Re: Any Such Thing As A "reasonably $ " HOn3 2-8-2

I hate to say it but you are not going to find a good HOn3 "mike" for under $350, and even those in the $350-$500 range will most likely need some work. While I can not aford the new "mikes" in HOn3, I have gotten some good deals on ebay and keeping track of what hobby shops have to offer.
What I like to do is take an old engine and rework it to meet todays standards. Take one of my K-28's for example. It is an old PFM import that I took almost all of the details off and replaced. I put a diamond stack on it, reworked the piping, added details left off the original, and added my own power picks up. When finished and painted in the Bumble-Bee scheme, it is hard to tell the difference (other than the solid drivers) that it is an "old" engine.
Thus far I have 2 K-27's, 2 K-28's, 3 K-36's, 1 K-37, a C-16, C-21, C-25, a WP&Y 2-8-2, a SV 2-6-6-2, a couple of project engines and a lot of brass passenger cars. When I counted up the value of the engines vs. what I payed for them it comes to about HALF.
By reworking the old brass I have been able to get to the point where friends want me to rework and paint their brass. I do this for a nominal fee and that fee goes to the next engine or car I want. It is kind of the best of both worlds, I get to work on brass to buy my brass.
If you have any questions about HOn3 brass, just drop me a line off list.
John Vandenberg