Hello from Long Beach, CA

[adrianKeith]

Hi all,

 

Joined this forum as suggested by someone on Reddit as I recently found a passion for JR trains! I visited Japan 2 years ago and more recently just came back a few days ago from a 12 day trip around Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka and Hakone and have just been fascinated with the trains and rail system there ever since. So much so that I was on a mission to find as many train related souvenirs and model trains as I could! I wanted to start off easy as I have zero experience with all of this so I ended up picking up a number of Bandai's B-Train Shorty models.

 

I even picked up one from a NewDays Kiosk (convenience store in Tamachi station) just because it looked fun! I'm hoping to get into the more detailed KATO trains but figured I'd get some experience playing with these less expensive ones first. 

 

Here's the one I picked up from the Kiosk store. 

 

 

 

I was a bit bummed to find out this wasn't the front car (sorry, lack of knowledge of terminology showing) but nevertheless thought it was neat once it was finally assembled. The small details are great and its a lot of fun just putting it together.

 

Hope to start learning a lot more about JR trains from everyone!

[cteno4]

Welcome to the mad house Adrian!

 

you will find lots of btrain threads on the list and ideas for making layouts and such. great starting point is this little article

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/btrainshorty-pt1.html

 

lots of folks here to chat with on ideas. Btrains can be addictive...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kiha66]

Welcome Adrian!  Glad to see another Californian here!  I'm just over the hill in Torrance, plus there are quite a few more in the Bay area too.  B-trains are a great place to start, you can have a long train without taking up too much room!

[adrianKeith]

Welcome Adrian!  Glad to see another Californian here!  I'm just over the hill in Torrance, plus there are quite a few more in the Bay area too.  B-trains are a great place to start, you can have a long train without taking up too much room!

 

Hah, awesome! I actually work in Redondo Beach and spend all my time and money in Torrance/Gardena for all the delicious ramen and Japanese food :) 

 

I'm hoping to build another one tonight, I just don't have any tracks or motors to get them running just yet :(

 

Thanks for the welcome!

[miyakoji]

Hi Adrian, welcome to the forum!

[adrianKeith]

Hi Adrian, welcome to the forum!

 

Thanks Miyakoji!

[Kiha66]

Hey Adrian, I forgot to mention that there is a local train club in the area, once you get your trains running you might want to check it out!  I've joined as well, and though they run DCC they have a DC layout you could use too.  Mostly american models there, although another member recently got a 500 series shinkansen. I ran my 0 series there yesterday!  They meet Tuesday nights, and the layout is near the Korean Bell in the old army base in San Pedro. 

 

The Club's website

 

 

[adrianKeith]

Hey Adrian, I forgot to mention that there is a local train club in the area, once you get your trains running you might want to check it out!  I've joined as well, and though they run DCC they have a DC layout you could use too.  Mostly american models there, although another member recently got a 500 series shinkansen. I ran my 0 series there yesterday!  They meet Tuesday nights, and the layout is near the Korean Bell in the old army base in San Pedro. 

 

The Club's website

 

 

Shinkansen at Belmont Yard.jpg

 

That's pretty awesome!! I don't have anything running just yet but would definitely love to come watch. Thanks for the heads up!

[Kiha66]

Hope to see you there then!  This next Tuesday is a work night, so there probably wont be much running going on,  but you're welcome to drop by!  Most members show up between 6 or 7pm. 

[Rmsinsd]

Hey Long Beach! San Diego here. Welcome!

[Pashina12]

Hi and welcome from me, too... Californian-by-proxy. :)

[Rmsinsd]

Welcome to the mad house Adrian!

 

you will find lots of btrain threads on the list and ideas for making layouts and such. great starting point is this little article

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/btrainshorty-pt1.html

 

lots of folks here to chat with on ideas. Btrains can be addictive...

 

cheers

 

jeff

Yeah Adrian, B-Trains can be your downfall, especially if you like a particular prototype, or two, or many! Edited April 22, 2017 by Rmsinsd

[adrianKeith]

Yeah Adrian, B-Trains can be your downfall, especially if you like a particular prototype, or two, or many!

 

Most definitely. I think I picked up about 10 and regret not getting more!

[cteno4]

Adrian,

 

Good thing is you can easily order more, and more, and more...

 

Jeff

[adrianKeith]

Adrian,

 

Good thing is you can easily order more, and more, and more...

 

Jeff

 

LOL Jeff, I don't have any space for a layout! For now, they're sitting around as static models :\ I'm thinking I might pick up the Bandai B-Train Shorty Layout Base. They seem small enough that I can stash it out of the way. 

[cteno4]

You can also make your own easily with just 1" thick extruded foam insulation, you can add thin wood moulding around the outside edge to make pretty. Or use those little framed cork boards and plop down some tight radius track on it and add scenery. Also can just do the set up on the fly with buildings and scenery bits you plop down. Takes a little effort setting up and putting away but with btrains it's not a huge layout and then you can have a lot of variety and try different ideas out. Here is a good article on thinking this way

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/tempoary.html

 

Also you can make a loop back in tomix tight radius that can fit on a standard ttrak corner module so you could turn a row of Ttrak modules on a shelf into a loop for a long thin layout that you could make in pieces. Then later add more into larger two track loop on the table.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff