Model Railroading > A shoutout to Tichy

I recently gave up trying to find Tichy decals and small detail parts from Walthers.  Seems as though many of your have had the same problem lately.  Anyway, I called Tichy in N. Carolina and had no trouble placing an order for everything I needed.  Wonderful, friendly customer service and the amazing part, I received the order and their catalogs TWO days later by USPS way out in Iowa!  Many people, including myself, didn't realize the extensive selection of decals they stock.  And unbelieveable fast service too.  

They have a website that is very easy to order from too.

My LHS said the folks at Tichy contact them regularly.  I ordered some decals through them and got the call they were in just a couple of days later.  Great customer service!

I also have to say that Tichy models are easier to build than they look.  It's intimidating when you open the box and see all the parts.  But if you take it slow and follow the instructions you end up with a really nice model.  The parts fit together really well with a minimum of flash clean-up.  They also give you some extra parts for the ones that are easy to damage like grab irons.  In the crane kit they also give brass wire grab irons along with the plastic ones in case you want to put more damage-proof (but lower detailed) ones on the model.

I recently finished the wheel flatcar.  There is a lot of repetitive tasks when assembling the wheels, but a little patience (and watching TV while doing it) I got them all together.  The flatcar looked so good without the wheels I decided to keep it separate and use the wheel mounting on another car.  I also have a Tichy crane about 75% done and I'm surprised how easy it has been to build.  

For whatever reason model railroaders seem to be afraid of any kit that has more then 10 parts.
Some would probably faint if they saw the number of parts that are in some of the larger scale (1/48 & 1/32) aircraft kits.

My Tichy experience was with their tank cars.  I built 5 of them and then could not look another of the kits in the face.  Had those 5 in operation for a couple years just long enough for handrails to become to brittle touch.  Try to re-rail one without touching handrails.  They are all long gone and good riddance.

tomstp Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My Tichy experience was with their tank cars.  I
> built 5 of them and then could not look another of
> the kits in the face.  Had those 5 in operation
> for a couple years just long enough for handrails
> to become to brittle touch.  Try to re-rail one
> without touching handrails.  They are all long
> gone and good riddance.

So is it the handrails itself that was breaking or was it the joints where you glued them?
Because I have a couple that are 15 years old and are not having any problems.
And I used regular old Testors liquid cement just like I do on any other styrene kit.

I broke the grab irons on the dome when trying to rerail the first tankcar I finished.  My solution was to replace the plastic grabs with formed brass wire ones.
The handrails on my tankcars are brass wire in plastic brackets along the side and plastic on the ends.  Careful handling will help prevent damage.  That's the reason I use the dome to pick the car up.
The flatcar I built is a lot less fragile than the tankcars.  Much easier to handle.  I also have a PFE reefer in the works and obviously it's easier to pick up too.

Tichy has a nice decal catalog that I recently received  when I ordered some parts.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

At a point in my career when I was spending 50, sometimes 70 nights a year in motels, Tichy kits kept me sane and kept me out of the hotel bars. Great kits across the board. 

Yup, there are a lot of parts. But there’s also a really good set of directions. Follow them, and if something doesn’t look like it fits, then stop. You’re doing something wrong. 

In in all the kits I built, the only real design problem I ran across was the cabling on the wreck crane. I never did get it looking taut. But my layout is based on the 1970s, so modeling the crane derelict, with sagging cable, worked just fine. 

I'm the reason why Tichy Train Group exists!

Back in the early 1980's while in college I worked for a hobby shop owned by two friends of mine.  Don Tichy was one of our regular customers.  He would sometimes come in with his wife, Terri, and their children.  At the time he owned a company that made plastic parts for military use.  One day I ready in Model Retailer magazine that Gould was planning on retiring and looking for a buyer of his company.  Knowing that Don liked Gould kits, and owned a plastic business I showed him the article, first asking him if he wanted to buy a model train company.  He read the article, and a big grin appeared across his face.

And so Tichy Train Group was born.

At the January 2018 Amherst (Springfield) show I went to the Tichy booth. Don recognized me immediately.  Terri didn't recognize me at first, until I said "Stuart from Right Track Hobby."  Her face lit up a huge smile, and then a big hug from her.  It was great to see them again.

Stuart

Gulliver-Stuart:
A fine example of how networks used to work, face to face (or phone to phone) between people with interests in common.
I hear Facebook does that now, but not for me...yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/19 16:30 by railstiesballast.

I’ve build several of their kits, and have talked to them (Tichy’s daughter, I think) on the phone. The experience and ease was/is so nice I only deal with them directly now.
I just finished their tank car and the kit really reflects the deep thought that went into it’s design- a real treat!
SR

I have no real use for the steam crane, but damn... I just GOTTA build one!

>
> I have no real use for the steam crane, but
> damn... I just GOTTA build one!

Or kitbash one into a steam piledriver?

Posted from Android

Darren Boes
Lethbridge, AB
Southern Alberta Railfan

A lot of railroads rebuilt their cranes this size to diesel power. Not much needs to be changed on the Tichy model except take the smoke stack off the top and add radiator shutters on one side. You might add a diesel engine out of a truck to the inside but it will be hard to see behind all the machinery.