More on The way forward

( Careful here as my spelling is now being carefully checked. Thanks Cat :v)

The brains trust, firing on all neuron, has been busy today on fiurther discussions.
the common points that have turned up are

1) Resin loco tops. While etching is state of the art at the moment, its not every ones cup of tea to assemble the kits. Resin offers the option to 'plug and play' so to speak. The models I made 20 years ago I still think would stack up (and there's still a few in existence from what I've heard). Likewise for the wagons. Rapid prototyping seems to be a buzz area at the moment, but until we actually see some results and models on offer, its all just vapour-ware really.

2) Layouts. its been pointed out that you could build a couple of 2' by 1' modules to the suggested standard, and carry them on an aeroplane as hand luggage. While I'm not sure about hand luggage (the US allowances are much larger than here, to the point where I think I could almost take my wife as carry on luggage), I think for a couple of slightly larger pieces they could be take as luggage. 4' by 2' won't work like that, and I think the days of trekking the length of the country in a hired truck are long gone. However, if people could just turn up on the morning and slot their module in, it would be really great. We are also not sure every prospective NZ120er reads the local rag, and exhibitions are the way to go.

So whats needed is a range of cheap middle of the road models for the average modeler (like the old trackside range, but with improved running qualities) and some visible exhibition layouts to run them on.