What NZ120 Really Needs?
A month or two ago I started dabbling in American Z scale. It’s a long story. I’ve started doing a serious 1:220 kitbash and can say that it will improve my future modeling immensely because in 1:220 you just have to be spot on or it looks awful. But that is irrelevant to tonight’s discourse. Although Z scale has been around for 40 years now, the American Z scale market is not unlike the NZ120 one –in that there is very little available. Microtrains makes a few wagons and a couple of terribly badly proportioned engines, but that’s about it for the mainstream apart from garage manufacturers unless you want to assemble tiny kitsets or shell out serious coin.
The active posters on the Z message boards say that same things that we do. More models! Better quality! Lower prices! Ready-to-run! Sound familiar?
The reality is that manufacturers rarely do this for love, both markets are tiny and bringing products to market is an incredibly time consuming and expensive proposition. You do the maths. Now I think there could be a reasonable NZ120 market for reasonably well-detailed models at reasonable prices. But I don’t know. I know that there are 98 registered with the Yahoo group (excluding myself) but I’ll bet they aren’t all active NZ120ers. I know that a handful of people make regular contributions to this blog but don’t even know how many people will read this. And isn’t that really the problem?
Tonight I read an interesting post from a US Z scaler, and the crux of his argument is that what Z really needs to move forward is… more modelers.
David K Smith writes:
If more people seriously got involved in the hobby, it would support more manufacturing, and hence more products.Allow me to pose a challenge for all of you with nine-mile-long wishlists. Want a half-decent shot at getting a few of those prized items? Promote the hobby. Get your brother or your cousin involved. Get them to get others involved. Help build the market so that it can actually support more of the things you really want. Don't just sit on your behinds expecting the market to magically grow merely because you want it to. How about making a realistic and balanced New Year's Resolution? Try this on for size: "I'm paring my Z scale wishlist down to just one item, and I'm going to turn my friend Fred into a kickass Z scaler."Myself, I have a modeling friend who is in N scale but has been tempted by Z, and I intend to help turn that temptation into active involvement. We can do this. We can build the hobby... one modeler at a time.
Isn’t it about time the Journal got bombarded with pictures? How many NZ120ers will be at the next Show or Convention? What will they bring to impress the punters?
And how many of you are really out there lurking? Post a comment and say Hi.
8 comments:
I'm one of those dreaded people who are observing but not currently actively modeling. I am very interested in NZ120 but as there is no way I would be able to successfully scratch build anything i would be limited to ready to roll stuff.
Hi Maverick, good to see you on board.
What era are you interested in, and what would you like to see?
i've just been out in the cold shed building, converting some coaches for nz120. also looking at making some castings of bogies
yours in trainz
Grahamn
Mainly modern stuff, mainly modern era although a few late steam would be OK. I guess i would like to see a few ready to run or even kitset locos. There may already be some around but i haven't really found much yet. The Chosen Scale Collective website hasn't been updated for several years as well. Also some consensus on a standard for modules would be good so that newcomers know the standard to use so that they can interconnect with other peoples modules at events.
Hi MaverickNZ. Ready to run items aren't likely to be available commercially, but if you wait a month or two the old Trackside 120 range of kits will be back on the market.
As to modules, pick a standard (or create your own), and get a local group together. It would be great to think modellers from a wide area could get together for a module running day, but I haven't seen it happen yet.
Does anyone else have a wishlist for what they would like to see produced, be it rolling stock, loco's, buildings or whatever ?
Where will the Trackside 120 kits be avaliable from? Is there an NZ120 group in Christchurch?
Firstly some from Trademe, then mainly from a website soon to be announced.
I have some HOn30 gear at home that runs on N gauge track, and often considered upscaling to NZ120.
Currently trying go get some enthousiasm going in the 9mil circles to establish some module standards, but as yet this has been met with a rather luke warm response, and challanged as being too conformist and that everyone should be left to their own devices.
I think modules are a great idea to help build and encourage any scale, and think that NZ120 could benefit from it too.
If VCC gets going with a couple of NZ120 kits I think I might jump on the nz120 bus too...
Drew
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