Next steps

Where to from here with my Z scale adventures?
I have to admit I was definitely on a bit of a high after the show the layout had run so well. Especially as a "well meaning" N scaler went to great pains to tell me that the Micro Trains GP35 was noted for overheating and could melt the body of the loco. Well matey boy, it didn't. It ran faultlessly for six hours and never felt warm.
The next steps then. Well, I've ordered a couple of kits. A Z track craftsman kit of a centrebeam lumber car. The prototype is a car I see a lot of when I'm out lineside watching trains. They are a pretty distinctive prototype and the kit is not unreasonably priced. When finished, it will add more interest to the freight train as it runs around the layout.

Then for a bit of fun I ordered a pack of these, picnic tables from rslaser.

Fun? Yes. they'll be pretty small. Just how small I don't know. Knowing how small I'll be able to work in Z will help me decide just what I can do. When I get some of these built I'll add a picnic site to the layout for a little visual feature.

What else?

In a few weeks I'm off back up to the Knife River locale again. I'll be running Grandmas Marathon again. The old depot at Knife River still exists to the best of my knowledge so I plan to pay it a visit, photograph it and then construct a model of that and site it on the curve at the front right where there is plenty of space to fit it in.

Another item of rolling stock would be nice. The American Z lines Budd RDC-2 perhaps, to provide a passenger service to the new depot. It's not exactly the same as the RDC-3 that the DMIR used but would be near enough for me I think.

Should be enough to keep me going for a while I think. When I get those projects done I think I'll be well on the way to deciding what I can achieve in Z.

Making an exhibition of myself

I am now returned (and recovered) from the Granite City Train show where a great time was had by all. Those of you who follow my other blogs know that I can't speak highly enough of the show. It's always a pleasure to attend and this year was no exception. Ed Olson, the organizer said that this was the most successful show to date and I can believe him. I came away from the show with a very sore throat which means I must have been talking a lot. I did a lot of explaining of the difference between Z and T.
We were sited next to an N scale layout so that made for a very effective demo for the punters of the relationship of the differing sizes of the scales.
After I arrived and set up I made a quick trip over to the Perrys Hobbies stand to see if he had any Z scale for sale he had one piece, a Micro Trains TTX flat car so I bought it and quickly added it to the layout. Luckily for my wallet Perry had left his Z scale cases at the shop.
When the doors opened it was relentless for about 5 of the 6 hours of the show. Talk, talk, talk. It was all a blur at times, especially the first couple of hours. I made my regular appearance on local station W-JON hopefully putting across a positive image of the hobby.
What can I say about the running of the layout.
Perfect. I can't say any better than that.

Here's some film of the layout running.

It ran like this for the whole six hours of the show. I would run the consist one way for an hour and then the other for an hour. It was perfect. I'm really really impressed with the running quality of this set. It certainly spurs me on to do a little more with Z.
I just want to close by once again giving out a big thanks to Ed Olson and the crew for putting the show on. It is always a great time.

Exhibitable

Here we are, ready to show. It didn't take all that long to get this stage. Five or six days perhaps. There's a few things that I could put right if I had more time but I think (I hope) that people will enjoy taking a look at it.

Above: An overall view. The overall size is 30" x 20". There's lots of different types of trees some Woodland scenics trees, Woodland Scenics fine leaf foliage and home made pine trees.
Above: A close up of the bridge. Overall I'm really really pleased with the bridge. I'm still not totally comfortable with the self adhesive qualities of the stone material but the effect of it is well and truly worth it.
Above: The "accidental" rock face. It's just a rough cut expanded polystyrene painted with Woodland scenics Earth ground colour. It looks really quite convincing.
Above: Another view of the bridge. Alas, you can see a section of handrail dropped off whilst I was handling the layout for the photos.

So far constructing the layout has been a very rewarding project. I think I have a "feel" for working in Z scale now. I have to say I like it so far. I'm curious to take my adventures further.

Trains run!

Exciting day day today. Not only did I watch Ishant Sharma take 5 for 12 for Deccan Chargers against Kochi Tuskers in the IPL but I had trains running on the Knife River model. To prove it here's some film.

The layout is coming together nicely.

Meanwhile it snows outside..

Bridge comes together (layout progress 5)

Today was a grey, wet, horrible day. Hardly worth having the day off work to be honest. Then again if the weather had been nice I probably would have been out in the MGB now that it is out of winter storage. So the weather forced me on to getting the bridge closer to completion. Here's a few photos via the iPhone and Photoshop express...

...I reckon it looks the part.

the grass is greener... (Layout progess 4)

This week I booked the time off work to prepare both layouts for the Granite City Train show. With Gonou already working I can devote the time to completing the Knife River Bridge display.

A bit of ground cover first. Nothing too detailed yet. Some earth coloured Woodland scenics ground cover followed by a coating of a mixture of different greens. Kind of like an impressionist painting. All fixed in place with Woodland Scenics scenic cement.

So, onto that strange pastelly, fawny, browny streak in the middle where the Knife River should be. Hereabouts the Knife River is actually very shallow and beautifully crystal clear with lots of stones on the bed. So a deep blue is out of the question. My thought is to create a sort of impressionist painting (there's that phrase again) of the river bed. Then paint some gloss medium over that and then scatter some Woodland Scenics (there's that name again) Talus of varing sizes into that. Hopefully that should re-create the effect I'm after.

The snow has gone (layout progress 3)

The "Minnesota winter" stage of layout building never lasts very long. Significantly shorter than an actual winter. A coating of my favourite Woodland Scenics Earth colour soon kills the white and starts to make the ground look like ground.

Layout progress (2)

This one of those "I love it when a plan comes together" sort of posts. Things are definitely beginning to look up. Things are progressing well. The polystyrene landscape formers have been hacked into some sort of shape and are being covered with lightweight spackle. The scene really does start to resemble a Minnesota winter scene!

Here's the bridge talking shape. The abutments are clad in the Chooch flexible stone sheet and the handrails are fitted.
Here's a closer look at one of the abutments. This Chooch sheet is a super material, quite possibly the most convincing stone material you can buy "off the shelf". Superb relief and texture. It's easy to work with, though being flexible you have to be careful cutting it as you can stretch and bend the material as you cut it. I'm in two minds about the self adhesive quality though. Like I said in a previous post it's "tacky" rather than "sticky". The recommended substrates are Masonite, Pink foam and thick card. I used a thick card on these abutments and the material still slides around on that and isn't fixed in place as such. The instructions say you can also apply adhesive to the backing paper if you have problems. But that really obviates the need for the self adhesive backing, doesn't it?

This is the only downside to the material though. I really do like it. They need a little colouring to look more like the native North shore stone and to also hide the cut edges but the instructions cover that too.

All in all a worthwhile product.

Layout progress (1)

After Fridays "blocking out" it didn't take long for some tangible progress to appear. I started to slice away at the white foam with my new hot wire cutter and the landscape began to appear. The picture below shows the "typical Minnesota winter" stage of layout building; i.e. everything is white. You can see how I have quite literally been hacking away with a knife and hot wire cutter to give the ground some shape. The roughness is of no consequence as the next stage will be to cover it in lightweight spackle once I have added a little extra to the river bank, finished the bridge abutments and bedded them in.

What you will also notice is that there is a big old gap between the end of the bridge and the beginning of the curve. Sixty-seven millimeters of gap to be exact. The shortest length of MicroTrains roadbed track is 110mm (what kind of knuckle-head thinks that 110mm is a good shortest length of track). So I need to shorten a couple of sections of track by 43mm to fit them in. Not a difficult task as there is a step-by-step guide here on David K. Smith's James River Branch website. I knew I'd seen this in my previous trawlings through the site and it only took a few minutes to find it again. The process looks pretty easy to do. I've got a pack of 12 straights so I should be able to get two short sections out of those.
Finally a view of what the layout is about. The train running over the bridge. In this specially posed shot you'll see a new item of rolling stock. A weathered Railbox from MicroTrains.

I like Railboxes as readers of my other blogs will know. This one is a gem and looks like a pretty good representation to me. Perhaps I'll write more on it another day. But right now dinner is almost ready, so I'll bid you all adieu, 'til next time.

Visualising the layout

Here you are then, after the bad news of the flexible stone material. Some good news.

A first look at the blocking in for the layout.

Just an oval of track with a bridge going over a river scene. There will be lots of trees around to cover the exits to the rear and a nice sweeping sky backdrop hiding the back of the loop.

Should do the job quite admirably I think.

I'd better get a move on its only 2 weeks to the Granite City Train show.

What to do?

It's a good job I didn't promise not to post every day on this blog otherwise I'd be in a mess very quickly...
So, what to do with my Z gauge set when it arrives? I like to plan ahead. That way I'm not "Umming and Ahing", wasting valuable modelling time later on when the stuff actually gets here.
The first plan for this Z scale stuff is to accompany the T scale layout to shows so that the naysayers can compare the two scales and see the difference. I'd really like to have some kind of scenic development on the baseboard in time for the Granite City Train show at the end of April. Not long, But heck, I can build a layout in 5 days! So that shouldn't be too much of a problem. Just keep it simple.
But what?
How about this scene?
The Knife River bridge on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
It's certainly simple enough, a single line on a bridge over a river that appears and disappears behind trees immediately before and after traversing said bridge. Flipping perfect if you ask me.
It is a location I am very familiar with I have plenty of pictures of it myself.
It should be quite an attainable goal for a starter layout don't you think?