Hello! I was sifting through Anthony's Monster site and came across the Penn Zee Scratchpaks. My curiosity was raised as I remember when these first came out. After thinking about it, I have never read or heard anyone talk about these items. * Has anyone ever used the Roof, Corrugation, Clapboard siding, or the Brick paks before? * Can you comment on them? * Positives/Negatives? I really would like to know! They do look interesting and could probably save alot of time! Thanks Hobo Tim
Pennzee Scratchpaks are basically printed cardboard sheets. They were designed by John Harmon. If I remember correctly, the corugation sheets do have texture, the rest are flat. Rob
Tim: I have several paks I purchased from Anthony. I am not overly excited after seeing them, BUT have not assembled any. OTOH I believe Dave George [Mr Dave] has several city blocks on his big travelling layout, and they look real good on his layout. ...don
ScratchPaks Don, Thanks, I am interested in the corrugated scratchpak. Do you have this one? How does the artwork look? Do these sheets actually have corrugation or is it just printed on the sheets? Do any of the brick sheets look real? Are any worth purchasing? Thanks Hobo Tim
"Worth purchasing" is in the eye of the beholder. I have a Pennzee Quickits #101/"Downtown Stores Red Brick". This is a kit of 4 flat top brick business buildings. The overall texture is brick. It is printed in cyan-magenta-yellow-black with the color being quite even over the whole brickwork. The brick is a "red-brick" with a medium coarse black dot pattern. The overall texture has no variagation in color at all although I suppose with lots of weathering you could correct this. The bricks appear to be about one foot long at 1:220 using the "scale card" to measure. There is no corrugation or embossing, just the even printing. Windows are printed in black. All parts are pre-punced to drop from the card stock which is abut 1/32 inch thick. OTOH none of the window lites are cut open. The windows are just cut on the exterior frame. I don't have the corrugated material you are asking about, but possibly Anthony can give you more details. On the "Robert Ray Laser Scale" I'd rate these no more than a 4 or a 5. ...don
Tim, the corrugated metal set is the only one that has actual texture. And, in my opinion, is the nicest one out of all of the PZ scratch packs. Actually, only half of the sheets are corrugated, the others a smooth steel sheeting. There are also two different patterns. One has square panels, the other has rectangular. These sheets are printed on fairly thin card stock and are quite flexible, unlike PZ's wall materials which are quite thick. Anyway, I would say the Corrugated set is more than worth a try. The other sets are ok, too, but they do require a bit of "detailing" to make them look like more than printed cardstock. I have seen some incredible work done with these and the quick kits in general (by people far more talented at painting and weathering than me), especially with the use of Micron-Arts detail packs. I had always planned on using them as strictly background pieces to fill space, until I saw some of them that John Harmon had built, then by a few others. I was truly impressed. Dan S.
Actually, I have seen wonders worked with just a few minutes of dry brushing with pastels and a little bit of charcoal to correct the uniform color and texture. The printed windows are on cards that glue behind the outer walls. There are people that provide printed mylar replacements (or you could print your own on transparency sheets), and for the full effect, the Micron Arts detail kits are great. And each one does more than one building, so this is still the most economical way to fill a lot of space. The windows for the "line-side industries" setc can actually be rocked open. I very strongly recommend the Micron Arts details for these structures. http://www.micronart.com/PennZee_200_series_details.html The PZ Quick-Kits have to be viewed for what they are. For the casual modeler, they are reasonable buildings for a reasonable price (4 or 5 buildings for under 20 bucks), and they are very easy to build using white glue. For the more serious modeler, with a little work, they become "more than respectable" space fillers until there is time to scratch build or a craftsmans kit comes out. Or, for those that are good at detailing and weathering and put some time into them, they can become very nice structures on any layout. Anyone that is good with card models could work wonders with these. They are fairly durable, can be very easily kitbashed, and, if you screw up, you're not out that much. They don't have the detail of etched brass or some of the laser cut kits, but they do have their place. Dan S.
