New member

Greetings from Alberta Canada.

I stumbled upon this website quite by accident while looking for some vehicles in Z Scale. I have to say that I am quite impressed with many of the models shown on this website particularly the cranes. Do you know how long it has been that I have been searching for a North American style crane for my Z-Scale layout? None of the current manufacturers, AZL, MTL, or Intermountain make such cranes, and those manufactured by Marklin need a great deal of kit bashing and customizing just to give a poor resemblance to a North American railroad crane. Now that I have found the one here, I want two. One for my CN and one for my CP lines. The only problem is, the crane I see pictured has no markings and if I put in a request to have each crane painted in CN and CP liveries, will it be done to specifications shown in pictures of these cranes and if so, how much more will it cost me over and above the basic cost? The other question I have re: these cranes, is do they come fully assembled and operational with all cables, hooks, etc?
Ken

Those are all questions you'd have to ask the modeler. Do you have a link to the item? We can help you figure out who the owner is, and we can tell if it comes assembled by the default render. A good shop page will also state in the description what you need to know about the model.

Sorry Ken.. Stony Can't Paint. <grin>
If you purchase the items from Shapeways, they come undecorated and without trucks. It has slots in it for the MTL body mount couplers.

The particular crane you're asking about http://shpws.me/lmmj DOES have both hooks with it (they're fastened to the deck, but can be separated easily).
On this specific model, the boom is movable, an the cab can rotate left/right.

You'll also have to come up with your own cables, but the sheaves have just enough space to thread something thru there. If you'll take a look at the second (closeup) picture, you'll see a human hair fed thru one of the sheaves.

I'd invite you to drop by www.zcentralstation.com sometime.. someone there might offer to paint one up for you.