We had a big project the past couple months for the good of the scale, and today we pulled it off. We presented Z Scale at one of the largest NMRA region's Coast Division meet today. We had Lajos Thek, Loren Snyder, Joe D'Amato, Lionel Gazeau, Matt Petach, Kim Vellore, Jim Manley, Jeff Merrill, and myself presenting Z Scale as never before seen in a rare Show & Tell clinic. We had the Micro-Trains display running, where Joe was telling about Micro-Trains commitment to Z Scale, and showing new and unreleased locos and rolling stock. Lionel was displaying all his hand crafted structures and details line, with modelers oogling at the detail that was seen in his Z Scale line. Lajos was displaying all his Zthek SW-1 locos, which really blew the socks off the crowds! Loren was displaying his line of tunnel portals and abutments, as well as Jason Alles line of woodchip cars and assortment of laser cut structures. Kim was showing his rotary snow plow car with 3 video camera's built inside! Yes, 3 full aspects, forward, left, and right side cameras displaying on a multplexed display. Kim also had the garage door/animated cars display and his moving golf carts around the golf course running. Jeff was running his DCC equipt GP's that have flashing beacons on top, and realistic weathering. I was displaying a couple small ZBT end modules running a DCC train with custom and weathered cars. The effect was amazing. We had such a lineup, that the naysayers in the NMRA had to bow down and admit, once and for all, Z Scale is a true modelers scale! Today was a major triumph for Z Scale in the SF Bay Area, and news of this will for sure ripple through the NMRA.
Awesome, That is quite the Who's who for Z. I can't wait for the book to come out (Jim's post). If even half of you guys were only doing half of your potential then that would still have been more than enough to keep the tongues waging for quite some time. WAY TO GO! There is amazing stuff going on in Z scale, like the Berk Chris did and Tims stuff along with many other superb and innovative modelers creating magnificent and inspiring works both nationally and internationally. Steve F
what an exciting time! i'm sure we all wish we could have been there, but even more we appreciate what you revealed to the watching world about the potential for modeling and enjoyment in Z scale. thanks for all your hard work and representation. it will be good to hear more about the "ripples" in days to come. dave f.
Awesome report. Robert. Sounds like you guys opened even more minds to the possibilities in Z. I can't wait to come and run with you guys next year in Anaheim!
I have to tell everyone, it was worth the 8 hour drive one way over the snow capped Siskiyous and down the bleached amber fields of the interior of California to attend the PCR Event. You know your in the Bay Area when you sit around talking Z Scale with an outstanding Merlot and Trader Jim's finest supplied by our Host Jeff Merrill in a tidy Spanish Revival Bungalow. ) Hey, it's a West Coast thing. The fact that our show and tell was held in what amounts to the Center of Nerd Earth, the Computer Museum in Menlo Park was not lost on us at all. But what was amazing was to see the level of craftsmanship and technical expertice we had on display. There wasn't one spot on that table that wasn't cutting edge, from the landscape treatments, to the weathering, conversions, ranged of products to mind blowing mechanical miniaturization. Having been around for some time, I have to say that between N and now Z Scales, the foundations of the status quo in Model Railroading...HO Scale is being rocked. While some of the attendants expressed reluctance to move to Z because of heavy investments in Ho and larger scales, I don't think there was a single person there that came away less inspired by what we are doing with Z. It was great to see all those smiles and to get all those questions. Folks were amazed at what is being done in smaller scales. Cheers Joe MTL
Hi, all, Congrats to the Bay Area Z team and all the Z scalers that came and put on such a great show for us at yesterday's Coast Division, Pacific Coast Region NMRA quarterly meet. I myself thought the work was stellar - the Rotary Snow Plow with the three cameras, the magnetic automobile system including the opening/closing car garage, the craftsmanship in the models displayed. As the local Coast Division Show and Tell / Model Contest chair-flunkie and acting webmaster, I'll be posting the Z scale display photos along with the quarterly Coast Division meet recap web page - will post a link back here when I get that done in a week or so. I'd be very happy to cross-link to any other photos that any of you Z scalers have taken at this event - and would also be happy to post a set of "For more info on Z click here" links. Email me off-list with any photos or suggested links and I'll do my best to organize and include it all. Thanks again for sharing the magnificient state of the art in Z scale with all of us in the Coast Division, PCR, NMRA. I had no idea that you guys had organized such a collection of talent for all of us to see - a big Thank You. We loved it and I know that the NMRA membership in attendance now knows how good Z scale can be. FYI, the URL for the web pages for this event was posted at: http://www.pcrnmra.org/coast/contest/Contest_June_2007.shtml Lots of photos of the Z scale stuff there. By the way, the Coast Division Special Show and Tell is happening again on *Sunday June 7, 2009*, at the same location, if you Z guys want to out-do 2007 with an even bigger Z show, please come!: More info at: Meeting Clinics Thx again!
Setting up DCC on some end modules that are under construction: Kim's Camera Car with 3 camers'a Kim's Rotary Snow Plow has 3 wireless camera's, forward, left and right facing camera'a all inside this unit: Here is the multiplexed screen showing the different aspects:
Photos!!!!! Where are all the photos!!! 2-3-4 photos is not enough!!!!!! More!!! More is better!!!! Photos!!!!!!!! :teeth: Hobo Tim
Kim's Golfcart Race and Garage Door Animations: Operating room lighting, garage door, moving Cars: The Micto-Trains Layout: Z Train Things and Fanno Creek:
Loren's Silverware Box Layout: Fanno Creek Structures: Fanno Creek Woodchip Hoppers: Lionel's Details Line:
Lajos' Zthek line of SW-1's: The prototype: Painted Shells: I'm at work, and can't upload more till later, but these were taken by Matt Petach of the BAZ BoyZ. Thanks Matt!
Not sure where to start but, It was pleasure meeting Joe, Lajos and every one else at Jeff's place. We ate and talked all night it was very relaxing. The show was very busy we ran some trains, and by the time we could take a breather it was over, Joe left Loren left and we packed up, and I was still sleepy and groggy. It was all over, way too quick I wish it lasted a little longer. Rob had setup his DCC end modules back to back so I could run the camera train, Matt was helping us like crazy, Lionel had set up a table with some of his beautiful creations, Jim knew in and out of the museum like his home, Jeff got his DCC’d locos with beacons and all the 'big scale only' features. Loren had his amazing trees and his small layout, he also got the structures built by Jason, The structures built by Jason was just stunning, we were like Wow, how did he do this…… Lajos had his treasure box with the many switchers, small motors and gears, Joe Represented MTL with MTL layout showing the newest yet to be released loco and cars. Sorry I could not meet John Sing. I got the camera but did not get a chance to take pictures… Matt, Jeff and Rob took some pictures… I uploaded the videos from the camera train, this is the first run so the quality is not as good there is noise in the two receivers, will get good clean video the next time we run. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya49v7ipCeg"]YouTube - Z scale DCC tailgating loco Z_scale zscale[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfArkOFPXro"]YouTube - Z scale DCC Train Cam[/ame] http://kimsartshop.com/CameraTrain-4.html Kim PS: Joe and Lajos are just very simple normal down to earth folks just like most of us who like to play Z scale trains.
It's fun to meet Z-Scale people in Real life on train shows. But the time just go buy so fast when you are having fun. It looks like you guys had a good time.
Need Correction! I can see that Fannocreek has an email address fannocreek@hotmail.com I sent them an email and I got a delivery failure message back! Can anyone varify what Fannocreek's email is. Also, if there a place on the web where Fannocreek products (all of them) are displayed??? Thanks! Hobo Tim
So Loren is holding out on us. ;-) I knew Jason had been working on some structures for personal use, but this is the first I've seen or heard that he was going to produce them. He has more shown here than what I knew existed as well. I know I'm interested! Randy
By the way, after seeing all this, I'm really seriously thinking about trying to get out to Anaheim next year. Forget Disneyland (sorry, Joe), I want to see what you all are doing since my last visit a few years ago. Randy
