Manufacturer Spot Lights
From Sylvans Website: "Sylvan Scale Models™ is owned by Clare Gilbert. Clare has been active in the model railroad hobby for over 25 years. Clare’s models have won him many awards at shows, and he has four certificates so far in the MMR program.
Clare has had articles published in Canadian Railway Modeller, NMRA Bulletin, and other periodicals. He is also the author of the book The St. Clair Tunnel: Rails Beneath the River, published by Boston Mills Press.
In addition to manufacturing cast resin model railroad kits, Sylvan Scale Models™ has built custom models for corporate customers, including Canadian National Railways, Toronto Transit Commission, Lovat Tunnel, Union Gas, Railworld Inc., Sifton Properties (London), Trojan Technologies Inc., GATX, and Freightcar America (formerly Johnstown America). Both floors of our shop have now been put into use, to meet the increasing demand for our products.
We do, or have done, custom castings for various hobby and gift manufacturers, including: Sunblossom Solar Gifts, Bethlehem Car Works Inc., TCS Models, Rutland Car Shops and TLA Models.
The master patterns for our kits are crafted by either Clare Gilbert or Cindy Slaney, with the exception of the CP, TH&B, and ONR Wide Vision Cabooses in N and HO, and the Slab Sided Hoppers in HO, which are the work of pattern maker Bill Brown.
We make all of our own moulds, and do all of our own casting on site. Our instructions, labels, and artwork are all designed and printed in house. We also write and layout our own catalogue.
Hopefully this outline has provided you with an insight into our company."
Since 1991 JL Innovative Design has sought to create unusual, innovative and unique scale model products not produced by other manufacturers and offer fellow model railroaders an affordable, unique, and easily constructed product that only looks expensive and complicated. With that in mind, all our instructions feature simple drawings and straight forward directions. No special talent is needed: if you can build plastic kits you can build ours! We've continued to expand and improve our products over the last 20 years, creating one of the largest selections of period billboard signs and poster signs available. We offer over 170 different billboard signs and nearly 3,000 poster signs covering the most popular modeled period from the 1930s -1970s.
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JL Innovative's Shop
JL Innovative's simple goal is to create and manufacture items that we would want to use on our own model railroad. Now in our 20th year we've continued to expand our line to include:
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HO scale structures
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N scale structures
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Billboard signs & billboards
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Original period poster signs (one of the largest selections available)
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Custom details (pre-painted & labeled)
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Unfinished detail sets
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HO vehicles & motorcycles
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N-scale vehicles & details (Railway Express Miniatures)
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Don Tichy's philosophy is simple, "We bring together the best of two worlds, combining the fun and reward of fine model building with the rapidly growing interest in prototype railroading, freight cars and structures, in particular. The preservation of prototype history in miniature." Tichy offers hundreds of unique items for that bit of extra detail for model railroaders, model farmers, model plane builders or builders of many other hobbies. TTG is quite possibly the best manufacturer for windows and doors in N,HO,S & O Scales but in addition to those, Don offers some great high detail kits such as steam powered wrecking cranes, tank cars, box cars and many others.
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Don has packed a ton of detail into his wrecking crane kits, available in both HO and N scales. As Don writes, "We're concerned about details - and not only prototype details. Our kits conform to all applicable NMRA standards and recommended practices. They accept Kadee® #5 or equivalent style couplers (not included) and we provide special molded washers to allow correct coupler height with other trucks. Our own trucks are included along with illustrated step-by-step instructions, prototype history and painting guide. To avoid confusion, each part is identified by the correct name, and is keyed to the instructions by a number engraved on the "runner" system. Molded in a light grey easy to paint styrene that reflects light, even the smallest part is easy to see. Spares are usually provided for those smaller detail parts that might get lost or damaged during assembly. Only minimal tools are required; modelers knife, small file, tweezers, and a small brush to apply liquid cement. Additionally, you will need either aerosol paint or an inexpensive airbrush." To learn more about Tichy and their line up visit them at www.tichytraingroup.com
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We just ordered a breakdown crane set from Don and will have them available online shortly. For a bit of reading material, read more about the history of wrecking cranes HERE
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