P.S.
We need vehicles and trucks to.
AND I THOUGHT THAT I WAS THE ONLY ONE ENJOYING THE N GAUGE BIG POWER LOCO’S ie SD90,SD70,C44-9W TOGETHER WITH INTERMODAL WAGONS. HAVING SAID THAT, I AGREE MODERN LARGE STRUCTURES ARE NEEDED TO GO WITH THEM
AND I THOUGHT THAT I WAS THE ONLY ONE ENJOYING THE N GAUGE BIG POWER LOCO’S ie SD90,SD70,C44-9W TOGETHER WITH INTERMODAL WAGONS. HAVING SAID THAT, I AGREE MODERN LARGE STRUCTURES ARE NEEDED TO GO WITH THEM
How about realistic road signs and other highway structures? Like, a complete highway overpass girder bridge kit. Metal guardrails. Grade crossings as inserts that can be placed in your already-laid track. Turnpike toll booths. Overhead interstate signage… blank green with optional decals even. Various kinds of light poles. Just ideating…
What ever happened to the Model Power “kits”, not ready made buildings? They were very good for “kitbashing”. Reasonably priced also.
A lot of what Walthers called its “N scale Cornerstone Series” were simply re-releases of the old Heljan ‘Courthouse Square’ kits which have been around long enough now to have grandchildren, and also which, frankly, get a little boring by the time you’ve seen them on a hundred different layouts (including your own).
Walthers is supposedly releasing an N scale version of its Acme Furniture Factory kit, which is good news for those of us looking for something taller than two stories. It’s also good news if this is but the first of many; if Walthers has in fact – at long last! – seen the light!
– Paul
One can only hope… I mean REALLY hope! [;)]
Was hoping for western houses like the tract house I lived in in LA county in 1955 or in Arizona. Intend to scratchbuild a couple. Whole areas of these along SP, UP and ATSF lines in Southern California to the nearest pass. Where are the hot dog places and Toco Bells of the 60’s and 70’s? The Spanish style stucco, red tile roof houses of Pico Rivera, Pasadena and older cities along the tracks. Someone give me a herd of beef cattle, Herefords for my feedlot in Puente, and a REAL slaughter house to send
the pigs and cows to. Paint it up with the mural of the cows and pigs going in, then floating up to heaven with halos and little wings. Pigs with wings! Ha… THAT is when they FLY!
Too many buildings like we have here in small town Illinois, but not like Tucson, Pheonix or So. Calif., Riverside, etc.
I haven’t been doing model railroading very long, so I’m sure I’m not going to say anything that hasn’t been said before. My only interest in this hobby is doing the scenery on them. I enjoy the N scale, amd I must confess that I also get really twisted when I open Model Railroader only to see that Walther’s new structure releases are in HO scale. And while I can’t say that I am great at assembling kits, what I do appreciate about the kits that need to be assembled is that I can paint and weather them myself. These ‘built-up’ kits are good for people who hate to do the assembly - and believe me, I can emphathize, but the colors are pretty awful. I’m sure you can air brush grimy black on them to make them look used, but it’s just grimy black over tacky colored plastic. (Just my opinion)
Another frustration I have is the lack of figures or people in N scale. Maybe there are sources out there that I haven’t stumbled unto and if anyone knows of a good place to get figures that are everyday people, not just work men and railroad workers, please let me know. I know it sounds wacked out that I am not necessarily looking for railroad workers on a model train set up, but not all scenery is about trains and yards for me.
Thanks for letting me add my nickel’s worth.
Judy
I can appreciate the chagrin that many feel about the shortage of modern N scale structures. But being a scratch builder, I am more disappointed in the lack of detail parts. Gold Medal and few others are beginning to fill that niche, but I would like to see manufacturers provide more roof top equipment as well as more junk (clutter) and assorted details at reasonable prices. Except for Grant Line, is anyone making N scale windows? Local hobby shops seldom stock detail parts. Is there a one-stop catalog out there besides Walthers that lists currently available detail parts?
Need much more variety of N scale houses. After much searching I had to settle for kitbashing Model Power houses. Just as soon as I installed them on the layout, along comes an announcement from Atlas that they will introduce N scale bungalows. Oh well. DPM had a great idea with the modular buildings but it would be great to offer a variety of facades and accessories to build unique structures. Additional varieties of N scale people would be great. I get jealous looking at some of the HO layouts and all the variety of people and animals. There is a layout in the Caboose Hobbies store in Denver that features the antics of group (herd? gaggle?) of escaped monkeys running amuck in the town and local countryside. It’s fun and uses a lot of figure types unavailable in N scale.
I wish walthers would come out more structures in nscale. everytime i read modelrailer or any other magazine it always in ho scale. please think about us nscalers when you come out with new products. I would like to see some of the ho structures in nscale. there is a market for these kits also. I hope some from read this fourm.
JIM
“California Craftsman” ranch style tract homes with detached garages (need 20+)
Recent “McMansions” for the newly redevloped areas (need 15+)
Modern warehouse/retail (thanks Nu-Line, a few more would be nice)
Modern roadway bridges (Nu-Line, someday…)
1960+ fast food stops Mickeys, the King, Taco Bel (In-nOut would be just too cool)
“New Deco” dinner style resturaunts like “Norm’s” or “Bob’s Big Boy”
Traditional dinner resturaunts like Shoneys, Dennys, CoCo’s and the like
Nscale people gott eat too…
Something I’d like to see more of is industry groups. There should be more choices in the loads in and empty out idea than just the coal mine to electric coal burner. I’m using the simulation in Railroad Tycoon as a guide. A grain farm with grain bins feeds cattle that gets sent to the meat producer to make burgers for Mcdonald. Steel & produce go to a cannery. Milk goes to a processing plant. A sawmoll sends logs to a lumber mill to make furniture. Chips go to a paper mill, the paper goes to a printer that produces MR.
There haven’t been any major new kits come along in quite some time. Even the big boys, like Lifelike & Model Power & Bachmann are missing. Con cor must be sleeping in Arizona. Even some of the old but good kits may be hard to find now? I hope not!
I dont know whoms running the N scale side of Walthers but his marketing savy leaves much to be desired.
The two structures Walthers plans on putting out in the Sept/Oct time frame are lame.
Hello Walthers! are you reading this??? Start off with the same large structures you made in HO scale.
Rob de rebel
I love large structures, and have a fairly large layout (12 X 17’) but not everyone does. Walthers puts out smaller buildings, and you can always kitba***wo together, or double the size by not modeling the back if you want larger structures!
To all the above responses, “AMEN!!!” How about some big city stations? Walthers put out a Union Station in HO, how 'bout one in N? Contemporary houses would be nice, too. How come many manufacturers are turning out modern diesels and frieght (and even Amtrak equipment) and the autos and such are stuck in the mid "50s? Even the new Athern N scale (thank you for finally seeing the light Athern) equipment (F59s and Bombardier cars) is matched with trucks last manufactured inthe early 1970s. Things are getting better overall, let’s hope it keeps up.
I would like to see more house models in N. I hope that Atlas will produce a N scale version of Barb’s Bungalow in the next few years.
Walther’s has put out some really exciting kits in HO scale. I keep dreaming they will wake-up to the vast market on N scale modellers out there. Probably make me bankrupt if they came out with that stuff in N scale…Walther’s got anyone listening???
Some Articles in MR showed how to build high-rises and big buildings with card stock and plastics. Other articles showed us how to build molds, and use plasters an plastics of different kinds. I have found the best thing to do is to stop wishing and trying some of these methods out. I was not very good the first time…and even the second…but the sound advice by experienced modelers really works, and best of all, using these ideas can be relatively inexpensive…
When is Walthers going to release the reset of the steel mill building in N? I have the blast furnace and two rolling mills, but want at least the coke plant. I need to have the dimensions before I start planning my new layout. I wish Walthers would shorten the time from the release of the HO version of the building to the release of the N scale version. The new single track truss bridge would be wonderful in N!
It would be wonderful is DPM would duplicate more of the HO modular wall sections in N.
I agree with the comments that N can use more larger buildings. Also more houses in all time periods. Some townhouse/rowhouse buildings for cities would be nice, too!