# Aristo Sale Service



## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

This is risky mentioning Aristo under product reviews. I am reviewing Aristo 20% sale and the service I received. 

This year, Aristocraft has moved toward online direct sales from their website. Scott Polk occasionally announces special sales. Last week he announced 20% off anything on the web site. I have never purchased anything directly from Aristo so this would be good chance to test the system. Given limited resources I kept my purchase to a single piece of rolling stock, a 2 bay B&O hopper. It list for $55.20. It was easy to navigate to the particular car. I clicked on it and hit add to cart. I entered the appropriate check out information (credit card) and the appropriate code.  DONE. The process was easy. That was 9 AM Friday. In just over 24 hours the hopper car was sitting on my steps. Granted I live in Delaware, about 130 miles from Aristo New Jersey, but I was most impressed how quickly Aristo processed the order and got it out the door. The shipping was $11.05 for one car. That equals the 20% discount so in effect for me it was free shipping. I could not drive to Nicolas Smith or Star Hobbies for that price. Nobody locally carries Aristo so no LHS were hurt in this transaction. That shipping is also comparable or less than ebay or other large scale web sites. 

This is my first experience with the Aristo direct sales web site. I have been a frequent participant of their forum. Yes i realize that there were some speed bumps in the transition to the new web site, and there are still some glitches and it is a work in progress. Considering the size of the company I think they are doing well. 

Editorial Comment: I suspect that these short sales will help with cash flow at Aristo. Hopefully that translates into more product availability. I seriously doubt I would have purchased this hopper otherwise form the usual sources. 

About that hopper. It joins a small fleet of hoppers on the Elm Creek RR. Most of the hoppers were purchased 2nd hand or closeout with a variety of makes from B'mann, MDC, and LGB. My cars came to me in a wide variety of paint, but most are now black with basic B&O lettering. It is nice to have a scale model that is accurately lettered. These cars were very common on the B&O from the 40s to 70s and early 80s. 

You can tell the new car. The 2nd car in the cut is the same car done by Shawmut Car Shops several years ago. Third car is MDC. 

 

I give the Aristo direct sales process an excellent rating. 

Tom P


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Glad to here your shopping experiance was a good one. 

Being a B&O fan the photo is great. 

As for the MDC hopper, is it a repaint and re-letter car?


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## Tom Parkins (Jan 2, 2008)

The MDC B&O car is a repaint.....Kmart flat black spray can, and the lettering is a stencil I picked up at AC Moore and used a foam brush to stencil the lB&O. You might say I do things on the economy!!!! I have not been able to figure a way to do 20 or so car economically with data and road numbers, so they only carry a big B&O. Sorry I don't have any "close ups" of MDC or Bmann repainted hoppers. They look fine from 10 ft as you might tell in this picture.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

I haven't acted on this but I inquired at a ink stamp company about having them make me a stamp with B&O and a stamp with 5 numbers that can be rotated to any number required. 

Yes, the smaller info would be lacking but not being a stickler for detail, the B&O and car numbers work just fine. 

My thought was to paint the stamp white and then apply the stamp to the sides of the freight car. 

Being a B&O fan, the B&O coal train above rocks. 

I have 46 MDC/Roundhouse and Piko Coal Hoppers. Relettering them B&O with an ink stamp is the only way I could afford to transform them.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

What price did they give you on the stamp idea? 

I'll probably never have as many of any particular car but, depending on the price, it might be worth it for smaller groups. Apparently, no one makes white dry transfer letters anymore and my caligraphy skills......... 

JackM


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## rmcintir (Apr 24, 2009)

That stamp idea is great! Also nice to hear about Aristo service.


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

"That stamp idea is great!"

Well, Lionel and American Flyer did just that. Probably some kind of learning curve is involved. I would suggest overspraying some recycled political campaign signs black, and practicing on them. Before I had decals made, I was confronted with adding the G&NB logo to a kitbashed baggage car. I could paint the mountains freehand, but I couldn't paint a perfect circle. I was able to lightly coat the rim of a plastic paint jar lid and use it like a stamp to get my circle.










Have fun,
David Meashey


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Here is the response I got from my inquiry. 

Thank you for your inquiry, We'd prefer it if you could get the actual logo samples to us to ensure that the layout is correct. A 1 1/4" x 1" stamp is $8.50, the 5/16" x 1/4" stamp is $6.90. A white Color Box ink pad is $6.00. Generally, orders received before 12 noon EST ship the same day. 

Best Regards, 
Francesca 
* * * * 
Typesetting Department 
Simon's Stamps 
Ph. 800-437-4666 x.102, Fax 800-870-7888 

[email protected] 

Being that I was in the middle of a house forclosure, short sale and finally moving. Now that I'm in the house, trying to organize stuff and find things, the trains have really been on a back burner and thus I have not gotten back to Francesca on this.


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## JackM (Jul 29, 2008)

At that price, it may merit further consideration at some point. Thanks for doing the legwork for us. 

I hope you'll be in a position to get back to the trains soon. 

JackM


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