Updated:
05 Feb 2017;
21:00
ET [Page converted 21 Sep 2013 original AT&T Worldnet Website begun 30 May 1996.] |
URL:
http://sbiii.com/z-scale3.html
[was at "home.att.net/~Berliner-Ultrasonics/z-scale3.html"] |
S. Berliner, III
Consultant in Ultrasonic Processing "changing materials with high-intensity sound" |
[consultation is on a fee basis]
Technical and Historical Writer, Oral Historian
Popularizer of Science and Technology
Rail, Auto, Air, Ordnance, and Model Enthusiast
Light-weight Linguist, Lay Minister, and Putative Philosopher
- The vast bulk of my massive Web presence (over 485 pages) had been hosted by AT&T's WorldNet service since 30 May 1996; they dropped
WorldNet effective 31 Mar 2010 and I have been scrambling to transfer everything. Everything's saved but all the links have to be changed, mostly by hand.
See my sbiii.com Transfer Page for any updates on this tedious process.
S. Berliner, III's
sbiii.com
Z-Scale Model Railroad Continuation Page 3
NOTE: Page size was limited by HTML to some 30kB;
thus, I was forced to add new pages just for Z-Scale, more Z-scale, and articles about Z-scale.
Z-Scale model railroading, at an incredible 220 times smaller than life size, or slightly under half the size of the familiar HO scale, with rails only 6.5mm (~¼") apart, continued ...
Z scale is about 2½ times smaller than HO! In Z scale, a scale ¼-mile is exactly (and only) 6 feet; in other words, a mile is only 24 feet!
Because much information about Z scale is in German, you might find Chris Ozdoba's Eisenbahn- und Modellbahn-Wörterbuch - Deutsch-Englisch / Railroad and Model Railroading Dictionary - German-English of value.
The original 8714 Automobile Transporter car (which Märklin listed with passenger cars) contained 8 rubber autos; mine (ca. 1980) includes (top deck, left to right, with cars facing right) 1 red BMW 735i, 1 each orange and yellow Porsche 911s, and 1 blue VW Beetle, and (bottom deck, left to right) 1 yellow Opel Rekord, 1 blue VW Beetle, 1 red Porsche 911, and 1 orange Opel Rekord:
There also was an 8973 Miniature Autos set (6/pkg @ $1.45/pkg, ca. 1980); mine includes these rubber cars: (top row) yellow BMW 735i, orange Opel Rekord, blue Porsche 911, and (bottom row) red VW Beetle, red Opel Rekord, and orange Porsche 911:
Here are some images of autos, trucks, and an auto rack car from Brian Redmans's "Z-World" and Joris Illegems's "The Z Collection": (new URL - 08 Oct 2002)
8904 Autos
8917 Fire Engines
8952 Autos
ISZP120 Auto Rack Car (special model)
31 Dec 1999 - My last tranZaction of the 20th Century - money burned a hole in my pocket and I picked up the new Märklin Container-Truck Set #89010 for my container terminal
(where I'm going to shoehorn these in I don't really know and the layout is still in vertical storage for the nonce); it contains:
10 Jan 2000 - My first tranZaction of the 21st Century (me and Buck Rogers) - money burned another hole in my pocket and I picked up the big two-truck Märklin
8226 Stake Car with Log Load (gotta have logs for Mercerized Bents!):
The grey turret top has a black grille and bumpers; maybe it's a plain folks (Mennonite) car or a WWII U. S. Navy blackout version. I like the latter; perhaps I can letter it U.S.N.
Rob came (Feb 2001) out with 4-door "coupés" (an oxymoron - they are sedans); I ordered some and they arrived 31 May 2001 and look really handsome; here are a pair:
These sedans have underbody detail! Not only are the head and tail lights painted, as are the grilles and bumpers, but so are the hood ornaments! These sedans are actually "close-coupled" sedans, on the coupé ("cut") chassis (notice how the rear doors are over the rear wheels); I'm thinking of modifying one into a standard sedan, longer, especially in the door panels, and with the rear doors forward of the rear wheels. I'm even thinking of adding side (fender) mounted spares.
11 Jul 2002 and in came my new pickup trucks (presumably also 1936)! They look just great! I ordered the set of five, in black, red, green, and blue, and got one in yellow (white is also available):
(photos taken 10 Jul 2002 by and © 2002 S. Berliner, III - all rights reserved)
[Images restored 05 Feb 2017]
These pickup trucks measure 9mm (= 6½') wide; far more reasonable than the coupés and sedans but you really don't want to have a pickup parked alongside a coupé or sedan where they can be viewed head-on! Here's why:
[Additional material on Z VehicleZ overloaded this page
and has been transferred to Z-scale continuation page 9.]
Many years ago, I wrote an article on building a diode ladder to cut down HO/N pack power to work with Z; it was not published and, until I recreate it, don't play games with packs - you will FRY your motors and lights!
O. K. I found the 1993 drawing of the diode ladders I cooked up to reduce power pack output voltage to Z specifications and have been using (I have two packs on the BW-Z) ever since:
DISCLAIMER: - Now, if you use those particular diodes, or something similar, you have to fiddle with the number used for AC and for DC and for different power packs and the voltages MUST be measured under load, not without! Further, I take no responsibiity whatsoever for your frying your motors and lamps; NONE! You should not mess with this stuff unless you know what you're doing; you have been warned!
In case you DO know what you're doing, or are just bound and determined to burn everything up regardless, here's what one of my ladders looks like:
That's the "DC" end on the right and the "AC" end is tucked above the leg nut plate on the left.
Trying unsuccessfully to find the (then) missing pix above, I took this composite shot:
(05 Feb 2017)
For the story of Boxcab Oil-Electric engines (the first diesels), see my Boxcabs page, et seq.
For the story of the Berlinerwerke-Z (my layout), see the Berlinerwerke-Z Saga page, et. seq.
For tall tales of the BW and its equipment and such, visit the Berlinerwerke Apocrypha page.
For more and better illustrations of the tall tales and such, keep in touch; I have my digital camera (11 Jan 99 - a belated Xmas present - an SLR, no less!), the requisite software loaded, and scads of server storage space. Now, all I have to do is take more pictures.
See also the main Z page, the preceding page, the next page, and the Z-scale articles page.
For Ztrack Magazine, see its separate page.
For a really beautiful Euro-style layout, visit Hungarian-cum-Californian Lájos Thek's layout at http://www.zthek.com/ (new URL 30 Aug 05). Lájos makes some really nice locos and accessories for Z scale.
You are cordially invited to examine, and even to participate in, the new RR message board-cum-forum, "Trainboard", at http://www.trainboard.com/, administered by Charlie Dix, et al. I don't do rings, fora, chat groups, or such. Charlie needs people with Z Scale expertise to participate and is looking for that special person to moderate the Z Scale board. I can't resist this: "Good luck, Charlie!", but I do mean it nicely.
HELP! - an e-mail correspondent from Switzerland asks if anyone knows where to get a copy of the software used to design layouts, Railways 3.0.
Best regardZ, S.B.,III
You may wish to visit the Railroad Continuation Page, et seq.
of this series of Railroad pages.
See Copyright Notice on primary home page.
Contact S. Berliner, III
(Junk and unsigned e-mail and blind telephone messages will NOT be answered)
To tour the Z-scale pages in sequence, the arrows take you from the first Z-scale page to the Z-Scale index, then to the second page,
this page, continuation pages 4 and up, the Z articles page, the BW-Z saga pages,
and finally to the former then-current Ztrack page.
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