Since there is not much products available, I'm searching for drawings or 3 view drawings of trucks and cars (automotive) with measures, to be able to build them in z scale, anyone have some links for just that. Thanks
The tanker truck that I recieved from MakeMyModel.com is a Kenworth T100 type, built in the mid to late nineties. Marklin makes newer ones, but European types.
Agreed, MakeMyModel offers wonderful pieces. All of the trucks I have seen offered are from the last 20 years. The cars and pickups are earlier models. Rob Kluz
Searails is offering some newer cars that you have to paint yourself, but they are a bit new for me. Marklin has the 12 pack of new cars, which I bought a bunch of for my drive in theater. I got them mailorder from Needful Toys in Germany for $17 a box. They go for $25 a box out here, so it was a good deal. -Robert
ok,ok, ok You are all right, lets say my Marklin cars are B.O. since november with EuroRails hobby, and that I want to scratchbuilt some, anyone know were to get scale drawings? or any trick to scratchbuilt some
Did someone mention Scratch Building? One of my favorite Subjects! Here is what I do. Find the item in "HO" or "N" scale that you want to re-produce. It is a good idea to purchase an "HO", "N", and "Z" scale ruler. I rely on my rulers greatly when scaling an HO or N scale item down to "Z" scale. My latest creation, which is a bit secretive, was made this way. If you want to make many vehicles of the same type, you might want to invest in RTV mold rubber and cast resin supplies. Make one of each model you want, then make a RTV mold or two of each vehicle. Mix up a small amount of casting resin and cast many upon many duplicate vehicles. Scratch Building Supplies; I use mainly Styrene plastic by Evergreen to craft my scratchbuilds. I have invested in about 45 - 50 different shapes they produce so I don't have to do alot of filing or shaving with a hobby knife. Rods, Squares, Bars, Angles, Beams, Piping, and sheets. You will need a good styrene glue, sharp hobby knifes, mini-files, mini drill bits, tweezers, and what ever else you can think of to help you create your scratch builds. Take an "HO" scale truck, take measurements with your "HO" ruler. Draw the truck on a piece of paper. Front, back, sides, top, what ever view you need. Write down all of the measurements on these drawings. Now, take your "Z" scale ruler and start gluing and shaping your styrene to resemble the "HO" model. Before you know it, you will have a "Z" scale replica to be proud of. Make a mold of it then cast as many as you want. Now, Molding and Casting questions are not covered here. Contact me directly if you have any. If you are hardcore enough, you can venture into home etching of metals for superb details on your models. I scratch built a Mi-Jack Translift Crane in "Z" using the Walthers "N" scale Mi-Jack. When it came to adding the fine details, etching was the only way to go. Very Nice! Now, go forth young man and scratch build to your hearts desire!!!! Tim
Thanks for your explanations Tim. One question, where did you purchase your z-scale ruler? Any pictures of your Translift Crane anywhere? Here's what I've found so far, for trucks. http://www.sirus.com/users/sulstad/paper_models.html I'm ok with RTV silicone. I used it for molding
At this time, I do not have any nice photos posted to the web of the Mi-Jack Translift Crane. I will however be placing some photos of it on my website soon. I did have a photo album on the Yahoo Z_Scale group but had it deleted last week due to a difference of opinion between myself and the group owner. On the Yahoo group, Z_SCALE_2 you will find a photo album with a few of my photos. The Mi-Jack is there, but not any real good close-up shots worth bragging about. I'll reply back to this post when I have uploaded the photos to my website. As far as the "Z" scale rulers, I sent you an email with that info! Tim
Somehow I missed this thread when it sarted. I am a truck nut, since after I got out of HO scale trains years ago, I continued to collect HO scale automobiles trucks, farm equipment and construction equipment. Some manufacturer's websites, like Caterpillar for heavy equipment, actually have drawings of the equipment on their webpages (as do some railcar manufacturers). There is available somewhere a book for heavy truck body panel work that has drawings of most North American trucks so they can have bodywork done on them as well as chassis spec's for firms that custom build dump bodies and stuff like that. I would have to go back and check my records from a few years ago to find them again though. (You might check on the 87scalecars yahoogroup website archives, though). Automobiles are a little bit tougher to find, but there are probably bodyshop manuals that have the info available. I have no idea where you would get them. Manufacturer's websites sometimes have drawings on them too (and almost always dimensions of the current model year). Car magazines sometimes have drawings. I think it was eiter Car & Driver or Road & Track used to print a side view drawing of all the cars they reviewed, but not other views. I think you can purchase those side view drawings from their back issue dept. You might also try paper modeler groups. There is a yahoogroup "papermodelsofcars" or something like that as well as one for buses. Hope this helps some. Randy
On a related topic, there are SOME models of North American prototype trucks and cars out there if you scrounge. Trucks (the best NA models available now): Marklin flatcar with tractor-trailer has a circa 1990's Mack CH600 tractor. (Master made by MZZ for Marklin) MZZ has a 1970's-1980's KW tractor with a couple different trailers. I think is a W900 but not positive. (I might be getting this mixed up with a Peterbuilt as well). Billy Roden of the Dallas,Garland & Mesquite club in Dallas used to make a 1970's era KW/PB style tractor that looked good. Not sure if he has any left or not. Perhaps the brothers York who pop up here every now and again would know. The SeaRails Ford Aeromax is pretty nice (I can't tell what the prototypes on his other trucks are supposed to be). Die Cast Promotions has 1/256 scale models (slightly underscale for Z but work for background models). Tractors include late 1990's through 2000's aerodynamic style Navistar International, Peterbuilt, Kenworth and maybe one other. Some of the Mercedes trucks that Marklin, Noch, MZZ and maybe Kibri have were used some in the USA also (the smaller Class 6 and class 7 trucks). Modern automobiles that aren't either Mercedes or BMW's are hard to come by in Z, but there are some things in the works (I won't spill the beans yet). If you can compromise on scale a little bit, Howard Architectural models has pewter models of about 5 or 6 different Dodge cars and light trucks in 1/192 (maybe 1/200) and 1/250th scales I believe. John Bartolotto inquired at one point what it would take for Howard Models to run these in true 1/220th, but I'm not sure that ever went anywhere. (By the way, Nansen Street models also has a truck tractor available, but I'm not sure if it is a 1970's prototype or earlier). There are also some architectural models available close to Z scale from Plastruct and some others that might work for "representations" of cars. Not really detailed models. Hope this helps some. Randy
GM (and most other automakers) in their print flyers for each new vehicle model used to include for some reason line drawings (two elevations) of the car with some rough dimensions. Might be worth checking out. Somewhere in my piles of papers I have some 1980's GM flyers somewhere and some from Honda too. Might be a good start. Failing that, off to the dealer, I'll let you know what I find. Chris