Category: Blog
The Three Foot Rule
The three foot rule in model railroading generally means that if a model or scene looks good from three feet away, it’s a good enough piece of work. An alternate definition comes from a Linn Wescott article and defines the three foot rule as the distance the average person can reach comfortably into their layout […]
Our New Z Scale Camera
If you’ve read my previous articles on choosing a good camera for use here at Ztrains.com you’re probably thinking… just buy a camera already!!! I know, I know… but I can be a little picky and I’m sort of a research junkie when it comes to things like this. During this process I’ve also driven […]
Commit To Your Ideas
On the old HTML version of the Ztrains.com website I’d usually try to write a new editorial article once a week, Sunday evening was my time of choice to write. On the old site these writings were never archived, the new editorial was simply written over the old. There was something kind of liberating about […]
Rokuhan Comes To Z Scale
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the new company in Z scale, Rokuhan of Japan. The talk has been centered around their new track system. Visually this system has the basic look of Micro-Trains Micro-Track and KATO Unitrack but with a much wider tie spacing, reminiscent of the Marklin tie spacing. A major […]
My Point-And-Shoot Education
After my last article on cameras for Z scale I find I’m still on the hunt for a good, inexpensive point-and-shoot (P&S) digital camera to do most of our photo work here at Ztrains.com. Previously I had purchased a $200 Canon P&S that I found myself unhappy with, too much noise in moderate to low […]
Micro-Trains Line Reissues The F7
Micro-Trains Line is reissuing their popular F7 diesel locomotive, both the A and B units. We got in touch this morning with Ben Thielemann, Marketing Director at Micro-Trains, to ask a couple of quick questions on the reissued F7s. On some of the Z scale user forums, we’ve heard that the MTL F7 locomotive is […]
The 5″ x 8″ Lined Notepad
I’ve occasionally written about how important it is to be organized in Z scale, to set realistic (but ambitious) goals and to track your progress as you work towards those goals. Good advice that I need right now at Ztrains.com, more so now than ever before. I have a small wheelbarrow full of articles that […]
Choosing A Camera For Z Scale
I was supposed to start photographing new pieces for the site this week and had prepared by buying a shiny, new 14 megapixel camera. Very exciting. It was when I began taking some test shots that I realized things looked a bit… off. In the macro shots I was seeing way too much grain for […]
AZL Budd RDC-1 Cars
I always get excited when a new piece of motive power is released in Z scale, it’s a great indicator of where 1:220 is headed. Today AZL released their new Budd RDC-1 Car in 4 roadnames: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe (ATSF), Western Pacific (WP), Canadian Pacific (CP) and Southern Pacific (SP). Highlights of this […]
First Impressions Count
In the past couple of months I’ve been involved in the reworking of two popular Z scale websites: my own Ztrains.com as well as Ztrack Resale for Rob Kluz over at Ztrack Magazine. While these are both commercial Z scale ventures, there’s more than just business behind these website redesigns. Both Rob and I are […]
