What are we lacking in Z scale?

... I am willing to make things for the guys that want stuff but can't get it unless you, others, or I make it for them...

Karin, you and Loren are doing more for Z-scale than humanly possible. Design what you like, your great ideas alot better than anyone elses. Custom orders are good only if the price covers the efforts, but most of the time it's money down the drain. Back to building kits. You already have the artwork for many good kits, to make them marketable, an instruction needs to be written for each one. Here is an idea. Write a general instruction can be used for every laser cut kit, ie. list of tools, types of glue, what is the practical sequence of assembly, etc. Use the actual artwork drawing as the base for each kit, number the components. Take black and white photos of each major assembled componets (walls) with the corresponding part numbers showing, then a couple of picture of the fully assembled model with the numbered added detail parts. Done. It's a hell of the lot quicker than writing complicated instructions. There are million reasons why kits remain unassembled, my pick, instructions are the last. Again, design and build you like the most, I've learned it on the hard way, demanding people are not modelers nor buyers. They're obsessed to voice their opinion, asking for everything, criticizing everything they can, but to put the money where they mouth is... Never.

Lajos:)

O.K., got it now: good old roadside petrol station, maybe with a diner, some "western" style hotel or bank house with verandas, a gold mine would be great and part of my (planned) layout.

zthek wrote:

.....There are million reasons why kits remain unassembled, my pick, instructions are the last. Again, design and build you like the most, I've learned it on the hard way, demanding people are not modelers nor buyers. They're obsessed to voice their opinion, asking for everything, criticizing everything they can, but to put the money where they mouth is... Never.
Lajos:)

Yes! Now I really understand what you meant! It seems like you have cross a pretty rough road on this mater!

Ben

animek wrote:

zthek wrote:

.....There are million reasons why kits remain unassembled, my pick, instructions are the last. Again, design and build you like the most, I've learned it on the hard way, demanding people are not modelers nor buyers. They're obsessed to voice their opinion, asking for everything, criticizing everything they can, but to put the money where they mouth is... Never.
Lajos:)

Yes! Now I really understand what you wanted to mean! You seem to have cross a pretty rough road on this subject!

Ben

And this is the reason more of our structures aren't kits yet!

Its like this in EVERY hobby. Trust me. I do reenacting..on the one side you have the people wearing polyester clothes with tattoos, noserings, modern glasses and chain smoking filtered cigaretts and drinking out of plastic bottles, and on the other side you have stitch counters (in railroad hobby the rivet counters), arguing about the proper shade of whatever, even though they are comparing it to samples of 130 year old vegetable dyed wool that's been exposed to lye soap and chemicals and UV light. There has got to be a happy medium.
I see people with ideas and if I need them I will try to support them. I really want to get some of those RR flashing cross bucks. My railroad would never be complete without those. I am sure someone will find a fault in them, but they don't have to buy them. On the same token, I will never ever buy a Pepsi wagon. Unless I see one roll by at the local Bahnhof, and then I will go out and buy 10 of them.
Karin, I am sure that whatever you make with your lazer will be successful.

Uh oh Kelley, be careful what you wish for...

Havoc mentioned signals. To be more specific, Viessmann only make five semaphore signals (Hp0/Hp1, Hp0/Hp2, Vr0/Vr1, Vr0/Vr2 and Sp0/Sp1) of which Marklin market three (the Hp and Sp ones).

In N scale one can also get the Hp0/Hp1/Hp2 and the equivalent Vr signal. Personally I have virtually no use for the Hp0/Hp2 and the Vr equivalent and I am sure that this applies to most modellers. So, my plea is for, especially, an Hp0/Hp1/Hp2 in Z scale. There are four places on my layout where these would be the correct signal to use and they were (and still are) very common in real life at junctions and in the track network at station entrance throats. (A ground level Sp0/Sp1 would also be very welcome.)

All the best,
Chris.

Chris, if you could convince Kim Vellore to market his they are beautiful, however they are American styling. They have the gate that goes up and down and also the blinking lights. I'd take several pair right now if I could get my hands on 'em.

Karin

I would also be interested in a couple pairs of WORKING gates and lights.

If you can ever convince Kim to build more for the rest of us, count me in!

Karin:

Back when I was working on my Marklin Church, I was frustrated with the castings in the windows and the back door. There was extra casting material in places where it was hard to remove.

I will echo Kelley's suggestion - sheets of doors and windows for scratchbuilders/kitbashers. There are some products out there, but they are few and more variety is needed.

My thought, for $0.01 (1/2 price today) is to sell the same windows you make for your kits. Just sell them in sheet form. Maybe have sheets of different size windows and doors.

This kind of product, along with the sheets of siding & roofing would allow people to make one off structures that would never be built.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Hi Jeremy,

You and Kelley are right, there is the need. But some things I need to tell you about how we laser cut our windows and roofing. First, all my windows, doors, etc. are laser cut right into the structure and the trim is the only separate piece making it much easier for the modeler to get everything straight and for the beautiful detailing. And the roof has the shingle, or metal roofing design already etched into the roof piece. This may possibly done in larger sheets but one would have to be very careful when cutting to size, something a laser does with absolute precision. Perhaps we could sell single structure roofs in varying styles and sizes and you could build the structure under it. I have several stacks of these already cut now so am open to the idea. As for cutting windows, can do! Just realize that we don't cut by the sheet. Rather, everything is already cut out. We would sell a set of windows and trim by say a dozen in a small ziplock bag. I have heard the concern mentioned that it is easier to paint on a fret. But I'm here to tell you that it is a wonderful thing not having to cut a piece out of a fret and having to worry about the rough edge or snag. I will always include the recommendation with the pieces for folks to get the "removable" double sided Scotch tape (like post a note material) as opposed to the "permanent" double sided tape that we've known all this time. Then you lay out your windows and trim along the strip of tape, paint them, and end up with perfect painted windows, doors, whatever. It works great and is something I think you would all discover a joy to do. I also plan to sell sheets of the screened acetate that you might have seen on the fish packing plant I had put in the gallery, which would look great behind industrial windows. I've worked very hard at trying to make Z scale as precise as possible with the laser and the new way can give modelers details that they might not find otherwise. I like brass for the tiniest of detail but am not real fond of how well it DOESN'T take paint (or easily scratches off) for details. Just trying to do some re-inventing here, slowly but working on it. Maybe I can cut some and post photos so that you can see what I mean.

Whew! Sorry for the long post. Looking forward to any/all responses.

Karin

Hi everyone,
While I'm not new to the site, I've really only been reading the posts and not contributing. Until I read Karins most recent post that is. I'm referring to the comment about selling sheets of printed acetate sheets. That is one item (along with some working crossing gates) that I would definitely buy! I model European mostly and my biggest complaint about the plastic kits (Vollmer, Faller, and Kibri) is about the thickness of the seperators (I think they're called mullions or mullion strips) between the individual panes on a typical Z-scale window. An acetate sheet with these printed on them would allow me to cut out the molded mullion details and replace them with something that would look a lot better. It would work for both North American as well as European buildings, industrial, commercial, and residential.
Well, that's my 2 cents...
-Rainer:)

Rainer, Welcome. Contribute any time. I to would like windows and frames printed out. It would make me more willing to give kit/scratch building a try. Cheers, Jim CCRR

I think we need accurate Rockmolds. The ones from Woodland are for HO Scale.

@Lajos, your comments are not a big help. If everybody has to scratchbuild everything then Z scale will never be recognized as a Modelrailroader Hobby. The reverse is true, z scale will be a Hobby for Collectors or Freaks. Just my 2 Cent.

Jurg, I've never used a rock mold.Since I live in the foothills of the Santa Catalina
Mountain Range,I use real rocks and in a Z scale rock slide they have a real crushing effect.[lol]
I know that years ago they sold rock mold kits, may be they still do and I think that it was latex[alergic to that]that was brushed on to a thickness that allowed removal without damage to the just created mold.
Stojiny

Woodland Scenics has rock molds of different sizes and shapes. I bought one set that has about five or six different shapes you can mold.

John

JR59 wrote:

I think we need accurate Rockmolds. The ones from Woodland are for HO Scale.

At Sacramento this past weekend I talked with Joel Bragdon from Bragdon Enterprises, the folks who make the many rock molds now used in all scales. Since he and I discussed the need for smaller detail rock molds over two years ago Joel has been on the constant lookout for better Z scale rocks from which to make new molds. Rocks with the kind of small detail that we need in Z scale are hard to find.

Joel did have several new molds, (which I bought) and I'll use them on a new module I'm planning soon.

Sometimes mother nature makes it hard for us to copy her accurately.

The search continues......

Loren

How about affordable modern North American diesel locomotives in the $90. to $110.range.

Modern buildings from our laser folks.

Reasonably priced vehicles.

Windows and doors of all kinds.

Siding and roofing in our scale (yeah I know there is some but I want more).

Larger varieity of track pieces like the MTL: track which is way over priced.

Ok,that's my list for today.

Johnathan(Catt)

Folks, Woodland Scenics also sells latex rubber to make you own molds from real rocks. This is what i resorted to when i could not find suitable molds for my modules. The real advantage of making you own molds is that you can select rocks you find with interesting features that match what your modeling.

Making molds is easy. Simply apply several layers for latex to a rock and peal it off. Let each lyer dry completly before adding the next, and add a piece of sheet-rock weeb tape before applying the last coat of latex, to help reinforce the mold for repeated use. You can find the tape at any home improvment store. It's the stuff sold to people the day after they put their fist through a wall...LOL

As for items needed in Z Scale, i would say more figures, and please be north American in clothes style.

Tony B...
Wasatch Z ClubB)

@Lajos, your comments are not a big help. If everybody has to scratchbuild everything then Z scale will never be recognized as a Modelrailroader Hobby. The reverse is true, z scale will be a Hobby for Collectors or Freaks. Just my 2 Cent.

I never wrote everybody nor everything. Z-scale already reached the acceptable level of available products. There are good selection of sectional and flex tracks, tooling and supply for handlayed tracks and switches, amazing selection of building kits and scratch building supplies. Scenery material was never an issue, trees can be made at home. Locomotives and rolling stock can be repainted, bashed, detailed even built from kits and scratch. What we need is more modelers, who use what is available. I don't think there is a wonderful z-scale diorama of Sherman Hills, and we don't know about, because the modeler of that great diorama is waiting for the release of a $250.00 Big Boy...

Lajos:)