Z Thoughts

Recently we have lost 2 very fine men and Zers... Jim and the Other Lionel.
And due to a dust up here we may have lost additional members. It seems to me it is up to the rest of the membership to stand up to the plate and get active. There has been very little on the discussion front.
I also wonder what the age demographics are of ZCS. I suspect a lot of the Z pioneers are getting up there, the same may be true for model railroading as a whole.
A bit of good news- Check out Trainboard... Intermountain is entering Z scale. That means another manufacturer sees a growth in Z and is willing to invest in our scale. Those of us that travel on other groups would do a service to ZCS to pass on information that is not reported here.
For those modelers "stuck in the 60's". I'll be making a Esso/Exxon gas station and it will have a big N scale tiger on the roof. Remember the tiger tails hanging out of the gas tank? Maybe it was before your time.. When I was in college we "borrowed" an 8 foot plastic tiger that was on the roof of a local gas station, and took pictures of it in many places all over several states.. Yes, the tiger was returned- unharmed and the owner actually got a kick out of seeing all the pictures. Little details such as this can increase the uniqueness of the layout- and truely make it "yours". We did other craZy stuff too.
After each major model railroad show, I check to see if our membership has increased. The shows seem to have little effect unfortunately.
Enough for now,
Annonamouse

What I find interesting is the number of people who claim they can't see anything "THAT SMALL".

I really think that the major problem with recruiting new Zers is the cost.When I first got into Z I spent more money to get my 2'x4'layout up and running than I spent in my first year in N.

In my area there are 3 known Z scalers Steve (slugger) myself and some lady that neither of us have seen. There were some others but they apparently have sold out and gone to larger scales.

It seems to me that if a company like ATLAS can produce a very nice N scale in the $100. price it should be possible to do it in Z.To my way of thinking this could entice more people to try Z scale.

I wish Intermountain the best of luck in Z and will definately buy some of their product.

Fred,

I'm definitely old enough to remember the slogan, "Put a Tiger in your Tank". Those commercials ran in Canada, too Also, thanks for posting a new thread. It's been so very quiet here lately.

Thanks for the comeback Guys and Gal. Maybe to keep things rolling.. what other things can we model that is unusual, eye catching and actually happened in the real world. How bout 1/2 of a double wide trailor going down a road.., or a whole house on a flat bed truck ( I saw this in South Dakota).. A train that actually goes through a skyscraper (I have fotos of this one) and will use it in the modern city as I am space challenged. I have Paul Bunyion (Sp) and Blue- Route 66 had all kinds of crazy stuff.... I'm not suggesting you make a real crazy layout- but find some interesting stuff in your local.
everyone can have the usual buildings. There is a bar in Portland Maine that has a piper cub's tail sticking out of the roof-from an actual accident-- maybe after 911, this hits a sore spot, but it had been there for decades. I intend to make a heloport on the roof of one of the skyscrapers- Loren, what did you use for power? I thought of using a christmatree turning ornemant motor, but am open for suggestions. The helo's rotors will turn slowly.
Enough for now.
Fred

Fred wrote:

Loren, what did you use for power? I thought of using a christmatree turning ornemant motor, but am open for suggestions. The helo's rotors will turn slowly.
Enough for now.
Fred

Several years ago I bought several of those tiny CH46 helicopters somewhere on Ebay or some site, but don't remember where. I had to glue the three blades together and then carefully drill out the rotor hub portion of the chopper. I glued a thin metal rod to the hub to act as a drive shaft and then the drive shafts actually went down below the landing pad surface below the layout. I used DC gear motors and mounted them side by side with flexible tubing like used in RC planes to act as shafts to transfer power to the drive shafts sticking down through the surface. Clear as mud huh !!

The shafts do counter rotate as in real life. Depending upon the motor speed etc. you can get the shafts to turn slowly or faster as desired.

I guess I could take some 'how to pictures' and post to give you a better explanation?

Have to wait a while before I can do that as the module is stored presently and needs to be set up in our family room/train room after we move our laser business downstairs where Karin's two boys vacated after graduation.
Oh boy........mom and I get the whole house to ourselves.....oooo ha ha ha ha

Loren

Fred wrote:

Recently we have lost 2 very fine men and Zers... Jim and the Other Lionel.
/quote]

I haven't seen or heard from Lionel since a GTE show at the Cow Palace near San Francisco a couple of years ago?

Did Lionel have to give it up or just lost interest?

Loren

Loren, I believe The other Lionel had to give it up..I think your prettier half communicated with him on another z site?
What did you use for motive power. I've landed the 46's and 53's on the fantail of my ship. One of my many hats was LSO
My helo is a life flight Hu-1 and only the main rotor will be spinning- not the vertical tail.. able to land on tall, small buildings.
Neat how you made them both spin.
Fred

Since the question of age came up... I'm 23, nearly 24, and living at home due to an illness in the family, and my current responsibilities prevent me from holding down a job. My savings account isn't doing so well- much of it has managed somehow to transform into rolling stock and scenery materials. Funny, that.

Right now I'm working on a few things- first, a proof-of-concept diorama to practice scenery on. Second, I'm repainting one of my two GG1s in the PRR single stripe tuscan red scheme. I'll post pictures if it doesn't turn out too hideous.

I got an old UH-1 snap together model I got from somewhere years ago that scales out just about to Z scale..I was thinking of doing the same thing. It's an early model UH1 so I will probably use it on a German layout, of sometime in the 70's..I wish I had a crystal ball and bought a sack full of these things..i cant find them anywhere anymore.

Oh well, I'm 41 on paper (mentally it depends on whom you ask). Running Z since I was 10. Don't fancy doing anything out of the ordinary. Just getting the baseboard set up will be a major undertaking. Might take years. Got stuck in a bit of a dilemma about trains. On one hand I would like to have a Z layout so you can come home, run some trains build a bit. On the other hand I prefer these days to actually build something, that's why I went with life steam. Result is that neither of both gets any further.

I better step it up as well. The significant other, although I do Love her. Will disown me and never help with it again. Plus I have to get pictures of the Cat to scare the mouse out as well, hehehehehehehe, .