Beverly's and Chris's Slab Door Layout

I thought I'd start a thread for our slab door layout to post photos and explanations of what we're doing. Wow, right away we have a photo of the place marker of the approximate size of our layout. The blue insulation is 2' by 8'. The 16" by 20" oval track is from a Marklin train set that gets used for exactly these sorts of things. The itty bitty building is my first completed Kibri plastic kit, which happens to be a farmhouse (not the chalet I'd thought it was).



Incidentally, the white door in the photo is 24" by 80" and it, too, can help us with our decision making processes:

- will we use an actual door?
- what size with the layout be?
- how will we fit three tracks for three different trains from three different epochs on the base?
- we think we might take this layout to the local train show, so how do we put legs on it that are removeable yet sturdy?
- how will we put Plexiglas over top of the entire layout for dust control?

Obviously, we have a lot of unanswered questions that will be answered over time. We aren't getting too excited about working on this layout yet because we still have the micro layout to complete as well as three dioramas related to the Z PBL Challenge. But a slab of insulation and the first of several European kits that require assembly are a great start as far as I'm concerned

I'll post more photos as we get them

Good call on the blue foam, its not readily available in the thickness I want so I went with white and now its snowing in Arizona. I wish I could have gone as long as you. That is gonna be a nice layout.

Zac

Zac,

You're working on your first layout. There will be more

Our first layout was our micro layout. We decided on the format almost right away, then began working on it as scenery and other components arrived by mail through the very slow Canada customs. All in all, our first layout was a spur of the moment thing - maybe like your layout.

We had the blue foam already on hand - which might be one of the benefits of living in Alberta. It was only a matter of bringing the foam up from the basement, which is a story I've already told and cannot bear laughing at myself just now If you think you have the wrong foam, take some time to get the right stuff. You will thank yourself down the road, though getting insulation foam in AZ might not be that easy. If you can't find the right thickness, ie., it's not thick enough, maybe using several layers might be a better idea than using the white foam.

As for our larger layout, I've got several Kibri kits to build as well as an already built King Ludwig II's swan castle coming in the mail. Once the kits are built and the castle arrives, we'll have a good look at what other landscape elements we want. I'm working on the second farmhouse and it's bigger than the first We now own two European tractors that each pull a farm implement, so we are going to have farm fields for sure. I'm quite excited about this layout from a creative point of view. With so much more room to work than on our micro layout, there are many ideas that can be realized. Our larger layout might be even larger than we initially thought.

I like the idea of fields thats gonna look really nice.

Beverly, it looks as if you'll have plenty of scope for landscaping. Have you decided on a railway theme? eg Bavarian, Swiss etc. A main line or a branch etc. Where did you get your tractors and implememts?

Zac,
Fields will be great, but I have no idea how I'll accomplish them yet. One tool I can use to see modern German fields is to go to Google Maps in Germany and look at fields from the air. A person could use Google Maps to see everywhere. Some places even have street views, though not in rural areas, at least that's what I understand.

ausman,
We've had the trains for awhile for the large layout. I did what I thought was a lot of research before buying these locomotives, but I didn't notice until they arrived that they were bascially the same loco dressed up in different model numbers Duh!

- Marklin 8870 4-6-2 Ochre King Ludwig II Locomotive and Tender
(cars are Marklin 8701 passenger cars x 7, Marklin 87001 King Ludwig II Passenger Car x 3)
- Marklin 8891 4-6-2 DR Locomotive and Tender
(Marklin 8609 Mail Car, Marklin 8706 Passenger Car x 3, Marklin 8707 Passenger Car x 6, Marklin 8708 Passenger Car)
- Marklin 8133 4-6-2 Rheingold Express Set (loco, tender, first class cars x 2, second class cars x 2, baggage car)

There, your question has urged me to finish cataloguing my collection I'm hoping my research into what cars go with what locomotives has been successful. At least the cars will help distinguish the differences between the similar locos. At one point, we had the trains set up on the dining room table without track. They were very long compared to our micro layout. It was quite inspiring to see all three together

I bought the tractors with farm implements from a guy on German eBay a few weeks ago. I really wanted them for my layout but paid waaaaaaaay too much for them. I also bought some old style trucks from him. I'm embarrassed at how much I paid, but I now have these beautiful little metal vehicles for our layout. And, they were made some time ago, so quality is excellent.

Hello Beverly,
Beverly56 wrote:

Fields will be great, but I have no idea how I'll accomplish them yet. One tool I can use to see modern German fields is to go to Google Maps in Germany and look at fields from the air.

Google Earth or Google Maps are great tools to get a first feel for landscape. I prefer Google Earth because it is faster then Maps. As you can see the main difference from what you see around your place (North America... ) and Europe and Germany is that those fields are smaller here and forget about right angles...

I took a look at Edmonton and at the Dakotas and Kansas. You clearly see a square main layout. This you can't find over here. One would think that this is because of the landscape in itself, mountains, hills and creeks or rivers that forms the area, but even if you go to the north near Hamburg (search for "Bredtstedt" and "Uelzen") where the land is as flat as it can be, you will find those small fields which looks like some child did throw its LEGO blocks out over the carpet...

The only exception for this is that in Eastern Germany the fields are somewhat bigger. Try this: search for "Gross Zecher" then you will see a lake in the middle of the map. Now zoom out until a bigger lake with the town of "Schwerin" apears on the left. Now you can see the difference between East and West. There's a dotted line marking the old border or Iron Curtain. But even with out the line you can clearly see the border line.

About the crops growing on those fields they are not really different from other countrys. Wheat, rye, barley, potatoes, cabbage, canola and asparagus are common crops.

- will we use an actual door?
- what size with the layout be?
- how will we fit three tracks for three different trains from three different epochs on the base?
- we think we might take this layout to the local train show, so how do we put legs on it that are removeable yet sturdy?
- how will we put Plexiglas over top of the entire layout for dust control?

Just some tought that came up after reading this:

- make it a tad smaller than a door, then it can go through a door without having to tilt it with the risk of something you forgot you didn't glue it tumbling off. (now how do I know that?)
- legs: take a look at this: jpduval.free.fr/Plans/SPEC_Reseau_Modulaire.pdf I know, it is in french and for trains about 10x larger but the drawings can are clear enough. Take a look at page 12 on how to fit legs that are sturdy and adjustable. They fold under the layout so they are out of the way as well.

Uwe,

In the province of Quebec, there are long narrow plots of land along the St. Lawrence River that had been passed down from father to sons. This was the early French settlers' ways of dealing with land in the 1600s and onward.

In the Canadian west, such as Alberta and Saskatchewan, there is a very strict grid system in place. The grids outlined square miles of land for homesteading immigrants to buy very inexpensively during the early half of the 1900s. My mother's grandparents immigrated with three of four children from Czechoslovakia after WWI and were homesteaders. My mother's father also came from Czechoslovakia and he married my mother's mother. They became homesteaders because my mother's father had immigrated by himself to become a land owner. I don't know if either family owned land in Czechoslovakia . My grandmother is still alive at 95 years old.

It will be easier to model German farmland because of the size constrictions of my layout. I'll look more closely at actual farms when I get closer to landscaping.

Here are the two farm houses and outbuidings on the foam. The grey thing on the right is the base for the Kibri 6702 Coburg train station...


A closer look at these buildings. The station is HUGE and comes with four double sided pages of instruction! I've begun work on it this morning....

Hi Beverly. When youre trying to match up locos and coaches you might find this link useful:

www.worldrailfans.info/Articles/Europe/GSuitableStock.shtml

Was the German guy on eBay headless_dave? I bought a tractor with two trailers and a road roller from him. If you're looking for another dealer who has a bigger range of agricultural machines you could look at:

www.zundmeer.de/index.html

Look under Z scale and then Saller.

Hi Beverly,

I'm not sure if Gary saw this but on the first web link there is a section in the top left corner that says "All Articles". Under that it says "Canada" and under that is a link that takes you to a page on kitbashing a caboose to a CN caboose like you wanted to do.

Jerry

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the links Unfortunately, zundmeer.de only takes bank transfers as payment and I don't know if our bank will transfer money to Germany. Have any of you done business by bank transfer? Also look under Limited1, Limited2, Limited3 for vehicles.

Jerry,

That's my caboose!!!! I don't know what scale that is, though. I think that's the page that inspired my desire to repaint a Marklin NYC caboose to the wood CNR. I haven't done it yet and may not. I have the NYC caboose, but not the airbrush or compressor. I can still adore that CNR caboose but never have one in my collection


BTW, the Kibri train station kit is coming along nicely. It has a very red roof

Gary,

I forgot to answer your question The seller of the tractors and farm implements was a private seller and not headlessdave. I got a few old time trucks and a car from this guy as well.

Havoc,

Thank you for the link to the fold away legs page. Chris really liked the design as did I. We are looking seriously at this Hungarian designer's page (at the bottom) for building the base of our layout. Of coures, nothing has yet been decided at this stage.


I appreciate all the input

Just a quick note to update photos...

Our Kibri collection as of April 29, 2009. The 6811 farmhouse kit, 6813 farmhouse kit and 6817 out buildings kit have been completed. The 6702 Rodach train station is almost finished but I had to take a break from putting on the eavestroughing and wonspuots, etc. I've begun work on the 6840 kit, which I believe is the townhall, though please correct me if I'm wrong....




Here is my granddaughter holding one of the Kibri farmhouses




After measuring a few places on the main floor of our townhouse, Chris and I have decided that our larger layout will be located behind our dining room table. A few things have to be moved, as you can see in the photo below. The total space available there is 32.5" deep by 82" long. We're heavily leaning toward doing a European style grid base like the Hungarian layout I talked about a few posts ago. We also intend to enclose with Plexiglas panels that can be easily removed.

And this baby has to be able to travel to the local train show each autumn. A European layout in Z scale will knock the socks off local train enthusiasts! None of the HO or N scalers here even know anybody working in Z. It'll be cool to show such an exotic layout in The Big E., as Edmonton used to be known when I was a teenager when my avatar photo was taken. It's going to take a long time to complete the layout in as much detail as I'm hoping to do, but it will be a beautiful thing to share

Hi Beverly

The 6840 is the building with the covered market underneath it? That sort of building is quite common in towns in Germany and England (and maybe other Europena countries too) and as far as I know was usually the town hall. I've just bought myself a 6803 on eBay and I'm looking forward to assembling it when I get my floor back.

I've just used bank transfer to pay for a Viessmann catalogue - never again! The catalogue, plus postage, was priced at 11 Euros, which worked out at $20.88 AUD. My bank charged a $20 AUD fee!!!

Beverly, even if nothing else nice could be said about your work, we'd have to admit you have a very nice looking dining area. I'll bet the rest of the house is well organized too. Your layout will look great in the spot you have chosen.

It's true, that as you get more and more into Z you must relocate certain household furnishings or find an empty space somewhere.......that or remodel.

It just keeps getting out of hand.........bummer huh:laugh:
Loren

Gary,

Thanks for the heads up on the bank transfer charges. It would only make sense to do a bank transfer if a person was buying a lot of stuff from one vendor. But then you're also hit with the 40 Euro DHL shipping fee on top of everything.

You can see the 6840 kit in the Kibti kits photo a few posts ago. It's the kit on the top right. Is that the one you mean that usually has shop stalls? If so, it will be cool to put together the stalls


Loren,

We don't intend to move very much furniture. MRRing is sort of a passing fancy, though building this large layout certainly take will awhile to do right. In our basement is my real passion - my Sylvanian Families collection...

This is about 2/3 of my Sylvanian collection in their storage containers:


Floor plan of the basement for the Sylvanian Village:


I'm still working on painting the grass area in this photo from last summer. Because my collection of buildings is larger than the footprint can handle all at once, only some building can be displayed at a time. The bottom part of the "T", which is closest to the viewer, will have a road eventually painted on it. The top of the "T" will have hills, walking paths and at least one water feature. I even have a canal boat, though t isn't shown:


Here are a few of the buildings that have been taken out of storage so I can decide where the road goes. Each building will be have all furnishings tacked down so they are stable while the figures move around during video making:


Here's the medical centre with the doctor's office on the main floor, the hospital beds on the second floor, the dentist on the third floor, and on the rooftop, a place to catch some sun while recuperating:


Here is my favourite self-made Sylvanian video, if you haven't seen it yet

Hello Beverly,

well, I have to admit that is a cool room you have i your home...
I would love to have this space available...

Beverly56 wrote:

You can see the 6840 kit in the Kibri kits photo a few posts ago. It's the kit on the top right. Is that the one you mean that usually has shop stalls? If so, it will be cool to put together the stalls

I would be happy if I understand the Kibri product politics...
...the 6840 kit you have is really meant to be a town hall. In the current catalogue it has the item# 6403... Kibri often changes the item# for a kit, and they also often reuse a kit in different colours. I have a station 6701 Seebruck:

Now this station is called (again?) 6703 Chateau d'Oex.
The town hall kit you have has had some time on the shelf somewhere. You can see that also at the Kibri logo. The newer kits have a different logo. The current catalogue can be downloaded free at the Kibri website . It is about 5.04 MB.
Besides, this kit is made after a real excisting town hall , build in 1512 to 1516. In Google Earth or Google Maps search for "36304 Alsfeld, Markt".
In the Wikipedia article is written that the room in the ground floor was used as a market hall. I don't think that the stalls or details for a market are included in the kit, but here Lütke from Germany can help. His items are available from ZTrack Center . Luetke has market stalls in polystyrene and laser cut wood.

Regarding market stalls. If you are modelling the Era II or early III this would be absolutly in order. This is an N-scale kit, but I believe this can easily kitbashed for Z. If I look around in Hamburg at some places those raised rail lines still are used for storage room or little shops.

Well, I've to run meeting with the local bunch of modellrailroaders. Trying to move them to Z...

Thanks ULie. I missed out on something that looked very much like that 7671 - 2 Bahndamm Stützmauern on Ebay, only it was Z scale.

ausman2001 wrote:

I missed out on something that looked very much like that 7671 - 2 Bahndamm Stützmauern on Ebay, only it was Z scale.

some of those items like bridges and those walls are often stated as for N+Z. I'm not sure if this works all the time, but in some cases it will work. At least as long as no door or something similar with a known heigh is involved it might easily work. So perhaps checking out the N lists in EBay will get you another option...