News Etched Brass Fanatic's... Miller Engineering is considering!

I have 4 on this module, can you find them?

 

The easy one to spot, yes the Gulf sign is illuminated both sides. I made the decals on my Alps, and Kim Vellore made the double sided EL panel.


Originally I was going to put all eight of these on this module, but ended up placing them other places:

 

Yes, that's them.

 

The corner Bank.

 

Yep, at one time, it almost looked like Z Scalers would get a variety of these type buildings. Etched Brass ones from Miller Engineering, Micron Art, Shire Scenes, and Resin ones from Karin Snyder and David K Smith's Townbuilder System, but each and every downtown building produced over the years is unavailable today. The only choice is the few laser kits that are available today.

Z Scale really needs is these downtown brick buildings, the full Micro Structures line, as well as Woodland Scenics DPM line shrunk down to Z Scale.

 

I was fortunate enough that they were all available when I build my downtown.

 

Very nice work too!

 

That's a good sign that they are receiving lots of email requests and may be too busy to reply to them quickly.

 

I do believe social media like these forums are good places to get interest up, and get the "signatures" required to get something done. By bombarding Miller Engineering with our requests for their currently sold out products, we will get a brief chance to get stuff we either missed out on, did not have the funds for when it was available, or just took for granted would always be available.

I have had the same tag line for many years, and for good reason. I have been a vote with my dollars model railroader for 50 years now. In that time only 10 or so of the old companies are still around, and they have completely different products now. Also I watched many promising compaines with great products get sold off at just the wrong time.

Example#1:
Craig Martyn was a 14 year old kid 20 years ago, here on Trainboard. He came out with an impressive line of N Scale resin Diesel detail parts then, to superdetail generic locos from Kato, Atlas, etc. Us forum members used them to make our locos road specific. As he grew up and went to school, he made his business a legitimate company. He got into designing rolling stock and etched metal products, like his through truss bridge. That bridge was handmade in China, and was exquisite, being the most detailed bridge I have ever seen offered, it was very affordable, and absouletly amazing.

Then Craig noticed that us Z Scalers were using his N Scale 36" etched brass fans for our 48" housings in Z, and started offering some etched metal Z Scale products. Sadly, just before his product line exploded with Z Scale offerings, he sold out to Atlas, and left the hobby for more profitable persuits. Craig's company was BLMA for Best Looking Models Around, and once Atlas got their hands on it, they carved it up into what sells profitable volumes, and what is low profit... and all the Z Scale BLMA stuff stagnated. If we want another shot at getting what was once available, we have to all band together, email Atlas, and ask them to do another run.

But that has been going on since the beginning of model railroading, and all the best kits, detail parts, etc., have been sold off or killed of for the profitable stuff, usually at the peril of the model railroader's needs, who no longer has access to lost wax brass castings, white metal castings, and details, etched brass and stainless goodies, and all the lower profit items required for superdetailing.

Example #2:
DPM or Design Preservation Models was a new startup in the late 1980's who came out with a line of plastic building kits to make downtown scenes.
They were under $10, peghook bagged, and there were dozens of different storefronts available. 4 walls and a roof, and window glazing is what you got, but you could mix and match parts to make any downtown scene you needed. These were true scratchbuilders fodder, and their availability even cause several small companies to jump on board, with one offering signs and curtains printed on clear plastic that allowed you to light up your buildings and really look lived in. Another company sprung up to provide interiors, shelves, and goods you could add to superdetail them further. Then DPM got themselved sold to Woodland Scenics, who did what they had to to stay profitible and stay in buisness, and this is the result:


And this goes on constantly in model railroading, so what is RULE # 1?

If you see it, get it, for tomorrow it will be gone!

What do I do? I got 50 Peter Wright turnouts when he offered them. I bought 10 of the NP GP9's in 2007 when they came out, because I wanted to make sure I had a few for my retirement layout. Later I bought several of the GP9 mechanisms, so I can swap the shells and be sure to always have some running NP GP9's in my retirement. I got 80 Atlas turnouts, and 100 pieces of their flextrack, just in case. I got 30 bags of Arizona Rock and Mineral Copper Range Green ballast, because I called the guy once and he told me that it was backbreaking work crushing green granite to N Scale size, so I needed to secure a lifetime supply. Just in case!

 

Yes, this is the downside. I too have about 30 of the MTL well cars. They came released with undecorated containers, so require making decals, and the trucks rub on the rails, and the wheels fall out easily, so I have to heat up the trucks and hold them closer together, and replace the plastic wheels with metal 36" wheels to get them to run, and I really don't like well cars anyways. But hey, they were a new offering in Z Scale, and anything different is better than nothing. That's about $750 down the toilet. Ploosh!

Or how about the 5 or 6 sets of AZL Bethgon Coalporters I snapped up thinking I would like to run a unit coal train, and discovered I don't like to run unit coal trains. Boring because they all look too much alike. Another $500-600 flushed there. Klink Klink Fizzz!

Oh, and I greedily snapped up a quick hundred MTL boxcars, and tank cars, because I was brainwashed into thinking that MTL is the Cadillac of Z. Nope they are just the Cadillac of N Gauge, their Z Scale boxcars have offensive molded on roofwalks, and their Z Scale tank cars have repulsive moulded on ladders up to the domes. That's a couple thou down the klink bucket too! But hey, It's better the be a have, than a have not.

I had a shiffty guy sell me several hundred resin trucks because I was going to produce a flatcar kit and wanted to include resin trucks with them. The samples I seen looked good enough so hey, sure deal! What I received was a generation casting of a generation casting of a distorted bubble infused casting. He was so proud of those resin trucks, and even more proud that he was providing a Z Scale community service by offering them. I held on to them for about 10 years because of the hundreds I invested in them, but when I moved, I let the whole box accidently fall in the trash heap so I could be offended no more. Klink, Klink, Ploosh!

Haha, I have to be more careful now that I am retired, but as much as I wasted on Z Scale stuff, I still got most of it, and guys who spend their money on smoking cigarettes, or drinking at the bar, or going out to dinner several times a month have much less still around to show for their investments. Vice is vice, and Z Scale is my vice!