X58s and the Fate of the Foobie

[Dave V]

I've been wanting decent X58s since I first started thinking about modeling outside my 1956 PRR era.  I never really thought the X58 would see the light of day as a prototype-based model, so I did what most folks would do in this situation and went with foobies.

One is the "PRR X58A" from MTL:



The other is an old Roundhouse offering that has no class markings but looks suspiciously like the paint/lettering seen on several CR X58s and has an X58 series number...



With ESM doing the X58 and subclasses for real, what should become of these foobies?  They don't look objectionable, but would not look right coupled close to the real thing.  I would face the same dilemma when Bluford Shops does their hopper in EL; my Atlas 90t EL stand-ins will look far too heavy in comparison.

So...  What do we do with foobs when the prototype model finally arrives?  N scale is definitely evolving into a prototype-oriented scale, so this dilemma will confront us more and more often.

Thoughts?

[wm3798]

Sell them to a shortline that will slap it's name on just about anything...

Lee

[ljudice]

Will they blend?

[TrainCat2]

Will they blend

er

[christoph]

I tend towards Lee's solution, create a private shortline.

To test my luck with an airbrush I have used the free Turtle Creek decals that long ago came with MRR, and liked the result.  It might be also a way to exchange personalized cars.

[TiVoPrince]

Actual
PC&F boxcars will incite a major blending event, as dozens of foobies give way to accurate models...

[daniel_leavitt2000]

I have a few. They will be repainted to CV's blue scheme as I found decals for them.

[ljudice]

Seriously, the MDC car I would strip - there were several matching shortline/IPD schemes for those cars.

The MTL car I'm not too fond of, it's one of the oddly proportioned models that never look right to me.

[bbussey]

With the X58 slated for 2011, I'd worry about what to do about all those foobie State of Maine cars first.  

[John]

With the X58 slated for 2011, I'd worry about what to do about all those foobie State of Maine cars first.  

Get a bigger blender

[Bob Bufkin]

Forget the blenders, so somemore shortline cars.

[TiVoPrince]

Another
Microscale marketing department miss.  Reruns of older decal sets (that they seem uninterested in) to repurpose stand ins would seem a natural.  Wonder if the old Herald King artwork is available?  That would take care of all those pesky MDC boxcars...

[Robbman]

if you're gonna repaint, the first thing would be to find the prototype for the stand-in car, if it exists, then go from there.

[christoph]

With the X58 slated for 2011, I'd worry about what to do about all those foobie State of Maine cars first.

The best would be to start a new collection "State of Maine Certified Foobie" cars  :  and tell people that this is something cool.

I just checked, I only have two MTL cars and might put them on the "for sale" list.