so I am running out of ideas, I am running really short on scratch building supplys. Styrine, Brass stock, Brass sheets, CA, xacto blades, etc. Basicly I am running low on on everything, and I am not finding anywhere to buy this stuff. I live in Birkenfeld, in Rhineland-Pfalz, and I only know of 3 train shops in the area, one between here and Idar-Oberstien, one in K-town, and one near saarbruecken. so where should I be looking, is their a major chain store like hobbytown, in the states? or are they all privatly owned? I don't mind being creative with what I have, but it is getting rediclous now. thanks guys.
As far as I know there are almost no major chain hobby stores in Germany, mostly "Pop and Mom stores" (or just "Pop" stores, since model railroading is still male dominated in Germany). The only chain store that comes to my mind is "Conrad", they have stores in major German cities and, besides electronic parts, also stock some model building supplies, and some even have a model railroad department (Conrad - Online Shop für Technik, Elektronik und innovative Ideen). The local "Pop" dealers normally sell the prepacked stuff you probably know already. If you are lucky you may find some styrene, Plastruct is distributed by Piko and some dealers have a rack of it. You might have more luck checking the model ship and airplane shops ("Modellbau" or "Flug und Schiffsmodellbau"), they might have at least some of the things you need. CA glue could be found also in the building supply stores ("Baumarkt"), UHU and Pattex are the main brands and they have a lot of different versions of CA. When I lived in Southern Germany (long ago, until 1980), my standard supplier was Modellbahncenter Schüler in Stuttgart. They are still in business and have a website: Modelleisenbahnen | Modelleisenbahn | Modellbahn | Dampfmaschinen | Military I bought all my building materials there, some still in stock in my basement. They used to ship to the U.S., and I assume they do speak English (their boss, Ingrid Bitter, sure does). A good source are the exhibitions ("Modellbau Ausstellung" or "Modellbahn Ausstellung"), there are normally specialized tool vendors who also have material. You are welcome to send me a PM for more information, but I live in Northern Germany now and your area of Germany is one I know very little about (I could probably tell more about the Houston, TX, area ). But I might have some links to local suppliers.
The magazine "Eisenbahn Kurier" has a good listing of model train hobby shops in Germany. Here is a link to their current flea market ("Flohmarkt") listings with some hobby shops: http://www.eisenbahn-kurier.de/service/flohmarkt/flohmarkt.pdf
In Holland, we have De Kwast - Online winkel voor aanbiedingen in schildersartikelen en hobbymaterialen for large styrene sheets. Search for 'polystyreen' and you will find it. The LHS also sells the regular Evergreen styrene. But it is also possible to buy at woo woo woo woo woo woo in the USA. And what about All American Trains, Ihr Fachgeschr amerikanische und kanadische Modellbahnen or Menzels Lokschuppen Töff-Töff GmbH ?
Thanks guys, I will have to do some more looking, and try out your sugertions. I guess if all else fails, I can still order stuff off the net!
I was going to say, if you have access to a APO address, most shops will ship to them. At least that was my experience in Korea.
Yeah, we got an APO box as soon as we got here, I live off post, so I have both the german street address and the APO box. I have already had a few things shipped here, it would be nice to find somewhere to get stuff locally, the shops in K-town and Saaebruecken both have some scenery stuff and decoders and such, but it is the scratchbuilding supplys that they both are lacking. the one near Idar-Oberstien is 90% rolling stock, witch is nice, if I was modeling the DB!
I wanted to find some sort of Korean prototype train for the collection when I was over there and couldn't find a hobby shop to save my life. When I came home on my mid-tour, the owner of The Original Whistle Stop in Pasadena offered to give me the addresses for all the brass manufacturers that he deals with. I declined and am still kicking myself over that today...
