Ken wrote:

>For anyone interested my local hobbyshop, D+J in Campbell CA has all of
>there ROCO Minitanks stuff at 50% off.  In addition to armor they have a
>couple of Vanagon models too.  I got an od green single cab with US Army on
>the doors and an ambulance for $11.  There also was a "Follow Me" airport
>van with a checkerboard roof that I passed on. $6 is still pretty steep but
>sometimes you just gotta get it.

For the uninitiated, 1/87 scale is good ol' HO in model railroading.
HO stands for Half O, meaning half the size of O gauge (like old Lionels).

Me, I'm an N gauge model railroader.  That's 1/160 scale.  Right now I've
got a 1/160 scale VW Beetle and a 1/160 scale Microbus sitting on my 
computer desk.  The Beetle is a little bigger than a kidney bean, and
beautifully detailed.  It's from Germany (no surprise there!) and cost
3 or 4 dollars (bought it back in about 89 or so).

If anyone wants to enter the special world of HO & N scale model railroad
accessories, the place to look is in the Walther's catalog at your local
hobby shop.  By hobby shop I mean a *real* hobby shop, one with trains and
model airplanes and R/C stuff.  There's a Walther's for HO, and a different
Walther's for N and Z (Z: even smaller than N).  

Look in the vehicles section to find the VWs.  8^)

Michael Pelikan
'74 Super Sun Bug
'93 EuroVan MV 5 speed