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ARCHISTORIES Olive House
Hi Everyone
? I’ve never built a cardboard kit before, in any scale.? I proceeded with a bit of caution and trepidation, but found that these feelings were unwarranted. Assembled everything using Aleene’s tacky glue, sparingly.? The only thing that was not cardboard were the acetate window glazing, which were all cut to size. ? Assembling this kit was a joy.? Every piece went together perfectly.? The pieces went together as modules.? This gives the benefit of letting you choose how to fit together the final modules.? The same kit can be assembled in several ways.? For example, the wrap around porch can be fitted in different positions around the main structure. ? Then, when you’re all done, there’s no painting required!? Boom, finished!? I am now a fan of cardboard structure kits.? I give ARCHISTORIES’ Olive House a ten out of ten.? Not just for its amazing precision, but also for the pre-painted colors that make this structure pop, but not overly pop.? It’s spot on. ? As the final sections were drying, I imagined Charlie and Rosie reaching the shoreline and moving into their Olive House, smiling ear to ear, happy, on my Z scale layout. ? Cheers! ? Jim Schulz ? |
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Re: Actitec’s Bulldozer
Yes, the Dutch company Artitec is a very good one in our market. And if you look at their products, I am sure you'll find enough to 'jump over the hurdle' of 250� for getting free shiping. Maybe some of you put together for it. (Living in their neighbouring country, I am out...)
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You don't need to look for "trains", there are nothing in 1:220. Best wishes from DE Arnim Am 15.06.24 um 21:04 schrieb Jim Schulz via groups.io: I was browsing the Reynold’s Euro Imports website and found this finished bulldozer by Artitec and was curious of its qualit |
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Re: The Mid State Bank Kit
Thank you, Jim, for the photos and review of both the bank and bulldozer.? They both look amazing!? I also love to watch movies while I work on projects.? Goonies was a great choice!? If you happen to be into sci-fi, next time try the show "Eureka".? :-)
Being new to z-scale myself, I feel that is a great price for a bulldozer of that great quality.? I'll definitely have to look into that brand when I get back to trying to build my suitcase layout. Sandra Bejster Dearborn, MI |
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Actitec’s Bulldozer
Hi Everyone ? I must confess.? The world of Z scale is new to me.? I come from On30 and Sn3, hence, by comparison, Z scale is really REALLY tiny.? It’s cracking me up, but I’m very much enjoying Z scale thus far. ? I was browsing the Reynold’s Euro Imports website and found this finished bulldozer by Artitec and was curious of its quality.? Received it today and oh my goodness, I am amazed.? It’s so tiny that it fits on the very tip of my pinky.? Yet it’s very nicely detailed, and has a figure in the driver’s seat. ?
? It comes in a small box (of course), and labeled as #322.040, “Hanomag K5 Laderaupe open”.? I think Laderaupe means bucket loader, but I’m not sure about that.? It comes tied down to a piece of cardboard, and costs $32 USD (assembled and painted). ? I might pick up some bicycles next. ? Cheers! ? Jim Schulz |
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The Mid State Bank Kit
Hi Everyone ? Yesterday I completed a kit from Micro Structures and wanted to share my results. ?It’s a fun kit to build and I was able to assemble and paint it in just one day. ?I imagine it would have come out better if more time was granted, but I was watching Eastwood’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, and I was on a roll.
This is a brass etched kit in Z scale of the Mid State Bank.? It represents a bank on a street corner. ?Now the villains on my layout have something new to rob. ?The kit comes with one page of written instructions, and one page of isometric drawings. ?I mostly just followed the drawings for reference. ?The etched brass pieces are very clean and come off their spurs easily with small rail nippers. ?I used a small file to cleanly remove any excess material. ? Per the instructions, I used a small pair of long needle nose pliers (smooth jaws) to make the brass bends. ?All painting was done with a small flat brush using acrylic paints. ?The instructions recommend air brushing, but I was too lazy to do that. ?I enjoy hand painting. ? Painted the windows titanium white, the mortar with burnt umbra, the roof bone black, and the rest of the building in titan buff. ?The mortar was painted roughly and excess removed with a paper towel. ?The stone brick were lightly covered with a flat brush. ?It all came out to my liking. ? The instructions suggests using crazy glue for assembly, but I had run out and was having too much fun watching Eastwood blowing up a bridge with Duco. ?Hence, I used 5 minute epoxy. ? Worked great. Here’s a photo of the completed kit taken yesterday. ?Initially, I had reservations with building a brass kit, but once into it, it was a lot of fun to build. ?I think that airbrushing might have yielded better results, but for a hand painting, I thought it came out pretty well.? Also, if I had air brushed it, would it not have covered the brick mortar lines?? Thoughts? ? I recommend this kit and give it two thumbs up. ? Cheers! ? Jim Schulz ? PS… it doesn’t actually take a whole day to complete this kit.? It took one movie of “The Good, the Bad, and the ugly” (it’s a long movie), and one movie of “The Goonies”, to complete this kit.? Ya gotta love the classics! |
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Re: Switch machines for Atlas Z #6
开云体育Jack, IMHO the best switch machines on the market – any scale - are those made by MTB in the Czech Republic, available in the USA through Model Railroad Control Systems ( ) These are fully enclosed low-profile motorized geared machines with auxiliary contacts and are a ?” (MP1) to ?” (MP10) deep. I have 34 of these switch machines on my Nn3 layout, including on two Atlas Z turnouts (in photo – excuse the upended cheap trees in the creek). They are particularly useful for portable and modular layouts with limited benchwork depth. (My layout benchwork is 1-1/2” thick.) The throw is adjustable. Although they come with a rod for use with turnouts, I use 1/16” brass tube in the machine with an insert of .010” piano wire dropped down through the turnout throwbar from the top and with the top of the piano wire bent over and hammered down similar to track spikes. (Most of my turnouts are Fast Tracks and the wire is through a hole in the middle of the throwbar.) This wire “floats” in the brass tube and I can adjust the tension on the wire by slacking off the screws on the end of the switch machine and sliding the brass tube up and down. I covered the installation of these machines in my series on building my narrow-gauge Pacific Coast Railway layout in N Scale Magazine. I am preparing to install another of these to operate a Peter Wright Nn3 turnout in a module I use as a portable layout for local train shows. ? Tom K. ? -- Tom K. |
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Re: Rokuhan X layout without a flyover
Likely. But grade(s) create longer routes (remember your geometry triangles?). Add 1 or 2 of the short straights 2 each loop (1 in 1 loop and 1 in the other loop [mirror opposite to keep the geometry) I think.
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You will get FAR more responses on TrainBoard
And AZL forums.
?
Jeff Z 1:220
On Mar 25, 2024, at 8:46?AM, jacklr1 via groups.io <el1921@...> wrote:
Can you make a Rokuhan X layout without a flyover using a R025 and 220mm radius curved track for a test layout?? I tried using the SCRAM software, no luck. Current length straight track leaves a gap at the crossover.
-- Jeff NorCal Z (Sacramento) ’San Francisco Bay Area Z’ a.k.a. 'The BAZ BoyZ' |
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Jim Schulz
Arnim v. Herff
Sandra Bejster
Jeff Merrill BAZ BoyZ
Thomas Knapp