You realize you are about the only guy on RUclips doing anything at all with non-marklin Z scale?😁 Somewhere back about 1987 I was in Dolvang California and stumbled into this Jewelry shop that had a Z scale layout, and tiny brass buildings. Lord N scale was primitive compared to today. Z scale was scary small. But I fell in love with it as an idea… but n scale was more practical. I never lost the love of those little trains and your two tiny layouts gave me the push I needed. My AZL starter kit arrived today, the quality is amazing for its size. Thanks for the shove.
Be a cool end table with a lamp 🔦 either fixed to it or to the wall over it. One on either end if sofa, with glass tops. And a corresponding coffee table. Like 3 parts of one town
I’ve been looking for a video on this exact subject. I haven’t been able to find one where the builder actually shares how they did all of their steps and some tricks of the craft. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my briefcase build planned out now.
Very nice! 😊 Being able to keep the forest cover so simple due to the small scale is a real boon. Especially for larger layouts. I wouldn't have been able to avoid the desire to give the mountain a cliff somewhere, and to impart a generally greater asymmetry.
I recently retired from CSX in Pa. and I can verify the realism of your mountains - I grew up in them! One suggestion: The word is pronounced "FO-lee-age." I'll check out your other projects now.
They have chopping board that size in our local Poundland what you call a 5 and dime or similar to cloud 9 in the show superstore ,I’m tempted but I may either do a navada type dessert where my colleague from Royal Mail moved to or Cumbria which is our Lake District but BR Z gauge is hard if not impossible to find RTR ,and permission from the officer in charge (wife)😂 All the best Mark
Very nice video sounds like alot of fun to build. Will keep searching for that Z scale train set and then build layout. Hoping to find a steam engine set. Thanks for sharing how you built that layout. GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖
IMHO a tunnel in the curve behind the hill would be perfectly at home. There is a lot of space for scenic photo spots on the straight section of the track at the rear of the layout.
Steve thank you for a few tips on how to ballast my track and make a few hills on my N gauge layout. Love your videos and look forward to the next new layout or upgrade to an old one.
That's a very nice layout, but it really needs some buildings to give it life: a little cabin in the hills, a track-side section crew shed, maybe even a little halt-stop.
@@StevesTrains Ah. Maybe you could go back to it and add some buildings, and then post an update video? I'm actually quite inspired by this. (Z is too small for me, but I have a desire to build something similar in TT120).
I can do everything excepting the ballasting. I cant get the dang color right. SAME for my river or creek beds. I wish you would do a series just on that for the different seasons. I LOVE the creek bed on this layout. Excellent work Steve!
Great video Steve, I've said it before and I'll say it again, your talent of doing these layouts are unbelievable! Even though its something simple, I like it! Your attention to detail on the trees, ballast, rails and water is spot on! I almost want to do one of these Z Scale layouts myself. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA. I also wanted to ask if you'd be able to donate a sticker to my railroad room I'm creating in our new home. I'm a disabled Delawarian due to a hereditary nerve disease and don't get out much bcuz of it.
Great Video!!! Glad to see a "Central Pennsylvania" layout. Btw: We Are!! (caught that in your video) -but alas, my reference is Hail2Pitt. Cheers from Centre County!
I just do that so I don’t have sharp discontinuities in ballast color. Sometimes even the same kind of ballast varies in color one package to the next.
The gap at the end of the river. You could paint the lower part with gloss varnish as well, put in some stones, and have a little drop in the river's flow.
Thank you. This is a brilliant introduction for a beginner like me. I'm not in America, so I would love it if you mentioned the types of glue you are using, rather than just the brand name. I can recognise the yellow glue, but I have no idea what 'tacky glue' is. Then again you put so much work into the video, I guess I can at least google the brand names.
Those are good points. I’m not actually sure what the “tacky glue” is made of. It is like extra sticky PVA glue. It has an immediate tack to it. It is almost closer to a latex caulk than a PVA glue.
beautiful work, Question, weird question, what cryptids do you have legends of in your area? i am doing a fantasy layout of, after man has gone and the cryptids return. so i am trying to incorporate them in to the build. Thankyou.
Bro that is fantastic 😊 puts my warhammer to shame.. and as it should it's immaculately done 👍😊 took me a while to learn that placing everything deliberately really ruins the feel of things some times chaos works in harmony 😅... Also haven't any trains yet but is that ballast functional or just for aesthetics?
Z scale small layout for run trains. Z scale layout with remote switch. AZL Z scale train set. Z scale locomotives. Z scale freight cars. Z scale passengers cars. Z scale autoracks.
Hey Steve. I follow you on youtube. I decided to get started in z scale after seeing your video on it. I bought the azl starter set you used. The question i have is that does your GP-30 only start to run after about 60% input from the rokuhan controller? I also feel that the GP-30 runs kinda slow at full speed.
Yeah, it takes a bit to get any locomotive going with that controller, but I think it is under 50% with mine. It doesn’t run that super fast with mine at full throttle, but fast enough. It sounds like either your locomotive isn’t running as it should, maybe something is binding up a bit. Or perhaps your controller isn’t putting out as much power as it should. You could check what voltage is on the track with a voltmeter if you have one. I would also recommend breaking in the locomotive for a while (just let it run for an hour or so) if you haven’t already. Could need a bit if lubrication or something as well on the gears, hard to say. I will say that it runs a little slower than my sd70 that I have.
I'm looking at building a Z-scale layout. I'm wondering on the compatibility of running MTL Micro-Trains engines and cars on Rokuhan track and if you can get couplers to use both brands of engines and cars?
track is no issue. I haven't had any issues with coupler compatibility thus far, but my experience is still limited and I haven't tried that much stuff out yet in Z scale so I can't say for sure if there are issues or not. I'm guessing it is similar to N scale where you can pretty much get everything to work together, but things work better overall when using the same brand of coupler.
You can buy as small as 1.77” radius curves, but most stuff won’t work on that. A safer bet for a small loop would be the 120mm radius (4.72”) which would be a 9.5” diameter. You could go smaller, but a larger variety of stuff will make it around a loop that size.
Steve, do Z scale trains have comparable technology as larger scale trains? For example, do Z scale trains have automatic decouplers and remote controlled switches? Thanks.
Remote controlled switches are available. I don’t know if electromagnets are available for z scale directly or not. You can use regular magnets for the usual delayed uncoupling you would do with kadee couplers in larger scales I believe. I remember seeing a video where someone had electrouncoupling magnets that may have been modified n scale ones. I’m not sure.
you've got all the things you used listed, EXCEPT the one thing I'm curious about, the sculpable. sculptable? is it like sculptable concrete? what is it? where do I get it?
This stuff: amzn.to/3rPPySq it is basically plaster and paper mache mixed together. You could just use plaster or something similar. The sculptamold has a texture that looks more like rock and it doesn’t crack as easily as plain plaster.
I like all the Lance Mindheim books, especially “How To Build A Switching Layout”. I like “Building a Model Railroad Step by Step” by David Popp too. There are plenty of other great ones.
I see you only build n scale and z scale I gather you belong to the n track do you build in any other scales besides n and z? t scale is even smaller are you going to try that?
Would be nice to have added a small point of interest on the layout, a small road up the mountain to a fire point outlook or the same.... Otherwise nice idea...
Inside looks the same as any n scale locomotive. Motor in the middle with shafts to gears over each truck and a circuit board on top. Maybe I’ll try doing a dcc upgrade to one of them sometime.
Steve, where did you get that Z Scale set? I've been looking online, and it seems Z is hard to come by. Is there any particular website you usually shop from?
@StevesTrains, where do you get the part that you use to run a chord to plug into the power pack? I'm hoping to have my Z Scale set next month and I wanted to wire it the same way.
How totally boring! How about at least a small building somewhere or maybe a short siding to park a couple of train cars on for interest? I mean as long as you're putting that much effort into it, why not?
Yes, but I had to build this start to finish in less than a week. I eventually received a couple of building kits in the mail but not until after I had to get the first video out on the layout.
You really don’t need to do it at all with this kind of track. But it does help with long term reliability if you are trying to get away with only using a single power lead. Adding another power lead to the track on the other side would probably be just as effective.
Just saying the train would look cool as hell if it was. On fire while the mountains also on fire ... Cant remembrr the movie but it would replocate it well haha.... Nudge nudge 🫡😁
You realize you are about the only guy on RUclips doing anything at all with non-marklin Z scale?😁
Somewhere back about 1987 I was in Dolvang California and stumbled into this Jewelry shop that had a Z scale layout, and tiny brass buildings. Lord N scale was primitive compared to today. Z scale was scary small. But I fell in love with it as an idea… but n scale was more practical. I never lost the love of those little trains and your two tiny layouts gave me the push I needed. My AZL starter kit arrived today, the quality is amazing for its size. Thanks for the shove.
My obsession with this stuff as a kid should have been a big clue to my eventual AuDHD diagnosis lol Absulutely love the channel man!
Be a cool end table with a lamp 🔦 either fixed to it or to the wall over it. One on either end if sofa, with glass tops. And a corresponding coffee table. Like 3 parts of one town
Good idea!
(Brother Steve) u officially gave me a new thing to try.
My work here is done then. Lol
I’ve been looking for a video on this exact subject. I haven’t been able to find one where the builder actually shares how they did all of their steps and some tricks of the craft. Hopefully I’ll be able to get my briefcase build planned out now.
Darn you Steve! Now you have me thinking of more ways to spend my money! 😄 Great work as usual!
Thanks! No shortages of ways to spend money in this hobby. That is for sure.
Very nice! 😊
Being able to keep the forest cover so simple due to the small scale is a real boon. Especially for larger layouts.
I wouldn't have been able to avoid the desire to give the mountain a cliff somewhere, and to impart a generally greater asymmetry.
I recently retired from CSX in Pa. and I can verify the realism of your mountains - I grew up in them!
One suggestion: The word is pronounced "FO-lee-age."
I'll check out your other projects now.
I love your tiny layout builds! Gives me the feeling like I might actually be able to build a layout of my own one day.
They have chopping board that size in our local Poundland what you call a 5 and dime or similar to cloud 9 in the show superstore ,I’m tempted but I may either do a navada type dessert where my colleague from Royal Mail moved to or Cumbria which is our Lake District but BR Z gauge is hard if not impossible to find RTR ,and permission from the officer in charge (wife)😂
All the best
Mark
This is nuts. Something that small would drive m nuts.
I can’t argue that it won’t! Stuff this small certainly isn’t going to work for everyone, that is for sure.
Z scale small layout.
I love the Z scale train set.
Nice work as always!
Great video! Saw the We Are! Must reply, PENN STATE!
Yes!
Santa would love to have you at the North Pole during the Christmas season.
Fantastic, inspiring me to try out some z scale. 🎉
Z scale small layout.
Good work.
Perfect for an office/study!
😁WE ARE!!!😆......nice reference
The two pictures of the forested hill/mountain were of mount nittany so I had to sneak that in there.
Thank you , really was inspired by watching this , it’s gotta go on my bucket list
Great video. It inspires me to put the 3 modules I have together. Again thanks.
Thanks for the excellent video. Love your layout.
You come up with these great landscapes. But you did a great job as always and thanks for sharing.
An inspirational video. Makes me think that I should have a go. Hi from the UK.
Excellent job and fast moving- loved watching this! Thanks for posting!
Fantastic work. You put great fun on it. Thanks
Great video thanks for your work
Very nice video sounds like alot of fun to build. Will keep searching for that Z scale train set and then build layout. Hoping to find a steam engine set. Thanks for sharing how you built that layout.
GOD BLESS 🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖🚂💖
That amazing it's working art. I could learn a lot
IMHO a tunnel in the curve behind the hill would be perfectly at home.
There is a lot of space for scenic photo spots on the straight section of the track at the rear of the layout.
Looks great Steve, what a fun project
Steve thank you for a few tips on how to ballast my track and make a few hills on my N gauge layout.
Love your videos and look forward to the next new layout or upgrade to an old one.
Wonderful !
Beautiful and simple layout
Z looks hreat I can't wait to build my layout
Walthers has rail joiners that work great. No soldering or melting of the base. Atlas joiner 150-2539. These have wires already soldered on.
Steve great video and build! I LOVE Sculptamold. It has been my go to for 40 years! Well done!
Nice! Thanks. 🙂
Nice work.A lot of simple ideas build towards a greater whole. Excellent micro layout!
I've always wanted a z scale train. Maybe one day I'll be able to afford one, little suckers are pricey lol
Wonderful
Great video, and a good looking set up! I can think of so many places I could put a little set like that.
That's a very nice layout, but it really needs some buildings to give it life: a little cabin in the hills, a track-side section crew shed, maybe even a little halt-stop.
Only reason I didn’t do that was to try to get the layout done in a week to keep my Tuesday morning upload cycle.
@@StevesTrains Ah. Maybe you could go back to it and add some buildings, and then post an update video? I'm actually quite inspired by this. (Z is too small for me, but I have a desire to build something similar in TT120).
Disagree.
The layout is a pure beauty of pristine wilderness.
@@u2bear377 Fair enough. De gustibus non est disputandum' and all that.
Wonderful video and detailed just enough. Especially love your pace here as well. Nicely done and thanks!
Steve, you are amazing! What detail on that layout! Absolutely beautiful! Thanks for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
Excellent video. You make it look easy.
Once I get some confidence in this hobby, I'll try something like this.
I can do everything excepting the ballasting. I cant get the dang color right. SAME for my river or creek beds. I wish you would do a series just on that for the different seasons. I LOVE the creek bed on this layout. Excellent work Steve!
Good video idea!
@@StevesTrains Yes, please do a ballasting video! I can never seem to get it right either 😭
Great video Steve, I've said it before and I'll say it again, your talent of doing these layouts are unbelievable! Even though its something simple, I like it! Your attention to detail on the trees, ballast, rails and water is spot on! I almost want to do one of these Z Scale layouts myself. Cheers from Laurel, Delaware USA.
I also wanted to ask if you'd be able to donate a sticker to my railroad room I'm creating in our new home. I'm a disabled Delawarian due to a hereditary nerve disease and don't get out much bcuz of it.
Hello ! Nice layout ! It gave me an idea for a Z-scale project 🙂👍.
Thanks for your video ! You won a new subscriber 😁!
Greetings from France 🙂!
Very cool! I’m going to be modeling PA as well, in N scale. I think I’m going to copy your terrain here.
Very cool!
Great Video!!! Glad to see a "Central Pennsylvania" layout. Btw: We Are!! (caught that in your video) -but alas, my reference is Hail2Pitt. Cheers from Centre County!
amazing i wana try it
That's a really good idea to just mix all of the ballast together
I just do that so I don’t have sharp discontinuities in ballast color. Sometimes even the same kind of ballast varies in color one package to the next.
The gap at the end of the river. You could paint the lower part with gloss varnish as well, put in some stones, and have a little drop in the river's flow.
Yeah, I’ll need to touch that up at some point.
Amazing....
Fun!! 😀
Nice. Thnkx
Cool video mr. Grettings from Noway,, oooh whats that stuff u put on after the glue.not the alcohol but that whiteish.
Thank you.
This is a brilliant introduction for a beginner like me. I'm not in America, so I would love it if you mentioned the types of glue you are using, rather than just the brand name. I can recognise the yellow glue, but I have no idea what 'tacky glue' is.
Then again you put so much work into the video, I guess I can at least google the brand names.
Those are good points. I’m not actually sure what the “tacky glue” is made of. It is like extra sticky PVA glue. It has an immediate tack to it. It is almost closer to a latex caulk than a PVA glue.
tiptop
beautiful work, Question, weird question, what cryptids do you have legends of in your area? i am doing a fantasy layout of, after man has gone and the cryptids return. so i am trying to incorporate them in to the build. Thankyou.
Bro that is fantastic 😊 puts my warhammer to shame.. and as it should it's immaculately done 👍😊 took me a while to learn that placing everything deliberately really ruins the feel of things some times chaos works in harmony 😅... Also haven't any trains yet but is that ballast functional or just for aesthetics?
cool
Yay, Z scale! Are you gonna build a bigger layout eventually?
Maybe eventually
@@StevesTrains noyce!
Can you build a z scale briefcase layout
Probably a good project to put on the list.
Z scale small layout for run trains.
Z scale layout with remote switch.
AZL Z scale train set.
Z scale locomotives.
Z scale freight cars.
Z scale passengers cars.
Z scale autoracks.
Impressive, and so tiny
Hermosa
Thanks!
Hey Steve. I follow you on youtube. I decided to get started in z scale after seeing your video on it. I bought the azl starter set you used. The question i have is that does your GP-30 only start to run after about 60% input from the rokuhan controller? I also feel that the GP-30 runs kinda slow at full speed.
Yeah, it takes a bit to get any locomotive going with that controller, but I think it is under 50% with mine. It doesn’t run that super fast with mine at full throttle, but fast enough. It sounds like either your locomotive isn’t running as it should, maybe something is binding up a bit. Or perhaps your controller isn’t putting out as much power as it should. You could check what voltage is on the track with a voltmeter if you have one. I would also recommend breaking in the locomotive for a while (just let it run for an hour or so) if you haven’t already. Could need a bit if lubrication or something as well on the gears, hard to say. I will say that it runs a little slower than my sd70 that I have.
I'm looking at building a Z-scale layout. I'm wondering on the compatibility of running MTL Micro-Trains engines and cars on Rokuhan track and if you can get couplers to use both brands of engines and cars?
track is no issue. I haven't had any issues with coupler compatibility thus far, but my experience is still limited and I haven't tried that much stuff out yet in Z scale so I can't say for sure if there are issues or not. I'm guessing it is similar to N scale where you can pretty much get everything to work together, but things work better overall when using the same brand of coupler.
@@StevesTrains Thank you.
T scale next 😂
I’m building a T gauge layout on a hat right now. Video in a couple of weeks.
You might have made a tunnel.
After all the construction spraying, dusting and gluing over and on the rails, how do you finally clean them? Abrasion? Solvent?
Just used an alcohol cleaning wipe wrapped around a finger.
Nick offermans wood shop mug?
Yep! Besides being an actor, he is a fantastic wood worker and has several books out on that topic.
What's the smallest Z scale circle? I'm thinking of a Santa train running around an iced Christmas Cake. Thanks
You can buy as small as 1.77” radius curves, but most stuff won’t work on that. A safer bet for a small loop would be the 120mm radius (4.72”) which would be a 9.5” diameter. You could go smaller, but a larger variety of stuff will make it around a loop that size.
Steve, do Z scale trains have comparable technology as larger scale trains? For example, do Z scale trains have automatic decouplers and remote controlled switches? Thanks.
Remote controlled switches are available. I don’t know if electromagnets are available for z scale directly or not. You can use regular magnets for the usual delayed uncoupling you would do with kadee couplers in larger scales I believe. I remember seeing a video where someone had electrouncoupling magnets that may have been modified n scale ones. I’m not sure.
you've got all the things you used listed, EXCEPT the one thing I'm curious about, the sculpable. sculptable? is it like sculptable concrete? what is it? where do I get it?
This stuff: amzn.to/3rPPySq it is basically plaster and paper mache mixed together. You could just use plaster or something similar. The sculptamold has a texture that looks more like rock and it doesn’t crack as easily as plain plaster.
Hi can you suggest someuseful book for beginners? Thx
I like all the Lance Mindheim books, especially “How To Build A Switching Layout”. I like “Building a Model Railroad Step by Step” by David Popp too. There are plenty of other great ones.
i got a hole set for sale new its just to small for me
How many layouts do you still have at home, of all the layouts you have made.
This one, my 1x6 HO switching layout, and the two N scale layouts under construction (the 2x4 and 1x5).
@@StevesTrainsI'm looking forward to seeing your future videos.
I see you only build n scale and z scale I gather you belong to the n track do you build in any other scales besides n and z? t scale is even smaller are you going to try that?
I do HO too and have started with O gauge as well. I have a T gauge set arriving next week!
So is there a way to enjoy this hobby without DIY skills and/or a workshop full of power tools?
You can buy a lot of premade things (structures etc) so you don’t have to do as much building. Of course that costs more.
Would be nice to have added a small point of interest on the layout, a small road up the mountain to a fire point outlook or the same.... Otherwise nice idea...
I would have done more had I had more time. I might go back and add something else at a later time.
can you open one train and show how its work
Inside looks the same as any n scale locomotive. Motor in the middle with shafts to gears over each truck and a circuit board on top. Maybe I’ll try doing a dcc upgrade to one of them sometime.
@@StevesTrains i try to find a video but didnt find any I think every guy love train so much
Steve, where did you get that Z Scale set? I've been looking online, and it seems Z is hard to come by. Is there any particular website you usually shop from?
Link is in the description to ztrackcenter.com where I picked up the set (they have several different sets available)
Thanks! This was an awesome video, and I'm looking forward to building a similar size layout.
@StevesTrains, where do you get the part that you use to run a chord to plug into the power pack? I'm hoping to have my Z Scale set next month and I wanted to wire it the same way.
Foilage or foliage? Lol
fo-li-age
How totally boring! How about at least a small building somewhere or maybe a short siding to park a couple of train cars on for interest? I mean as long as you're putting that much effort into it, why not?
Yes, but I had to build this start to finish in less than a week. I eventually received a couple of building kits in the mail but not until after I had to get the first video out on the layout.
im assuming all that soldering nonsense isnt needing if you have some straight track
You really don’t need to do it at all with this kind of track. But it does help with long term reliability if you are trying to get away with only using a single power lead. Adding another power lead to the track on the other side would probably be just as effective.
Just saying the train would look cool as hell if it was. On fire while the mountains also on fire ... Cant remembrr the movie but it would replocate it well haha.... Nudge nudge 🫡😁
Don't do that it's too awsome 😅