www.z-stuebchen.de

Good morning all,

I was reviewing the Z Friends Europe site and came upon this wonderful layout. Since I don't read Deutsch I don't know but think this is a club layout. I just spend about an hour looking at all the photos that are under the Impression section. I like the grass paper that they used but don't understand the sub-paper or foundation under it. Is it cardboard? Kelly and Ulie I certainly could use your translation skills explaining some of the descriptions. I also noted that they didn't use roadbed but just laid the track on the particle board. It certainly would be worth a visit to see this layout. I think it is located in someone's basement.

Enjoy this and let me have some opinions.

Oh, TRAININI has published the April issue.


Robert
On the Left Coast.

Hello Robert,

I just surfed that website, and I couldn't find any explanations about the way they made their landscape and what they used for a roadbed. They just stated a list about the amount of hardware material they used.

If you look under the different gallerys they linked, you see here that they used a reinforced material for the landscape base. This might be paper or it could be plastic that is reinforced with a mesh material. Propably also from plastic. This is often used for packing stuff more secure.

If you take this picture , it looks like they just tacked the grassmatt to the frame and that's about it. To hold the form you could probably use some kind of glue like the one that is used to glue wallpapers to the wall. Or perhaps white glue. If those glues drys they also hardens and will and hold the form. In any case this way is very light weight.

As it can be seen here , they use a frame work were only a surface for the tracks is installed. Any free landscape has no hard base. The only places where you find a hard surface is where they needed it for tracks and buildings.

Here can be seen that they at least in some places use cork as a roadbed. Perhaps just to get the same heigh as the MTL tracks taht they also use. I'm not sure about the sound problems they might get when they don't use any insulation against that.

The framework is a common way to build layouts in Germany. We don't often use the foam slaps that are often written about from all of you on the other side of the pond...
I know the material, it is used for isolation of houses, but I believe not as much as in the US. Actually I'm not sure how easy it is to get in DIY markets over here. I might check that out sometimes. Besides... there are two kind of markets around here. One is the common DIY market, where you get anything from a single nail to a complete kitchen and anything between. Those are mainly for any work that you might want to do in and around your home and garden. And then there are those markets that mainly serves the needs of people who actually build a house.

HI everyone.
Uwe pretty much tells it all. I do think some German company has some kind of "landscaping system' using a wire frame sandwiched between paper.. part of the system is dowels with plastic connectors. Kind of like tinkertoys. I know its in one of my catalogs someplace.
It looks like they use a combination of things.

I noticed they use a lot of N scale structure kits--so many, in fact, that at first I thought it was an N scale layout. Then I saw the Marklin couplers...

The viaduct and similar kits are marked as Z and N scales. I have some of these, but I haven't really had a good look at them. They looked to be N scale as far as I remember. Don't know if I'll use them, but I do have a few of them. I was thinking I might scuplt some of my own though that might be too much work. While I'm not particularly keen on the way the scenery is put together on this layout, I'm studying the base for tips on building our base.

I was going to write something like "Wow! What a layout!", but then realised how inadequate that was as a response. Words fail me, almost....

Just imagine having the time, space and resources to build something like that

*sigh*

Looks to me like they just wanted to make a big ol' layout and get some trains running, and just aren't that concerned about realistic scenery, at least not right now. The grass mats are not John Allen sort of scenery, not even close, but look at the size and scope of what they are doing. Its simply fantastic.

This is one big monster Z layout, none of this cutsie little pie pan stuff here. If I'm reading this correctly, this is 40 square meters in size, or about 6.3 meters on a side, or about 20 feet, 6 inches. You are starting to get into Rob K size stuff here. And look at all the cool stuff they have included in their world.

They have an airport!! They have a Zeppelin(could be a Led Zeppelin?)!!!! How cool is that??? Also the big orange thing, I believe, is the Revell O&K Bucket Loader, a 1/200 scale model of a huge German strip mine coal digging beast which is about three feet long when you build it (I have one of these in the box, still trying to figure out how to use on a layout). They have a nuclear power plant... they have a wind turbine, all clean energy, along with the steam engines... OK, that's a little time confused here, but its their world, they can do whatever they want.

They have the Statue of Liberty, for cryin out loud.

And the craftsmanship??? Did you notice the hardwood veneered plywood facings on the sides of the layout? and they used mostly clear pine for the framing... How about that really nicely cut, smoothly finished helix to the upper level? I mean the control panel looks like it was made by Ethan Allen...

This is real model railroading here. I would like my railroad to be like this when it grows up...

Todd

The material they use (with the squares in it) looks more like roof underlay than the Noch system. Strange that insulation foam isn't much used in Germany, it is here in Belgium. You can find it in every DIY in several thickness (and colours: pink, green, blue, yellow).

Thanks Johan for your input. That foam material here on this side of the pond is pink and blue. It comes in 1/2", 1", 2" & 4". I live in Southern California and none of the DIY stores carry it locally, however, I can drive about 1/2 way North in the state and find it at the DIY stores there. I guess there is not much call for it this far South. I am about 160k North of the Mexico border. My small portable layout is 60cm x 1080cm I also have a hollow core door 75cm x 2010cm that is my working surface but may be developed into a larger layout.

Robert

Running Tweezer Trains
on the Left Coast

Robert, Blue foam can be found in El Cajon near me. Cheers, Jim CCRR