starting from scratch

1914 Views 20 Replies 11 Participants Last post by Basil, Jun 14, 2008

loz62

Discussion Starter · Jun 11, 2008

Hi everyone need a bit of advice i would like to know has anyone got a prefence, should i purchase from os uk, us etc,or stick local au. Iam going dcc looks like lenz, going to model in 00 scale british. look foreward to any advice which way i should go..

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

kingsnorton

· #2 · Jun 11, 2008

QUOTE (loz62 @ 11 Jun 2008, 10:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi everyone need a bit of advice i would like to know has anyone got a prefence, should i purchase from os uk, us etc,or stick local au. Iam going dcc looks like lenz, going to model in 00 scale british. look foreward to any advice which way i should go..

I
Hi Loz I am living in Oz and modelling British OO, I find brands like Hornby and Branchline to be as cheap in Oz as they are in the UK, I do believe the UK modellers get some good specials from time to time, sadly we dont get the same offers, these are only my observations but I know there are more Aussie forum members that model British OO they may know much more than I do.

zmil

· #3 · Jun 11, 2008

Hi I'm Also from Australia . I believe you should support local Dealers Sometimes it may be cheaper to buy from OS but can be expensive if something goes wrong and you have to ship something back .
Regards Zmil

Richard Johnson

· #4 · Jun 11, 2008

QUOTE (loz62 @ 11 Jun 2008, 18:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi everyone need a bit of advice i would like to know has anyone got a prefence, should i purchase from os uk, us etc,or stick local au. Iam going dcc looks like lenz, going to model in 00 scale british. look foreward to any advice which way i should go..

***Where in OZ are you?

Richard
DCCconcepts

neil_s_wood

· #5 · Jun 11, 2008

I find that stuff from the UK is 2/3's the price of stuff in Ozz and you get the vat off it. You have to factor in postage to get the end cost though. The UK obviously has a substantially larger range of stuff in stock but you can always order stuff over here.

Let us know where you are as some of us may be able to recommend good shops here.

Richard Johnson

· #6 · Jun 12, 2008

QUOTE (neil_s_wood @ 12 Jun 2008, 06:47) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I find that stuff from the UK is 2/3's the price of stuff in Ozz and you get the vat off it. You have to factor in postage to get the end cost though. The UK obviously has a substantially larger range of stuff in stock but you can always order stuff over here.

Let us know where you are as some of us may be able to recommend good shops here.

*** True perhaps for Melbourne pricing but certainly not for West Australia - last time we surveyed retailers here out of 20 products (mostly loco's) 13 were in fact cheaper than buying from UK.... its not consistently so positive, but WA Hornby & Bachmann pricing in particular is always much lower than on East Coast Australia.

Richard
DCCconcepts

neil_s_wood

· #7 · Jun 12, 2008

QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 12 Jun 2008, 13:07) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>*** True perhaps for Melbourne pricing but certainly not for West Australia - last time we surveyed retailers here out of 20 products (mostly loco's) 13 were in fact cheaper than buying from UK.... its not consistently so positive, but WA Hornby & Bachmann pricing in particular is always much lower than on East Coast Australia.

Richard
DCCconcepts
I wonder why that is? I have found this with wooden model boats too. They are considerably cheaper in WA.

ben1

· #8 · Jun 12, 2008

And everything is quite expensive in France: 25€ for one set of points at the nearest model shop.
And 16€ per tree at the other!
Ben

loz62

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jun 12, 2008

thanks for the advice i live on the east coast.sydney there is a shop called woodpeckers i dont know what they are like..

loz62

Discussion Starter · #10 · Jun 12, 2008 (Edited by Moderator)

the other shop is hobbyco anyone tell any others out there?

kingsnorton

· #11 · Jun 12, 2008 (Edited by Moderator)

QUOTE (loz62 @ 12 Jun 2008, 10:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>thanks for the advice i live on the east coast.sydney there is a shop called woodpeckers i dont know what they are like..

I have purchased Hornby equipment from Woodpecker at Railway Exhibitions, they seem to have a decent range of models, I have noticed that most Sydney model shops are very much into their own local State model railways, not surprising as NSW models are well and truly catered for unlike most other Aussie States where equipment has always come in dribs and drabs.

6991

· #12 · Jun 12, 2008

Don't get me started!

I model/got a lot of stuff similar to Neil, except I think he's got far more stuff/money than me (

), and yep, it's horses for courses.

Model NSW railways and go to Berg's hobbies in Parramatta.

Model British, it's sort of 50/50 but don't be afraid to use Signalbox in the UK - they have great specials and hold my record for delivery - ordered a bumper assortment of Peco points/track late one Saturday after a few beers, arrived in Bulli on Thursday - awesome. The tempting thing with the British stuff is that it's more available and not such a huge price differential, so even though you know you might get it a bit cheaper in UK, you can still buy it here and take the box home!!

Model Euro, gotta go internet unfortunately - as an example, my latest new loco purchase cost 150 euro (special price) from ETS, around A$250 - the main Fleischmann importer here, 'All Aboard' in Mittagong, was selling a second hand one for A$450 ! and full price A$715.50 - go figure that ! No amount of 'supporting the local dealer' can justify that!! OK, a week later ETS had the price back to 235 Euro or so, but even so.

I have shopped on internet for around 10y now, without any hassle at all, the german dealers I've used are very, very professional, as Signalbox is.

Just keep all lines open and eyes out for a bargain wherever.

6991

See less See more

nh63879

· #13 · Jun 12, 2008

QUOTE (loz62 @ 11 Jun 2008, 11:05) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi everyone need a bit of advice i would like to know has anyone got a prefence, should i purchase from os uk, us etc,or stick local au. Iam going dcc looks like lenz, going to model in 00 scale british. look foreward to any advice which way i should go..

nh63879

· #14 · Jun 12, 2008

There is a lot for me to say about starting from the beginnings as I'm also starting from scratch. DCC is a great choice as it offers some much flexibility. I use bachmann DCC which is wireless and works like a charm. If you're looking into British outline might I suggest you look at the bacmann UK website. They do a good range of British outline models all grouped into an era system which will help you to choose the right engine for the right time period you decide to go for. Oh by the way the other places I'd go an look into myself are Hattons UK and also Hornby UK. Trust me I've been to Hattons before and they do great deals and special offers!

nham

Ravenser

· #15 · Jun 12, 2008

Hobbyco brings back memories from my teens when they were in George St on the far side of Hoyts and the railway department was an Aladdins cave in the basement . That was rather a long time ago though, I believe they've moved since , and some distant nostalgia won't be much use to you . Back in those days, shortly after the reign of Henry VIII , they seermed to do a mix of Continental, US, British and some NSW stuff

However having a model shop you can actually visit is worth something and it may be worth giving them some of your RTR purchases to keep 'em in business so you can walk in and buy the small stuff whenever you want - at least so long as the gulf in prices isn't impossible.

It gets painful when you need to buy a packet of coach wheels and find your only practical option is to phone Hattons and pay £4 postal charges on a £4 item. I ended up buying a GUV I didn't absolutely need just to spread the postage. The Bachmann GUV is an excellent model mark you , and it was reduced to £18.. But I miss my local model shop

See less See more

neil_s_wood

· #16 · Jun 12, 2008

QUOTE (6991 @ 12 Jun 2008, 23:34) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Don't get me started!

I model/got a lot of stuff similar to Neil, except I think he's got far more stuff/money than me (

), and yep, it's horses for courses.

6991
Don't kid yourself, I might have a fair bit of stuff but I certainly don't have that much dosh. A lot of people I know here have far more stuff than I do, I seem to be in the middle.

Was it Hobbyco who recently moved into the Queen Victoria building? I seem to remember something about that.

See less See more

6991

· #17 · Jun 13, 2008

Hi Neil

Yes, Hobbyco are now in QVB, on the top floor. This is good from the point point of view of finding them, at least, it's a highly visible site, I hope they do OK there - very difficult for the average punter to find them in the previous location.

I've looked in on a couple of occasions since they moved, and it's the most convenient place for trees, paints, and those kinds of things. They have a couple of Display layouts, as they have always done, but it looks a bit smaller (the model railway section) than previously. Seem to have a fair bit of Oz stuff (always fancied one of those 48 class engines, I see 48163 every day shunting at Port Kembla). Always a reasonable range of magazines.

And if in Sydney, don't forget to look in on the Railway Heritage Centre on the concourse at Central Station - lots of books and magazines.

6991

Basil

· #18 · Jun 13, 2008

Have you guys (and gals) in oz used e bay much. As we have a very small number of retailers here in the Sod (the land of éire), I generally buy from UK and continental europe and use e bay direct or internet shopping with retail stores (most of which have an e bay 'window') . I have noticed that postage is the downside especially if buying small items.

In some ways we are isolated on the western fringes and have some of the same supply problems (the outback of Europe)

G'day

neil_s_wood

· #19 · Jun 13, 2008

QUOTE (Basil @ 14 Jun 2008, 08:01) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Have you guys (and gals) in oz used e bay much. As we have a very small number of retailers here in the Sod (the land of éire), I generally buy from UK and continental europe and use e bay direct or internet shopping with retail stores (most of which have an e bay 'window') . I have noticed that postage is the downside especially if buying small items.

In some ways we are isolated on the western fringes and have some of the same supply problems (the outback of Europe)

G'day
About 99% of what I buy comes from the UK and Germany. Costs from shops here are too high even when you factor in the postage. UK outline isn't too bad although still more expensive but German outline is double the price.

I'm not so keen on Ebay now as I have had a few items sold as new when it was obvious they weren't and some badly packaged items. I've also had one guy blatantly lie about what he was selling so I had to go through the process of reporting him.

If you think Ireland remote, try being stuck over here.

See less See more

Sol

· #20 · Jun 13, 2008

Hornby in South Australia is on par in most cases with the UK even taking into account VAT off & postage on.
Bachmann & Heljan are about 33% dearer here than from the UK - in fact one Heljan loco, I got from the UK cost me $150 - locally $250.
There are some locos, wagons & coaches that are not available in Oz, only from specific shops in the UK.
It is a case of shopping around to see what is available & what is wanted.
One local shop was out of some specific Peco points & was not getting them for a couple of weeks, we got them in 4 days from the UK & still cheaper by about 20% after all cost incurred.

1 - 20 of 21 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.