Tinyville - a Z-scale micro layout

[fshbwl]

Winzlingen (Tinyville), a small village somewhere in West Germany during the first half of the 1980s: Now a region in economic and demographic decline, things were still going well back then, with people being able to make a good living from agriculture or being employed at one of the small local manufacturing companies or as craftsmen.


 
Winzlingen’s train station is located outside town, but easily reached by bus or bike. Its scheduled rail car service is still in high demand, shuttling tail-end baby boomers to secondary school in the district town 20 km away.





Its flooded gravel pits make the area a popular weekend destination for fishermen and swimmers. A nearby Neolithic burial mound also attracts hikers and school classes. Ever since its excavation in the late 19th century, the locals have been proud of this nationally important historic site, even if the rich set of grave goods went on display far away at the state capital’s archaeology museum.





From spring to autumn, the new heritage railway stops several times a week at Winzlingen station. Thanks to a handful of quick-witted enthusiasts, the regional historic railway association was able to secure a few well-preserved locos and cars when the steam era of the German Federal Railway ended a few years ago. 





Well, so much for some fuzzy memories from my childhood in southern Germany…



In reality, Winzlingen is a Z-scale micro layout measuring 30x50 cm and using Rokuhan track with 120mm radius curves and two 55mm turnouts. The track plan and topography were copied from this Japanese N-scale layout: https://www.yutaatelier.com/NHKvol1.htm. The built was already finished in summer last year, took about 12 months to complete (including several shorter and longer breaks) and was mostly done at the kitchen table, during nice weather also outside in the garden.






 
The operational possibilities of this layout are obviously extremely limited, but it was my first layout and the main purpose of building it was to experiment with materials and techniques, before turning to something bigger (well, first I went smaller with the Cascade Loop https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=45852.0). 

Cheers,

Chris

[MK]

Whoa!  That last picture really shows the size perspective.  I liked the way you told a story behind the pictures instead of just posting raw pictures.

It probably doesn't take much to do a background for Z scale.    

[Bob]

Nice job!  What a great series of photos with narrative, and then only at the end do you see just how small this is!  Excellent modeling and photography!

[peteski]

Wonderful little layout!  I was also amazed how well the backdrops realistically blend with the layout. I would like to know more about the backdrops and how they were made and photographed.

[Albersala]

It's amazing the realism you get considering it's Z scale and the layout is so tiny. Congratulations!

[GaryHinshaw]

Fantastic!  Thanks for posting.

[fshbwl]

Thanks very much everyone for your nice comments!

Wonderful little layout!  I was also amazed how well the backdrops realistically blend with the layout. I would like to know more about the backdrops and how they were made and photographed.

Good question on the backdrop and one which I was actually struggling with a bit myself when finishing up the layout. I first thought about buying a ready made generic landscape backdrop, but did not see anything that really convinced me. I then dabbled a bit with self-made panoramic lanscape photos, but that wasn't really satisfying either. In the end and rather by accident I got lucky and came accross an Austrian graphic designer who does semi-custom model railway backdrops. His product line-up includes one series of freely combineable photo segments which really seemed to fit the bill in terms of colours, lighting and scenery, and all that at a very reasonable price (http://www.atelier-dietrich.at/modellbauatelier/kaufkulissen/index.html). I ordered one which was much wider than the layout itself in order to be able to shoot from various angles. The overall size of the backdrop is 120 x 34 cm. All photos were taken with an iPhone 8 at normal daylight with out any additional lighting.

[nthusiast]

Beautiful project -- the detail work is stunning. Thanks for sharing.

I've been using my iPhone camera for professional projects, mostly location work. I'm not surprised you were able to get such great results.

[peteski]

Good question on the backdrop and one which I was actually struggling with a bit myself when finishing up the layout. I first thought about buying a ready made generic landscape backdrop, but did not see anything that really convinced me. I then dabbled a bit with self-made panoramic lanscape photos, but that wasn't really satisfying either. In the end and rather by accident I got lucky and came accross an Austrian graphic designer who does semi-custom model railway backdrops. His product line-up includes one series of freely combineable photo segments which really seemed to fit the bill in terms of colours, lighting and scenery, and all that at a very reasonable price (http://www.atelier-dietrich.at/modellbauatelier/kaufkulissen/index.html). I ordered one which was much wider than the layout itself in order to be able to shoot from various angles. The overall size of the backdrop is 120 x 34 cm. All photos were taken with an iPhone 8 at normal daylight with out any additional lighting.

Thanks for the info fshbwl.  That setup works really well.  If you had the capability of taking photos using focus stacking (so everything is in focus), the backdrop would look it was actually modeled on the layout.  But there is absolutely nothing wrong with your current photos.

I love the cat in the background - with its coloring, it looks like a minature cow to me.  Does the cat help in layout construction? 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Holy crap. I was looking through this thinking "that's a pretty nifty N scale layout!". Then I realized it was Z. Hot damn, great stuff!

[nkalanaga]

I, too, like the cat.  We've had cats that were great helpers, usually curling up next to, but not touching, the "project", and watching or sleeping.  Then we've had the cats that wanted to "help", which wasn't so helpful.

Spook was probably the best modeler's cat.  She liked to sleep next to the work, and didn't mind my using a front paw to hold something in place, even if I had to move the paw a little.  She'd just sleep on!

[MK]

She liked to sleep next to the work, and didn't mind my using a front paw to hold something in place, even if I had to move the paw a little.  She'd just sleep on!

I'm not a pet person but THAT is cool!

[diezmon]

Wow. this is impressive!   I'm trying to wrap my head around how small that bird must be. 

[MK]

Wow. this is impressive!   I'm trying to wrap my head around how small that bird must be. 

We need Peteski's magic quarter in the photos for comparison! 

[peteski]

We need Peteski's magic quarter in the photos for comparison! 

Yeah!  Or a Euro coin (even thought I don't know how large it is).