Tag: featured
Waterfront Project | Part 6
In the last Waterfront Project article we built the Micro-Trains Line Fish Market Kit, for the most part we added just a little bit of age and weathering to that kit so let’s ramp it up just a bit this time out with the Boat Repair Shop Kit (MTL Part 799 90 939). I wanted […]
Waterfront Project | Part 5
We continue along with the Waterfront Project by presenting the buildings we’ll be using on our Florida themed layout. Here we have our build of the Micro-Trains Line Fish Market Kit (MTL Part 799 90 937). I had thought about doing just a bit of kitbashing with these buildings but decided against this for a […]
A Quick Diorama
I don’t know why I always do this, I begin what I think will be a quick little project and before I know it, it’s not! This time out I wanted to build a very simple and fairly generic scene on which I would shoot some photos of the Z-Panzer K5 rail gun for an […]
RSLaser Kits
Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of desktop, midsized and large format laser cutters making their way into the hands of Z scale kit designers. Machines that once would have been completely out of reach for the small business owner are now being used to create the modestly priced kits most of […]
Waterfront Project | Part 4
After writing Part 3 of this article series I was feeling pretty good about the Waterfront Project layout, I’d read through the Lance Mindheim book a couple of times and made some casual notes, I thought I had taken the advice in the book to heart… what could go wrong? Old habits. I made a […]
Waterfront Project | Part 3
I have to admit this Waterfront Project layout has given me more pause than any previous desktop layout or diorama I’ve built. I thought it would be a relatively quick matter of firing up the track planning software and laying out a visually interesting track pattern, then building up the structures and scenery around the […]
Waterfront Project | Part 2
After what may have been a bit of overthinking things (I do that occasionally) I’ve decided to make the Waterfront Project a shelf layout with switching capabilities and of course with an emphasis on the scenery. I’ve decided on a size of 48” long by 12” deep, a good size for a Z scale shelf […]
Z-Panzer Eyeing North America?
I received an email earlier today from Andy Hart of Z-Panzer, a company based in England producing WWII military models in Z scale. I own several of Z-Panzer’s models including their BP42, Panzerzug armored train set; it’s an amazing thing to see on the desk in front of me. I also have Andy’s recent model […]
Beginning In Z Scale 1:220
The Marklin Company of Germany has been making model trains since the late 1800’s and in 1972 introduced their Z scale model trains to the world. At 1/220 (commonly written as 1:220) the size of real […]
Santa Fe Diorama
Our new desktop wallpaper is brought to you by Ztrack Magazine and features two very cool recent Santa Fe releases. We have a pair of Santa Fe Budd cars by AZL and these are traveling over the Micro-Trains Line through-girder, Santa Fe bridge. The scene is a recent diorama I completed here at Ztrains to […]