I am a addict since 2005, and I know couple guys have been longer like Robert and Joe. I want to know who have been addicted to z and how long.
Hmmm, good question. I just checked my records ... 2007 for me. Sure has been a lot of great changes and additions to Z since then. Bill Mock
While I wouldn't necessarily declare myself an addict, I have been working in Z Scale since early 1975. Check the October 1975 issue of Model Railroader magazine for an article on my first Z layout.
I'm so addicted since 2003 that I found it's simply IMPOSSIBLE for me to get my Z fix! I had to join the NMRA, TSCME, and the BAZ BoyZ because I could not be satisfied with just a home layout!
I have been doing Z scale since 1985. I purchased my first Marklin starter set in Germany. I fell in love with Z the minute a saw it. I have never even considered another scale though I have a few pieces of 1, HO and N. Rob
1978 for me, when I traveled to Germany. That aluminum attache caught my eye but the display of locos and cars, even European was impressive. But it took 1985 to get my starter set, all the time dreaming about a coffee table or some sort of unique portable, hide away layout. Then these chuckle-head BAZ BoyZ (actually one of my customers) in 2004 popped the well shaken soda can and I drank it all. .
Fan of Z since 1972, but really got into Z in 1988. I would call myself a "soldier" instead of an addict. Be careful, if you're an addict, you can overdoZe... :0)
January 1987, bought Marklin Santa Fe Starter set from the Smithsonian Institute gift shop in DC. Don't we need the 12 Z steps if we admit we're addicts????
I think it has been at least 9 years, but I can't say for sure. I really enjoyed N scale, with the cheaper cost and more variety, but Z is so small. I enjoy trains of all scales, I have an extensive N collection and will still purchase N because my boys like it. I have HO and O. But Z is mine. Let's put it this way, if there was a fire and I had to pick up one thing, it would be my MT moguls, and I would start from there.
I've been "addicted" since 1972 when I went into the LHS and bought my first starter set instead of whatever it was that I went there for in the first place. I took my Z scale modular layout to shows in the early 90's.
About 2003 I was building a 1/96 scale model of the USS Missouri, (130 pounds and 111" long), and almost drowned while testing it one cold November day. Word of warning....don't go chasing battleships in November that are slowly drifting toward the opposite shore. Instead of going home to get my recovery boat I went swimming fully clothed. Dumb decision. Ended up in hospital and decided there must be a warmer way to go broke, (and safer too) Found a selection of Z at my local hobby shop and asked the owner if he had sold any. "Nope" was the answer. I contacted MTL and signed up as dealer. Now I R 1.......... Dealer, modeler and manufacturer. And yes, I think I'm broke....... )
1974, US Army in Germany. Bought a used-but-never-used set at a local hobby shop. Two steamers, six freight, four three-axle passenger and about a dozen pieces of flex. A customer had bought it all and returned it a month later as being too small. I've owned at least one set ever since. When I left Germany, I gave the - much larger - layout to a Polizei friend of mine. It was too large and fragile to ship via the military. Sans trains, of course!