Fred, if you make to X2011 NTS in Sacramento, trust me, you will hear seagulls. And motor boats. And waves. And . . . All in stereo. So while you have your eagle eye stuffed in there to check out all the details, sweet dreams in your ears to suck you in further. .
Top shelf Robert! I have to say everything you do gets better and better. I remember that time saver layout of yours and thought to myself, wow, it doesn't get much better than this in Z...Well, I guess it does!
WOW S.T.Inc. is a great structure (would make a great kit) I think they should give you more days off!
I finished a engine house for my layout. I wish the kit came with a floor. Had to make one myself. I also modified the main door to fit my Marklin 2-6-0 since its closer to an Nn3 engine. It was a most enjoyable build.
Loooooong time since I posted progress. Sorry. Actually doing many thing, just not always taking pictures or posting. So here a a couple of things. First the 3x6 End module where I was going to put the Autorack yard (a parking lot) and small factory-like building. Also some junk yard, hardware, container storage, freight house, tank car loading and refinery. Well, here we go: First, what I started with the day after Xmas: Then, I got at least the ground cover scenery on it. I also made placements for the 12 oil refinery storage tanks that Chris Tatarian makes. Kim Vellore is making some 'Donkeys' (oil pumps) that will go in various locations. The roads are styrene strips. I tried the 'sand-the-plaster-and-paint-it-black' technique but it sucks. Went the David K Smith way - styrene Spayed with Rustoleum Textured plastic paint. Yeah ! .
Pavement example. I tried the 'sand-the-plaster-and-paint-it-black' technique but it sucks. Went the David K Smith way - styrene. Spayed with Rustoleum Textured plastic paint. Yeah ! The paint over the .020" sheet styrene is Rustoleum Textured Plastic. Comes in White and Black. It makes SWEET textured asphalt look from afar and also good for roofing or stucco walls. I need to white stripe them and weather them a bit. You MUST DullCote or other protective finish as the paint is WAY too flat of a finish and EVERYTHING shows on in. I used an Xacto knife tip to scratch the lines. Then, I'll take a Sharpi Extra Fine tip or Rapido Drawing ink pen (o.3mm) to trace the lines and make that black patch look. The Paint:
Great idea. I used a similar product (in a grayish tone) to spray inside a tunnel on my display layout.
Jeff, Outstanding roads!!! Keep us posted on this. David Smith's techniques are great, I follow his web postings daily. Please post some photos of what your roads look like after you have applied the Sharpi Extra Fine tip or Rapido Drawing ink pen and the lines on the road. Yours, John
what exactly did you sprey though? Is it a strip of plastic? I use the classic method of woodland scenic road cement with road tape for accurate straight lines, and then use water colored paint to blend in a greyish blackish depending on the color im going for, then use weathering powders to give them a warn looked more on the sides of each road. How do you make dirt roads look real? what is supposed to be used for Z. I heard something about it before but forgot. If anyone has a picture of a dirt road they did please post and spill the technique! thanks!
As I remember, Torsja did some amazing dirt roads. I'm sure you'll find some examples on his web site.
Mr. C, you can see some of Torsja's dirt roads here: http://www.rosetown.ch/News/ZMOD.htm and also dig thru his site here: http://www.torsja.com/. He uses real dirt. From a perfectionist standpoint, it is quite lumpy. But when you see the creative genious of his work virtually EVERYTHING you see is scratch), you have to shake your head and almost give up. The black roadway is 1" wide x .020" styrene. You can also use 800 or 1000 grit wet sand paper (its almost the right shade of black!) Below are some pix from the recent PCR-NMRA meet. They are HO. These are real dirt. This sand: Compare:
Well, here's what's new on my layout. So far, it's a scratch built table, 2" foam base, and the Woodland Scenic subterranean risers. Not perfectly level, but good enough. I've got some ideas for adding elevation to the left side so that the outer loop is level with the ground and the inner loop is in a tunnel. The blank areas will be a station and a bridge. There will also be a terminal tucked behind in the back left corner. Now all I need to do is find some z scale roadbed (which seems to be a bit harder to find than expected), so I can start laying track.
You can use the cork roadbed from N-Scale, NOCH have some and they are 3mm thick and one half makes god with for Z-scale. So you get twice the length in Z then in N.
Last weekend, I took a break from Ztrack work and hit the layout. As many of you read in the previous issue of Ztrack, one of my favorite German webcams recently went offline. I have been planning to reproduce the scene on my layout. On of the key components of the scene is a double line track going into a tunnel. I decide to rough in the tunnel area. This is a photo of the area before the tunnel was placed. Note the 11x17 black and white print outs above this area. The one of the left is a Google Earth view of this area. The one on the right is from the webcam. The image below is the tunnel roughed in. It is right after I layered the foam. My next steps will be to shape the foam and then go back and build up and contour with Sculptamold (if needed). I am taking photos of these steps for a future article in Ztrack, but I wanted to share my progress. This is an interesting project for me since we are attempting to match a prototype scene as much as possible. Google Earth, what a blessing! Without it, I definitely would have had some alignment issues. Rob
Rob: Did you happen to see the True Scene Modeling Fibre booth at the Hobby Show today. Looks as if it might just be what you need since you are starting off with bare foam. Info from their brochure. True Scene Modeling - Home or 716-523-7305. ...don
Thats going to look sweet! may i ask how many inches is your foam boards? My home depot only has 1 inch and half inch blue foam. I cant seem to find the 2-3 inch thick pink foam. Maybe I'm not looking good enough. Help would be great. Ps those dirt roads are amazingly done! Never would of figured people use real dirt. How nice and easy.
