Hi there,
I was just curious as to if there are any Australians on the forum here and if so, how do you go about sourcing your OO9 kits and rtr models?
It basically seems to be none existent over here. I'm originally from England so I do have family over there who can source kits and send them over but i'd like to see if I can actually get anything in Australia. My apologise if this is in the wrong section of the forum, I wasn't sure where else to post this.
Any information would be highly appreciate, thank you.
A couple of suggestions - - -
1, Take out a subscription to Narrow Gauge Downunder an excellent magazine --- Australia's equivalent to the UK's NG&IRMR and the USA's NG&SLG. The dealer adverts will give you a guide to your "local" stockists -- although I realise these could be hundreds of miles away depending where you are.
2. Parkside Dundas will ship orders worldwide . Note that as a non-UK resident you will not be liable to the UK's Value Added Tax on items purchased & Parkside Dundas will deduct this from your order ( the prices shown in their adverts and on their website are VAT inclusive.) Effectively this means the prices shown on the website will be what you will pay (give or take some small adjustments ) as the deducted VAT will be more or less the equivalent to the postage & packing costs to Australia. Parkside Dundas have many years of experience of dealing with non-UK customers & will post orders by Airmail within 24 hours of order & payment. Australia's current fiscal policies mean that you will not have to pay any additional import taxes on your purchase.
Garry
Admittedly my information is a little out of date by now, but I'm sure that when I was Society Secretary (7 or 8 years ago now) there were a few members in Australia, and I suspect quite a few more modellers in the scale who didn't fancy the somewhat pricey airmail subscription.
It might be worth putting a note in 009 News about forming a local area group (or just getting in touch), but as Garry points out though I suspect that the definition of 'local' in some parts of Australia would be a little different what it is in the UK.
Having found the odd copy of "NG Downunder" I can also recommend the magazine as the one to get.
As to getting your own kits and suchlike from what I understand there is quite a market for HOn30 (essentially the same as HOe) in Australia, and you are rather closer to the rather nice stuff that Yoshiya Kobayashi (http://www.justmystep.justhpbs.jp/) sells from Japan.
Happy to print something in the 009 News if you wish - get in touch via the email address in my signature if you'd like to pursue.
I don't recall seeing more than a handful of 009 layouts here in Australia. There were more HOn30, but many of those modellers seem to have gone up to On30. I source my supplies from various hobby shops in the east of Melbourne, but since most things are scratch built those supplies tend to be styrene and brass. I have in the past used the society's second hand sales team (highly recommended) but the cost of postage from the UK tends to rule that out these days.
Hello all,
I live in Oz and when it comes to ordering loco kits and rolling stock, I use Parkside Dundas. Their service is excellent and they are a great supporter of 009. I usually recieve my order about a week after it is placed which I think is great considering it can take longer to get things locally!
Peco 009 and Minitrains is available here but other than that not much I don't think.
Yes, 009 is not the most popular scale here but I find it has advantages over smaller and larger scales. Not knocking other scales, just my preference ;D
Forgot to mention, I have also used the Society sales and had excellent service.