Z Scale Manufacturers [Archive]

E-8

October 14th, 2000, 05:23 PM

How about some links to web sites of Z Scale manufacturers being posted as a reply to this thread? Let's see how many people are making it now. http://www.trainboard.com/smile.gif

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http://www.trainboard.com/smiles/066.gif Ship It On The FRISCO! (http://www.frisco.org) | IAMOKA.com (http://www.iamoka.com)

Kevin M

October 18th, 2000, 08:34 PM

www.micro-trains.com (http://www.micro-trains.com)

Theres one, i dont know the Marklin site though.
kevin

[This message has been edited by Kevin D Mumaw (edited 18 October 2000).]

Alan

January 5th, 2003, 05:55 AM

Here is a website which I am told is planning some Z scale items, but nothing is showing on the site yet.

Arrowhead Scale Models (http://www.arrowheadscalemodels.com/)

E-8

January 6th, 2005, 05:45 PM

They must have went kaput as the domain now appears to be not registered.

Charlie

JoeS

January 6th, 2005, 06:52 PM

I beleive it is just www.marklin.com (http://www.marklin.com) for thier site. I think it will be updated in about 3 weeks or so with the 2005 releases.

E-8

January 6th, 2005, 06:57 PM

Not a lot of American stuff there...

Charlie

HemiAdda2d

January 6th, 2005, 08:13 PM

Their American steam isn't too bad... Robert Ray has a few of the NP steam sets...

Robert also sells some of his craftsman Z kits at Feather River Train Shop (http://www.featherrivertrains.com/Z-Manufacturers.htm)...

HemiAdda2d

January 6th, 2005, 09:01 PM

HemiAdda2d

January 6th, 2005, 09:16 PM

I dabble in Z...

Pennzee makes nice steel reefers and coal hoppers:

http://www.railimages.com/albums/Z/aac.sized.jpg

http://www.railimages.com/albums/Z/aah.sized.jpg

Alan

January 6th, 2005, 10:52 PM

A list of Z scale manufacturers HERE (http://www.zscale.org/links/manufacturers.html)

I am also planning some Z kits ;)

JoeS

January 6th, 2005, 10:52 PM

Like HemiAdda2d stated, the American Steam locomotives are not too bad. Expect to do a lot of tinkering to keep them running in tip top shape. It is rather intimidating at first. But After a while you will get good at the maintanance that is needed.

Comet

January 6th, 2005, 11:11 PM

More Z scale info in this thread........

http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/10/t/000051/p/1.html#000005

pray59

January 7th, 2005, 07:33 AM

I can't wait to see what Alan is planning, as well as the stuff Eric Menzel (Mythman) is planning. I have no etched brass or cast metal kitmaking skills, I'm just a wood craftsman kit kind of guy, however I can build any kit you can dream up. Maybe... tongue.gif At least I'll try.

Z Scale is still a few years away from mainstream, but the more people who contribute to the cause, the more converts from other scales we will see.

The zscale.org site pretty much has a list of all the manufacturers releasing Z products. It's updated fairly often, and had more than doubled in the last year.
list of Manufacturers of Z-scale Products at zscale.org (http://www.zscale.org/links/manufacturers.html)

-Robert

pray59

January 7th, 2005, 07:38 AM

Here is a pic of the next Z Scale release from AZL:

http://www.ztrack.com/AZL/AZL_F59PHI/am_west_pre.jpg

I have 2 of the Z Scale F59PHI locomotives, and they run real nice. I have the Sounnder set too, and they are real nice, however they don't run as nice because of truck resistance. AZL is working on this issue before releasing their Amtrak Surfliner and California cars.

Sometime soon (this year) we should have the Cab Forwards in Z from AZL.

-Robert ;)

Stourbridge Lion

January 7th, 2005, 08:32 AM

Micro Trains#13503-2
http://www.trainweb.org/dhvm/images/models/Micro-Trains/22169.jpg

HemiAdda2d

January 7th, 2005, 10:08 AM

Here's a MT F7:

http://www.railimages.com/albums/Z/aaf.sized.jpg

Fluid Dynamics

January 7th, 2005, 11:29 AM

Surfliner cars! Amazing, could superliners be far off? I could just convert my layout to Z right now if so. smile.gif Haven't laid any permanent track yet.

*edit* wow, I took a tour of AZL's site and what do I see? SD45s, SD40-2s, E8s, all the good stuff! Hmm. Maybe I should make the switch.

E-8

January 7th, 2005, 04:29 PM

Thanks Alan for that excellent list of manufacturers.

The F-units are great... too bad there is no Frisco though. :(

Charlie

HemiAdda2d

January 7th, 2005, 06:14 PM

Originally posted by Fluid Dynamics:

*edit* wow, I took a tour of AZL's site and what do I see? SD45s, SD40-2s, E8s, all the good stuff! Hmm. Maybe I should make the switch. You haven't yet seen the MRSP, have you.... $500+ PER engine. :( :( :(

JoeS

January 7th, 2005, 06:35 PM

The price is really what scares a person off. I mean for the average modeler I don't think $500 is a possibility. One to two hunderd can be doable. I spent about 500 on my MT mogul only becasue I really wanted that specific model and I knew they were not easy to come by. But the wife won't let me do that too often! smile.gif By the way Robert, is that picture of the surfliners on the layout that was featured in MR last spring? It looks just like it!

BoxcabE50

January 8th, 2005, 12:36 AM

I have seen those prices. They may be driven by a presently lesser market share. Needing to pay for the tooling, etc., on smaller sales numbers of each model. Whoever can break this, with a quality model, may be the one who kicks the doors wide open for Z scale. For me, both in price, and due to health issues, it's currently beyond reach. Yet still fun to follow.

:D

Boxcab E50

Fluid Dynamics

January 8th, 2005, 05:49 AM

Bah, 500 for a loco is too much, but I noticed they were brass. Just think, one of us could be the next Kato in Z scale. Who's going to make the investment and take the risk!

pray59

January 8th, 2005, 07:08 AM

By the way Robert, is that picture of the surfliners on the layout that was featured in MR last spring? It looks just like it! [/QB]Yes that is the SP layout that Lyn St Laurent built. He sold it to Hans Riddervold of AZL, and shipped it to Oslo, Norway.
Some of the guys on the Yahoo list went to visit it, and Svein-Martin Holt (http://www.platelayer.com/mj/azl/lyn/index.asp) took that photo of the Surfliner and California cars at Hans Riddervold's place (http://194.143.113.189/tjm/modelltog/diverse/Riddervold-14122004/riddervold.htm)

Be sure to visit those links; those guys know how to model in Z! :D

pray59

January 8th, 2005, 07:15 AM

Originally posted by Fluid Dynamics:
Bah, 500 for a loco is too much Yes I agree that 5 Bills is steep, but the F59PHI's are the first of a line of injection molded plastic engines, and they are only $170 ea.

This year AZL is releasing a brass Cab Forward, and plastic SD70/75's in several phases. The SD-70's are supposed to have Faulhaber motors w/dual flywheels, and run excellent. Price is supposed to be about $225-250 for the SD's. :D

BoxcabE50

January 8th, 2005, 07:52 AM

Is Lyn still living up in the Seattle area? He was part of the N scale gang, when I was still living there.

That suggested price mentioned for the coming SD's sounds much better!

:D

Boxcab E50

Fluid Dynamics

January 8th, 2005, 08:08 AM

I took a look at those two links and it's amazing what they have done, but it makes sense. The small size really allows prototypical curves. I could get within 75% of the prototype curve radius right now on my layout, that's incredible.

Oh well. Maybe one day when I'm rich I'll finally be able to make a convincing Cuesta Pass in a basement in Z scale. I hope more manufacturers get into it and make some more switches and track.

*edit* this is what i'm talking about! :

http://www.platelayer.com/mj/tehachapi/layoutpic/tehachapi_rev5v_1_800.jpg

It appears to be 1.6m x 1m in overall size which could be scaled up to get closer to prototypical perspective without taking up an entire room.

pray59

January 8th, 2005, 09:02 AM

Originally posted by BoxcabE50:
Is Lyn still living up in the Seattle area? He was part of the N scale gang, when I was still living there.

Boxcab E50 I'm not sure, but he has Tom Gilchrist of the Northwest Pacific Z Scalers (http://tomgtomg.com/z/) selling all his Z Scale SP brass on eBay, saying he is getting out of Z. Maybe he got tired of waiting for NA style turnouts to be released.

A couple of us from the BAZ group went up to Seattle for the NTS, where Ton and the NPZS group let us run our trains on his modular club's layout. Lyn was supposed to bring his SP layout to the NTS, but had decided to sell it instead.

They're a kooky bunch of guys, but the have fun:
http://tgilchrist9.home.comcast.net/ztrains/images/DSC00114.jpg

http://tgilchrist9.home.comcast.net/ztrains/images/DSC00119.jpg

http://tgilchrist9.home.comcast.net/ztrains/images/DSC00183.jpg

pray59

January 8th, 2005, 09:06 AM

Originally posted by Fluid Dynamics:
*edit* this is what i'm talking about! :

http://www.platelayer.com/mj/tehachapi/layoutpic/tehachapi_rev5v_1_800.jpg

It appears to be 1.6m x 1m in overall size which could be scaled up to get closer to prototypical perspective without taking up an entire room. Now that's what I call a trackplan! Yes you could do this in a bedroom in Z. Within 5 years i think all the pieces will be in place for a modeler to build a layout like this using ready to run models and track pieces.

-Robert

BoxcabE50

January 8th, 2005, 10:31 AM

Robert-

That guy in second photo, on the left, is certainly a familiar face! Looks like you were at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

:D

Boxcab E50

E-8

January 8th, 2005, 07:24 PM

Found a few cars here: http://www.bowser-trains.com/zs_menu.php

Charlie

Alan

January 9th, 2005, 05:00 AM

I have heard of Father Nature and PennZee cars, but not realised that Bowzer had made them. Those wood reefers look good smile.gif Actually, so do the hoppers!

pray59

January 9th, 2005, 05:14 AM

Originally posted by BoxcabE50:
Robert-

That guy in second photo, on the left, is certainly a familiar face! Looks like you were at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

:D

Boxcab E50 Actually I met those guys in July at the NTS. I just linked to those photo's for your sake, as they are locals from your traindays past. ;)