Intermountain enters Z scale

[tom mann]

IM is releasing a 4 bay Cylindrical Hopper this November.

[Catt]

I'll get some. Would be nice if they could do a decent running loco (diesel or steam) for under a buck twenty five.

[shamoo737]

Under $25. Not in my wildest dream.

[sirenwerks]

Now if IM would just dump a full line of single, double and plug door 40 and 50-foot boxcars on the Z fire, that would be pretty awesome.

[Ztrains]

Hi,

I spoke with Richard Frazier, Director of Customer Service at InterMountain, last night. He sent along some larger hopper images, links and his email address as well as more information about InterMountain's advanced reservation policy:

www.ztrains.com/news/intermountain

John
www.ztrains.com

[David K. Smith]

It'll be interesting to see how close to the N scale hoppers their Z scale models come. That flyer is making the rounds on the Z scale chat boards, and everyone is buzzing about it thinking those are photos of the actual Z scale products. Would be nice if they could come up with some images of the real thing--3D CAD drawings, test shots, anything...

Personally, they're of no interest being modern cars, but I'm sure they'll get snapped up. I hope so, as it will be nice to see the Z line grow.

[tom mann]

David,

I recall seeing actual photos of the cars from the NTS show.  They had plastic bodies and etched brass end railings.  They looked promising.

The concern that I have is that since Z scale is small market, IM's decision to release 11 road numbers of each road name (implying that they will flood the market) will result in a lot of unsold product.  Example:  the new AZL caboose that was limited to 144 pieces is still available!  I would have guessed that this would have been sold out quickly, since it was a "collectors" car.

[Sokramiketes]

Yeah, 11 numbers does seem like a lot...  But, the caboose is road and era specific, so you're hoping that the number of Z scale SP modelers, plus certain collectors who need one of everything, results in 144 sales.  That seems a bit hopeful as well, even if Z is growing.

These hoppers are era specific also, but ended up everywhere, so the pool in this case is Modern modelers in Z.  More sales, but I still can't picture 11 numbers at 60+ cars produced in each number. 

The project was chosen because the Canadian hoppers are the number one selling product in their HO and N lines.  I just hope they scale the production appropriately for Z.  If they end up with tons on the shelf, are they going to be gun shy on the next release?  Expectations need to meet potential demand. 

[tom mann]

11 numbers * 60 * 8 roadnames = 5280 cars.   Every Z scaler has to buy 50 of them! ;D

I hope that they did their homework; I would hate to see them not sell and force IM to rethink entering Z.   If you look through the Z Track magazine over the last couple of years, very few Z layouts are bigger than 2x3 feet.  The truth is, you have few Z modelers who would want/need to buy a large quantity of a certain car.

[Sokramiketes]

11 numbers * 60 * 8 roadnames = 5280 cars.   Every Z scaler has to buy 50 of them! ;D

I'm just going by the floating "lowest production number per individual item" number I've heard... sometimes it's more.  Maybe they found a way to do fewer, or are back to printing in house.  But that's a huge amount of Z scale hoppers. 

[Catt]

Where did this 11 road numbers come from? They are doing 6 of each road number.

The Red Canada,Alberta Heritage,and Saskatchewan cars getting 6 numbers per reporting mark.

I have 2 CN cars ordered myself because I actually see them in West Michigan.

[AlkemScaleModels]

Seems to me that modern cars are good candidates for Z scale as they are generally bigger.