Well, there you have it. The other day my wonderful wife came up with an odd thought: Why do your fun Z-Scale trains have to live in that box? You never look at them! Now, don’t get me wrong, I DO take them out and play with them from time to time. But that “Grand” layout I have been talking about for years just isn’t quite started yet. What’s a guy to do??

Just because I haven’t made that large layout due to (time, money, ambition, room… Take your pick) doesn’t mean I can’t build a small one! In fact, a really small unit might be just right for a display stand. This way I can actually say I finished my Z-Scale layout and leave my train all set up to look at. What good fun!

I’ve made a number of display stands for my N-Scale trains, so this project should be easy and fun. The first thing that needs to be done is to figure out how big the finished product needs to be. Do you want one track or two? Do you want a switch? Do you want to make room for a building or two? Do you want to display only a few cars, or an entire train set? (Sooo many questions)

For my “little layout”, I decided on a single track with a bridge over a small ravine. I also wanted some space in the back if I ever get around to making some buildings. And I wanted a bridge for the train to go over. As far as how long to make this unit, I wanted to display only some of my train set at a time so the stand needed to be about 10 inches long. That way I can change it around from time to time. That’s the wonder of Z-Scale: You can get Soooo much into such a small area!

On to the project! I started with a section of high density “Blue Board” insulation. The other types of ridged insulation will work, but the blue stuff seems easier to work with. Since I will build a custom bridge for this project, it doesn’t really matter how big the ravine is. I cut a basic “V” in the foam for the ravine, making it deeper in the front and tapering up towards the back. Then I tapered off the front of the foam block to give the scene some “depth”. The ends and back of the foam was left square, as I might want to add a backdrop some time.

Moving right along, I sanded down the top of the foam so I had a slightly raised area for the roadbed. This way you don’t need to lay any sub-base later. If you want to use the track with the plastic base already attached, then skip this step.

At this point, sand the entire unit down as smooth as possible. Now take a moment and stand back to look at it. Does it look like what you want the finished product to be? In my case, the unit seemed “too tall”, so I cut a bit off the bottom of the block. That’s the wonderful part of working with foam insulation. If you don’t like what you see, just change it!

Ah, that’s better! Now that the basic shape of the foam is to my liking, it’s time to move on to building the bridge. This doesn’t need to be a fancy affair, as we want to emphasize the train, NOT the display stand. I simply used a section of flat balsa wood that was a bit smaller than ½ inch wide and glued thin sections of wood on the sides. Once the glue dried, I cut the bridge to the correct length, rounded the ends of the railings, and painted it black. That should do nicely!

Now we need to seal the foam insulation so the ground coverings will look and stick better. The foam is rather porous, and I like to start with a smooth surface. For this step you can use regular Plaster Of Paris, or what I often use is Durhams Water Putty. (Your choice) Make a very watery mix and paint it onto your foam. I like to set the unit onto some wax paper or plastic so any run-down doesn’t stick to your working surface.

Once dry (it doesn’t take long), clean up any “globs” that might have formed along the bottom of the display block.

On to the fun stuff: Making it look finished. Start with some basic dirt covering in the ravine. You haven’t set the bridge yet, so it’s easy to do. To apply the ground coverings, simply brush on some of my old friend “Elmers” white household glue. Make sure you do NOT get any glue at the bridge attachment points. (That comes later) After you have a nice even coat of glue, sprinkle on the dirt products of your choice and let it dry. You don’t need to worry about being real neat at this stage, as we will be adding lots of other stuff soon.

After the glue dries, turn the display stand over and tap lightly to remove any excess ground cover. Next we need to set the bridge into place. Before you start with the glue, make sure the bridge sets just right to accommodate the track at the correct height. Take your time here, as you won’t like the results if things don’t sit flat. After you set the bridge into place, sprinkle a bit more ground covering around the bridge ends where any glue might have squeezed out. Let the glue dry before proceeding to the next step.

Now comes the track installation. If you want to get “real fancy”, you can do what I call “bunching the ties” where the track passes over the bridge. In the real world, the ties are much closer together than normal when the track passes over a bridge (for strength). To accomplish this, simply remove the little spacers that hold the ties apart and slide them together. I used a Drummel Tool with a cutting bit for this part. Before I place the track on the display stand, I like to solder the sections together so things don’t move around.

Actually attaching the track is easy. Once again we go back and visit my old friend Elmers Glue. Brush the glue on the entire length of sub-roadbed where the track and ballast will go. Extend the glue out to the edges of where the ballast will end up. Be careful at this time NOT to get glue all over the place, but rather only where you want the ballast.

I like a nice even thin coating of glue, NOT a heavy coat. Too much glue at this time will make your track look rather unreal and “messy”, so be careful.

As soon as you have the track in place, sprinkle on the very finest ballast you can find. Make sure you cover the entire area where you added the glue, including the edges. This way you don’t need to come back later and mess with more ballasting. Once everything is in place, put a small weight on the track to hold things down until the glue is dry. Make sure you have the weight on the track straight and level. Otherwise, the track will take a “set” and your trains won’t sit right after the glue dries. (Not good)

Once again, after the glue dries simply turn the display stand over and tap lightly to remove any excess. Now we need to lay down the base coat of ground cover. Just like before, paint all the area to be covered with Elmers glue. You can apply a fairly heavy coat for this stage, as the “more the merrier” when it comes to ground coverings.

I like to use something I call “slop” for this first ground covering layer. It’s a mix of all the “junk” that has been generated as excess from other projects. If I have a bit of something left over from a ground covering…. Into the slop bottle it goes. Everything EXCEPT plastic bits and saw dust. Apply an ample coating over the wet glue and let dry.

As before, when the glue dries turn over the display stand and tap gently. Take all the excess that comes off and back into the slop jar it goes for next time.

And finally, you can add “bits and pieces” around to your liking. Trees, bushes, building, or whatever catches your fancy. You can add as much or as little as you like. At the very worst, if you don’t like how it looks you can always change it!!

Just for fun, I wanted a bit fancier look to my display stand. To add a little something extra, I made a wood base to set the foam block on. This added aspect of the project took about a half an hour total, but makes a nice finishing touch. And what the heck, why not add a small backdrop? I simply glued on an old sky print I had onto a bit of cardboard and stuck it on the back of the block. Looks nice!