As I already had my base coat of soil in place, I used expanding polyurethane foam for these spire formations. Poly foam is an incredibly sticky material when wet and very strong once cured. It’s perfect for adding relatively thin vertical formations as it adheres very well to the existing scenery, essentially forming one continuous piece of landscape. The process is sort of like adding height using whipped cream in a can, add just a small circular shot of the poly foam, let it begin to cure, then add another and another until you have the height you want.

When the foam cures, it’s just a matter of carving the spires into the shape you want, then adding a couple of thin coats of Flex Paste. I find several thin coats of the paste adds more body to the cut foam than a single, heavy coat.

Next up is some gentle sanding of the Flex Paste coated spires using a Dremel-style drum sander, just to knock off any Flex Paste high points .After the sanding, some small pieces of the rock casts will be applied to tie the look together, then a base coat of the red soil will be added to these new geological formations.

Our new land forms in white stand out quite a bit in these photos but once they’re coated in soil they’ll blend seamlessly with the rest of the scene. Also once covered in the base color soil, we may cut some down in height, alter their basic shape or even additional poly foam.

Here we’ve worked on our spires a bit, cutting and shaping to better suit their surroundings. A base coat of soil has now been added to our additions and it’s at this point where we can see the piece taking shape. We’ve got our scenic bit yet to add of course including the old, abandoned track bisecting the layout above the running trains. Also needed are color variations through weathering powder, ink washes and other soils.

Overall though this piece is gaining real visual interest, or at least it now has a good foundation to add this additional visual interest.

Having module kits professionally cut would seem to be ideal. A box with an open bottom sounds simple, but as simple as cutting a group of dead-square boxes or modules sounds, to build them to a high standard requires more skill and tools then you might think. Basic woodworking is itself a great hobby, but in order to develop a real and repeatable standard, I think having them cut by a professional makes sense.

Let’s say we have a woodshop that can produce these wood platforms for us, next I suppose we’d need to establish wiring standards. I’ve read up on T-Trak wiring and have found that even within this area, there are variations developed by different groups and some strongly held opinions on what’s right or what’s actually needed. I have to admit I’m much more a scenery person, not an electrical whiz so I’d think it would make sense to consult with others who have a good feel for module wiring. It would be a good opportunity to get more folks involved from the beginning too!

This is all very much in the casual conversation mode right now but I think if done well would be a good thing for Z scale. It would allow folks to begin building right away without the common obstacle of track planning indecision; this is often something that keeps armchair modelers in their chairs. It would also be inexpensive enough to allow almost anyone to get involved in Z scale right away. It would also take away some of the fear of making a wrong decision early on in the planning, you wouldn’t have to decide between a desktop layout or a much larger layout, these mini-modules could become part of both.

I think this idea could get new users in to the hobby. A couple of simple mini-modules, an inexpensive locomotive and throttle and you’re in! An idea like this would need to be well documented and supported online, you’d want brand new users to know there was real structure and support in place from other users. Most of all I like the simplicity of this idea, building on high quality mini-module bases and being able to arrange and rearrange them quickly and easily. I think this idea could be a lot of fun.

On the Milwaukee Road layout however, I added just a bit too much superelevation for a layout this size. A maximum prototypical amount of superelevation, or cant, is about 6 inches for a mainline railroad. This works out to 0.027 inches for Z scale. Unfortunately on his piece I miscalculated and the superelevation was more than I wanted, enough in my view give the track too severe an angle. Damn.

The trains ran fine on this track, very smooth actually, but for me it’s about the visual appeal as much as the operation. I’d been busy with other projects and had this layout on a shelf for a couple of months thinking I’d look at it again with fresh eyes down the road. Well, down the road arrived today and realized it just wouldn’t do, the superelevation was just too severe.

Since I build these layouts, overbuild actually, with shipping in mind I do tend to make sure nothing moves once completed. Given that the track cant could not be adjusted up on this layout, there was no choice, the layout had to go. As I said, I hated doing it.

I always try to take “when one door closes, another opens” approach to things and this is a good time to put this quote into practice. Yes, I had to discard the Milwaukee Road layout as it was, but this gives me a chance to create something new, and that’s always a good thing. And yes, this time the superelevation will be watched even more carefully during construction.

Concept
Having been in this position before, I immediately began to lay plans in accordance with the issued instructions that it had to be a simple tailchaser layout preferably on a single board. Shinso Mizu is the result with a small through station and a couple of loops disappearing behind the backscene to four storage loops. For added interest, there is an upper level line snaking along in front of the backscene. This is a separate line and simply disappears through the backscene at each end. Having tried various scenic permutations, I ended up with a lake occupying most of the centre of the layout along its length and this provided the name for the layout – I understand that ‘Shinso Mizu’ can be roughly translated as ‘Deep Water’.

Baseboards
There is nothing particularly novel about the baseboard construction. The frame is 34mm x 18mm softwood formed into ‘L’ girder shape and topped with a 4mm plywood surface. The backscene boards are also of 4mm ply. The board measures 6’3” x 2’. The length was dictated by the maximum which I could get into the car (a Renault Espace which has the excellent facility of being able to remove individual seats to turn it into a small van).

Rather than cutting out the area for the lake I resorted to the simple expedient of raising the trackbed on strips of balsa wood, having been given a large box of this from a neighbour who had rescued it from going into a skip.

Track
The trackwork is the Rokuhan ready ballasted track. This is very similar to the Kato and Tomix track in N scale which we have used for a couple of our other layouts. I used the early versions of this track which requires you to trim the track pieces to fit with the turnouts although I notice now that the currently developed track comes ready trimmed. A slight difficulty I had with this system is that the point geometry does not allow you to fit a point onto the curved section of another as one would normally do when constructing storage loops. Proceeding this way results in each loop becoming shorter and therefore not meeting up with the track coming from the other end of the loop. The expandable track now available might assist here but that particular track piece was not around when the layout was under construction. I have used the electric turnouts which operate on DC power but rather than connect them to the large Rokuhan switches I use simple DPDT switches.

A number of our locomotives are based on electric prototypes and catenary was therefore a necessary scenic addition. As with our similar layouts in N scale, the catenary itself is non-operational and only the masts are represented, the overhead wires are omitted since in this scale they would not really be that obvious.

The track has been sprayed with Railmatch sleeper grime to mask the plastic look of the ballast and the shiny rail sides. It’s important to protect the operating switches on the side of the turnouts to prevent their being gummed up with paint (been there, got the T-shirt!!). I use a little bit of masking tape or Blu-Tak. The rail tops are then cleaned with a track rubber and isopropyl alcohol.

Scenery
The scenery is a mix of materials and techniques. The basic landforms are made from polystyrene blocks to approximate to the desired shape and glued together with PVA glue. These are then covered with tissue paper scrunched up to from the desired rounder contours after which scraps of tissue paper are glued onto the base shape. The rock formations are shaped from ready mixed plaster. The accepted practice is to apply this and then carve the shapes and strata required. However, I simply skim the plaster onto the tissue paper base and at the same time form the rocky surface by finger pressure. I find this much easier than trying to carve set plaster. Once the plaster has dried, the rocks are then painted with a suitable colour. A darker wash is then applied to form the shadow areas and a lighter shade of the basic rock colour is dry brushed on to pick out the edges and highlights.

Ground cover is the usual scatter materials held in place with the customary spray of ‘wet’ water (water with a few drops of washing up liquid) followed by an application of Woodland Scenics Scenic Cement through a pipette. Again, it is necessary to protect the turnout switches so that the glue does not get into the operating parts of the mechanism.

The assorted greenery including bushes and trees is recycled from a previous Japanese N scale layout and is mainly Woodland Scenics. All this is secured with a hot glue gun. Keep your fingers away from the hot glue (been there, got the T-shirt again!!).

The lake surface is made very simply by painting the board surface black and then applying many successive coats of Klear floor polish. Before painting it’s best to smooth the board surface with reasonably fine grades of sandpaper and ensure that all the dust is cleaned away. Eventually a surface is formed which will reflect the surrounding scenery and the passing trains.

The backscene, like all our layouts is hand painted by mygoodself using acrylic paints. In this way I can match the backscene to the three-dimensional scenery and to the overall scene required to be portrayed. On top of the painted backscene I have stuck some photographs of suitable buildings. The trick here is to get the correct size and perspective.

Snow
Meg very much wanted another snow scene. I say ‘another’ because we have two current layouts with snow and three of our previous Japanese N layouts featured snow scenes!  As will have been clear from the previous references to the scenery the layout is built as though a ‘normal’ green scene is to be portrayed and the snow is then applied on top to give the effect of a snow fall rather than a blizzard. My contract work during the winter as a gritter truck/snowplough driver means that I get pretty much enough of the white stuff anyway!!

There are now a number of materials on the market for making snow but when we first started to build snowy layouts these were not available. Our snow mix is therefore a very simple concoction of talcum powder and crushed up glitter dust which catches the light and gives a frosty glitter effect. To apply the snow powder the scenery is first given a quick brush with white emulsion paint and then sprayed with hair spray. Again it is necessary to protect the track work and this is done by laying over it strips of damp paper towel or the like. The snow is applied from a cheap old tea strainer until the desired coverage is achieved. The initial application of hairspray dries quickly and a second and possibly third coat is then sprayed over the snow to fix it in place. Once this is done the protective paper strips can be lifted. This leaves small areas which have no snow. These areas can be spot treated with more snow powder and Scenic Cement. The centre of the track itself is dealt with simply by dry brushing the white paint over the sleepers and ballast.

Buildings
The buildings are laser cut card kits which fit together beautifully even in this tiny scale. The girder bridge over the stream is recycled from an old layout which was in 1/12th scale using Z scale stock as a garden railway. The plate girder bridge on the upper level is simply a couple of pieces of card suitably painted.

Operation
Operation of the layout is very simple. Trains of various sorts transit from the storage loops to the scenic side of the layout then return. Some, such as the long container train go right through while others such as the stopping passenger trains and short freight trains halt for a while in the loops to allow other trains to overtake or pass in the opposite direction. Because of the limited length of the storage loops the publicity material warns that if you hang around for a few minutes you’ll probably see the same trains again!!

Contact
That then is a very quick canter through the beginnings and construction of the layout. If anyone would like more information about any aspect please feel free to get in touch.

Trainini Magazine is a German language, monthly Z scale magazine in PDF format and it’s free! Hard to beat that. Each issue link will open in a new window for easy reading.

Don’t worry if you don’t read German (but good for you if you do!) as the photos tell the real story in this publication. Holger Spaing is the man behind this wonderful Z scale magazine and we’d like to thank him for his dedication to Z scale. Once a year or so Trainini is published in an English language version so keep watching… and in the meantime enjoy Trainini Magazine!

Each PDF issue will open in a new browser window.
Each issue is approximately 4 to 5 MB.

Download and print your own 2013 Trainini Photo Calendar

• Trainini Magazine: March 2013
• Trainini Magazine: February 2013
• Trainini Magazine: January 2013

• Trainini Magazine: December 2012
• Trainini Magazine: November 2012
• Trainini Magazine: October 2012
• Trainini Magazine: September 2012
• Trainini Magazine: August 2012
• Trainini Magazine: July 2012
• Trainini Magazine: June 2012
• Trainini Magazine: May 2012
• Trainini Magazine: April 2012
• Trainini Magazine: March 2012
• Trainini Magazine: February 2012
• Trainini Magazine: January 2012

• Trainini Magazine: December 2011
• Trainini Magazine: November 2011
• Trainini Magazine: October 2011
• Trainini Magazine: September 2011
• Trainini Magazine: August 2011
• Trainini Magazine: July 2011
• Trainini Magazine: June 2011
• Trainini Magazine: May 2011
• Trainini Magazine: April 2011
• Trainini Magazine: March 2011
• Trainini Magazine: February 2011
• Trainini Magazine: January 2011

I was really taken with Michael’s groundwork but what I didn’t know at the time is that Michael is a professional artist. You can see some of his work here. Maybe in the future we can have Michael put together a background primer for us!

Thank you for sharing your techniques with our readers Michael!

When John kindly approached me to submit an item to Ztrains.com, I was unsure how useful the efforts of an HO modeller might be, yet he assured me that rock work would translate well across all scales, and I was thus encouraged to prepare this step-by-step article.

I hope someone finds it helpful.
Michael Cawdrey

Gallery 1

Gallery 1 | Top Left
First up, the target area, open and boring, and, being close to the river while sandwiched between two lines [the closer one now terminated at the far end] an unlikely place for an access road and buildings.

Gallery 1 | Top Right
I decided I’d like a low rock cutting somewhere visible. That meant it needed to be alongside the closer of the lines, and if I were to shape the rock to gradually slope away as it went farther back into the layout, it would also mean I wouldn’t have to continue it off into the distance, which would have created some major complications with the existing scenery and track.

To help add bulk and height to the outcrop I placed some white foam alongside the front spur, and I smothered it with loads of water putty. To help with adhesion it’s best to pre-wet the area.

Gallery 1 | Center Left
After it’s spread around with spatulas and bits of card, the putty has a somewhat swirled appearance which is smooth and not particularly rock-like, so, while it dried, I paid a lot of attention to its surface, scraping and shaping it with an old craft-knife blade. I had approximately half an hour before the surface hardened, although the putty needs several days before it’s fully set, after which it can still be scraped if need be.

Gallery 1 | Center Right
I used a chisel to scrape down the edge alongside the old spur to indicate cut rock rather than leaving just some sort of vague edge. That caused some minor damage which I had to repair with more putty.

Gallery 1 | Bottom
A close look at the surface texture after much work with the blade, gouging cracks and modifying the surface. I wanted an outcrop that had lain bare for centuries. I didn’t bother with any strata. I like to think of it as granite or something along those lines, perhaps it’s metamorphic.

A smooth surface can be achieved by working with a wet blade, while rougher, more crumbly textures result if the blade is kept dry.

Gallery 2

I liberally sprinkled these mixtures onto the edges and into some of the hollows in the rock outcrop to help marry it to the surrounding landscape. I glued it all down with dilute white glue. Then – at last – I got the paints out.

Gallery 3

In some of the deeper hollows I pre-wet the rock and dribbled on some near-black.  In other places I didn’t bother too much, because I could always add more dark later if need be. I just like to vary the process without it becoming a formula.
I mixed up some greys with off-white, black, burnt sienna, blue and raw sienna. Just loose mixes, making up small batches at a time which helps me to vary the colour as I go. With the water putty you have to use plenty of opaque paint such as white if you wish to block out the yellowness, although the hint of yellow here and there is nice too. Darker tones in the recesses  were left undisturbed.

I also used powdered pastels, rubbed on with my finger, to help pick out the raised parts of the rock which serves to emphasise the darker hollows.

Gallery 4

In the first two photos you can see the difference the pastels make. I used a pale grey, raw sienna and a little burnt sienna. The chalk is also very helpful in reducing any unnatural surface sheen.

The finished rock outcrop after the spur was ballasted. Pastels were also useful on the vertical rock face alongside the spur, where I was mindful of the need, more often than not, to apply colours with vertical strokes.

Grasses are tufts of fine-fibre cleaning cloth, painted to suit the wintry landscape. Taller plants are strands of sisal rope fibre, similarly painted. Snow is Woodland Scenices Flake.

In recent months, there has been some talk between Ztrains and Ztrack Magazine to produce more joint projects; maybe look into a Ztrack Magazine Subscriber Extras content section, not unlike what they do over at Model Railroader. While Model Railroader doesn’t pay a heck of a lot of attention to Z scale, their approach to content is sound and worthy of consideration in a Z scale context.

There are so many exciting things happening now in Z scale, we’d really like to get even more ahead of the curve and bring more articles to the Z scale community. Time is always the kicker though; maybe some sort of joint venture would allow even more great Z scale content to be published. We’re very seriously looking at the options and the possibilities.

In the meantime, we’d like to thank our readers here at Ztrains.com for visiting us regularly and for adding their opinions and comments to our articles. In addition, a sincere thank you for visiting and supporting our advertisers, this makes a big difference each and every month.

Companies (and countries) around the world had major financial issues after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, so a model train company having its own issues wasn’t exactly leading the nightly news.

For the bits of cast metal, plastic, wiring and paint they are, we really do have an emotional attachment to these trains. Given that Marklin dates back to the late 1800s, many of us in Z scale also attach an old-world quality to our Marklin trains, even though Marklin introduced Z scale in 1972.

Model rail enthusiasts see their trains as much more than just simple toys, they’re a symbol and reminder of simpler (and maybe better) times, or maybe that’s just how we choose to view them, that’s ok too. In any case, Marklin was hobbled during this rough financial period and many still question if they’ll be back prominently in Z scale the way they once were and as important, will they really address the US market?

We now have amazing North American trains from companies like Micro-Trains Line and American Z Line, but I have to admit, I miss having Marklin in the mix.

In 2012, Marklin did release their Pennsylvania Railroad GG1 electric locomotive in Tuscan red, but there was a real lack of fanfare for this amazing locomotive. Just recently, Marklin has released a NYC & Hudson 4-6-0 loco with an equally surprising lack of promotion. I had heard Marklin was going to focus on their European market first after their financial problems, but as long as they’re releasing these very US-centric locomotives, why not make some noise in the US Z scale market?

I decided to ask this very question to Juergen Faulhaber, Mini-Club Product Manager at Marklin, recently and he was gracious enough to let Ztrains print his response.

Juergen Faulhaber, Marklin Mini-Club Product Manager

Hi John,

Basically I understand your, and the US Z scale customer, point of view. Yes, it must look as Maerklin has almost given up the US market but there are several responsible points for this situation!

During the last 3 years, we’ve had a very hard phase to “find ourselves”. We’ve had several quality problems due to our former supplier problems. Then we started to move the whole Z scale production line to our plant in Hungary with a real long-term learning phase for the people there. This was a real big challenge and now it seems we’ve succeeded. The quality is much better than it was for several months and now we have very good and really satisfying responses from the customer side.

So first of all we had to concentrate on our main market with our new items in order to raise the turnover numbers, and fight us back to our customers here (in Europe). This was much easier on the German / Central European market than in the competitive US market. At the present, we’ve improved a lot, not only the quality as well the outlook of our locos and some minor innovations. Further, I think we’ve created a new standard for steam locos here with our BR 001 (88010). As a result, now the numbers are raising here in Europe and we are really very happy about this.

Nevertheless, you can be sure we are still interested in the growing US marketplace. At the present, we are thinking about various possibilities to place more advertising for our present Z scale product range. As you mentioned we have a rather small American program this year based on existing models and we have to find a way to present at least this to our US customers!

But to be honest, in my opinion at the present it´s too early for us with a complete new developed US model, although I wish to have one. We firstly have to finish our “homework” here in Germany and Europe.

Please give us more time to “come back” to the highly interested US market, we can only do this step by step, since our Z scale unit is not as big as it probably seems to be.

Hope you will understand and best regards.

Juergen Faulhaber

I model Z scale so I suppose by nature I’m an optimist, on this note I sincerely hope Marklin is able to focus on the US market in the not too distant future. Thanks to Juergen Faulhaber for addressing our readers and we hope to hear from him, and Marklin, again soon.

Recently I was talking with Rob Kluz of Ztrack Magazine about a railroad webcam in Germany featuring a crossing on the Westphalian-Eisenbahn GmbH (WLE) in Lippstadt, Germany. Rob decided to write an article on this scene and asked me if I’d work up a track plan using Rokuhan track from a quick sketch he sent while we were on the phone. Sure, I’m always up for a new Z scale article!

The layout was to be 5’ x 2’ with a scenic divider right down the center. A few webcam shots were sent to me along with suggestions for industries on the front and back of the layout. When I draw up track plans, I tend to think in very board terms regarding the scenery so there’s plenty of space here for interpretation. Let’s start by having a look at the area using Google Earth.

The front of the layout depicts the three track lines running through the heart of the town of Lippstadt, and the grade crossing really is a centerpiece here. This crossing is also focus of the online webcam. Using Google Earth, we see that just west of this grade crossing there are lots of industrial tracks and we wanted to bring this feel of complexity to the plan. Essentially, we shifted much of this track work east a bit into the center of town.

The main industry on the front of the layout is the local brewhouse; this backs up against the scenic divider on the far right side. The rest of the front-side of the layout is a mix of residential and business structures with paved two lane roads running east to west and north to south. This visual division is representative of the actual town and gives you lots of urban scene possibilities.

The back of the layout is decidedly rural and features a quarry area as well as additional brewery buildings. These additional brewery buildings are a nice tie-in to the front of the layout while having on the outskirts of town feel to it. Check out the Ztrack article for specific structure placement suggestions.

An interesting choice in track is the Rokuhan curved turnout, Rokuhan R026.  This has curved radii of 195mm and 220mm. The 195mm leg of the turnout is part of the main loop of the plan, which should be fine for most European Z scale locomotives.

January | February 2013 Issue

From the overhead Google Earth shots there appears to be a mix of older wood tie track and newer concrete tie track. This old and new look can be simulated by incorporating some of the Rokuhan concrete tie track in to the mix.

Using sectional track forces us to be a bit more symmetrical than the prototype of course, but it’s a good trade off when going for the industrial, urban look we wanted to achieve on the layout front.

Scenery, structures, the paved road and mixing the wood and concrete tie track will also go a long way in giving this layout a more organic feel.

WLE Using Rokuhan Track

Rokuhan has changed some of their part numbers but these changes have yet to be made by the track software we use, AnyRail. The numbers in the parenthesis are the new Rokuhan part numbers.

Be sure to check out the January | February issue of Ztrack Magazine article for scenic and structure placement suggestions as well as more tips and history to build this Westphalian-Eisenbahn layout.

I don’t have the names of all the specific parts in this structure yet but the overall impression you get from this kit, even unpainted, is just stunning. This is where precise metal photo etching shines. The piping, the ladders, raised work platforms and the sand tanks, it’s just amazing to think this is Z scale. It’s not a stretch to say this kit looks like it could rival what’s available in the larger scales. Just a few short years ago, you wouldn’t have thought that possible in Z scale unless it was a one-off custom piece.

I have to admit it’s easy being a cheerleader for Z scale when you see manufacturers putting this much effort in to their work. It’s also a great reason to support the manufacturers who support us! Kudos to Micron Art for tackling this project.