After reading the article from the dio A Final Farewell from Keith Forsyth, I decided that I had to have a dio like that too. But because I didn't have built any building or good looking dio I want to buy a "pre-fabricated" kit. I know that it isn't original, but I think it is the only way to learn things. On my search on the net I found the Train Station Complex Superdiorama at the site of modelmecca. I like it, but I don't know which things are included and what the quality of the kit is. When you know those things, please tell me.

Thanks,

Rick

Rick,

for a $144 I'd stick to scratchbuilding.... It's an awful lot of money. Besides scratchbuilding is, in my opinion, more fun to do and is more satisfying than buying.

just my 2c..

Hey Rick...

I agree...$144 is alot of money...(well for a 14 year old kid like me it is...) And scratchbuilding isnt really that hard and its really excellent to say "hey...I built that house... :-) "

But if you still want to go the other way and buy the kit if its 23"x15" in 1/35 scale I am sure that all the buildings are included with tracks. If you see in the photo it has a car of some kind on the left hand side corner and some people sitting down in front of the fist building. Usually these things are not in the pack. I am not sure if they include the pot plants in the pack...they might as its part of the dio.

I hope this helps...

Cris

Hi Rick,
I do have the trainstation Dio in 1/35, and included are: a base of about 50cmx30cm,
The station building + interrior, rails, the control tower and the clock. No figures or cars, etc.

I'm currently building a Baluard type 75 locomotive:

Expect a fair deal of work on the rails of the dio: the distance between the tie-plates is not totally equal to the distance between the ties. I'm planning to replace all the tie plates.
The buildings look great though when (they are in the box, I first want to finnish the loc).
I hope this is of any use.
Cheers,

Corporal Golikell, i've a few questions for you. You live also in the Netherlands, but what were the shipping costs? And is the diorama worth the money? I like the dio, but I don't know or it is it worth. And where did you buy the loc?
Rick

The thing is, this dio has turned up a few times already. And although it looks quite good, do you want your dio to be the same as everybody else that has used it? Buildings like this are pretty common and maybe some cheaper houses from other available kits could be modified to use. Tracks can be made from suitable plastic strips and balsa wood.
Platforms can be made for free and very easily from polystyrene foam trays (see my bridge defence dio in the dios gallery). I am making an article on this at the moment but send me an e-mail if you need any information and i will give you a summary as it wont be finished for some time. The advatages of this way is that you have a train station that is cheap, original and meets your own demands.

Rick,
I bought the stuff in England on the War&Peace show this year. It was a lot of money indeed, I managed to dodge the p&p costs, because I had an agreement wiht the guy from LSA models (because of the amount of stuff I bought). :-)
The quality of casting is not verry good: too many airbubbles on places where you can see them. The worst place is on the rivet detail :-(
But, it's quite an impressive machine.

Ok thanks Golikell.
But is there anybody who have photos of the kit? Or do know where I can find photo's on the net of the kit?
Thanks,
Rick

Rick, you should check products from the company MIRAGE. It's from eastern europe and it produces building kits in vac_formed plastic. Then you need a bit of work but there you have a cheap good looking building.

OK, but what is the site of that company? I can't find it bij the links on this site.
Rick

Rick,
What kind of pictures do you want? I did not construct the kit yet, though I could make pictures of the box art (though you cn find these on the internet) or the kit contents.
Cheers,

Golikell, I'd like to see the pictures wich are on the box, from the kit when it is ready.
Rick

But isn't there anybody who have build the kit too? And when you have can you give some photo's of it here?

Thanks,

Rick

Hi Rick,
Just took the photo's of the kit contents. Included the basic chassis of the loc for size comparizon purposes. You can find the pictures here:
http://adobe.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b30ee4596552
I hope they're of any use.
Cheers,

Wow. Looks like $144 worth of stuff to me. Keep in mind that much of this kit could be parted out and used in several dios. Also, with a bit of latex or RTV and some resin, one could really beef up the diorama spare parts box.

I don't think it is a waste of money. I agree it looks like alot of stuff and sure you could do it cheaper, but if it gets you building (especially) if scratchbuilding isn't your thing then more power to you!

I wanna see it when its complete!

MSW

Well,

Like stated in an earlier post, I still think $144 is still a lot of money, but I also have to agree with Hollowpoint.

I see an awful lot of nicly detailed parts in that kit. If I had to choose and I could afford it....I would buy it !

Nice kit.