A couple of weeks ago I ordered some Z-Gauge railway track from a company in Japan. No I haven't abandoned the pleasures of wargaming for a model train set (not that there is anything wrong with that hobby, I hasten to add) but I do need some rail track terrain suitable for my 6mm North Africa project. I've been looking for a long time and have considered various resin and metal products by companies such as
Leven Miniatures,
Timecast and
Irregular but none of these were really what I wanted. As the pictures on the Timecast site show the Z-Gauge railway track is pretty close to 6mm so in the end I decided to give this a try.
A protracted Internet shopping search narrowed my choices down to a couple of manufacturers and in the end I settled on track made
by Rokuhan. The prices seem to vary a lot but I found a company in Japan that sold what I was looking for at a very reasonable price. I only bought one pack consisting of four pieces which will make just short of 3ft of track. This was a 'test purchase' after all and a single pack will be ample for my current project. Of course I had to repaint the track to suit my North African setting but I'm really happy with the finished look and will definitely buy some more in the future.
For the record I cleaned the track in soapy water before painting just as I would for any other resin or plastic model. Then I spray painted the whole track using a can of Bolt Action
English Uniform Brown and dry brushed with Vallejo
Tan Yellow (912) and
Ivory (918) to the same formula I employ on my North Africa bases. Then came the fiddly bit. I painted all the wooden track ties using
Chocolate Brown (872) and the track itself in
Gunmetal (863). The last touch was to 'dirty' the track a little with some of the
ModelMates Rust Effect weathering liquid I bought at salute.
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| Four sections of track make just short of 3ft |
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| A certain rather famous railway station... |
As I said earlier I will be buying some more track in the future, but for now I have enough for my current project.
Nice!
ReplyDeleteNow you'll need something to run along the track. I've always thought that you could combine a model railway with either a fantasy or war game layout - just never had the room to experiment.
ReplyDeleteRest assured I will be looking for a suitable engine and rolling stock that can be adapted for North Africa c.1942
DeleteWell this has started something...I've just bought another pack of straight sections and a pack of curves from the same company in Japan, so I should have about 7ft of track when I'm done.
ReplyDeleteExcellent!!!
ReplyDelete