In addition to the major manufacturers listed on other pages, there are a number of smaller manufacturers that produce products which are designed to enhance the detail of your model railroad scene. In particular, two manufacturers produce etched brass structures that build up into beautiful completed buildings.  I have to admit that my efforts at assembling etched brass kits have had mixed outcomes.  I suspect that if I persevere, my results would get better, but the etched brass kit clearly requires a level of patience that yields outstanding rewards.

Micron-Art

   At this writing, Micron-Art offers nine structures and over ten vehicles in Z-Scale. They also offer other brass kits in H0-Scale and in N-Scale.

Photos courtesy of Micron Art

They sell online, with their site being located here.

Miller Engineering

     Miller offers a series of interesting brass structures under the Microstructures brand.

Photos courtesy Miller Engineering

   Their web site is located here.

Micro-Trains Line

Micro-Trains, of Talent, Oregon, is an early manufacturer of Z-Scale trains. As a compliment to their train product line, they now offer a large variety of structure kits, which are made of laser-cut wood.

A list of their structure kits is here.

A Word on Other Structures

I have discussed various structures that are designed specifically for Z scale, but there are other items available. In particular, bridges made for N scale can often be used in Z scale.  In fact, the factory-made layout forms available from Kibri and Noch are usually designed to be used with either N or Z scales.

If you have a sense of adventure, you can try scratch-building your structures. This process can sound intimidating, and it is not for every one, but it does allow you to create the exact structure you had in mind. As an aid to this process, a scale rule that shows Z scale dimensions in feet is available from IBL of West Bend, Wisconsin, to help you construct structures from scale plans. This rule can also serve to help you determine if a non-Z scale item is way out of proportion.  For example, in retaining walls, blocks of two feet by three feet might not be obvious, but a stone retaining wall with rocks 15 feet across is out of proportion and will probably distract the viewer.  If you are not sure about the size of things, go out into the real world with a yardstick and measure a few things.

The above structure was made from scratch by the late Mike Callahan.  He used thin styrene, a razor blade and a scale ruler to create this wonderful little station building.  The roof strips are also made of very thin plastic. In this photo, the building was located temporarily for photography purposes, but if it was meant to be permanently installed, a thin piece of plastic could be used to create a foundation for it to sit on.