Z scale corn !!!

Yes; the idea I think is that the Alkem plants have the "built-in character" you'd get from actually bending individual leaves of the minitec product. Less work, but ultimately a little "flatter."

My thoughts exactly.

 

The broom method would probably work fine in Z too. Just as much work as the etched stuff... but atleast it's a lot cheaper and more natural.

 

Some roach will probably eat it. It does look good; I had not thought of the corn stalks before.

 

Wow, the whole scene looks very real, the road, traffic sign, truck, telephone pole, trees...... dried up corn. nice. What is a broom method?

Kim

 

So Mike, I'll just send you correct sized piece of foam and you send it back planted??

 

You guys are...

...freaking me out!

I thought staying away from the HO posts was good enough for all they have in their "Got it all" universe. Man- I can't keep a plant green in reality but I guess this goes to having "Green ThumbnailZ"?

I wanna know what the heck is going on here.

Maybe I don't wanna know.

A green thumbs uP to all.

Mark

 

That sounds about right to me. :thumbs_up:

 

You need one of these natural brooms. I found mine at a Michael's craft store on Halloween close out as a "Witch's broom" but I'm sure they are available year round somewhere:



I slice a bunch of it into ~1.25" pieces that become the corn stalks. Poke a hole in a foam base with a blunt piece of music wire (not sharp, or the hole will close right back up when you pull out the music wire... you want to use a blunt tip to displace the foam and leave a hole) Then just plant the stalks in the holes. I don't even bother with glue, as those little leaves coming off act like barbs when you bury about half the stalk in the foam.

Individual stalks and the piece of music wire are on the left:

This module has been out to a couple shows now, and the response has been great. I do field some questions about why it's brown and the trees are still green... but around here the corn turns near the end of September, before the trees start changing colors... so I was going for that late summer look. Plus, the natural color of the broom is perfect.

 

Freaking Sweet Mike! Gotta get you working on how to do Vineyards and Apple Orchards so I can get my modules done. Great use of common materials.

Joe
MTL

 

Mike,
This method looks great. Have you ever tried to air-brush the broom to make a green crop?
Dan S.

 

Thanks guys!

We're calling it MiNi Mod-U-Trak in homage to our friends and HO inspiration, Midwest Mod-U-Trak. So, no its not quite N-trak.

Basic theory is double track mainline, Atlas Cd 55 allowed, 53" track height, 18" wide modules, tighter 1-1/4" track centerlines vs N-Trak, etc. We're trying to keep the modeling level high, and work in continuous scenery between all modules. Most of the group has focused in on the Milwaukee Road, from Chicago-Milwaukee-Twin Cities mainline, so it's turning into a theme layout of sorts, without really plaanning it that way. Modules in the works now are New Lisbon WI, Milwaukee WI, Duplainville WI, Franksville/Caledonia WI, Sturtevant WI, Russel IL, Rondout IL... and a few others have been talked about. We'll see what comes together in the next few years. Either way, we're having fun.

There's a gallery at www.modutrak.com for anyone interested in keeping tabs. We'll have some interesting lightweight module discussion in the near future too, as we threw some conventional wisdom out with the new module design. So much so, that the HO Mod-U-Trak guys have decided to replace their 23 year old (and absolutely fantastic) HO modular layout with a lightweight alternative.

 

Just a little test crop, but yes... it takes color just fine. I did the dirt first for this module, but if I was doing green, I would just plant it in the foam, air brush it green, and then sift the dirt over the top after painting. You can run your fingers over the stalks to shake the dirt off the stalks and it'll just land on the ground... hit it with glue and you're done.

 

My wife had some OLD "Mini Brooms" by Darice. Probably similar to what is being used here. SKU#2807733 / "Part # 2803-22 6" Flat Brooms (Two)" for the earth shattering price of 99 cents or 59 cents street. With inflation probably in the order of $1.25 / 0.79 Dang, if only the rest of Z could be in this price category.

...don

 

Mike: for ultralight modules, I found a great substitute for Gatorboard. Check out "Incredible Art Board" from Grafix (www.grafixarts.com) It's 24x36 (also 18x24) and 1/2" thick. It looks just like white Elmer's FoamBoard but it is REALLY strong and water proof. Just a simple frame would do.

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=90208

 

For the USA folks I ran into something today I have not heard of before. "Ballast" from PAT CATAN is a material called "Sandtastik,The classic colored sand". This appears exceptionally good size wise for Z in fact almost too small if that can be. $1 / pound [say a cupful] They had lots of colors such as several shades of natural stone and also coal. Also a few colors you can pass on such as "hot Pink" or "Chartreuse" etc. OTOH the coal is really good looking. There is a stickie over my package regarding origin, but it appears to be Ontario, Canada. Also try www.sandtastik.com [corrected, I had it wrong]

...don

 

Ups, your link is dead. This one works better: http://www.sandtastik.com/