Ztrains: Timber Trestle Diorama

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I'd like to thank Gerry Leone, MMR (Master Model Railroader) for writing the foreword for this article. I first saw Gerry's HO scale work in the March 2001 issue of Model Railroader. His article "Lily pads, cattails and pond scum" really made an impression, and got me thinking about building my own diorama. You can visit Gerry's HO scale Bona Vista Railroad here.

Foreword by Gerry Leone, MMR

Ok, I'll admit it: I was pretty dumb.
Twelve years ago we moved out of our house and I dismantled my attic model railroad layout. The house we moved into had no basement, no attic, and in short, no train space. Yes, that was a dumb move. But here's the dumbest: I dropped out of the hobby because of it.

To my way of thinking, to be a model railroader you had to have a full-blown layout, with scale miles of track and scenery as far as the eye could see. No one had told me about the wonders of a diorama.

With a diorama you don't need a whole basement, a whole room, or even a whole lot of space. In fact, as John has proven, in Z you can create a credible railroad scene in under a square foot.

In a way, dioramas give you a totally "clean slate." You don't have to follow any track placement guidelines -- in fact, you don't even need track! You can build it as small or as large as you want, and can model any era, any location, any scene. What's more, you can dabble in different scenery styles without having to commit a whole portion of a layout to it. In other words, test out a logging scene. Or a Rockies theme. Or a pastoral panorama.

And “test” is a great word. What better way to experiment with techniques and materials? See how Envirotex looks. Try building a grove of trees. Scratchbuild a structure or two. Make a bridge.

From finding out if you like the hobby to creating a piece of art you can put on your office desk, a diorama is the perfect low-risk, low-maintenance, low-commitment vehicle.

Try it. You'll have more fun per square foot than you ever imagined!

Diorama In Z

I was in the middle of construction on a pair of small layouts when I thought about building my own diorama. There were some new construction and scenery materials I wanted to try, and a diorama seemed like the perfect way to put them to the test. Gerry's article in Model Railroader popped into mind and after re-reading it, I began work on my own diorama.

One product in particular I've been wanting to try has been static grass. I tend to go with multiple thin layers of earth, soil and other ground foams to achieve a sense of depth. Incorporating static grass seemed a great idea as it would increase that sense of dimension. Adding depth, or dimension to ground cover may seem a bit contradictory, after all the ground is flat. When you stop to look at it however, you'll begin to notice how high grasses around us really are. Fine trimmed lawns are among the few places where the grass is actually short.

An idea I wanted to try was to hand carve all the rock face individually. I like the idea of hand carving the rock face for several reasons, you can adapt the rock to fit the space, not the other way around. The rocks don't have to fit flush against a hillside, they can extend out as far as you like. There's also the artistic aspect of hand carving to be considered. Getting in there and creating the rock face adds to both the pleasure of the construction, and to the final visual appeal.

Another of my tests on this diorama... I minimized the amount of weathering I applied to the rocks. The reason for this is since I was working on a new rock technique, I wanted to take a more critical look at my rock carving work, focusing on the rock cuts themselves.

Little Trees

Creating realistic trees has always been a little tricky in Z scale, particularly when they're viewed or photographed up close. It is after all a little challenging to create a conifer that will stand up to macro photography with a good digital camera! This diorama was going to be a perfect test for this as well. I could try several techniques for achieving realistic 1 - 1/2" pines.

Water In The Creek
The water under the trestle was fairly straight ahead on this diorama. This water is more of a creek than a river, so fast moving currents and white caps would have been out of place here. I've never gone with a completely calm body of water before, there have always been currents, white water, etc. I wanted to try a very calm water surface this time. I went with a single 1/8" application of the Envirotex allowing it to dry completely level. On a piece this small, the high gloss reflection of the Envirotex combined with the dark shades of green acrylic paint I used for the creek floor provided me with a pretty effective creek.

Monday, August 9, 2010

Elevated or “EL” Model Railroading

I received an email from a reader who attended the recent train show in Milwaukee, WI., and they told me about a new company called:
Imagine That, Laser Art Productions.

This new company is producing laser cut “EL”, or elevated train kits and components for several scales. I wrote to them and asked about the possibility of working in Z scale and was told that this may be in the future works for Z. Check out their site and maybe drop them an email if you'd be interested in this decidedly cool idea.

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