PostBus - Adventures in Shapeways

Another Shapeways item that has been squatting on the layout for a few months is a PostBus (or 'PostAuto' in Swiss-German).

These distinctive yellow busses are a common sight along a web of 862 obscure routes throughout the tiny country, and are a useful way to travel about to railfanning locations once the train has gotten you as close as it can.

Again there are many different suppliers of busses and slight differences in livery, but they all follow a similar colour style.

And just to make my job more difficult, instead of buying a 1:220 Z scale bus, I decided to get a 1:300 one (again from Mr Steffan's Z shop) to force some perspective into the scenes, as the bus will be sitting between (but away from) three sets of tracks on the layout. The model is a slightly older bus shape, but hopefully only the bus enthusiasts will notice...

So I painted the roof of the Shapeways core white, and then started to 'paint' in the black window layer using a Sharpie marker pen. This all went swimmingly (fortunately the prototypes have solid black area around the dark windows - rather than picking out the pillars between the windows in yellow for example).

First coat

Then some crappy $1 yellow (must get some proper paints one of these days) was mixed with a dot of nice red and this made the sides look ok... but it seemed I would need to put that red stripe in somehow as the whole thing looked unfinished without it.

After a minute of bumbling around the possibilities, I hit upon the idea of painting a superfine Details Associates brass wire red, folding it as needed and supergluing it to the bus. Here you see it going on the side before being folded around the back and the other side.

Red stripe wire attached and sticking out the back before bending

This actually turned out rather well - as long as you don't look to closely!

Blobs of paint in approximately the right colours and shapes were added to represent head and tail lights and numberplates.

For the PostBus logo on the sides, I applied a diagonal line of white and feathered it off after a few mm towards the back and painted a guesstimate of the PostAuto horn logo. Not completely terrible for a hand-painted logo on a 1:300 model. I started with a grey representation of the horn outline, then tried to do yellow inside that, but ended with a mess in the circular bit, so put a dab of white in the middle and and it looks quite convincing on this side - the other doesn't look as good, so the bus will be going towards Wassen, as had been planned. If the logo had been better on the far side, it would have ended up as an outbound bus service!

Baby PostBus

In place on the road below, you can see the forced perspective look of the smaller scale bus. It will eventually be located on the bridge just to the left.

Farm truck - Adventures in Shapeways

Swiss farms are a sight to behold. Up the ridiculously-steep sides of mountains in all manner of remote and high-altitude spots, tidy mats of green pepper the landscape with nary a weed to mar the picture-perfect scenes.

To work the slopes, they have developed some awesome tools that usually come out when the hay is being harvested

Sickle mowers with mega-traction all terrain wheels:

...and these farm trucks that seem to be able to ascend near-vertical slopes:

I guess there are many makers and variations on these trucks. I can't find a good picture of one that I took, so here's one borrowed from the internet:




"Steffen's Z Bahn Shop'" has made a farm truck in Z scale and made it available on Shapeways, so I ordered one.

It's really nice. All I had to do is paint it and put some hay in the back.

Playing Trains

I wonder if the layout still goes?

After 20 minutes of cleaning the tracks, it did(!) - so that exceeded expectations and was mildly fun for a while.

I ran three trains around at different times - the three coach passenger and the 6 wagon container trains that were sitting on the tracks for previous pictures; and a freight with three Re 4/4s on the front. That's probably the first triple header I've run, and certainly the first time the power pack has run four locos at once. I only have one pack connected to 'the switchboard' at the moment and used it to power all the layout's blocks - except when I had to judiciously flip a block switch to stop a train in one of the hidden sidings.

It takes just over three minutes to do a complete circuit up and down the layout to the same spot, and on the first circuit,  there were only two slow spots after my track cleaning efforts. These bits, which I must have missed, were resolved with a little more rubbing of the blue Peco track eraser. I was pretty happy with that since there has been a lot of track painting, ballasting and scenicking since the thing last ran. At least 95% of the layout is easy enough to clean, but there are a couple of spots that require poking the eraser at on a stick.

The real thrill was that 30 minutes of normal running produced no derailments - i.e. other than a couple induced by stupidity or by the Layout Gods  - for example, suddenly backing the train uphill for pictures, or one where a pantograph popped up and clipped the top of a tunnel.

Minor disappointment: the single Re 4/4 on the passenger seemed to struggle with this tiny load - especially on the right-side spiral between the middle and top level. I might try adding some weight to it or seeing if there is any friction in the carriage wheelsets that can be freed up.

The locos are still noisy as.

Mittlere Meienreussbrücke Centre Span

Work continued today on the big bridge behind Wassen with the missing middle span being built.

Although the pictures are probably self explanatory here, I cut off the bottom of the arch so that I could put 'stone work' in there, plus cut out the four arched holes. I'm sure that's not the architectural term...

Some cut up 'stone' segments were stuck onto the removed arch piece perpendicular to the edge and this was all glued back into place:

Any unevenness in these pieces hanging down below the arc was trimmed off after the glue had set.

And below, a start is being made on the inner walls that you will see if you peer through the arched cutouts.

Like the obere bridge, this has no back face to the bridge, as no-one will ever see it, but unlike the obere bridge, I put an underside on this one, to keep prying eyes from seeing the emperor's new clothes when looking from the sides. Alas I was running out of the gray Kibri plasticard for this main arch, so used some brown plastruct brick stuff. On the real viaduct the arch is actually prestressed concrete anyway.

And that's that. The main arch was snipped at the apex to allow the whole bridge to bend in two halves - for squeezing it into the tight space available, and also because the bridge is on a curve so needs a kink in it. You might also see inside the base of the cutouts that grey Kibri plasticard was used for the topside of the chord face inj these slots to match the other visible pieces of stonework.

Pinned into place for looks, using some small holes at the top of the side and pinned into the foamboard track base:

And finally, fixed into place with the Kibri capping stones along the top edge and some stone columns to cover the joins between the three sections of the bridge:

Big Bridge Progress

For unknown reasons, I built the 'right' (northern) end of the Mittlere Meienreussbrücke today.

The centre span of the viaduct is just a placeholder here, but completing both abutments should allow me to plant some trees and rocks in the gorge around the viaduct - this would be harder if the middle section was in place.

The abutment was built in the same way and from the same material as the left end, with vertical pieces of the stone-embossed plasticard used inside the columns to give the thing depth. A lot of trial and error was employed to have this mate up with the various slopes of the cliff face behind it.

Once it was fitting properly, a wash of black was applied to bring out some of the stone detail and it was glued and clipped and prodded into place using pins and the hokey items pictured.

It's neat to finally be able to 'see' the bridge for real, but perhaps a slight disappointment as this was supposed to be the layout's focal point - but here it looks a bit Lilliputian. I suppose it's 60-70% the size it really should be, but those small locos look larger than I'd hoped...

Perhaps when the centre piece is detailed and weathered it will look better.

Good Vibrations

An Aside...

I happened to be in my mother's town dropping off some trash at the tip, and they had a dusty old am/fm tuner (in unknown condition) in the 'just arrived' bin.

The guy didn't know if it worked or not, but said I could have it plus the dusty amp with one missing knob and three floppy selectors and the pair of KEF speakers that it was with for $10. Seemed like a deal even if only one of the items worked.

I pulled the amp apart in the trainroom and managed to secure the knobs and switches in place (helpfully it came with a full set of cables and the missing knob along with a few miscellaneous spare parts that don't seem to belong...). I carefully scraped, brushed and vacuumed a load of stuck-on fluff and hair off the boards and components, got most of the congealed fluff off the front, hooked it up and carefully switched it all on...

It works! Great sound too. I wasn't paying much attention when the pieces were covered in dust at the tip, but they are Denon components, and that used to be a respected manufacturer way back when. Had a google on the model numbers, and found this is all from the early 90s, but was highly rated then and still sounds great... and quite loud on setting 6 out of 30...

I have since added a cheap bluetooth receiver through the Aux input so I can stream podcasts or music from my phone if I get bored with the radio.

The setup has few minor scratches and chips, but most aren't too visible from the front and it's a great addition to the trainroom environment. Best ten dollars I've ever spent!

Back in Z Saddle

Back home and looking at the layout today, and I managed to complete some small and relatively insignificant things:

• Some undergrowth was planted under and around the trees on the southern side of the upper Meinreuss gorge. This is all from my box of 'green stuff' salvaged from many previous layouts over the years, and as this is deep in the trees towards the back of the layout, I tended to use darker/scungier stuff like that old rubberised lichen from what seems like a hundred years ago. 

• The base scenic layer was added to the lower Meinreuss cliff face behind the church. I'm using some quite coarse grey/brown Faller scatter material for this, which, for a while after I'd purchased it, I wondered what on earth I'd use it for, but it's become a favourite for this sort of base layer because it produces such a well-textured and colour-varied yet appropriate finish.

And a more notable item is the house beside the track on the upper level at the far end when viewed from the Command Post. As seen here in an amalgam of prototype pictures (both mine and found online).

I whacked this together rather randomly in a forced-perspective compression kinda frenzy out of some white plasticard and some 'brick' embossed brown stuff for the roof. The first cut looked too big when placed on the layout, so I cut down the width and some height off the bottom until it looked about right. I'd like it smaller of course, but too small and it might look a bit silly when trains pass.

It's not glued down yet, so it might be cut down to size further tomorrow... The windows were done in the same way as the church (plasticard strip blackened with a marker pen and with panes scratched into it placed behind). Shutters and other detail are just painted plastic strips.

The structure was painted a light grey to take some of the starkness (and 'noticeability') out of a pure white structure with an orangey 'tile' roof that will be toned down when the paint sets.

The compressed depth is quite visible from this angle, which also shows some of the scenicking in and around those trees on the near bank of the gorge.

Field Research

Apologies for another brief pause in the stream of content, which, as you will have noticed, happens rarely and sporadically. 

At least this time I have an excuse, as I'm in the field - indeed, in 'a field' - doing vital research.

I can even say that (technically) a fourth visit was recently made to the Gotthard Pass.... albeit for only a several minute visit to Goschenen.

My, how things have changed, with only little Flirt railcars plying the rails these days.

Sigh. Can't stop progress.

A Bridge [Even Further] Too Far

The upper and least well-known of the three bridges in the tributary Meinreuss gorge above Wassen  is the top level railway bridge - the Obere Meienreuss-Brücke. This crossing isn't terribly visible unless you go out of your way to find it, being well hidden in the deep gorge, surrounded by trees and sitting between two tunnels.

A pic taken on my first visit to the place in October 2015:

The distinctive (fairly recent) recent tunnel portal extension poking out of a dramatic dark rockface is prominent - this presumably shields the line from rockfalls. Although the bridge takes shape here, the other elements have yet to be modelled here (and may never be!!).

The bridge itself appears to be quite a modern concrete one with minimal stone decoration about the various arches. I decided to make it (rather un-prototypically) from some z scale prick-embossed plastic sheet.

As usual, a bit of random drawing was done ono the sheet with a fine marker until it looked about right (here using a plastic tub and the inside of a roll of solder to provide appropriately-sized arcs) :

And then it was cut out:

Trimmed to fit and a concrete top piece added (the VGB Gotthard book gives a decent picture of what the thing should be like, so I'll give myself a B for this (and would have scored higher had I bothered to paint more of the face a concrete colour:

Weathered lightly and glued in place among the growing forest of trees:

Being the lazy modeler that I am, it's only single faced of course, just like his little brother road bridge), but hopefully a few more trees will grow to hide that fact that there is nothing behind that face, and I'll come back to the tunnel portal and catenary poles later.

Lost in a Forest

The Meinreuss gorge and the hills around it have a few trees on them in the real world. More than a few actually, so now that I have some base scatter undergrowth in place on my Z scale Wassen, it's time to do some arborealing.  What a great word I've just made up

I'm using a mix of trees here, based on what I have come across in shops and auctions.

• The leftover JTT bluey-coloured pines from a local hobby shop
• A fancy box of 40 Noch pines of a yellower tinge covered in superfine foliage
• A box of 100 el-cheapo Heki unflocked pines

At least I think they are pines. I know they aren't cacti...

That's a start being made. My general process is to use an old round dental pick to gently poke an appropriately-sized hole into the scenery - some of which is firm, but some is merely PVA-coated phonebook-papershell. An appropriate tree is selected, it's trunk bottom might need to be reworked or pruned of foliage (especially the Noch ones, but more on that for another episode) to ensure it can plug into the hole.

Often, the bottom skirt of foliage might need to be trimmed, especially if the tree is being planted on a steep hillside (in which case a side is chopped off per the below), and in this case the bottom of the trunk might have to be bent thus so it can plug horizontally into a vertical cliff face:

A generous blob of PVA is applied to the base of the trunk and it is plugged into the scenery. Some trees might have to be encouraged to stand up straight with cardboard props:

But once they have set, they can be gently straightened by holding the base with fine pliers and bending the trunk up. Below is a work in progress as there's nothing worse than having your trees all listing at haphazard angles...

Bulk Scenic Update

An update on the ongoing periodic dribble of scenic progress over the past month or two, as I don't remember where I left off in my dispatches...

• The church is in, but you knew that already
• There's a bit of foundation scenery going into the mid Meinreuss gorge area before tree-ing
• There is a road bridge in that gorge too. I used one of the cut-stone-style ones printed out for Wattinger. This one probably should be a concrete arch bridge, but it will be hard to see in there when the trees go in. 
• The hill in the distant corner of the pic below has had a bit of foundation scenery and mid-foliage added
• There's a wee bit of foliage and tree scenery by the (unfinished) tunnel portal at the far end of the middle level and in the Wattinger gorge under the road bridge
• But the main news.... (ta-da) is that the middle level has finally been painted and ballasted

Painting rails is a job always dreaded, and this was a fairly long stretch, but I put some music on and just plowed through the four rails-worth of work with a small paintbrush a week ago.

As you can see (or hopefully can't see) below, this time I remembered to add in a few fake sleepers under the rail joints. I always forget to do this on layouts and then grizzle about it later, as it looks so obvious when the ballast goes down.

Slow, but notable progress. The ballast really makes things look a lot better.

Spiny Sgnss

I thought one of these empty 'skeletonal' Sgnss wagons might show off a tanktainer rather nicely. If you deploy Mr Google's image search, you will quickly see that there are many, many varietals of this class of wagon - I guess every manufacturer in every country has slightly different ideas around number, size and placement of beams, bracing, brake gear and overall form while sticking to the standard size and the placement of twistlocks.


Many, many moons ago, when I had the loan of a friend's Dremel, I had a buzz at one of my Marklin bogie flat chassis like so:

A few ugly incisions with a cutting wheel opened the thing up (albeit in a pretty messy way). Nonetheless, with a few distracting elements made of paper along the top, and a 20 foot container (shortened from a 40) to cover one end, plus the tanktainer on the other:

It's starting to come together.

As an aside, I did have reservations about using this Marklin chassis rather than making my own, for these are really a tad wider than they should be - with the side sills sticking out slightly beyond even the overweight AZL/MicroTrains containers. Ah still, hopefully nobody will notice when it is inserted into a train.

Additional paper underbraces (I'm not sure paper is such a good idea either, (nor the PVA used for welding all this together) but I'm hoping a good dollop of paint will ensure things stay stuck together.

Deep in the bowels of the main wagon frames were added some 'brake reservoirs' made from old black sprue and something I'm rounding-up to 'brake cylinders and detail' that came off one of those yellow Schauffele dump cars that are all being turned into intermodal wagons:

 And with a lick of green (I don't know why I chose green, but why not...)

I've painted green 'detail' onto the solid ends of the wagon at the tanktainer end as these might be visible though its structural bracing. You might note that the Bertschi tank has received a few random bits of walkway and detail on its top. The red 20 footer has had a razor saw line and two holes added on top to match the other end's vastly overscale details. You could lose a foot or even an entire leg in those twistlock holes.

When the green has set I'll have a go at adding some twistlocks and other details to the outside before sticking the containers down.


P.S. Thanks to Carim Z for the comment on my slow running Alpinist - I will check out that idea. For some reason I don't seem able to reply to your comment with a thanks, so: Thanks!

Tanktainers in Z Scale

I've always wanted a few tanktainers in my intermodal train, and they were reasonably common on the tracks around Wassen in the good old days - as one of my Wattinger pics taken in 2015 attests. As can be seen, the prototypes come in various lengths and the bracing and tank shapes take many forms.

For a year or more I've wondered about using styrene tube or bits of old plastic pens for the tanks and building the frames out of Plasticard, but then someone called Ngineer goes and puts a pair of 20 footers on Shapeways at a reasonable price. And that's hard to resist.

The parcel arrived promptly. It's been four or five years since I've ordered anything on Shapeways, and these seem to be of much higher print resolution - thus exhibiting far less visible strata - than those early examples. Possibly this is a new material too.

The downside is that there are a few warped bits as you might see in the above pic (before the pair were seperated). I'm not sure if this is due to the material, or heating in transit, or squeezing in transit, or possibly the designer expecting too much of the thin and flimsy unsupported material. The latter might explain the long top rails, but that there are also kinks in some of the short lower struts but not others make me wonder if this print might have been removed and mis-handled too quickly before it really hardened.

Interestingly, these tanks are a similar size to the Rokuhan Z scale 20 foot containers (in blue below) - which are noticeably smaller than the Microtrains or AZL American doublestack behind. Heights vary, but an ISO width should be an ISO width in Z scale, so the products of one of these two camps aren't to scale. Must have a measure one day.

The offending pre-mentioned saggy bits were removed, and some paint was slopped on:

Replacement framing from thin styrene strip being installed:

And that was as complex as I decided to go for now. Roofwalks, ladders and railings might be added at some later stage.

As for prototypes, I've had a Bertschi and a Den Hartogh in mind for a while now, and had doodled up some artwork for them a long time ago. This was printed out on a colour laser printer today, cut out, glued on, and voila's your uncle.

Decals would have been better than a thick sheet of printer paper of course, but not dramatically so for those of us that vigorously enforce the mandated minimum viewing distances, and this worked out pretty cheaply as I printed off a few other things on the same sheet (plus spares of these in case of screw-ups or if more are desired in future).

The finished-ish containers are perched here on a Marklin flat chassis with the blue Rokuhan 20 footer for the pics, but these bits will be made into a 'proper' wagon at some stage.

The Bertschi brown should be a smidge redder, but I can live with that for now.