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Post by mrbarlow on Mar 30, 2024 10:58:48 GMT -5
Question: In what year did Micro-Trains start making Z SCALE railroad models?
Does anyone have an archived list of every model they have made?
Thanks,
Mr. B
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Post by zscalehobo on Mar 30, 2024 11:46:02 GMT -5
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Post by ztrack on Mar 30, 2024 12:02:33 GMT -5
Micro-Trains purchased their Z scale line of tooling from Nelson Gray. He is considered the founder of US Z scale. MTL purchased the tooling in 1982. There is a good chance you have a car in your collection that came from this original tooling. We published an article on Nelson in 2007. It is a great read on the early years of Z scale. www.ztrack.com/13-1-Digital?search=nelson%20grayThe MTL database is a great start. We also have published in Ztrack photos of every MTL release since the 1980s. Rob  |
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Post by bapakbob on Mar 30, 2024 13:12:15 GMT -5
Best database on the net: Trovestar. One of it's minor categories is z scale. 3053 mtl listings, most with production dates and price history, and the manufacturers advertising photo of the car. Azl has almost caught up with 2991 listings. www.trovestar.com/generic/group.php?Collection=42 |
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Post by mrbarlow on Mar 30, 2024 15:27:03 GMT -5
Thank You Hobo, Rob and Baba for the insight and information.
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Post by Kez on Mar 30, 2024 19:54:30 GMT -5
So Rob, that car with the bulldozer on it on the cover of the Ztrack you posted. Is that an Al Godfrey scratch build? Was he friends with Fred Ladd, by any chance?
The reason I ask? I own that car, or a pretty good likeness of it, purchased from the dealer that was selling Fred's collection for his wife. I always assumed it was a Ladd original, but perhaps not.
Just curious.
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Post by BAZman on Apr 4, 2024 12:07:59 GMT -5
And the dates when Kadee spun off MTL.
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 17:40:09 GMT -5
Bumping this up to the top so maybe Mr. Kluz will see my question. The one I own is definitely the one in the picture. And I have a few others with very unique loads also, from the same collection.
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Post by ztrack on Apr 16, 2024 19:51:51 GMT -5
Sorry missed that question. Fred knew Al very well. Here is what he wrote in the issue of Ztrack we highlighted:
by Fred Ladd
Contributing Editor
Al started in Z more than 20 years ago. His first scratch railcars were 3-dome tank cars (something we could still use today). He built the original of what has become the Penzee hopper. He also made four-truck depressed-center flat cars, 80-foot flat cars, passenger cars, etc.
Al was a Corsair/Hellcat pilot during WWII and was shot down. The Chance Vought F4U Corsair in the above photo is also one of Al’s scratch-built masterpieces.
He has always been at the forefront of Z, building different cars, thirty at a whack. He loved his chopper, and at 84 he still has all his fingers. Sadly, Al recently suffered a stroke and has had to give up scratch-building in Z. As we all know, once bitten by the Z bug there is no cure. The Z Community salutes a great modeler and a Z pioneer.
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 21:28:46 GMT -5
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 21:29:08 GMT -5
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 21:29:31 GMT -5
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 21:33:25 GMT -5
  These are the cars I mentioned. Were these also in this Ztrack issue? |
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Post by Kez on Apr 16, 2024 21:35:43 GMT -5
One more:  |
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Post by cwrr on Apr 17, 2024 18:37:39 GMT -5
I've never seen those-they are so cool, even the Corsair!!
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