This is a small introduction of my self and my Z-scale projects. My love of model trains started with Märklin H0 when I was a kid. My Z-scale story started four years ago when I found a coffee table that was perfect for a Z-scale layout. And the table has been displayed on eight shows in Norway and Sweden over the past three years. Here are some close ups: And of course I had to have a briefcase layout... This is mainly buildt of leftovers from the coffee table layout. This was a christmas project: But my main project now is a larger layout located in a shelf in my livingroom. The layout is 12' 8" x 2', and will have 260' feet of track and more than 50 turnouts. It's a lot more of all of this on my webpages that contains hundreds of pictures.
I have been watching your progress for some time. I can't wait to see how your main layout turns out. It looks like you have tracks on lots of levels. How long did it take to do the track work? -Robert
The track work was done in a period of nine months, but it's still a lot of work to do. Painting, ballasting and all the wireing... Status today: I have done a lot of the landscape formations. All the parts with landscape can be removed from the layout to gain access to the tracks. Like this:
Aha! I was wondering how you would get access to the hidden tracks, very clever solution. Looks like it will be a very imposing layout.
It looks like your layout is really going to capture the look of what you are modeling. Very nice work!
I have about 200 BUSCH fir trees to use in the background: They are actually in H0, so they will be much taller in Z-scale... And I will use a lot of trees based on woodland Scenics products like the treees I have on the coffee table layout:
Heine: The photo's of your layout are outstanding. I'm amazed at the level of detail you've accomplished in Z scale. Stay cool and run steam.....
I know your work Heine, I found it earlier on the web, it's very impressive I'm glad you climed aboard!
Wow!! Most people can't do that level of detail in HO, let alone Z - well done!! Is the Neuschwanstein castle from a kit? Are you modeling the Fussen area or just a generalization of the area?
The Neuschwanstein is from a Märklin Start set. It is originaly from Doyosha of Japan. When I first saw the castle, I thought it would look a bit funny on the layout, but then I saw some pictures of it on a fellow Norwegians layout. And the more I looked at his pics, the more I wanted to have it my self... Here you can see for your self: This is from the layout of John Digranes, and I strongly recomend you to take a look at the rest of his pics: http://home.online.no/~jdigrane/z-scale/photos-01.htm When I started to work on my own layout, I hadn't even been to southern Germany, so it's not based on a specific place. Just the southern parts of Germany with the green hills and castles. But this June I and two friends went railfanning in the Rhein and Mozel area, and I am pretty sure my future projects will be from this area. Here are some pics from the trip: Almost 400 pics from the trip can be found here: http://gleng.jernbane.st/cpg132/thumbnails.php?album=6 . It is also a lot of pics from The Märklin Treff in Göppingen.
Stripping the layout. First, out of the shelf: And down on a table: And off goes the landscape: Now I am able to reach all the tracks. Now I am going to spend a week of my summer holliday to do some electric wireing.
Was your scenery meant to be removable like that? It looks like you were able to take all the mountains off without doing any damage to the trackwork at all? -Robert
Yes, it was ment be removable. It would be crazy to make a layout with all this tracks and close the access to them. The scenery is two parts. Here is the front part: As you can see, the bridge is part of the removable scenery. Here is the top scenery: The scenery can also be removed when the layout is in the shelf if I need access to derailed trains. It takes about 10 seconds to remove it.
That's a very clever solution to track access. I'm going to have to remember that for my future plans. Keep up the great work! -Robert