What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)

[Pauljag900]

Cheers junior

[Suica]

On applying the small detail parts and the question of glue, what I've been doing for most of my models is disassembling the body, then installing the part and adding a drop of glue from the inside of the hole.  The important thing is to not install the windows until the glue is dry, as I've heard horror stories of glue fumes fogging up the plastic "glass" in some cases.  A tooth pick or very small wire is helpful to make sure the glue makes it all the way to the gap between the part and the hole. 

115 hoses.jpg

I've been wondering, do these hoses come with the model or are they custom parts?

 

I actually fully equipped my first Kato loco with detail parts today (except the numbers, as I'm having a hard time deciding on those)

From having worked on EMUs and DMUs before, I always thought those little antennas were bad, but the handrails on the locos are just the worst!

Edited July 23, 2017 by Suica

[Kiha66]

I've been wondering, do these hoses come with the model or are they custom parts?

 

They come with the model, but I've painted them after applying them to the unit.  I'm impressed with the excellent job you've done adding the grab iron's to the front of those locos, I gave up trying to cut the ones for my EF66 from the sprue.  I snapped one of the de-coupling bars in half, and the grab irons seem to be thinner than the strip of plastic that's holding them.  I've been debating getting some of those fancy god hand cutters to try to not destroy the parts before they're even off the sprue. 

[Suica]

 I snapped one of the de-coupling bars in half, and the grab irons seem to be thinner than the strip of plastic that's holding them.  I've been debating getting some of those fancy god hand cutters to try to not destroy the parts before they're even off the sprue. 

 

Here's what I did:

I didn't cut them completely from the sprue. Leaving a large part makes it a lot easier to handle with tweezers. And after everything is in place I just cut the rest with God Hand nipper.

[Kiha66]

Thanks for the tip!  I was on the fence about the nippers, but it looks like they're worth it!

[medusa]

When I applied the parts on my EF210, it was the first time I thought N gauge could be too fine for my age.

 

In the end I made it (in my youth nothing was too small for me) but I had to drill out the holes in the shell considerably. Especially the horn was impossible to press-fit, I broke apart two before I decided to widen the hole for it. BTW, the "tool" for the horns turned out to be completely useless.

Loose fit of the detail part plus a tiny drop of plastic glue applied from the inside of the shell made it for me.

 

Rub-on numbers are kind of lottery. On most of them I had to hold each digit when I removed the clear foil. They simply didn't stick enough to the shell surface.

 

DF200 was the same game once again.

[cteno4]

Medusa,

 

These are the best for getting the holes just Goldie locks. Just don't let the root canal sounds earwig you.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-Pack-Dental-MANI-Niti-H-File-25mm-15-40-Hand-Use-files-Endodontic-Instruments-/201674124274?hash=item2ef4b6ebf2:g:GpoAAOSwzaJX45Mm

 

Jeff

[keiichi77]

Spent some time on my Kato Level crossing to try and make it less toy like.  I painted the base top (with a thick layer of household latex wall paint) being very careful not to get any paint in the holes for the speaker/volume/selector etc. I added the brown ballast to the paint while it was still very wet. Once dried I glued ground foam to help hide the above mentioned holes. Painted the bases of the crossing equipment a weathered cement colour and the boxes silver.  The danger striping on the cement barricade is from the packaging of the Greenmax double tunnel portals which I cut to fit and glued in place.  I still plan on painting the other 2 sensor tracks the weathered cement colour but wanted to compare them first. Finally I carefully drilled holes in the base to install Kato guard rails and glued them in place. The crossing isn't done but it is getting closer to what I want it to look like.

 

Ballast applied

 

 

After a few bushes

 

[IST]

Looks much more real than straight from the box. Nice work!

[keiichi77]

Thanks IST, I spent many hours on the crossing to get it to this point, I want to take two of the poles with lights off an replace them with cantilevers but I am not sure if they are soldered to the board or in slots like the Tomix version, and of course I would have to make the cantilevers from scratch. I don't want to risk breaking this thing, they are not cheap. O_O

[railsquid]

The unique multi-gauge AC/DC multi-voltage Dr Yellow was out and about checking clearances, while ongoing construction work reveals the interesting and colourful geology of the region.

Kato 923 "Dr Yellow" by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Colourful geology hidden:

 

crossing-construction-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

crossing-construction-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

crossing-construction-4 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[cteno4]

Aww I was hoping for a geology class out there on that strata working away on a class project! Little buckets of pink and white ground foam!

 

Jeff

[nah00]

Thanks for the tip!  I was on the fence about the nippers, but it looks like they're worth it!

 

I thought the same thing and then I used them on a set of number plates and they definitely worth it, just remember to NEVER use the tip of them to cut. 

[railsquid]

Messing about with a graphics program and a photo... GIMPed me a blue sky with some fake cloud (only took about 5 minutes and limited practical experience in these arts...)

 

crossing-train by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited July 26, 2017 by railsquid

[brill27mcb]

How do you do that with GIMP?

 

Rich K.

[railsquid]

How do you do that with GIMP?

 

1) use the "paint spilling out of tin" thingy to colour in all the background formed by the wallpaper; I was surprised it was that easy

2) draw some clouds using a fuzzy brush tool thingy.

 

It would probably be better to cut out the wallpaper background completely, and add the sky as a separate layer underneath, maybe with some kind of colour gradation. But I don't know how to do that (need to look for a tool which will cut out the same area as gets painted, for a start).

[Pauljag900]

Did some ground cover this morning,ballasted the train track and dropped power feeds through.Need some more roadway and street lights both are ordered.The tiled area is the plaza area and where the fair will be.

[railsquid]

Filled in some space under the concrete viaduct with the kind of miscellaneous stuff you might find in such a space especially if the neighbouring unit is occupied by some kind of light industrial enterprise.

 

under-the-concrete-viaduct by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited July 29, 2017 by railsquid

[ianlaw]

Not much time for modelling this summer as I'm working on a major garden remodelling.

Today I managed to replace some Kato 11-702 couplers with Tomix TN 0391 (received from Loco1hobby) on some older Kato kihas. They droop a little  but once coupled they stay connected reliably. I can now freely combine kihas from all manufacturers.

left = Tomix, right = Kato

Edited July 29, 2017 by ianlaw

[IST]

Today we worked on the Hungarian moduls in the club, so there was only a limited time for my Japanese stuff, so I added a little sand as a load to the top of the original load in a new Tomytec truck and added some dirt as well to look better (for me at least). See the attached before and after photos:

 

     

 

Beside of this my new DMU run the first rounds on the T-trak moduls. I think it looks great, I am happy that I bought this set!

 

[Kabutoni]

That's an interesting truck actually (as well as the finish). It's a truck from the Tama region, which can be seen where I live as well. I should get my hands on one...

[yakumo381]

Add some painted detail to the moulded details on the outside of my older set of JR coaches (series 42 and similar). Things like matt black on door steps and steps, hand rails and corridor connection gear on the ends; crimson dots for the lens on the moulded on running lights, white on makers plates, etc. Was worth the effort as does give a reasonable visual improvement compared to those not yet done.

 

Tried to also internally detail a 42, that was originally used on my old PeruRail layout, by painting the seats and arm rests and adding a missing internal end partion with seat backs. Once reassembled, I'm not convinced it was worth the approx 2 hours worth of effort to do it. No picture as I couldn't find a way to get an image of the interior after re-assembly.

 

Currently also working on my wife's farm diorama as her "hired help". This is in 1:35 scale which takes some getting use to after years of working in N gauge...

[Kiha66]

I'm not convinced it was worth the approx 2 hours worth of effort to do it.

If you end up adding lights to the car, you'll definitely see a huge difference if you compare it to one that hasn't had the interior detailed.

[nah00]

Did transfers on the E3 and Joetsu Shinkansen that I got off of Serotta. Also did destination boards on the E3, only messed one up out of 12 so I'm improving. Also with the Joetsu I forgot how much putting smoking/non-smoking signs on cars was. At least this time I bothered to look at the instructions where it tells which cars in the consist are smoking and which aren't...

[serotta1972]

If there's no pictures it didn't happen.