Taco Bell, 7-11, McDonalds, PIzza Hut, etc.

I just built a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant model. I like it a lot. I was wondering if there are any other models of fast food joints or famous stores like 7-11, WalMart, Toys R Us, etc. I'm talking about businesses that are cultural icons that we all grew up with. I might be interested in some non-famous fast food places too.

Reply to
wizzzer
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w> I just built a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant model. I like it a w> lot. I was wondering if there are any other models of fast food joints w> or famous stores like 7-11, WalMart, Toys R Us, etc. I'm talking about w> businesses that are cultural icons that we all grew up with. I might be w> interested in some non-famous fast food places too.

You might have to scratch build most of these -- many of these companies are really fuzzy about trademarks and such and won't let the model making companies make models of their stores. OTOH, some model makers get around this by making 'generic' clones of 'famous' places:

Check out Atlas's "Roadside Restaurant" -- can you say "Howard Johnson's"? Yes, I know you can...

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I guess IHC got the trademark issues worked out and has an actual HoJos:

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Or:

"Dari-King Drive In Restaurant" -- probably can be adapted to either Burger King or Dairy Queen (Dari-King seems to be a hybrid of either of these fast-food / drive ins):

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White Tower => White Castle?

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For the most part, the 'big box retail' are just that: a big box. You can probably scratch build one of these with sheet styrene with the proper sort of textured surface (fake stone or concrete block or whatever) and/or use a 'generic' shopping center or shopping mall kit. Then add on the 'logo', which you can probably get off the company's web site and print with a color printer on either decal paper or on 'sticky-back' (label) paper. The big box retail stores depend less on 'distinctive' architecture than the fast-food places. Or else their architecture is just more 'generic'.

You could also chop up this truck:

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For use on a building...

w> w>

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Reply to
Robert Heller

joints

Yes, there are a number of fast-food restaurant models out there...some currently in production, others from the past.

There briefly was a McDonalds but the corporation withdrew (or never gave) permission to manufacture the model and it was withdrawn from the marketplace quickly. Today it commands a high price on eBay. Atlas did a Howard Johnsons for a time but its ultimate fate seems to have been similar to Mickey D's (the structure is still offered but sans the famous rooftop logo/sign). Modelers from S.E. New York State may recognize City Classic's Route 22 Dinner.

For those of us with long memories, Walthers and SS Ltd both offer the White Castle/White Tower burger joint. I believe there was a 7-11 kit and a Dairy Queen for a while some years back (Blair Line does offer a Dairy "King" stand-in currently)and someone has a "City Scoop" that is obviously a Carvels. Almost certainly are others from the past whose names escape me just now.

Several of the unique small restaurants from the Art Deco period, shaped like coffee pots, bulldogs, hotdogs, etc., like those found in CA and along Route 66 in the 1930's, have been offered. To date, However, there have not been any large discount stores (Walmart, K-Mart, Toys-R-Us, et al.) offered as kits. These buildings are generally far too large to work on most layouts. RMC magazine did have an article on building a particular CVS in a recent issue however.

CNJ999

Reply to
CNJ999

Nope. White Tower and White Castle were/are both real and were/are competitors, with similar buildings. IIRC we had both here in Dayton, Ohio.

Reply to
Joe Ellis

At a local train show last week a friend had a Pizza Hut plastic structure for sale. No idea who made it. So they must be or have been available.

Bob Boudreau

Reply to
Railfan

A couple years ago American Greetings ( trying harder to be Hallmark) put out a Christmas decoration that is a fairly good model (N-scale) of the very early McDonalds drive ups. Can still be found on EBay from time to time.

Val ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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The best little engineering school you may not have heard of, but should have! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reply to
VManes

I grew up with the Piggly-Wiggly a couple blocks away, as well as A&P a bit farther off. Fast food was the guy with the tamale cart who came down the street on summer evenings. Transportation was the Wabash, or the Illinois Terminal interurban.

KFC or WalMart strike me as "cultural icons" on a par with the movie Deep Throat, or the National Inquirer, or the ubiquitous "adult" video stores.

Reply to
Steve Caple

You failed to mention which scale you are modeling. The following are N-Scale.

Kato has a model of Denny's in N-scale:

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And a nice restaurant:

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Tomix makes a 7-11, p/n 4036, which can sometimes be found in the US.

Another Tomix restaurant model is p/n4028 and 4027.

I believe it was Hallmark that made a McDonald's ornament that is N-Scale.

Reply to
Ken Rice

wizzzer wrote: I just built a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant model. I like it a lot. I was wondering if there are any other models of fast food joints or famous stores like 7-11, WalMart, Toys R Us, etc. I'm talking about businesses that are cultural icons that we all grew up with. I might be interested in some non-famous fast food places too.

------------------------------------------------- I have a Life-Like N scale Burger King and Pizza Hut. In HO, I have a Life-Like 7-Eleven and a Tyco Howard Johnson's.

I found it to be more fun to make my own fast food places.

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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History of N Scale:
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Railroad Bookstore:
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to 1,000 sites:
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Reply to
Bill

Tyco produced in Ho howard johnson(ihc),Pizza hut, Burger king? better burger king ho vollomer ?? Mcdonalds lifelike I think a rare find

hope this helps Anthony

Reply to
Anthony Chambers

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:58:56 -0800, "Jon Miller" purred:

Wrong! Only with a binding license and liability insurance can the company be protected from silly suits. If they have no license they are completely open to actions and have no protection or recourse short of paying ever higher insurance premiums which get passed along to the customer.

cat

Reply to
cat

I think they have all been listed in separate posts, but there were McDonald's, Burger Kings, 7/11's and Pizza Hut. There was a Seven-Up distribution center and there have been some service stations with brand names. And don't forget the KFC that was in the original post. A few months ago, I saw a Dariy Queen listed on ebay. It was an old kit, Aristo Craft, I believe. It was a hot item too... when the dust eventually cleared, it sold for around $36.00. It was a kit that originally sold at about $1.19!

I never heard officially what happened to the McDonalds model. They were only on the market for about six weeks, if that long. There was a rumor that you could order one through your local McDonalds manager, but I talked to one and he told me he had never heard of anything like that.

It is strange that there are other McDonalds in other scales... I believe Ive seen one in O-scale made by either Rail King or MTH. Why McDonalds wouldn't commission such a kit, I'll never know. If nothing else, sell them at their stores; I'll bet they would sell a ton of them. Oh well...

dlm

Reply to
Dan Merkel

"M> I think they have all been listed in separate posts, but there were "M> McDonald's, Burger Kings, 7/11's and Pizza Hut. There was a Seven-Up "M> distribution center and there have been some service stations with brand "M> names. And don't forget the KFC that was in the original post. A few "M> months ago, I saw a Dariy Queen listed on ebay. It was an old kit, Aristo "M> Craft, I believe. It was a hot item too... when the dust eventually "M> cleared, it sold for around $36.00. It was a kit that originally sold at "M> about $1.19! "M> "M> I never heard officially what happened to the McDonalds model. They were "M> only on the market for about six weeks, if that long. There was a rumor "M> that you could order one through your local McDonalds manager, but I talked "M> to one and he told me he had never heard of anything like that. "M> "M> It is strange that there are other McDonalds in other scales... I believe "M> Ive seen one in O-scale made by either Rail King or MTH. Why McDonalds "M> wouldn't commission such a kit, I'll never know. If nothing else, sell them "M> at their stores; I'll bet they would sell a ton of them. Oh well...

It is all a function of the Intellectual Property lawyers justifying their existence, coupled by plain silliness on the part of the Marketing Department. Unfortunately for us modelers, this is all too typical of these businesses.

\/ Robert Heller ||InterNet: snipped-for-privacy@cs.umass.edu

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Reply to
Robert Heller

Agreed, but they sell and/or license other McDonald's stuff all of the time. For some reason, there seems to be an unnatural fear of model railroaders! After all, we are harmless little creatures who live in our own 1/87th (or whatever scale you model) world!

dlm

Reply to
Dan Merkel

"Dan Merkel" , In a message on Tue, 15 Mar 2005 15:59:11 -0500, wrote :

"M> "Robert Heller" wrote in message "M> news:10390$42372f13$cb248f0$ snipped-for-privacy@nf1.news-service.com... "M> > It is all a function of the Intellectual Property lawyers justifying "M> > their existence, coupled by plain silliness on the part of the "M> > Marketing Department. Unfortunately for us modelers, this is all too "M> > typical of these businesses. "M> "M> Agreed, but they sell and/or license other McDonald's stuff all of the time. "M> For some reason, there seems to be an unnatural fear of model railroaders! "M> After all, we are harmless little creatures who live in our own 1/87th (or "M> whatever scale you model) world!

It is probably not so much fear as non-understanding. Selling a Ronald McDonald toy to a parent for his/her child insures that that child will

*insist* on revisiting the source of the toy, which relates to future sales of BigMacs and 'Fries -- this is good for McDonald's future bottom line, making the Marketing Department very, very happy. Also the child will play with the toy with his/her friends and *they* will want one too, which means additional trips to McDonald's. Ditto with McDonald's T-shirts, ball caps, etc. Selling a "model McDonald's restaurant" to some 'strange' older person, so that this 'strange' older person can plant it on a sheet of building insulation (down in some basement somewhere) and then glue down little plastic people next to it does not mean that this strange person will come back every week for a BigMac or something. It means that he will 'imagine' that his little plastic people will be ordering imaginary BigMacs. These imaginary people with their imaginary BigMacs don't do McDonald's bottom line much good (which is what the Marketing Department is interested in) and depending on what this 'strange' person plants elsewhere on his model train layout might or might not give McDonald's a bad name or something (this might upset the Intellectual Property lawyers). Even worse, this strange person might do something totally strange like take a razor saw to the restaurant so it could be fit in some odd location (eg kit-bashing). He might cut off the 1/87 scale Ronald McDonald off the model -- model railroaders often 'alter' the kits they buy for various reasons.

Basically, the Marketing Department (and the Intellectual Property lawyers) lose *control* of the model once sold. Also, since the model is likely to be displayed to some portion of the public and since model will be in a context of the *modeler's* choice (not McDonald's), there are all sorts of issues which would probably give both the Marketing Department and the Intellectual Property lawyers serious nightmares...

I know it is only a model and the Marketing Department and the Intellectual Property lawyers should get over it, but that is not something we as modelers have much control over.

"M> "M> dlm "M> "M> "M>

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Reply to
Robert Heller

demands such protection in their license agreement as they know sooner or later junior will hit some other kid with a UP logo carrying model and they will be sued, < Simple answer, don't connect the company by demanding license agreements. Then they have no worries, well orders of magnitude less worries. They are creating their own problems with liability.

Reply to
Jon Miller

Aint that the truth Not a new thing though!

Reply to
Rob

Robert Heller wrote in news:10390$42372f13$cb248f0$ snipped-for-privacy@nf1.news-service.com:

Speaking of KFC, has anyone ever modelled the most famous KFC of all, the landmark "Big Chicken" in Marietta, GA?

Reply to
Norman Morgan

Dear folks, I have an idea: just build a 'McDowells'.

Cordially yours, Gerard P.

Reply to
pawlowsk002

The Pizza Hut model was offered in the 1980's by Life Like, (who also has a Kentucky Fried Chicken")

Then of course there's the rare Life Like McDonald's which was only offered for a short time until McD's made them take it off the market. (I had one, kick myself for giving it away).

Don

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Trainman

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