I personally like all my motive power to be "motive" in whichever scale I have. Micro-Trains has a great little F7A powered unit.. but the B unit is unpowered. Please respond to the following poll to gauge interest in a powered chassis upgrade for "B" units and/or new factory painted and powered "B" units.
I would like to see an upgraded F7A shell to match the B, with new style mechanism that fits the new F7A and B shell. To make it even more interesting, make an F3A and F3B shell, so the inside is exactly like the F7B shell, and a new GP35/9 quality mechanism that fits them all, but with a 10mm speaker mount in the fuel tank, and all that space from cab window height above for a sound decoder! Why not wish big?
Wow Robert... lofty wishing... but could happen since Z seems to be getting more followers as time goes on. I'm all in for an new Micro-Trains F3 A & B... both powered of course.
I would even go for a new unpowered chassis, or at least the trucks, so they are truely a lower rolling resistance instead of the ones we have now that drag so bad. Randy
I would go for a fuel tank on the B units ; ) I don't see a big need for powered B units, not that there is anything wrong if you want one. Just that the A's pull soooo much that a ABBA all powered isn't needed. And yes please, no pretty please with sugar on top. Make a A&B F3, even if they are just shells!
Why not offer all 3: F3 AB F7 AB F9. Do a variety of freight/ passenger schemes. Make a set of historic locos, like D&RGW 5771.
I was going to add the FT's, FP7, F9 & any other 'F' cab or cowl unit... but... I didn't want to get greedy by only asking for only one other powered unit. Micro-Trains hasn't been one to move swiftly into powered locomotives... and after some less than stellar sales of the N scale FT's... probably are treading carefully in this segment of the market. It took them a long time to warm-up to another diesel in Z scale with the GP35. Many would like them to continue in the hood unit genre with GP30, GP7 & GP9 as well. It would seem to me that the best chance for BIG future sales of locomotives is in Z scale because there are few manufacturers in this segment of the market. Those manufactureres that are in this market sell high end products which are at least twice as much as the F7 and GP35 units. Z would grow tremendously at the present Micro-Trains price point with more variety of powered units. Right now... price and availability is the biggest deterrant of present and future modelers in Z scale. It has actually benefitted N scale over the past decade... that Z scale was not better positioned to get larger scale modelers to 'downsize' below N scale.
That sounds about right, but the way I see it, N Scale is the "HO Scale of the decade" and Z is where N was in the 1990's now, so in a few more years I would expect Z to really take off just like N Scale did in the past 4-5 years. One thing we are doing as Z Scalers that N did not do, is aggressively campaign converts from larger scales, with the promise of vast layouts in small spaces, and operating layouts in diorama spaces. Turning N Scalers to Z, one modeler at a time... :shade:
I would agree with Randy on this. Since the GP-9 is about to be released, and the SD40-2 has been announced, I doubt a new power unit for any cab unit diesel is close at hand (not that I wouldn't like one). But, the B shell is easily modified to accept the current A chassis, anyway. I would be happy just to see a dummy truck that was designed to roll. As Chris (I think) pointed out, a dummy B isn't really a problem with the pulling power of the A. At least it wouldn't be, if you could just get the little critter to roll. Dan S.
So... let me see if I understand Rsmit, Chris333' & DPstripe' comment on the B unit.... It doesn't roll?????.... mg: :huh: No fuel tank??? .... mg: :huh: This is the first "B" unit I've purchased so I wouldn't know if it was intended to be a shelf queen or an actual 'rolling' model.
Yeah... It's got some internal friction problems. You will find this out when you put yours on the rails and give it a push.
There is a little square where the fuel tank goes, but it isn't really in the shape of a fuel tank and doesn't match the A units. Shouldn't be too hard to fix though. It rolls, just not very good. There is a lot of surface area on the inner bearings that can be removed to get them rolling better. Check here : http://www.conrailray.com/zscale/mt_f7abba/rolling/mt_f7rolling.htm#dummy_truck_mods and here: http://www.conrailray.com/zscale/mt_f7abba/rolling/mt_f7rolling.htm#dummy_truck_mods2
Converts I think we should just kidnap N scalers at shows and force them to become Z Modelers...Input? ) JOe
F Units Hey Grandpa Joe, Well, it's not that we are going slow, we just don't have the resources to go full bore. I have a list of 30 loco's I want to do and if I live to see 5 of them, I'll be happy. There are also painfully few Z scalers compared to other scales and you just can't keep producing product and expect the same 200 guys and gals to keep up with production. As for our F7 B unit, I'm working on getting it modified so you can use it on an A unit like I did with my SP Herd Hauler. As for future F units, I want to rework the F7A so it matches the B unit, I don't know why it wasn't done at the time the B unit was done, but that's before my time. We also have an opportunity with the SD40-2 to do the E Series, which is why I picked that wheel base over the SD45...method to my madness. Hope this makes sense. Cheers Joe MTL
Great Grandpa Joe' When we're both in our rock'n chairs with our great-grandkids on our laps... we may just look back to this post and find that N & Z scale have surpassed HO and larger scales in sales. The trend has been to move into smaller homes... particularly in larger cities. HO just doesn't work well in confined areas. I'm actually surprised that Kato hasn't launched a Z scale line by now. Of course... I agree with your comment... presently there may be less than 1,000 modelers in Z scale. It's difficult to make a decision to invest the capital required to tool brand new products... particularly powered locomotives... with a market that is not wide enough to support a constant influx of new products. It is quite a cunundrum... like what came first... the chicken or the egg? Do companies 'jump start' the market for Z scale by producing more stuff... risking that the merchandise doesn't sell. That would not be good for the Manufacturer/LHS/Distributor. Unfortunately... someone has to create enough variety to draw more people into Z scale. Micro-trains has done well with the variety of cars available... and now has two good locomotives. I hear that a third is in the works... GP9? An SD40-2 followed by an E unit would do wonders for many. It will take more than just Micro-trains efforts to get the critical mass of new product to convince modelers to chose Z scale. Still the other manufacturers are creating for the high-end market, which, is not "really" where Z scale probably belongs. It is more for the persons that DON'T have the money to have big homes for HO, O scales. The middleclass... those having to downsize to townhomes and condominiums will probably have no more than a spare 10 x 12 bedroom to do their model railroad empire. Right now that is the domain of N scale... but Z scale could be there too if the variety improves over the next 20 years. So Grandpa Joe D', both of us may see some major changes in the model railroading landscape if the trends continue over the next 20 yrs. Smaller homes may just equal small scale train layouts. We'll tell our great-grandkids... "when I was your age... neither of these scale existed and look where there at now!"
I see we are heading to the quarterly "where is the market going?" discussion. Z isn't really more expensive than N anymore. If you look at MTL rolling stock and some of the things coming from Bowser, the rolling stock prices are the same. If you look at locos (not MSRP but what you can actually buy items for) MTL's locos are in the same range as median to high end N scale (i.e. the stuff that actually runs wothout having to completely rebuild them). Even AZL is producing injection molded locos in the $175 to $225 range, about the same as some Kato. (By the way, there is a new rumor floating around that Kato is considering Z now. Not sure how accurate that might be.) Now the issue isn't price, it's selection. And as far as selection goes, in the last 4 years it has just about quadrupled. New items are coming out so fast, the pace has exceeded my budget. Things are just getting better and better for Z. Randy PS - I moved from a townhouse to a single family house a couple of years ago, but actually lost 200 sf in the process. ;-)
I agree with Randy and the others, that Z scale is growing faster now than ever before. I have been modeling Z scale since 1980, and only in the past few years, have i seen a true expansion and expolosion in the avalible NA rolling stock and locos'. Up untill a few years ago Marklin was the only real game in town, and the likes of MTL and ALZ were infants. Now MTL and ALZ are leading the Z scale hobby with new realeses of great NA stock, and track, while Marklin (now under new ownership) continue to make mostly european stuff, and a few NA offerings. The Markiln couplers alone are enough to turn any train fan off, so i think MTL and AZL are the manufactures that are attracting the folks from other scales. I still here folks giggle about the lobster claw coupler on Marklin. My recent selling off of most of my Marklin stock is proof of what is changing in Z scale. I have sold my custom build Marklin layout, as well as most of my locos and cars, to make room in my hobby room for all the new NA stuff coming out. As few as five years ago, this would have not been a good idea, but today with new releases coming out monthly, and new locos arriving every few months, it hard to not get cought up in the new explosion in Z scale. Tony B... Wasatch Z Club
Marklin Perhaps this should go in a new thread, but just heard from a dealer (mostly MArklin HO) that met with the new Marklin management at Nurnberg. The new management took over after 2007 releases were planned already, but news is that the new people are looking to North America as the way to expand their market and will be strongly considering more NA prototype releases as well as lowering the prices since the German dealers can still undercut the US dealers. They did specifically mention Z as well as HO (and this dealer doesn'tdo much Z). I wouldn't be surprised, if they get their act together, if Marklin ditched the lobster claw and came out with a DCC uncoupler like they have for HO. Of course, they will have to admit that the rest of the world uses DCC and not the proprietary Marklin digital control system. Randy
Happy... or nervous... I don't know... Wow... if Kato actually gets into Z scale and begins to offer complete passenger consists like the California Zephyr and Super Chief with matching powered locomotives... it could get very expensive for me. I simply couldnt resist to buy a Z scale Cal-Zephyr. I can't imagine how much the pricing differential from N scale would be if Kato ever got into the Z scale market. In N scale their product pricing has been very reasonable... to go with the quality of the products. Would it be out of the question that Kato could co-venture with MTL or AZL to bring their manufacturing capablity and quality with a known player in the Z scale market? It did wonders for both Kato and Atlas in the 1980's... could it do the same in Z scale too?
If Kato gets into Z Scale, many modelers will jump into Z. Probably lots of N Scalers, who always liked Z but could not find what they want in Z, will make the jump. I really like Kato quality, and hope they do enter the Z Scale market, but I think it's just a rumor someone started on the yahoo group as a speculation. If you want a real rumor, it's that Intermountain is entertaining the idea of entering Z Scale. What do you think about that!
