My Z Scale Circus Layout



Foam sheeting in the briefcase: I placed an order with Woodland Scenics for foam sheeting and other layout and scenery materials. The order came very quickly and everything seems to be of good quality. However, you might want to check my "Buyer Be Aware" page for a bit of a wrinkle in the order process.

		I cut one piece of 24x12-inch foam sheeting 16 1/2-inches long to fit inside the briefcase. With the remainder of this piece and a portion of a second sheet I cut a second layer 6 inches "long" and and a third 3 inches "long", plus some 1/2-inch pieces to fill the gap between the edge of each of these 12-inch wide pieces and the side of the briefcase. I set the track and circus tents onto the foam to see how things looked.

		I used my hot-wire foam cutter from Woodland Scenics to cut a couple of rounded notches in the second layer and another rounded notch in the third layer. I glued the 1/2-inch edge pieces to each layer (except for a 3-inch long piece at the left end of the bottom layer which I can remove to make getting a finger under the foam to take it out of the briefcase easier.) When these had dried securely, I glued the three layers together.
	Once the layers were glued securely, I used foam putty to slope the edges from one layer down to the next, and to provide a grade to support the track and roadbed from layer to layer. Not shown in the picture here is some additional putty added to the third layer to support the end of the track oval and a ramp to make easier access from the first to the second layer. You can also see the small notch cut in the near right to accommodate the phone jack. I chose the three-layer design for no reason other than I thought it would look nice. I should have considered the effect that the incline would have on my trains, but the amount of incline never entered my mind until I was about finished with the layout. Fortunately, I was lucky. According to the Model Railroader Questions part of the Frequently Asked Questions section of World's Greatest Hobby web site, "Realistically, anything greater than 5 percent is asking too much from your models." My track was supposed to be raised a little over a half-inch in about 12 inches. This is about a 4 percent incline. In reality, once I added foam putty to support the high end, it's raised about three-quarters of an inch, which computes out to about a 6 percent grade! My trains slow down considerably (the Denver & Rio Grande Western steam engine even spins its wheels sometimes) but they make it to the top.