Bev Bel ?
sona...@webtv.net
I've seen N cars and locos described as BB LL on eBay or just Bev Bel or
just LL Whats the story
Confused
Thanks , John
Jim Bernier
My understanding is that Bev Bel just does painting/decorating of
undecorated shells from other companies. When I was in HO I bought a lot of
their boxcars - the quality was equal to Athearn or maybe a little better.
The good point was that they did schemes that were not available from
Athearn and I already had too many 'paint & decal' projects stacked up! I
have seen Life-Like engines with Bev Bel paint jobs as you noted. I think
they also bought out CM Shops or Rail-Runner(another custom decorator) a
number of years ago. Bondo Bill used to be involved with this company - he
can fill in all of the correct details......
Jim Bernier
HEAD SHACK
extensive line of Athearn, MDC, and Life Like products that have been custom
painted to their specifications. The Bev-Bel products are only available
through retailers who handle Bev-Bel products.
Paul
Federal Hobbies
1 Bristol Drive
Duxbury, MA 02332
Don Dellmann
<sona...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:8413-387...@storefull-105.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
> Is there an independent Co Bev Bel or are they owned by Life Like?
> I've seen N cars and locos described as BB LL on eBay or just Bev Bel or
> just LL Whats the story
> Confused
> Thanks , John
>
Bev Bel is a different company (I believe they MAY have some affiliation
with Portman Hobby Distributors, but I'm not sure).
They take other manufacturer's models (not only Life Like, but many brands,
they started with Athearn) and produce "Custom" paint and lettereing
schemes, and the few I've had were very nicely done.
Don
http://www.geocities.com/don_dellmann
Peter King
Jim Bernier wrote:
>
> John,
>
> My understanding is that Bev Bel just does painting/decorating of
> undecorated shells from other companies.
Not even that. Bev Bel (owned by BEVerly BELkin) is primarily a
distributor. They also have a line of custom-decorated cars and locos,
but do none of the work themselves. Mostly, they have the cars painted
by the manufacturer, and printed by an independent contractor. (The
Belkins were personal friends of the Athearns, that's probably how that
relationship came about.)
> When I was in HO I bought a lot of
> their boxcars - the quality was equal to Athearn or maybe a little better.
Because the paint was probably done by Athearn! Athearn will paint any
solid color for no additional charge, with a minimum of 256 cars
purchased. They also have a number of standard 2 tone patterns, for
example, sides one color, roof and ends another. Any non-standard multi
color scheme requires special masks, Bev Bel typically has the decorator
paint, in those cases.
The contractor usually does the artwork, and prints the cars to Bev
Bel's specs.
> The good point was that they did schemes that were not available from
> Athearn and I already had too many 'paint & decal' projects stacked up! I
> have seen Life-Like engines with Bev Bel paint jobs as you noted.
They also have some sort of special relationship with Life-Like. For
example, they have many of L-L's Canada only releases, where no other
distributor is allowed to have them.
>I think
> they also bought out CM Shops or Rail-Runner(another custom decorator) a
> number of years ago.
Not to my knowledge. However, I think CM Shops may have done some of Bev
Bel's printing from time to time. Not sure who the current printer is.
>Bondo Bill used to be involved with this company - he
> can fill in all of the correct details......
Bill was their printing contractor for many years, but was not directly
employed by them. He is a veritable fountain of information on their
cars, particularly the early ones.
Peter King in NY
>
> Jim Bernier
Jack Mason
FYI CM Shops is run by Ray Threllfall who also runs
Model Railway Post Office (mail order and retail store
- great discounts and sevice with a smile). He occasionally
does runs for BevBel. Ray's (CM shops) cars are typically
better paint jobs than BevBel's whose paint jobs aren't
quite as good as they used to be, although
BevBel's L/L P2K paint jobs are good ( my opinion ).
Jack
Jim Bernier <jrbe...@hotmail.com> wrote in article
<387251D1...@hotmail.com>...
> John,
>
> My understanding is that Bev Bel just does painting/decorating of
> undecorated shells from other companies. When I was in HO I bought a lot
of
> their boxcars - the quality was equal to Athearn or maybe a little
better.
> The good point was that they did schemes that were not available from
> Athearn and I already had too many 'paint & decal' projects stacked up!
I
> have seen Life-Like engines with Bev Bel paint jobs as you noted. I
think
> they also bought out CM Shops or Rail-Runner(another custom decorator) a
> number of years ago. Bondo Bill used to be involved with this company -
he
> can fill in all of the correct details......
>
BondoBill1
>Model Railway Post Office (mail order and retail store
Ray printed the Bev-Bel line from the early 80's to around 1983/4 at which
point Bev-Bel started using our facility. From 1984 to 1991 we printed 90% of
the BB line. In '91/92 they returned to using CM Shops and a few other
companies. By August of 92 we were out of the picture, but still to this day we
get mail complaining about cars we never printed for Bev-Bel.
It was an interesting period in our lives. The way it worked was I would go and
meet Irv avery month, and show him photos of cars that I thought he should do,
including the MDC line of Milk Cars and Hoppers. He would then place the order
with Athearn and the cars were delivered directly to us. On numerous occasions
he would order 20,000 tuscan red or box car red 40 ft box cars from Athearn and
then have me go for it. On one occasion he ordered 20,000 blue 34 foot hoppers
instead of the 2,000 I asked for. Over a two month period we produced so many
different versions of Chessie/B&O/C&O/WM etc. even with schemes never done on
the prototype. When confronted by modelers who were upset with his using the a
certain car and making a non-protoypically correct car, hew would say to them,
"show me a picture that they didn't have it!!
I believe we printed well over 600,000 plus cars. Who ownes them or where they
are sitting now, I have no idea.
Bill
Peter King
Don Dellmann wrote:
>
> <sona...@webtv.net> wrote in message
> news:8413-387...@storefull-105.iap.bryant.webtv.net...
> > I've seen N cars and locos described as BB LL on eBay or just Bev Bel or
> > just LL Whats the story
> > Confused
> > Thanks , John
> >
> with Portman Hobby Distributors, but I'm not sure).
>
Peter King in NY
microc...@gmail.com
> Is there an independent Co Bev Bel or are they owned by Life Like?
> I've seen N cars and locos described as BB LL on eBay or just Bev Bel or
> just LL Whats the story
> Confused
> Thanks , John
Wolf K
http://www.bev-bel.com/bev-bel.aspx
You're welcome.
--
Wolf K
kirkwood40.blogspot.com
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and
what is right to do. Potter Stewart