Greetings....
I'm totally new to card stock buildings and would like to use them on my n scale layout. I'm shopping for a new printer and I would like to know what features I should look for?? Do I need a laser printer or is an ink-jet sufficient?? How far up the price range should I be expecting to pay??
Any hints or lessons learned from experiences appreciated. thanks much in advance. - adam

Adam,

Most any low priced inkjet printer will do the job. For most of my models I use a Canon MP250. I purchased this printer at Walmart for less than $30.00. However a set of replacement ink cartridges run about $45.

Also I have a HP high end photo printer that Cost about $300. A set of ink cartridges for this printer is about $100. The print quality on this unit is outstanding. However I seldom use it due to expense.

Welcome to our world of paper models.

John

Adam,
Ink jets are fine. Read the information about your prospective purchase to be sure it will feed card stock. Not all printers will.

Adam, you can't always determine what print features you will get by looking at the box, best to check out several brands on Amazon or their respective web sites. I had your question recently and ended up buying an Epson WF-3520 (about $150). I had three working HP printers, but none did everything I wanted. I wanted an all-in-one that could flat-screen copy, scan, and print. I also wanted to be able to reduce/enlarge direct from the file without first making a copy, and also wanted to make mirror image prints direct from the computer. As Bob says, get one that has a rear sheet feeder. Mine can easily handle any paper from .003" up to .015" (100# Strathmore Bristol, 270 g/m) with a little coaxing I've printed on 140# Strathmore 300 g/m which is .020" thick. For reference your standard 110# cardstock is .009" thick. Other sneaky problems I've encountered with the HP printers is the ink faded over time, not nice when you've spent a lot of time and effort on a model. Also they had large page margin requirements that could not be changed causing many of Clever kits to either print too small or else incomplete off the page. Hope this helps you.

Adam,

I use an Epson 4530 or Epson 520 - which are ink jets - depending which computer I am at. Epson printers all produce great results and they priced very nicely. The ink quality when printed is sharp and will not fade.

One thing, the long ink cartridges( 5 inches long x 1 inch wide x 3 inches tall that come with the 4530 last a long time when printing out the structures. They cost as much as the other brands and except for black are around $25 for magenta, yellow, and cyan. Black has twice much ink and is around $39.

I use the printers to make structures for my On30 layouts and a friend's On30 layout. some of my structures have been posted on the Blog here at Clever Models.

Cheers,
Jeff

i**went**with**the**recommendation**of**thom**and**dave,**and**bought**an**epson**c88+,and**an**speon**workforce**30**as**a
back-up**,been**extremely**happy**with**both**of**them**,**now**i**know**why**they**use**them,**sorry**about**the**',**keyboard
**spacer**bar**broken

apparently**,**my**return**button**is**shot**also,
typical**apple**crap**,**anyway**what**was**left
**behind**in**the**ether**,was**epson**c88+and
epson**work**force**30,both**good**basic**machines