FannoCreek Designs is pleased to announce the first in a line of Z Scale laser cut model kits. The initial offering will be a shallow rib wood chip gondola in Southern Pacific livery. The kit is primarily composed of laser cut, translucent plastic, which allows the builder to have a finish that is exceptionally real when compared to the prototype. Assembly of the model is similar to a wood kit. Tiny tabs allow easy alignment of parts to ensure the finished model is straight and extremely prototypical. With some minor filling and sanding these tabs disappear on the finished model. Included in the kit are decals with several different road numbers, lead weights and brass wire for the various airlines on the underside. The kit does not include a load or trucks and couplers. Trucks and couplers as well as loads are available from Z Trains Things which is the sole distributor. The kit can be finished as a highly detailed craftsman masterpiece for display or a working car on a model railroad. The included photographs show an unweathered car which has been airbrushed and a weathered car which has been brush painted. Both methods work equally well and it is merely the preference of the kit builder. Pricing of each kit is $19.95. Shipping & handling is $5.50 for up to five (5) kits. Micro Trains Lines trucks and couplers are available for an additional $5.50 per set and loads are $3.25 each. Shipping & handling for trucks/couplers and loads is included in the shipping price when ordered at the same time. Watch for more road names to be released in the future. For further information contact Z Trains Things [Loren J Snyder] at LJSNYDER@CHARTER.NET or 541-779-7877. These kits are available immediately. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41694/ppuser/5347 http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41696/ppuser/5347 http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showphoto.php/photo/41760/ppuser/5347
great news. i hope there will be more offerings coming of other desired car types. congrats on your new release. dave f.
Fantastic news Don! I'll order some of them immediately. I'm also looking forward to see more offerings.
Cool! Perfect addition to my own collection of woodchip cars. Now that we have more and more cars available, we need to get the manufacturers in gear and start cranking out more locomotives for us!
Chris, Fannocreek Designs is CZM's own Jason Alles. He has a laser and does very nice laser work. He is just now beginning to release kits, both rolling stock and structures. It will take him some time to get up and running at full steam, (oh I get it) but eventually he will have several different body styles available in several road names and a variety of structures. I've seen his work up close and personal like and it is worthy of purchase. Quality is great, directions are clear and easy to understand. First road name is SP followed by Golden West. Two chip car styles so far. Expect to have kits available for shipment February 1st. His chip cars are being released in acrylic. Acrylic gives a smooth finish and is pretty easy to work with. Contact Don Avila for a objective view of Jason's first kit. I'm working on the chip load for the chip cars. Will be in resin and pre painted. Just insert and haul. Send me your email address and I'll forward first release photos. Loren
Loren, Thanks I was just curious. These aren't anywhere near my era, but maybe someday they will release something I can use. I had just never heard of them before and a search didn't find a thing. January must be the month of the wood chip hopper!
Out Freakin' Standing! Loren, Any idea what type of structures he will be producing? How about era's? Very nice! Was down by the NS & CSX yards in west Atlanta last week and spied a few wood chip cars from a distance. No idea what road they were or what body type. Saw them from the overpass I drove over. Hobo Tim
The finish I see in the photograph is very smooth. But the plastic must be 1/32", and to get that smooth, which is similar to flame polished, it must be clear cell cast acrylic. For 4 years I have been looking for a source of 1/32" cast acrylic. Where did he find it?
Tim, I don't know what Jason will do specifically, but he is open to popular input. He currently has some structures that go with the Casey Jones era.(steam) They have a western flare. I'll send you the latest picture and some others if I can find them in my mess of photos. Loren
Loren, you better publish these pictures here on Trainboard because we are also interested. BTW, did you get my order regarding those Hoppers?
Hold up a little folks. This is an all new venture for Jason. The three of us wore out the Internet lines over the last couple of months working on this first release making modifications, suggestions and who knows what else. The detailed BUT SIMPLE instructions for assembly are better than almost any others you have seen, and as one member here says "he HATES making instructions". The kit has a lot of detailed parts, in fact lay in at least a #52 and a #78 drill to fine finish a couple of holes. There are few if any other complete laser cut PLASTIC rolling stock kits out there, so as you might guess there is a little learning curve on Jason'a part in order to produce a fairly simple, but highly detailed kit.. As soon as Jason sells his first 10,000,000 of the Southern Pacifics he will be ready to roll again. Give him a little chance to breath. Loren is taking orders on this model. ...don
Don and Loren, I for one would love just for right now to see the Casey Jones era structures that Jason has. Tell him I said "great job" on his first venture and welcome to the manufacturing side of Z! John
Loren, I received the FannoCreek Shallow Rib Woodchip Gon kits today and I have to tell you they are impressive, from the packaging right through to the instructions for assembly this is a top notch kit and in the same class as the kits that Robert used to make. I plan to start on one tonite and will take photos of the assembly as I go along and will post some later. If all the future releases from this company are as complete as this kit I'll be first in line to prchase them. Thanks to all who had a hand in getting this venture to market. Bob
Building the Shallow Rib Woodchip Gondola I finished assembling, painting and detailing the new Fannocreek Designs Shallow Rib Woodchip Gondola on the weekend and this kit tranforms from the clear plastic into a beautiful car on completion. It is relatively easy to assemble, I used a dark colored cutting matt to place the clear plastic laser cut parts on and only removed the parts from the sheets as I needed them. The hardest part in the assembly of this model is the sticky back plastic shallow ribs which require care in placement on the sides but take care and go slow and its easy. The parts all fit together perfectly. I used thick ACC to assemble the car and a jewelers file to clean up the edges and tabs where needed. The car has included flat lead weights that fit inside the body of the car and are covered with a piece of plastic, they are invisible when the car is finished and add the right amount of weight to the car. I airbrushed the car using Floquil paint, first a coat of gray primer and then the final color. I then clear coated it before installing the decals which are included in the kit, and then finished with a coat of Dullcote before installling the MT 956 Trucks. The whole build from start to finish took me 2 evenings and the final result is a great addition to any roster of cars. I weighed the car on our small scale and including the load it weighed in at 16 grams. This car should track very well. This is an excellent project for any modeller and I'll purchase more of the cars, including future kits, from the gang at Fannocreek Designs. Well Done and a 5 Star rating from this modeller. Bob
I got 2 kits as well, and looking over the design, it is an excellent kit design. I have been playing with this type of plastic, and the clear plastic seems to cut the best. Using the clear plastic yields the finest model possible. I still have to build mine, but am happy I purchased mine. I can't wait to see the next great offering from Jason.
Cooch, I checked out your gallery, you got some nice pictures there. Do you have an overall shot of the layout? It looks nice.
Hello Joe, The photos are taken on a small diarama I made a few months ago. I'm in the process of disposing of all my N Scale [15 DCC locos, about 150 MT cars] so I can move to Zed and I have purchased a few Locos and some track in the last while. I want to have a 12' oval in operation shortly and I've ordered a Fast Tracks turnout jig so I can attempt to make my own turnouts. You only need to have a small amount of room to have a great layout in Zed. Bob
