Z Building Material

Hi Mark,

I do not know of a Z scale lumber supplier, but a few options:

1) use N scale or the smallest you can find
2) injet print out a good looking pattern that resembles what you're trying to scratch build. It can be amazingly realistic.
3) See about having someone laser cut you some actual wood to your specs.

Best,
-Rob(A)

If you need inspiration, check out the Gray Brothers ( graybrothersrr.com ). All of their buildings are scratch built. I have no idea what clapboard they are using.

Plastruct also sells down to 1/16" clapboard if you would prefer to work with polystyrene.

Micro-Mark has some 1/32 clapboard.

Check out the NESL scribed sheeting. This might be what the Gray Brothers are using. It goes as small as 0.025".
northeasternscalelumber.com/shop/scribe-sheathing.html

Matt

Mark,
Yeah brass can be a bit of a challenge: no matter how much experience one has soldering wire and PCBs, brass is different. When I built the Micron deck girder bridge, I think I used solder about 6 times, just in a couple of corners to enhance stability. Otherwise I used CA.
For scratch building brass has its place. If you're constructing a building with a faux front, brass is a good choice. I generally don't do too much in brass, only when I want the detail. Like you I like the laser kits, fast and easy to bash.

Mark

I've built several Micron Art bridges and began using my resistance soldering setup with the tweezer handpiece. While this is great for detail work and forms a very strong bond, I moved to this Loctite CA for all the very fine detail pieces and eventually, even the bigger joins:

www.loctiteproducts.com/p/sg_ug_cntrl/overview/Loctite-Super-Glue-ULTRA-Gel-Control.htm

They say it's rubber toughened, knowing nothing about the science of this, all I can say is this this CA really works well on brass. I also use it to tack wood pieces together when building, then go over these joins with a brush and Gorilla wood glue for more strength.

John
Raildig

Mark,

I do have a a pair of general rules I follow with brass, these work for me.

On key joints or on larger joints, where possible I like to solder. Here's a shot of part of the Micron Art Pratt bridge soldered. I probably could have gone Loctite CA here but this was an easy solder. Even when soldering I always tack the pieces with the gel CA so nothing slips while I'm soldering.