Hello, newbie here. Any manufacturer, other than Brawa, make ski or chair lifts or even gondolas? I’m planning a ski resort themed 4x8 set and would love to find some manufacturer that makes modern-ish lifts.
Check Kibri or Heljan.
I’d also check the European manufacturers such as E-R models, Roco (or whatever name they’re going by now), Busch, and Wiking.
Yo, I went to NIU, too. Graduated in 1992. Kewl.
The only ones listed in the 2006 Walthers HO scale catalog are from Brawa, but that doesn’t particularly mean that no one else makes them…
If I were doing it, I would scratch-build it but make it a static model. I think the Brawa run is operating and makes an interesting toy, but how many ski lifts have you been on with only two chairs? How many have just as many people riding down as riding up?
I was up at Sunday River last weekend, and noticed that most of the long lifts have over a hundred chairs. Probably 20 or 30 would do for a decent model. My first stop would be the Evergreen or Plastruct racks at the LHS, to find what’s available. I’d think a piece of 1/4-inch angle would do for the seat and back, and then some floral wire or maybe a bent paper clip for a frame to tie it to the wire. The support posts are simple tubes with cross-members at the top, and you can make the top and bottom houses out of styrene sheet.
I will be skiing tonight at the local resort. If I remember to take my camera I will snap a couple pics for you of the more modern style chairs that we have there if you want to look into scratch building.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com
Here are the pictures of the lift chairs and the upper unload station. This is one of the most modern chairlifts there is today. This is a high speed detachable chair lift that runs at 8-9 MPH. The load and unload station speeds are closer to 2-3 MPH.
Dan Pikulski
www.DansResinCasting.com