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It happend that a friend pointed out to me the small printable Buildings by Brother quite at the same time as Rokuhan's Z Shorties started to become real. Using both together on a layout was the natural conclusion, so I started this project, which I'm confident I can 'finish' this year. This is the 1/300 scale mock up that I did while I was waiting for my KiHa to arrive: Nothing fancy, you see, but there's not that much space on an A5 sheet after all! And, of course, you'll have to imagine a few trees, and people, and cats, and road signs, and, and, and... I was, however, surprised how useful the mock up turned out to be, because it showed me how careful I have to place the elements to provide all the necessary clearances. A particularily tight area will be the warehouse in the upper right corner. Thak god, the KiHa hasn't really so much overhang in the outer curves as it seemed from photograps- 12mm clearance from the track centreline will suffice: So much for the moment! Michi (More food for the crawlers: Zショーティー ロクハン )

At last, I've finished the 103 series z-shorty kit by Japanese producer Aozoradensya, and I'm very pleased with it! I didn't build it out of the "box", though, those little add-ons are too much fun! And this is what I did: After a fisrt coat with red oxide primer, I've added new recessed front windows (makes the cars even more 103ish), head lights made from paper rings, and tail lights made from plastic rod.

This is an easy one (at least if you can get hold of a PRMLoco WaMu 80000 or 380000), a WaKi 8000 z-shorty. If you compare the PRMLoco chassis with a KoKi z-shorty, it's obvious that the KoKi fits almost perfectly with regards to its height. Therefore, what you have to do with the KoKi is: - cut of 1.5mm from each waggon end - cut 5mm from the middle of the waggon - cut of all locators for the containers The KoKi is almost narrow enough to fir inside the WaMu body. Cutting or sanding of all embossed detail from the sides should do the trick. A quick test, whether the combination runs on the 45mm radius - it does! The body still sits a bit low, but that will change immedeately: I first glued the two chassis parts on a piece of card (instead of butt joinig them), and that lifts the body some 0.2mm up. To take possible bending stress I've also glued a strip of wood on top.