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Post by smr on Jan 7, 2018 1:19:52 GMT -5
It's my impression that it's a bit of a pain for manufactures to have a parts inventory and keep it stocked. From what I have seen this is the case in every scale and the obscurity of Z only makes it worse. As far as AZL goes, they offer a good selection of parts through AZL Direct. The fact that I'm spending 2x-3x per locomotive AND potentially will have it go completely useless at some point scares the heck out of me. Neither MTL nor AZL keeps extensive repair parts available which is kind of mind-boggling. I daresay that is why we don't see more large Z-scale layouts. I would be hesitant to invest that much time and money and end up with basically a static display. I cannot agree to the statement that we don't see more large scale layouts. My feeling is quite the opposite, on European exhibitions and conventions you see a dramatic upswing in quality and size. For the first time ever Z-Scale layouts had been invited to the all-scale conventions in Lahnstein and Ontraxs! - the most reputated ones we have in continental Europe. Professional layout builders push that forward - a good example is the new AZL layout "West of Caliente" built by Karl Sinn in Germany. Have a look at the first video here: azlforum.com/post/11662/threadBest, Sven
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Post by dazed on Jan 7, 2018 10:04:20 GMT -5
I cannot agree to the statement that we don't see more large scale layouts. My feeling is quite the opposite, on European exhibitions and conventions you see a dramatic upswing in quality and size. For the first time ever Z-Scale layouts had been invited to the all-scale conventions in Lahnstein and Ontraxs! - the most reputated ones we have in continental Europe. Professional layout builders push that forward - a good example is the new AZL layout "West of Caliente" built by Karl Sinn in Germany. Have a look at the first video here: azlforum.com/post/11662/threadBest, Sven Sven, you're right....I wasn't considering the European scene or commissioned layouts. I should also mention that I didn't really consider Marklin when formulating my thoughts since (a) I don't own any Marklin locomotives, (b) there was the comment that they have parts available, and (c) MTL and AZL produce almost exclusively North American prototype models, and I'm not sure Marklin is doing anything in that realm at this time other that the joint AZL stuff. "West of Caliente" is great, but certainly doesn't EVER have the worry of locomotive problems given that AZL commissioned it. Also, not sure I would consider that a "large" layout. My frame of reference would be something like Dean Ferris' Oregon Trunk Line where a dozen operators might use 50-60 unique locos in any given ops session. (and that isn't considering stationary locos at engine facilities, etc)
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