (like the auto carrier you gave me), and the tu-tone blue moving van (which I had one of back before I joined the Navy-I lost so much stuff back then, it a story for another time). The work you've done, especially Mel's Diner, is quite a sight. Are you going to duplicate the cars from American Grafitti?

 

The Mel's Diner is available as a kit or "built up" from Moebius Models. When I bought mine, it was only available "built up" (pre assembled and painted). It was too large to really use on the layout and it remained for years in the cardboard display box it came in. Built the motel model recently and decided to put them together to make a diorama. Others have replicated the American Graffitti cars to go with this structure, but I have no plans to do so. I will be adding car hops, and will add occupants to the convertibles.

 

Dude. That is flippin awesome!

 

Mobius made that? Dang, I never saw one. Have you bought any of those Menard's buildings?

 

Here's the built up from Moebius. https://moebiusmodels.com/ourkits/kits/productpage-mels-pa.html
Also available as a kit. Never have bought any of the Menard's pre built HO scale structures. The Woodland Scenics prebuilt structures are nicer and easier to find.

 

Those I have seen, and are pretty nice.