Adjustments
Because the Z Scale Gorre & Daphetid isn't an exact replica of its HO Scale counterpart, some areas have had to be "adjusted" to suit the discrepancies in the 1:220 version. One of the more difficult areas to get right was the tunnels under Daphetid. After a round of revisions, I think it finally came together.
Having completed the dirt road, I was studying the surrounding terrain and determined that some of the contours had, how shall I put it, plausibility issues. In particular, where the road skirts the cliffs over the lake, the terrain was too steep. The easy way out would have been to add another rock face, but I felt I'd already gone over the top with rockwork in some places as it is.
So, to make a break from more sheer rock faces, I instead added an old log retaining wall. It was made from a scrap of very old Chooch N Scale stock. I was reluctant to use it, as I have so little of it left, and it's impossible to find any more, but when I held it up in place, it looked perfect.
After carving the wall part into shape, I gouged out the road support with a knife until the wall part dropped into place. Once I'd secured it with PowerGrab, I filled in the narrow gap between the road surface and the top of the wall with some tinted Sculptamold. It created precisely the look I sought, and no one will ever know that I hadn't carefully planned it all in advance.
Meanwhile, I had a similar dilemma between the upper and lower tracks at the front left corner of the layout. The tracks are closer together than they were on John Allen's version, so I couldn't make an earth slope as he had. One option was to make a stone retaining wall, but I'd already used more stone retaining walls than I preferred separating the upper and lower tracks on the right side of the layout, so I resorted to a strip of rugged rock. With loads of rubber rock scraps at hand, I had little difficulty finding a piece that blended into the existing rock and fit the arc perfectly.
Granted, John Allen's G&D had a few plausibility issues; some of these have been reproduced on my Z scale version, while others have already been adjusted. I didn't want to make matters worse by creating new ones. Besides, I've enjoyed using artistic license to develop my own personal adaptation of an oft-imitated original.