Hello all.... When I 'started back' into N scale as an adult, back in the early to mid-90's, I feel I was MORE than blessed to be in the right place, at the right time, to really stoke and grow my interest in model railroading, or, more accurately for me, railroad modelling, specifically N scale railroad modelling... I was living in Austin, TX at the time, and had the great pleasure to meet great people within the confines of the local Ntrak group, AustNtrak. And...N scale was seeing an incredible burst of growth and popularity that, I feel, it is still riding today...in fact, today's N scale offers more than I could have ever imagined back in 1995, despite what you may read on some of the forums... EXCEPT in the locomotive detail parts area! (IMO) Yes, we DO have folks like BLMA with their detail parts in PE (I RELY on their ultimate E/F unit sets for my growing ATSF fleet of covered wagons!), and GMM still is producing their wonderful sets of PE items... Walter and Debbie, at Showcase Miniatures, are REALLY upping the ante where lineside equipment and vehicles are concerned, and structures have never been more prevalent and varied than they are today... but, to this day, no one has stepped up to fill a gap left by the demise of Sunrise Enterprises... So many items...across different eras, have gone the way of the Dodo....I recall, when I was modelling modern (1990's) units...I relied on their wealth of plows, railroad-specific light packages, antennae platforms, etc...to detail and transform factory units into railroad-specific locomotive power... I'm finding a dearth of items to replace their loss...specifically, for me, now that I'm modelling transition era diesels, speed recorders and than ATSF-specific center-mounted numberboards for the ALCO PA units...(finials for the tops of signal masts have always been a desire in N scale, but I don't recall their ever being available) I've searched all 120-something of model railroad pages on Shapeways site to see if anything like I've described is available, all to no avail... So my question is... Does ANYONE know of a source, in N scale, for those specific items?...and does anyone else here share my desire for a manufacturer to take up the N scale detail 'gauntlet' and fill the gap left by Sunrise?...perhaps it's just not a winning, profit-wise, enterprise, especially considering that those who have gone before, are...well...gone... good quality castings of: plows exhaust stacks light packages (SP comes to mind) fan housings numberboards bells air hoses speed recorders rerail frogs and so much more..... Respectfully, Bruce
From what I am hearing, reading, seeing, the plastic printing industry is beginning to fill these gaps.
I miss Sunrise almost every day. I don't understand why they didn't start casting in resin or something else but NO ONE has come out with anything even close to their detail and quality (sorry Mini by Eric, but your SP lights suck). This is a huge void that nobody has seemed to be able to fill yet.
Sunrise's castings were. in comparison, very nice... I agree, that's it's not so much the 'medium' used, but the quality of the product, whether it's resin, styrene, white metal, etc... It really does appear that 3D printing is/will be the medium and method of choice for these parts, but I'm SOL w/o the ability to draw the parts up for 3D printing...even when said parts exist in other scales... ~Bruce
And lest we forget Detail Associates. They produced a nice line of parts and even a few kits like the steam donkey for the logging modeler. Still have two of their kits in one of my parts boxes.
Many of those parts are available from Atlas (bells, plows). They are plastic, but the detail is very nice. The exhaust hatches are available through DCCutting on Shapeways. He has a few different ones to pick from.
yes, Miniatures by Eric, the various manufacturers-Kato, Atlas, etc..., Detail associates, etc...they do have a range of parts... but I'm not sure many are understanding the vast range AND road-specific parts that were produced by Sunrise...not to mention signals, station signs, decals for same, etc...all of these manufacturers' products combined don't reach the number of parts available from them... and.. EMD axle-mounted speed recorders w/wire aren't on anyone's product list, nor are ATSF-specific cab roof mounted numberboards...ATSF station signs, the various assortments of SP-style gyralight combinations, SP-style pilot plows, MU battery hoses, 5 different styles of ditchlights and brackets...the list seemed to go on and on... SO many of these parts are available in HO by Details West...would be neat if they could, somehow, be 'shrunk' to N scale and produced in any medium....White metal, resin, styrene, 3D 'FUD'... Respectfully, Bruce
Detail Assoc parts are still mostly available from Republic Locomotive Works. Sunrise still has a website that only says as of 2012 they were discontinuing ALL parts. In doing a search, apparently others have tried to purchase the molds from Sunrise but have been met with a firm 'NO'. I miss them almost every day (God I need a life).
