Round House Victoria Square Themed 3 in 1 Kits

When Round House Products was producing their line of 3 in 1 kits they produced several “themed” kits, one of which was named Victoria Square. The Victoria Square theme included three of their 3 in 1 kits, kits #1511, 1512, and 1513.

Victoria Square was supposed to represent a “mythical place in American history”. These kits were appropriate on layouts depicting America from 1900 on-wards.

Kit #1511 Restaurant and Station

Kit #1511 contained two car kits, a modern steel 40’ boxcar, and steal sheathed, 2-window caboose. The kit also included polystyrene roof, brick wall sections, and windows and door castings for the restaurant.

Kit #1512 Cable Car and Power House

Kit #1512 utilizes a 34’ Overton Passenger car and polystyrene roof, brick wall sections, and windows and door castings. I do have an instruction sheet for this kit which I will be summarizing in an upcoming post.

Kit #1513 Cable Car Barn and Repair Shop

Kit #1513 includes polystyrene roof, wall, and window and door castings. This kit as the others also included detailed instructions on how to best make use of the supplied parts.

Old Round House 3 in 1 Kits

These old Round House 3 in 1 kits were a great resource to the HO model railroader. When these kits were available I purchased several of these kits. The kits included parts from several of Round House kits, extra parts, and an instruction sheet on how to build the basic kit. Also within the notes were ideas on how to take the supplied parts and kit-bash them into something out of the ordinary. Ordinarily, scratch building supplies, like styrene or wood sheet were required. In addition, the kit required the purchase of parts from other manufacturers.

1500 Channel Frame Log/Lumber Car Set
1501 Wood Chip Car Kit Set
1502 Shorty Flat Car Project Kit
1503 Maintenance of Way Workers Kit
1504 Yard Office/ Wayside Station
1505 Section Gang House/Gandy Dancers' Quarters
1506 Telegraph Office/Service Facility
1507 Maintenance of Way Fire Fighting Train
1508 Ore Jimmy Car Set
1509 "Battle Mountain" Log & Mine Timber Car Set
1510 "Battle Mountain" Climax mine locomotive dummy kit
1511 Restaurant/Passenger Station
1512 Cable Car Power House & Passenger Car Kit
1513 Cable Car Shop & Car Barn
1514 "Battle Mountain" Old Time Saloon and Office kit
1515 Rotary Snow Plow & Tender Project kit
1516 Jordan Spreader/Snow Crab & Tool Car
1517 Snow Dozer, Flanger & Snow Plow kit
1518 "Battle Mountain" Galloping Goose dummy
1519 Snow Plow dummy
1521 Mom's Family Diner
1524 Storage Shed
1550 "Moose Jaws" 0-8-0T Logging Engine kit dummy
It is a shame that when I started to collect these kits they were already out of production and many of the kits could no longer not be found.

Details-Round House Products 3 in 1 Kits

Some time ago I made several posts on Roundhouse 3-in 1 kits. These kits include components  and bits and pieces from the Model Rectifier’s line of products. These kits include detailed instructions and tips on how to use these kits for kit-bashing. Although these kits include a variety of components  you will need to add other materials  to complete these projects.

Kit Number & Name	Description
1500 Channel Frame Log/ Lumber Car Set	The kit features three complete 26’ metal log car kits. Includes couplers, trucks, and some detail parts.
1501 Wood Chip Car Kit Set	Includes three molded bodies, trucks, and couplers, plus detail parts. Instructions explain how to kit-bash the three ore cars into wood chip cars.
1502 Shorty Flat Car Project Kit	Features three 30’ metal style flat cars with gondola sides, trucks, coupler, roof, tender body. Kit-bash instructions on how to build three logging camp cars,
1503 Maintenance Of Way Workers Kit	Include materials to build three different MOW cars: Supply car, Bunk car, and Repair car
1504 Yard Office / Wayside Station	Features two complete 36’ wood style box car kits, and molded single story brick fright station
1505 Section Gang House/ Gandy Dancers Quarters	Kit includes one Overton coach body; 36’ refer car kit, and a single-story stone building.
1506 Telegraph Office and Service Facility	Kit features a26’ tank car, a Shorty flat car, and a molded single story brick telegraph office
1507 Maintenance of Way Fire Fighting Train	Kit includes materials for the construction of three different MOW cars: Water Tank car, Chemical Tank car, and Tower car
1508 Ore Jimmy Car Set	Materials for three complete cars, including trucks, couplers, and some detail parts.
1509 “Battle Mountain” Log and Mine Timber Car Set	Kit features three complete 36’ metal log cars, and a single-story Assay Building
1510 “Battle Mt.” Climax mine Locomotive-dummy kit	The kit features a molded body. Complete detailing parts. HO and HOn3 trucks, and 30’ flat car
1511 Restaurant / Passenger Station	The kit includes a molded single story brick station, one metal style box car and one modern style caboose kit.
1512 Cable Car Powerhouse & Passenger Car Kit	This includes two molded bodies, detailing parts, HO trucks, detailing parts and a single story building kit.
1513 Cable Car Shop and Car Barn	Kit features molded two-story brick building
1514 “Battle Mountain” Old time saloon and office kit.	Kit includes a molded two-story stone building
1515 Rotary Snowplow & Tender Project Kit	Kit features 34” side door caboose, a rotary front, molded tender, under-frames, and trucks
1516 Jordan Spreader/Snow Crab & Tool Car Kit	Includes one side door caboose, two metal under frames, couplers, and some detailing parts
1517 Snow Dozer, Flanger & Snowplow Kit	Kit features a 34’ side door caboose, flat car body and detail parts, a channel frame, and three sets of trucks
1518 “Battle Mountain” Non-Powered Galloping Goose	Includes a dummy diesel body, 34’ box car body and detail parts
1519 Unpowered Snowplow	Features Vanderbilt tender body and die-cast underframe, modern caboose cupola, tank car body, sheet plastic, trucks, and other components
1521 Moms Family Diner	Painted and printed diner body and roof. Platform, railing, walkway, porch, roof, ad stair materials.
1524 Storage Shed	Includes a decorated body. Roof, platform material, tank, ladders, rails, and stair material
1550 “Moose Jaws” Non-Powered 0-8-0T Logging Engine Kit	Dummy Steam Saddle Tank Body, with details. One metal underframe, drivers and lead truck

MDC 3 in 1 Kits

What I always liked about Model Die Casting’s 3 in 1 kits were the abundance of parts and their “Idea Starter” plans that accompanied these kits. You will note the typical plans on one side of the sheet and alternate/”starter” plans on the back of the sheet. As you can see here the starter plans call for some kit bashing. The resulting structure has a lot more character than the typical building.

I would use the door and window castings that came with the kit for most of these openings, but would “board”-up one or two of the windows for a unique look. I will also use corrugated material on the roof of the utility room instead of the material supplied for roofing.

HO Gauge Old Timer Wood Chip & Scrap Car #1501

I have made a few related posts about the these 3 in 1 kits. I recently found this instruction sheet. On one side MDC illustrates the basic construction, while the reverse includes additional notes on using the supplied parts for kit-bashing.

It is ashame that I didn't become aware of these 3 in 1 kits sooner. Many were "out of print" by the time I became aware of them.

Put Critters in their Place

I have reached several mile stones with my Blog and have reached another rather important one with this post. This is the 500^th post to this blog. Now on to my 1000^th…

Suppliers of HO Gauge White Metal (Pewter) Animal Figures

It is that time again, when I start thinking about working on scenes for my model train layout. Although animals often go unnoticed they are all around us. Adding animal figures to our model train layouts will add realism to your scenes and the layout, overall. There are literally hundreds of animal figures to choose from in HO scale, I only listed those that are cast in metal.

Selley Finishing Touches

I haven’t ordered any of Selley Finishing Touches figures as of yet, except maybe their #163 (6 horses). I am unsure where the five horse castings came from of those that recently completed painting (see post for details). From list, Selley does offer a nice collection of animal figure castings with a few unique pieces.

6571 Prospector & burro

6572 Prospector & 2 burro

160 Cowboy & 2 horses

457 Giraffe

456 Elephant

458 Camel

161 Cows (6)

459 Elk

163 Horses (6)

164 Work horses (2)

455 Mule and colt

454 Horse and colt

162 Bull, cow, and calf

159 Sow and litter

158 6 pigs and trough

569 Lambs (6)

520 Lion

297 Chickens (12)

568 Geese (6)

178 Dog and hydrant

179 Dogs (4)

Musket Miniatures

Musket Miniatures offers an extensive list of animal figures with quite a few unique pieces. I haven’t ordered any of Musket Miniatures animal figures as per say, but have ordered a couple of their horse drawn wagons that come with a horse or two and I must say, as with their other casting,s they are clean and crisp in their detail.

HOC3000  Pasture horses (8)

HOC3001  Mares (2) and young horses (2)

HOC3005  Draft horses (2 not harnessed) 

HOC3006  Draft horses (2 harnessed)

HOC3010  Harnessed horses (4) 

HOC3011  Harnessed mules (4)

HOC3100  Dairy cows (8)

HOC3101  Calves (8)

HOC3115  Beef cattle (8)

HOC3150  Longhorn cattle (8)

HOC3200  Barnyard Set(4 pigs, mule, 12 chickens, rooster, 2 dogs)

HOC3205  Dogs and Cats (Dog with 2 puppies, cat with 2 kittens)

HOC3210  Mature pigs (8)

HOC3211  Young pigs (8)

HOC3250  Sheep (10)

HOC3500  Horse drinking from water trough, hand pump

HOC3501  Cow drinking from water trough, hand pump 

HOC3515  Ducks (12)

HOC3520  Geese (12)

HOC3700  Pigeons (12) 

HOC3765  Rabbits and bunnies (4 each)

HOC3700  Pigeons (12)

HOC3750  Coyotes (6)

HOC3760  Prairie dog town

HOC3775  Buffalo

HOC3820  Bighorn mountain sheep

HOC3830  Deer family

HOC3835  Pronghorn Antelope

HOC3840  Bull elk 

HOC3845  Cow elk

HOC3850  Bull moose

HOC3855  Cow moose (2) 

HOC3860  Bear with 2 cubs

HOC3861  Bear family

HOC3870  Seagulls (10 standing)

HOC3871  Seagulls (6 in flight)

HOC3875  Eagles

HOC3885  Beavers (6)

HOC3886  Beaver Pond   (Resin pond, lodge, and 3 beavers)

HOC3890  Varmints! (Raccoon, skunk, fox, 4 squirrels)

Woodland Scenic’s

Woodland Scenic’s offers many animal castings. Most seem to be casted in plastic and these are the only two castings that I found were casted in metal. I was quite surprised in that Woodland Scenic’s does produce a large number of metal products. I added the chicken coop to this list, because even though it is considered a structure, it does contain quite a few chickens. I have a copy of both of these kits, and I must say that the castings are finely cast with crisp details and with very little flash.

D226 Cats and Dogs

D227 Bare Hunter

Chicken Coop D215

B.T.S.

B.T.S. offers a small collection of animal figures, but also produces many other metal detail parts and cast metal figures.  They do offer, as from the list, a few unique pieces: Rats, Skunk, and Pigeon.

20618    Rat (5)  

20651    Dog (2)

20682    Skunk (2)                             

20736    Small Bird (4)                      

20750    Pigeon (6)                           

20752    Chicken (4)        

Neal's N-Gauging Trains

Neal's N-Gauging Trains features mostly painted figures, but does offer a couple castings that are unpainted. Judging from the list here I do notice a few unique pieces here.

NEA224R Red Squirrels (5)

NEA219 Wild Birds - Heron, Owl, Woodpecker & More (5)

NEA221 Seagulls 6)

NEA220 Swans (2)

NEA224 Squirrels (gray)(5)

NEA232 Assorted Wild Animals (5)

NEA223 Rabbits (6)

NEA229 Chickens (5)

NEA230 Rooster

NEA225 Cats (6)

Scale Figures (Fun & Games)

Although I do not own any of Scale Figure’s animal figures I do process quite a few of other figures and I must say that they are pretty nice castings.

3079 BURRO

3080 LONG HORN CATTLE #1

3081 LONG HORN CATTLE #2

3082 LONG HORN CATTLE #3

3083 LONG HORN CATTLE Set

3084 LONG HORN CATTLE #4

3085 LONG HORN CATTLE #5

3086 LONG HORN CATTLE #6

3087 MILK COW

3088 PACK MULE

3089 SEAL

3090 LION

3091 PIG

3092 CALF

3095 COWBOY ON HORSE

3096 CAT

3097 DOG

MF24 OLD JAKE (the mule)         

 Sequoia Scale

Although Sequoia Scale offers only two animal figures, their offerings are unique.

SEQ1123 Large Eagle (2)

EQ1112 Fish (3)

International Hobby Corporation Kwik-Kits

The following three sets of plastic sprue are manufactured in Denmark. I don’t know if you have noticed, but I have a hard time sticking to one project and seeing it through until completion. These three “kwik-kits” offer a verity of detail pieces scaled to HO or 1/87 scale. I have completed one or two of these kits and these detail pieces sit waiting to be added to my model train layout. You can never too many detail pieces.

Railroad Details: # 4551

(relay cabinet, instrument case, call box, track bumper, and block signal)

Rural Details: # 4552

(2 trash cans, satellite TV dish, 2 Television antennas, fuel oil tank, 3 rural mail boxes)

City Details: # 4553

(large mail storage box, city letter mail box, 2 trash cans, 2 fire hydrants, 6 parking meters, 2 window air conditioners, 2 television antennas, and telephone booth)