How much is to much z

mgatdog Feb 17, 2023

  1. mgatdog

    mgatdog TrainBoard Member

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    Bruce
    I hear were you coming from,but in the 20+ years of collecting. Companies come and go . As saying goes ,better get it when you see it . Before it’s gone in z. I’ve lost out on a lot of things cause of funds. MTL GP 35’s and GP 9’s probably never see them being built again. So I’ll probably hang on to what I have. Ya few used ones out there but starting to sell for top dollar now. Again funds limit me from buying what I’m looking for.
    Bob
     
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  2. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    I do not have any where close to what you guys have, but I am fortunate to have inherited a nice little collection of Z steam.
    These are all the finished locos.

    Scott
    IMG_3675.JPG IMG_3678.JPG IMG_3676.JPG IMG_3677.JPG
     
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  3. JoeS

    JoeS TrainBoard Member

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    Such an awesome collection! :D
     
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  4. tjdreams

    tjdreams TrainBoard Member

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    No doubt I'm already seeing / feeling how Arthritis is starting to effect my hands in the colder months. And I have been building some of the ones that i have doubles of, I call them my "Practice kits", I just finished one of the new Archistories barns last week. But Mostly I have been working on Sound installs and motor upgrades while I can still see well enough to do the micro soldering.

    As for selling them well i would be willing to part with a few of them for the right price or better yet do like Robert is doing and trade them for something else that i need or want.
     
  5. mdvholland

    mdvholland TrainBoard Member

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    Soo... my dear host mom in California has been an avid amateur painter for many years. By now she has dozens and dozens of paintings, the house is packed. Once in a while she sells one but only if asked for...

    Her son tells her: stop painting, start selling! :LOL:
    We Z-scalers should maybe... stop buying, start building..? :whistle:

    (I have a fair collection of unbuilt or half finished kits lying around....)

    Matt
     
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  6. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    I am in that boat for sure, BUT, it's more fun to scratchbuild a better model of those kits than the kit itself offers. :D I know, it sounds arrogant but it's really true. The kit wall s are plastic or metal, and I need lighting here and there, it's often easier to design a place for the wiring when drawing up the model.

    Also, did you ever notice you never really see models of the stuff that everyone seen in real life, like U-Haul, Motel 6, Safeway Stores, etc.? So that's where I'm coming from, I want stuff that I remember from my childhood.
     
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  7. Kurt Moose

    Kurt Moose TrainBoard Member

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    You building a Safeway store now?!o_O

    I gotta' see them grocery isles!!(y)
     
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  8. Zscaleplanet

    Zscaleplanet TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well staged presentation of your collection Scott!!

    Bruce does have a point though, and one I have brought up myself. There's is very little for a newbie to pick from if entering the Z-world. Butttt, there are also profiteers taking advantage of the issue as well. Even if Rob, Dave and everyone else flooded the market today with their collections, there would be profiteers who are not die-hard Z-heads grabbing everything up, and 5-mins later putting it on Fleabay for 10X what they paid. Hey I'm a Capitalist as well, so I get it. But I also refuse to pay hard earned money for stupid high asking prices that some are trying to get as well --- and it appears others aren't taking the bait either. MTL GP9's (used/new ??) on Fleabay for $299 and have been sitting there for months.

    However, I also agree with Bob and am also in the same boat -- funds limited / wife controlled.....:( So Bruce, if you see something and the price is in your ballpark, grab it. AZL products are reasonably priced right now, but may not be in the future.

    Bruce -- IM me and we can chat about the market as I see it.
     
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  9. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    The Safeway is planned to be build AFTER I get trains running on my TTZ modules. I am trying to build 1950's and 1960's style structures as I remember seeing them back in the day. The Safeway design I want to build was first built in 1959, and was from the design they called the "Marina Stores", because the first one was built in San Francisco's Marina District. These were the most recognizable and aesthetically pleasing designs, and were built all over the US and Canada. The distinctive domed front stores still exist all over, but most were eventually sold off and used by other companies today. It's easy to recognize as an old Safeway store due to the design:

    01 Safeway 1960.jpg

    02 Safeway 2 1960.jpg



    What I feel makes them suitable for modeling, is the glass front that allows modelers to really see inside. The isles were laid out simply enough, and you could see all the departments easily, so you really new where to look if you wanted just meat , produce, or milk:

    07 Safeway Interior 1960.jpg


    And the different departments often had walls painted for each department along with lettering up high enough to see across the store:
    03 Safeway Produce 1960.jpg

    04 Safeway Poultry 1960.jpg



    Notice the isles were not too high to reach stuff unlike these days where you have to get help to reach some items on top of huge refrigerator cases and shelves. These were the good old days of stress free shopping:
    05 Safeway Bakery Dairy 1960.jpg



    Also, notice how the Cigarettes were open, and on an end cap, easily accessible cartons for $3-4 back in the day:
    06 Safeway Bakery 1960.jpg



    They always had a butcher in the butcher shop area wearing a white butchers outfit, the baker also wore white with a white hat, and the checker ladies always wore a light blue apron. And they were very polite. These were good times, and I remember going grocery shopping with my mom, and getting a bottle of soda or a candy bar, and if I had a soda in my hands in line, the checker lady would check your soda, and pop the cap off, then hand it to you. I always felt special as a kid in the checkout line at Safeway:
    08 Safeway Interior 2 1960.jpg


    So now you know why I want a Safeway on my layout! :D
     
  10. JoeS

    JoeS TrainBoard Member

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    What’s so cool is to see all those vehicles in the lot! So many decades represented. Heck the inside looks better organized than a Walmart haha
     
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  11. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    I am trying to take an approach of making stuff available to more people. After seeing this stuff hoarded for years and benefiting no one,
    I am selling off what I don't want, or can use, for very reasonable prices. I think some buyers will agree with me.
    I just sell them to share and make enough to support my new hobby.
    I know if it weren't for inheriting my dad's Z stuff, I'd be hard pressed to have a collection at all.

    Scott
     
    Last edited: Feb 21, 2023
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  12. CNE1899

    CNE1899 TrainBoard Member

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    Rob,
    Spaceway, reminds me of Eureka, CA. My wife and I shopped there during our trips in California.
    That will make an interesting model!

    Scott
     
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  13. bostonjim

    bostonjim TrainBoard Member

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    Great history and photos. I've seen those buildings around. We had A & P. They ground your coffee at the end of the checkout line. That always got my attention as a kid. Jim
     
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  14. mgatdog

    mgatdog TrainBoard Member

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    Dave
    I’m looking for MTL GP 35 CSX ,C&O and B&O also GP 9 Pennsylvania. Also AZL GP 38-2 CSX gray color body. AZL said they were doing another run of GP 38’s ,but god only knows when that’s going to happen and which ones they will do .
     
  15. tjdreams

    tjdreams TrainBoard Member

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    I don't have any of the MTL CSX myself. But I do have a MTL D&RGW GP9 shell, a SOO Line GP35 shell, a Milwaukee Road SD40-2 shell, and a F7-A Pennsylvania shell that I would be willing to trade. And I think I might still have a UP and a Pennsylvania Shell in my spare parts box. I'm looking for MTL B&O, C&O, Chessie System, and Ringling Brothers Shells or complete Loco's myself. My AZL GP38-2 are not for sale

    I also have a complete MTL UP GP35 981-01-020 and 6 UP passenger cars to sell or trade.
     
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  16. mdvholland

    mdvholland TrainBoard Member

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    Ah!... if this is going to be a swap thread, I dare come forward...

    Should anyone want to part with an AZL GP38-2 Genesee & Wyoming (#AZL-62523 - /1 /2 or /3), I'd be very interested.

    Matt
     
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  17. tjdreams

    tjdreams TrainBoard Member

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    Not at all Bruce. I bought the stuff in my collection with the intension of using them on my layout and that's still my plan. The items I have in my collection were bought at Hobby shops like woo woo woo woo woo woo or through online dealers like Z Scale Hobo or Z scale Monster, at train shows and from other members here on this forum and from other forums. Anyone who wanted one could have bought it just like I did. While some items i have may have sold out quickly the majority of them were available for several years before they sold out.

    If anything my buying them even when i didn't plan to use or build it right away helped the Z scale industry. Dealers make money by selling items. If a item does not sell out quickly and sits on a shelf then that dealer is Loosing more and more money every day it sits there on the shelf, one in The form of money he invested to buy the item from the manufacture. is now tied up and not making him anything. 2 the space the item is taking up on the shelf is preventing him from putting something else there which might sell faster and make him more money.
    Additionally Manufactures see items are selling out quickly are more likely to invest more money and produce additional items so they can make more money but on the other if a manufacture sees that his items are not selling fast he is more likely to think there is no market here and invest my time and money elsewhere leaving us (Z scale) with no new product from him.

    Yes absolutory. Just like buying a new car the second you take it off the lot it starts loosing value.
    But I didn't buy 99.9% of my collection as a investment I bought it to use knowing full well i would never be able to resell it for the same amount of cash money that I paid for it.
    I will get my moneys wort out of the kits in the form of the enjoyment i get from buildings them, placing them on my layout and watching my trains run by them. Like wise with the trains I've bought, I will get my moneys worth out of them by watching them run by the the miniature world filled with the other items I've bought and built for them to run in.

    Sorry but "NO !"

    The fact is there are way more Z scale items available today than their ever was back when I bought a lot of my collection.

    Plus If I did put them on the market I would have to ask crazy high prices just to break even. Other wise by the time eBay, PayPal and Uncle Sam got there cut I would be loosing money. And those kind of high prices are far more likely to scare a new Z fanatic off than entice them to jump in.

    But if anyone has some of the sold out TownBuilders systems kits, Stonebridge models kits, TrainCat kits, Micron Art kits, MTL kits I might be willing to trade anything that i have doubles of for some of them.

    David
     
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  18. ztrack

    ztrack TrainBoard Supporter Advertiser

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    You may have too much Z when you start with a nice layout... and next thing you know you have a magazine, retail store, resale store and do global wholesale distribution. I have a problem.....
     
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  19. Kez

    Kez TrainBoard Member

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    Check your inbox.
     
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  20. husafreak

    husafreak TrainBoard Member

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    I'm not sure where I fall into this conversation as I absolutely refuse to count my collection! I haven't been doing this long so I am glad I bought a lot of stuff when I started (pre Covid and pre retirement) because prices for everything are going up and I am very glad I have what I have. So I'm pulling back on spending now. I'm digging in my boxes and building those Animak kits, those Shapeways projects. Looking at stuff and thinking "how cool is this, when did I buy this?" I bought a couple of wall mount glass display cases and added steps so they can show twice as many rows of Z than HO. One is for North American loco's and the other European. I am trying to not buy more rolling stock and locos than I can display in them or on my test track. So basically, I am trying to run or display everything I own. Also I love building kits and doing projects so I want to build the ones I have and "earn the right" to purchase more.
    Model railroading is an incredible hobby. Guys like me who have yet to create a "real" layout maybe need to be careful of spending on stuff we will never get to play with. But the real "world builders" out there are totally justified in my mind. Let me put it another way. Telling Picasso he has too many tubes of paint is just wrong! Wether he uses them all or not is unimportant. But telling someone who has not painted anything yet that he has too many tubes is just trying to help. A kind of intervention? LOL Let's hear it for buying whatever you want because it is FUN!
    Good support group action here. Any chance you would be willing to adopt me rray? I'll make sure to get top dollar for your collection ;)
     

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