Z scale corn !!!

SJ Z-man Jun 7, 2007

  1. shamoo737

    shamoo737 Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Steve, this must be some deep south punishment. Hanging a man in a corn plans is just not right.

    Tim, have you attempted to twist the leaves to give it a more 3D look?
     
  2. HoboTim

    HoboTim TrainBoard Supporter

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    War of the Corn Fields!

    Wow!!!

    The Race is on now!!!

    Who has the best corn???

    While you guyZ work on improving the corn, I am going to work on the equipment to bring it home!!! :teeth:

    Keep on Popping!!!

    Hobo Tim
     
  3. Steve F

    Steve F TrainBoard Member

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    John, I swear it wasn't me. I was just following this yellow brick thread when low and behold this scarecrow just started talkin' to me. At first he just wanted to get down, so I told him I'd let him off the hook if he would give me his hat but then he said that his brains would fall out if he gave me his hat and I said that he didn't have any brains TO fall out, after that it just kept spiraling downward until it smashed the easternly wicked witch. That's my story however korny and I'm sticken to it.
     
  4. kimvellore

    kimvellore TrainBoard Member

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    Tim,

    Not racing, this just helps raising the bar and trying out new things to keep getting better...

    Kim
     
  5. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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  6. Chris333

    Chris333 TrainBoard Supporter

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    I started with the Micro Mark kit when Tim posted it was on sale:
    http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=83123

    I still buy the resist film and developer from them, but I found ferric choride in powder form that you mix with water so now I have about 3 gallons of it.

    Here is a quick step by step I took pics of:
    http://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/Etching

    You don't need the Micro Mark kit, but it is a good way to get started.

    Corn, you call it maze.
     
  7. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    It was about the same in my area. Combines with corn heads did exist in the 50s and 60s, but most small to mid-sized farms still used corn pickers for feed corn, or migrant workers for fresh sweet corn into the 70s. Since the only farm implement dealers in my area were IH/McCormick/McCormick-Deering (until the 70's), that's what everyone had. My neighbor had two combines (Keep in mind that I am talking about the early eighties), His "Old" one that he bought new in 1943 after returning from the service, and the "new" one that he bought in 1954. The old one only had a grain header on it, but for the new one, he had a grain header and a two row corn head. I don't think I ever saw the grain header on the new one. I don't think he liked changing it over, or else it just couldn't change over anymore ( a lot of "in field repairs" on it). He still used his "older" corn pickers to harvest on the cob dried corn for "decertive" purposed and the "flower lady" (local florist).
    Dan S.
     
  8. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    Kim,
    I would have thought that you would make your corn grow slowly out of the ground, until it reached about 7', then slowly turn brown, and then have a harvester come through and take it down. OK, so maybe that's a bit too high of a bar.
    Dan S.
     
  9. SJ Z-man

    SJ Z-man TrainBoard Member

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    This is great ! Someone finds something out there, posts it and the next thing there are numerous variations.

    Excellent !
     
  10. rray

    rray Staff Member

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    I tried to get a bit better detail, and I made a Scarecrow:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    richfiles likes this.
  11. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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  12. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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  13. kimvellore

    kimvellore TrainBoard Member

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    Dan,
    I thought I made it to scale, that is why the person is hanging off the corn for scale reference, 8-10 feet is what I found in google search. Anyone form Iowa with a corn yard...

    Kim
     
  14. kimvellore

    kimvellore TrainBoard Member

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  15. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    Kim,
    8-10' is perfectly to scale, my 7' was totally arbitrary, I was just joking about adding animation to the corn growing process. Sorry about the mix-up.
    Dan S.
     
  16. DPSTRIPE

    DPSTRIPE TrainBoard Supporter

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    Speaking of corn, this is a back burner project that I bought stuff to make a long time ago, but never got around to. For those of us that don't have corporate farms. Excuse the example in the photos, I threw this one together in about 15 minutes, including forming the roof, painting, and making corn cobs. This one is roughly a 10'x10' crib, I also plan to make 12'x12' cribs or possible 12x15. This sample has no details added to the roof or unloading hatch.
    Dan S.
     

    Attached Files:

  17. Chris333

    Chris333 TrainBoard Supporter

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    Loren,
    I'm pretty busy building a layout and starting on a 2-10-2 to be building steam for others so luckily no one has asked, but I do hope some see what I did and try their own.

    Without the etching kit you would need:
    *a laminator
    *clear transparency film for a printer (I buy mine at Walmart)
    *2 squares of plexi or glass with some simple clamps.
    *Resist film:
    http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=83130
    *Developer:
    http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=83127
    *Ferric choride (etchant, acid, etc) You can get this at Radio Shack, micro mark or find it elsewhere online.
    *a container to hold the etchant. They make fancy ones for making circuit boards with fish tank pumps and heaters. Or you can just use a Tupperware type thing with a heating pad or heat up the etchant in a microwave beforehand. You don't need the bubbles either, just make sure to slosh around the metal while it's etching to get it nice and even.
    *lights (they don't come with the Micro Mark kit either)


    So really it just depends on what you may already have or if you can find it cheap. The Micro mark kit is worth it I think. They give you containers, metal to etch, a thick styrene sanding board, sanding pad, plastic tweezers, clamps, plexi. Everything in the photo:
    http://www.ares-server.com/Ares/Ares.asp?MerchantID=RET01229&Action=Catalog&Type=Product&ID=83123
    I've always wanted to order it, but Tim showing a link back when it was on sale plus him making it sound easy, I finally did. After bugging him with questions for a while I've got it figured out now. Now if lasers were only a couple hundered $$$ ...

    I have all the pages of the Micro Mark instructions scanned if anyone would like them E-mailed. (6.15MB)

    About the only warning I would give is that you can only etch what you can make artwork for, So you need to be able to use some sort of drawing program. I learned CAD a while back in school and basically had to re-learn it again for this.
     
  18. Loren

    Loren TrainBoard Supporter

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    Chris, I do appreciate the effort you put forth concerning the etching materials needed.

    You have taken this to quite a sophisticated state and since you seem to be the point man on this venture, you get a couple extra "atta boys"

    Really, thanks,
    Loren
     
  19. David K. Smith

    David K. Smith TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well, it was a long wait, but the minitec Z scale corn has finally arrived. As promised (a long time ago), here are some details. Minitec offers the corn in Z, N, TT and HO scales. Each stainless steel fret has 112 N scale plants (11.97 Euros or ~$16.47) or 84 Z scale plants (8.19 Euros or ~$11.27). By comparison, Alkem's brass frets have 230 N scale plants for $29.95.

    Minitec also makes fine ballast and scenery-making products, roadbed materials, and a few other assorted items. The English version of their website is not yet finished, but they can handle inquiries and orders in English, and they accept PayPal.

    http://www.minitec24.de/
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 12, 2010
  20. Chris333

    Chris333 TrainBoard Supporter

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    That Alkem corn looks a bit more random, but appears to be the same basic size as the Minitec. Bet you could mix all 3 sheets together and get good results.

    I will have a small field of "something" on my layout, not sure how far I want to take it though.
     

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