INDEX:

Volume 7, Number 1, January/February 2001

ON THE COVER

Vince Orazetti's Z Scale Displays - pg 18

Microfigs Near Z structures ........ pg. 6 
Double slip switches and crossings . pg. 8 

Bohemia Fine Scale's Z pits ........ pg. 9 

Camouflaging turnout boxes ......... pg. 10

'American Z Scale Products' accessory      

and tree lines ..................... pg. 12

Beatin' the modler's blues ......... pg. 16

Solving front truck skip problems .. pg. 20

Ztrack, our purpose, our policies .. pg. 21

And so much more ...                        

The Trackside Perspective - Christmas in February  Editor Rob Kluz on the Nürnberg train show.

Märklin Unveils New 2001 Z Scale Items - ACL Passenger Set! (noted above), #81360 Henschel Rotary Snowplow with T27 tender and class 50 steam locomotive, plus 33 other items.

Microfigs Near Z Cast Buildings - Z Versions Planned - 10 rural structures, 10 urban structures, 10 industries, and 10 ruins of some of these, all in cast resin at wargamers' 1:285 scake, far too small for Z in most cases but good background models for perspective. Microfigs is considering releasing these at 1:220.

Double Slip Switch, 3 Tracks, 1 Problem - Jim Kresl writes about wiring a #8560 double slip switch (or #8559 crossing) for reliable operation using an additional transformer {with which I totally disagree}.

Bohemia - Fine - Scale Offers Z Scale Inspection/Ash Pits - cast resin pits announced (not reviewed).

Turnout Motor Camouflage Techniques Used on the V.E.C. - Jeff MacHan shows how he disguises the solenoid covers {TIP - take them off before painting them!}.

American Z Scale Products Offer s Signals/Trees - non-functional trackside signals (target and semaphore) and crossing buck with jewels for lights, and phone poles, plus a large line of various types of trees in several seasons' foliage abd bare.

A picture of 120 {NOT 121!} new Ztrack special imprint cars {more below}.

NEWZLINE

Volunteers Needed For National NMRA Show

Beatin' the Modeler's Blues - Jeff MacHan offers suggestions to get out of a modling slump {I never have that problem!}.

Model-Ts, Can it Be? {yup, sure can!} - Micron-Art has three classic Model T Ford vehicle in Z!  1911 touring car, 1913 delivery van, and 1923 stake bed ruck (all two per kit {wish they'd mix the two trucks in a single kit}.

Vince Orazietti's Custom Built Layouts - caught by an ad, Rob checked further and Vince details two fantastic display layouts he has up for sale {sort of a combination of news and a plug}.

Z Track Cars Released - #86001K special imprint boxcars in white with the Ztrack logo on one side and the Ztrack motto on the other.

Animated "NEON" Lights Suitable For Z... -Miller Engineering updates its Light Works&tm; ??? line.

Micro-Trains Line F7 Chassis With DCC? - Aztec Manufacturing seeks help in developing DDC for the M-T F7.

An Inspirational New Workshop... - Harald Freudenreich's new factory backs directly on a railcar line!  Rob is not sure how much work gets done and wonders about a model of the railcar {I wouldn't count on that}.

Solving The Front Truck Skip Problem - Rob Kuz on springing or weighting two-wheel front trucks {}another problem I seem to have missed}.

Ztrack - Our Purpose - Our Policies - editor and publisher, as well as full-time outside businessperson, Rob Kluz offers his rationale for Ztrack.

Volume 6, Number 6, November/December 2000

ON THE COVER

Mailbag ............................. pg. 4 
Ringqvist's Z Layouts ............... pg. 5 
Zedheadz Meet in Emmaus, PA ......... pg. 6 
Märklin's Fall Items, EXCLUSIV 4 .... pg. 12
The Covered Bridge Kit .............. pg. 17
Air Travel Z Style, 1:200 planes .... pg. 19
Newzline ............................ pg. 20
PENNZEE's Bulding Line .............. pg. 22
And so much more ...                        

Zedheadz Meet in Emmaus, PA - Paul Lipiarski {in attendance, as was I} reports on eleven (11) of us {I guess I am now officially a "Zedhead"} meeting on 09 Sep 00 at Ron Ruddell's "London Bridge Collector's Toys".  Ron and his staff-cum-family showed how they cast "lead" soldiers and had a line of Z vehicles for us {see my Z Scale Page 4 for photos}.  Some super stuff was shown and a great time was had by all {thanks, Ron}.

The Modeler's Bench - Creating a Danish MY 1100 - {I suppose if you think a double ended F7 looks like a sad-eyed MY 1100, then this is of great interest} - David Karp cuts and fits two M-T F7 bodies to a Märklin 8854 chassis to make a neat-looking {if admittedly rather inaccurate} double-ender.

Märklin Announces Fall Items, EXCLUSIV 4/2000 - an Advent Calendar, #81098, with 24 individually painted and lettered mini-club cars. Also, a #82511 Royal Bavarian two-car set including a metal Benz panel truck, a #88892 streamlined DB class 10 Pacific, a #88458 SBB class 460 elekloc decorated with a Reuge music box, and a #170777 Reuge music box {Märklin seems to be willing to do anything for a mark/buck}.

Mini-club Centers Introduced - a special glass showcase for dealers which will allow them to sell more specialty items, such as a new two-car silver "Stork" tank car set #98023 (one with brakeman's cab).

A Barge bash - Adding a Barge to your Harbor Scene - Jeff MacHan shows how he sliced up an N barge to look right {which it does in the photo with the artice, yet it looks grossly overscale on the cover - ???}.

INSERT - thin {too thin!} card stock models, to be cut out, of two single-story houses {one of which has a microscopic dog house!} by Ken Clark and a covered bridge by Fred Ladd.

New Catalogs Arriving - both Märklin's and the Walthers N & Z.

The Covered Bridge Kit - instructions for the bridge and houses on the insert {see above}.

Near Z DC-9 Ready to Fill Your Air Travel Needs - Hasegawa has a #La3 kit decorated for Indonesia's Garuda Airways.

The Z Collection, Once CD, One Great Resource - Joris Ilegems {NOT the other way around} has issued a CD with updated information on every known Märklin Z offering, updating his famed "The Z Collection", which will now be reduced to a sampling of what is on the CD.   (new URL - 11 Jun 08)

NEWZLINE

Micro-Trains line truck and coupler conversion chart for Märklin European and U.S. stock

PENNZEE's Card Stock Building Line - b7W photos of the new line {see my Z Scale Page 4 for color photos.- SB,III}

Miller's 12" x 12" Diorama .......... pg. 8 
New Z Scale Accessories ............. pg. 10
Neuschwanstein Castle Review ........ pg. 14
PENNZEE's Z Buildings ............... pg. 15
The "V.E.C."s Old River Lighthouse .. pg. 18
The Scale Card ...................... pg. 22
And so much more ...                        

Viessmann's Z Signals ........... pg. 8 
Märklins 5 Pole Motor ........... pg. 9 
MacHan's Budget Forest for              
  Styrofoam Mountains ........... pg. 10
Märklin News .....................pg. 14
FR Announces New Items .......... pg. 16
NEWZLINE ........................ pg. 17
"Our Town" Offers Structures .... pg. 18
Showcase-Express' Expandable            
  Display System ................ pg. 21
Nelsen's Circular Z Layout ...... pg. 24
And so much more ...                    

Ztrack's Regional Meet report ... pg. 6 
Making a Pennsy 2-8-2             pg. 9 
MacHan's Lightweight Scenery            
  Techniques of the VEC@..........pg. 10
Märklin News .................... pg. 13
Collector's Corner                pg. 16
NEWZLINE..........................pg. 18
Neal's N-Gauging Trains Z Kits....pg. 19
East Coast Hobby Show         ....pg. 20
And so much more...