Japanese buildings in z scale

[Glad Pingvin]

Has anyone got any good and bad experiences of buildings and structures in z scale. I see Rokuhan produce their own range and I saw the Sankei range on Amazon JP last night, are there any others available? And what do people think of the Rokuhan and Sankei buildings? 

Thanks

[gavino200]

Pingvin, I model in n scale. However I and many people here use the Sankei kits. They're excellent. A tad difficult to put together. But there are lots of tips in this thread below.

 

 

[cteno4]

Lee,

 

the sankei buildings are quite nice. They make a number of the buildings in z (sadly not the complete n scale range). They are run to assemble, and don’t require painting (you can if you want to change things up) just a little weathering. Usually they are really inexpensive to ship as they are small and light kits, but now things must go with fedex or dhl to many places but EMS I think is still going to the uk ok so a bit better for smaller totems than DHL and fedex as their minimum prices has jumped a lot with Covid in the last few months. Even amazon.co.jp is now about $12 for the minimum DHL shipping.

 

i think the buildings in this article are sankei

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/shinsomizu.html

 

Printed paper craft models are also an option. Here is an article on a z layout predominantly made with printed papercraft buildings

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/paperzscale.html

 

i can get you access to my collection of free pdf cardstocks I’ve collected from the internet over the years if you want to try some. You just need to scale down while printing to 68% from N scale.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[VJM]

Rokuhan buildings are effectively ready to place without further work needed.  Sankei paper kits get you really good results and allow for a little bit of flexibility if you so desire.

 

I've used Rokuhan and Sankei buildings on my Z scale layout:

 

 

[Glad Pingvin]

14 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Lee,

 

the sankei buildings are quite nice. They make a number of the buildings in z (sadly not the complete n scale range). They are run to assemble, and don’t require painting (you can if you want to change things up) just a little weathering. Usually they are really inexpensive to ship as they are small and light kits, but now things must go with fedex or dhl to many places but EMS I think is still going to the uk ok so a bit better for smaller totems than DHL and fedex as their minimum prices has jumped a lot with Covid in the last few months. Even amazon.co.jp is now about $12 for the minimum DHL shipping.

 

i think the buildings in this article are sankei

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/shinsomizu.html

 

Printed paper craft models are also an option. Here is an article on a z layout predominantly made with printed papercraft buildings

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/paperzscale.html

 

i can get you access to my collection of free pdf cardstocks I’ve collected from the internet over the years if you want to try some. You just need to scale down while printing to 68% from N scale.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Thanks Jeff,

 

Yes, I have been looking at the shipping costs and I am trying to maximize the value. 

 

If you could give me access to your pdf cardstock collection that would be cool, then it gives me more options.

 

Cheers

Lee

[Glad Pingvin]

4 hours ago, VJM said:

Rokuhan buildings are effectively ready to place without further work needed.  Sankei paper kits get you really good results and allow for a little bit of flexibility if you so desire.

 

I've used Rokuhan and Sankei buildings on my Z scale layout:

 

 

 

It looks good and the Rokuhan and Sankei buildings don't look out of place on the same layout together. I am thinking I will have to open my wallet and get some ordered.

[cteno4]

9 hours ago, Glad Pingvin said:

Yes, I have been looking at the shipping costs and I am trying to maximize the value. 

 

If you could give me access to your pdf cardstock collection that would be cool, then it gives me more options.

the good thing with the DHL and FedEx newer high minimums is that you can add quite a few items to the shippment and the shipping does not go up (at least on hlj, which can backorder a lot of sankei) or by goes up very slowly (amazon,co,jo).

 

ill pm you on the cardstock pdfs.

 

jeff

[Cat]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

the good thing with the DHL and FedEx newer high minimums is that you can add quite a few items to the shippment and the shipping does not go up (at least on hlj, which can backorder a lot of sankei) or by goes up very slowly (amazon,co,jo).

 

And helped by HLJ extending their free storage for the duration during the shipping interruptions.  My last package from them was over two months' of piled up purchases, delivered in one giant and economical box of happiness.

ZenMarket has extended their free storage period to 120 days, + 45 paid after that.  Current batch of goodies have been piling up there since the start of May.  I'll stop making auction bids early in July to give everything a chance to reach their warehouse.  Some Yahoo Auction Japan purchases can take 2-3 weeks to get there.  Then we'll ship that giant carton by the end of July.

[Glad Pingvin]

I have notice a lot of the yahoo auction Japan internal shipping costs to get it to zenmarket are nearly as much as the amazon.jp international cost.... It's a minefield out there.

[Cat]

I keep a strong eye on the domestic postage.  Nearly all of our buys are small items that ship cheaply with non-standard mail packs.

[cteno4]

I’ve had a pile at hlj from some sankei and other Backorders as well as additions from the recent sale and I’ve been surprised as the pile grows I’m still at the DHL and FedEx shipping minimum! 
 

amazon.co.jp went from a minimum DHL shipping of $7-8 for a sankei to almost $12 as Covid hit.

 

jeff