The lack of N-Scale Kits

Hell All

I'm new to the Forum and this is my first post of which I hope will be the first of many.

There are many HO scale craftsman kit manufacturers for structures but too few N scale manufacturers. I have some Woodland Scenics, N Scale Architect and a couple of Bar Mills, but I get very jealous when I see Sierra West, South River Models and Fine Scale Miniatures to name a few. What do you do for sctructures?

Tom

 

Welcome to the forum, Tom!

Of course we don't have as many structure kits as they do in HO, but the situation isn't that bad. Paging through the Walthers catalog, we've got American Model Builders, Campbell, Blair Line, Branchline Trains, Depots by John, GC Laser, JL Innovative Design, Micron Art, Micro Structures (Miller Engineering), Mountaineer Precision Products, Northeastern, and Monroe Models. And that's not counting plastic kits.

 

You'll have to do some research on kits, but there's other manufacturers out there. The old Muir Models are now available again. Downtown Deco has some really good ones.

 

Terry Pitts' website has a manufacturers' page worth looking through. While a few might not be around any longer there are a lot of companies that do craftsman style kits for structures.
http://www.nscale160.com/manufacturers.php/

 

If you think that there are few structure kits available in N-Scale you need to take a look at my photos posted on Railimages http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/3814

If there is a manufacturer of structure kits out there I probably have at least one representative items from their catalogue.

 

Or you could just look at kits the way I do. Not all the time but the MAJORITY of the time I buy a kit for parts. I am a kit basher, and I have probablly 50+ kits at home that are either waiting to be canibalized or have been canibalized for a part here and there. One such kit is the Walthers Mountain Lumber Co. sawmill. I used only the trusses and parts fo the green chain when I scratchbuilt my Ryan Forest Products mill for the United Northwest RR club.
But comparing what is available now, compared to back in 1979 when I got into N-scale, we are definitely blessed at what is avaiable on the open market today.

 

Get a recent copy of the Narrow Gauge & Shortline Gazette and you'll find plenty of kit mfr's that don't advertise anywhere else.

 

Things are different in N in many subtle ways.

The scale lends itself to both resin casting and photoetching for kit construction as the parts are just so much smaller. Because of that, it's entirely possible to be a 'kitchen table' manufacturer. Oh, the bigger guys are out there, for sure, but there's other stuff in every imaginable direction.

My hero in N is Craig Martyn; BLMA, who has ventured ito all sorts of things, kits, RTR, even cars now. Another one is Bob Knight, TrainCAT, with just an incredible assortment of photoetched brass cars, structures, details, etc. Photoetched brass is a wonderful material for N and don't be afraid of it. ACC works fine.

But with small manufacturers and the 'net, they; well, me included, don't necessarily need Walthers as a wholesaler to make it work. Do some google searches, ask questions, you might be amazed what is out there doing direct sales. Look at the sawmill and craftsman kits on Republic Locomotive Works. Model Tech Studios... There's just seriously good and fun stuff.

 

I've got over 30 structures and almost 100 items for N scale on my site alone with more on the way. Don't use Walthers for a number of reason one is I like to eat another is would have to increase pricing by 20-25% just to make any profit.
rich
www.slaserkits.com

 

Spyder-

I tried your link but it comes up as page can not be displayed. I would like to see some of your products.

 

Typo. Try this:

http://www.rslaserkits.com/

 

I know this is an old post, but please check out Creative Laser design at www.creativelaserdesign.com , we have 30 kits in N scale now & a few more almost done. Thank you & happy modeling...

 

I think it's safe to say that the situation has improved quite significantly since the original post back in 2010. I have more N Scale laser kits than I think will actually fit on the layout at the moment. (Nothing personal, CLDDAVID, your kits are very tempting...)