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Post by boxcarwilly on Jul 14, 2014 12:56:48 GMT -5
I have been looking for 3 very different types of street or garden lights for installation on my layout, and I am deeply disappointed in what I have found. Oh it's true that lights manufactured by Brawa and a few other European manufacturers have the most realistic styles and are true to scale, but all the dealers in North America that I have checked are currently out of stock on the items I need. What makes matters worse is they give no delivery dates as to when they will have them in stock. I even went to the manufactures to try and order directly and each item shows that they have no idea when or if they are going to produce these items. This is bad business and even worse customer service. I then turned to Ebay to see if I could find these same items there and while a couple are close to what I want, they are not exact. But what makes this so frustrating is that all these Ebay sellers, most of which are from China, sell junk. Before I buy anything from any seller on Ebay I always read their feedback and resolutions to problems buyers incur with the products being sold. I am absolutely appalled at the amount of negative feedback shown for these Chinese sellers which sometimes numbers up in the hundreds. What I also found out from some detective work is that there are only two actual Chinese Ebay sellers operating under different names. This is easy to detect by viewing their description pages. The formatting is all the same with a few minor variations. It just proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the Chinese sell nothing but junk and they flood other countries markets with this garbage and rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting buyers and they could care less if it works, is broken or is poorly made, and all the negative feedback left does nothing to influence any of them, and yet they sit back and count their US dollars and laugh at us. What it comes down to is those of us who want certain z scale items, can't get them from our suppliers or dealers because they are NOT IN INVENTORY or AVAILBILITY IS UNKNOWN. It's just plain disgraceful.
One further thing: I have long been against supporting the economies of Asia, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Africa because of the garbage produced by them or the working conditions they force their labourers to endure all in the name of what? I'd much rather support the economies of Germany, the UK and other commonwealth countries, the US or Canada. I'm sure someone is going to say that will drive up the cost of z scale items. Well if it comes down to quality, reliability and availability of product, I would pay more IF I could get what I want WHEN I want it.
WARNING: If you are thinking of buying lights and such for your layouts, and the only place you can get what you want is from Chinese sellers on Ebay, BEWARE. Check out the feedback first and then decide if you want to take the risk. You will undoubtedly be disappointed with your purchase.
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Post by markm on Jul 14, 2014 13:49:34 GMT -5
Willy,
Sorry to read about your lighting issues. It's been a while since I've had a need, but looking around, the availability seems to be the worst I can recall. Walther's has a few. I like the Marklin units, but they are pricey. The best source for variety (if not quantity) turns out to be the ztrackresale site. Rob seems to have a couple from just about every manufacturer.
What style lighting are you looking for?
Mark
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Post by tjdreams on Jul 14, 2014 15:23:40 GMT -5
As Mark said take a look on Z Scale Resale www.ztrackresale.com/ Do you have a manufacture name and model or part number for the ones your looking for? If so post a list. You never know maybe someone here has what your looking for or knows where to find it at. David |
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Post by burlingtonroute on Jul 14, 2014 15:42:29 GMT -5
Have you tried to order anything directly from Germany for instance? Viessmann has a website and it is also in English. They have some nice lamps that look like some I have even seen in pictures of US station platforms. But they are over 8 Euros a pop plus postage from Europe. Conrad in Germany sold basically the same lanterns, but in kit form. Ever think about rolling your own? I can´t think of the name of the company off of the top of my head, but they specialize in N scale tubes and pipes and shades and things, and they also have Z scale stuff. You might have to bite the bullet and order a bunch of Chinese pre-wired LEDs, but it would not be too hard to make.
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Post by mrja on Jul 15, 2014 9:34:56 GMT -5
One further thing: I have long been against supporting the economies of Asia, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Africa because of the garbage produced by them or the working conditions they force their labourers to endure all in the name of what? I'd much rather support the economies of Germany, the UK and other commonwealth countries, the US or Canada. I'm sure someone is going to say that will drive up the cost of z scale items. Well if it comes down to quality, reliability and availability of product, I would pay more IF I could get what I want WHEN I want it. WARNING: If you are thinking of buying lights and such for your layouts, and the only place you can get what you want is from Chinese sellers on Ebay, BEWARE. Check out the feedback first and then decide if you want to take the risk. You will undoubtedly be disappointed with your purchase. Are you aware that most of AZL's products are produced in China? This is also true of Rokuhan's products. Marklin has moved out of China (for good reasons). I am currently working in China... at a major aviation manufacturer associated with a major U.S. aircraft company. I see every day why junk products come out of this country. Unless someone is checking quality control daily... there is absolutely no care about what is being produced. My apologies for hijacking your thread. |
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Post by boxcarwilly on Jul 15, 2014 17:55:47 GMT -5
Are you aware that most of AZL's products are produced in China? This is also true of Rokuhan's products. Marklin has moved out of China (for good reasons).
I am currently working in China... at a major aviation manufacturer associated with a major U.S. aircraft company. I see every day why junk products come out of this country. Unless someone is checking quality control daily... there is absolutely no care about what is being produced.
My apologies for hijacking your thread.[/quote]
Yes I am aware that AZL gets their products made in China, likewise Rokuhan but there is a distinct difference. AZL and Rokuhan both have certain standards that the Chinese manufactures must meet and quality control is paramount in their production procedures. As for those Chinese sellers on Ebay, they sell junk from factories that have no quality control and use junk materials in their manufacturing processes. The way I see it, when I buy an AZL product, I'm supporting a North American company, NOT China. The fact that AZL has their products made there is unfortunate but it's their decision. I support AZL but I do not support China. This may be a lopsided way of looking at things, but that's how I see it. As for Rokuhan, no doubt the same, but I don't use their products since all their controls are not compatible with my system. If I were to see a Chinese Ebay seller with engines, cars and track, I would not buy them. These sellers only have things like lights, most of which don't work or are broken when you get them, figures which are very poorly painted and moulded, cars which in most cases aren't too bad, and trees which are either good or bad depending on the tree modelled. That's my point. It's all the secondary or scenery stuff that is the garbage.
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Post by boxcarwilly on Jul 15, 2014 18:01:14 GMT -5
The kind of lights I'm looking for are the single head street lights you'd find just about in any city or town. I'm also looking for the old style goose neck lights. The kind you'd find in a yard, on a back street somewhere, or perhaps in a farmyard. I'm also looking for some garden or yard lights. Something like what you'd find in the front yard of a house next to the sidewalk, porch, or garage. Brawa makes all of these but they are out of stock at the factory and every dealer/supplier I've been too has got any in their inventory and don't know when they will have them.
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Post by shamoo737 on Jul 15, 2014 18:44:34 GMT -5
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Post by shamoo737 on Jul 15, 2014 18:45:17 GMT -5
Look under lampen.
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Post by markm on Jul 15, 2014 22:38:57 GMT -5
Willy, I don't recall how interested you are in building your own (I think not very), but for the goose neck lights, Ngineering has a kit that is fairly easy and cheap if you need a number of units: ngineering.com/z_lighting_kits.htm For street lights, I've made a couple of park lights (big white globe) with fiber optic and brass tubing, they were a lot of work and didn't look that great. Sorry couldn't be more help, Mark |
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Post by burlingtonroute on Jul 16, 2014 8:06:52 GMT -5
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Post by boxcarwilly on Jul 16, 2014 8:57:26 GMT -5
Shamoo:
Thanks for this info. This place has almost everything I'm looking for including the crossing signals. Unfortunately, I don't speak German except hand up and cease fire so I have no idea how to order these items or what their descriptions are. I should have taken German in high school I guess.
Mark: I know about the lights from Ngineering. No, I couldn't build these to save my life. Way beyond my abilities given my medical conditions but thanks anyway.
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Post by burlingtonroute on Jul 16, 2014 9:52:26 GMT -5
You can always send an email and ask "How much for X amount of item XYZ plus postage to the US. For every picture there is an article number. He takes paypal too. War has been over for well over 60 years now and the wall has been done for about 2O so you don´t need to go there. Or send me an Email and tell me what you want and Ill call Rolf in the morning and get you what you want. Cant get no easier unless you buy me a round trip ticket and I install them on your layout.
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Post by boxcarwilly on Jul 16, 2014 11:54:06 GMT -5
You can always send an email and ask "How much for X amount of item XYZ plus postage to the US. For every picture there is an article number. He takes paypal too. War has been over for well over 60 years now and the wall has been done for about 2O so you don´t need to go there. Or send me an Email and tell me what you want and Ill call Rolf in the morning and get you what you want. Cant get no easier unless you buy me a round trip ticket and I install them on your layout. Thanks for that. I will do exactly that. Yes I know the war has been over for years, those phrases I got from war movies on TV. I also know Das Auto from a TV commercial about VW's so no insult was intended. You would think thought that if your selling stuff on the worldwide market, you'd make your site English as well. It's just common sense. Oh well. As for a round trip ticket, good try Clyde. But if your want to drive up for a visit and assist in installing these lights if and when I get them, that would be cool and you're most welcome. Too bad this wasn't last week. You could have gone to the Calgary Stampede. Timing is everything I guess. |
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Post by burlingtonroute on Jul 17, 2014 2:14:30 GMT -5
I never got a message, so nothing I can do. I did look up some folks that sell Z stuff in the US. I looked up mostly Brawa and Viessman lights as they are the standard. Märklin does have some tiny little lanterns that are perfect for those suburban driveways. Anyways doing a real quick search...
Reynauld´s has Märklin lights, Brawa lights,Viessmann lights.
AJCKIDS has Märklin lights (sold out of what one type) Brawa lights.
Euro Rails Hobbies have some of all 3, out of stock of some items.
Hobbylinc is missing a quite a few, but oddly enough, they have a couple that the other places did not have in stock.
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