New Green Max high rise module system released

[quinntopia]

Well, finally completed by Greenmax 2101 with 3 2102 extensions.  As I mentioned above, and has been mentioned by others, this is deceptively difficult kit to get everything to set as flat as you would like.  The results I was able to achieve leave me only somewhat satsified.  In retrospect, I think it would have been a more interesting building if I had used 2 bases and created a longer building front. 

 

 

[bc6]

Awesome looking building quinntopia I like the lighting effect that you've used.

[cteno4]

I actually like the double height windows, they are something different than all the others out there! after just visiting chicago and looking at a lot of highrises for a while variety is the spice of life there! its nice to have something looking different now and then!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Bernard]

I also like the style, it shows the diversity of the kit. Working in NYC daily you can have a brownstone built in 1910 standing next to a modern glass skyscraper. Meaning most large cities, any design is possible.

 

Quinn - If you haven't posted it before, what are you using for lighting?

[quinntopia]

Thanks for your comments!  

Quinn - If you haven't posted it before, what are you using for lighting?

I'm really enjoying the lighting thing, its given me a good opportunity to practice soldering without worrying about frying expensive components!  

I have about 8 LED's throughout the building (these are cheap, white, 3mm led's that I get by the dozens on eBay) and one incandescent bulb in the building to give a little different effect.  There are four just for the ground floor, with the remaining LED's placed strategically around the building interior.  I also added in some clear 'green' styrene to get the 'green' modern glass look that you see a of these days, frosted it so that you can't actually see inside   and then either blacked out the window completely with grey styrene or with some semi-translucent paper.  The idea is to break up the interior so it looks like some offices have the lights on, some have shades drawn, etc...   Also, it was essential to do something to break up those 2 story windows, so I added in 'shades' or blacked out one floor or another.

 

Its funny, I have a real compulsion with lighting my buildings, and then trying to ensure the lighting looks somewhat realistic (at least from a distance!)!  I'm in the middle now of lighting the Tomix Cylindrical building, which I've 'converted' into a "CompuCity" store....so far its using 28 LED's!

[Bernard]

Quinn - I hate to ask the (Not really ) can you post a photo of the interior lighting of the building.

Also do you have your main wiring to your building set up in 2 main buse lines?

[quinntopia]

Bernard, sorry for the delay.....

 

Quinn - I hate to ask the (Not really ) can you post a photo of the interior lighting of the building.

 

Well, somewhat presciently (I learned that word from Frank Herbert!  ) here's a photo of the building in all its wiring glory before the walls were put on and sealed up!  I drill two small holes for the leads from the 3mm white LED's....I 'cheated' a bit on this building and only added light/floors to a couple of areas.

 

 

Also do you have your main wiring to your building set up in 2 main buse lines?

 

I don't have it set up quite yet as I'm 'renovating' the entire city section of my layout.  I picked up Brawa connectors and am thinking of using these to wire in all of my city buildings, this will essentially act like a buss system (I think, I've alwasys been a bit fuzzy on the actual electrical terms).  I like the plug style of this Brawa system as it saves a lot of effort on twisting wires or screwing into terminals.

 

Here's a photo of the brawa connector system with the pins and 'socket' connectors:

[Bernard]

Thanks for the photo, you did a lot of intricate work wiring the building.

So the Brawa connectors are at the bottom of the building and connects to and other connector to a spot on the layout?

[to2leo]

hmm, I was wondering the Brawa product too.  I am waiting to see how Tomytec LEDs going to compare.

 

Very nice project and I just found out that you also have a blog!  You know where I will spend my rest of the hour on...

[serenityFan]

love the lighting inside those buildings ... I read on your blog that you have other buildings lighted as well.

 

do you use a single power source or multiple sources for all those lights?

[quinntopia]

do you use a single power source or multiple sources for all those lights?

Serenityfan (go browncoats!  ), at this point I'm still assembling the buildings so I'm only using a couple of 12vDC wall warts to power 2 or 3 at a time  at most, mainly to see if they work, etc....  I will soon have to figure out what I need to do provide 12v dc to about 150 LED's in total!  Any suggestions?  i expect I'll probably have to have a couple of 12v power sources to keep everything working.

 

So the Brawa connectors are at the bottom of the building and connects to and other connector to a spot on the layout?

 

Yes, exactly!  I got tired of unscrewing wire, and these looked like a decent system to work with!  They're not that cheap though!

 

I'm still working through how exactly to set this up for the final layout....do I run wires (with the Brawa plugs) to each building, or do I set up a group of buildings on a 'sidewalk/block' and run one lead from that block to my power source (again, using the Brawa plugs).  The former option gives me more flexibility to quickly change out buildings and move things around, but will requiring a lot of extra wiring and drilling, the latter will reduce the number of wires to be run and holes to be drilled and allows me to really decorate a city block since everything will be attached to the block as its 'base'.

[serenityFan]

do you use a single power source or multiple sources for all those lights?

Serenityfan (go browncoats!  ), at this point I'm still assembling the buildings so I'm only using a couple of 12vDC wall warts to power 2 or 3 at a time  at most, mainly to see if they work, etc....   I will soon have to figure out what I need to do provide 12v dc to about 150 LED's in total!  Any suggestions?  i expect I'll probably have to have a couple of 12v power sources to keep everything working.

 

Shiny!

 

as with the power, I have no idea, I was going to copy whatever you do with it :angel4:

I think how many LEDs you can light up depends on how many amps comes out from the power supply...

 

Also I am curious what happens if you change the number of buildings/LEDs.

So for example you can have 3 building to start off with maybe 140 LEDs in total and plug it in to your power grid some(assume single power supply). After working on 2 more buildings with maybe 80 LEDs, can you simply "add" the new buildings to your existing power without needing to change any of the circuits on your other buildings? And can you remove some buildings from your power grid or will this cause some sort of power overflow to the rest of your buildings?

sounds silly but this electricity business is really confusing me 

[quinntopia]

can you simply "add" the new buildings to your existing power without needing to change any of the circuits on your other buildings? And can you remove some buildings from your power grid or will this cause some sort of power overflow to the rest of your buildings?

 

Good questions!  I don't know the answer....anyone? 

[SubwayHypes]

wow awesome building sets, that 162 is insane!  some people are more into the architecural model builds, i would rather spend 160 on a new train.

 

 

im also building one of these, here is my lobby.  you guys are right about it being very tedious. 

i wish i had an extra set of stairs and couches so i could put them in there too.

[Guest ___]

Subway, gotta know, where did you get the vending machines.

[quinntopia]

Great looking lobby!  Keep us up to date on your progress!

[Tenorikuma]

can you simply "add" the new buildings to your existing power without needing to change any of the circuits on your other buildings? And can you remove some buildings from your power grid or will this cause some sort of power overflow to the rest of your buildings?

 

Good questions!  I don't know the answer....anyone? 

 

I'm no electrical whiz, but I do know so that as long as you're adding buildings or lights to your circuit in parallel, they all draw the same voltage without affecting one another. The current draw (in amperes) is all you need to watch; you basically add up the current draw of all your lights and make sure it doesn't exceed what your power source is rated for. If your power source is a battery, higher current draw will probably just run it down more quickly.

[SubwayHypes]

Subway, gotta know, where did you get the vending machines.

Kato Diotown set 23-421

HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!  i bought two packs and have been "sprinkling" vending machines all over my layout, makes everything look much more Japanese. 

[cteno4]

Subwayhypes,

 

great thing with these is you can scan the sticker sheet to make more of the vending machines. just cut off pieces of styrene strip stock and paint. i did look into the potential of cutting off rectangular tubing stock and then insetting the vending face a tad and adding a piece of clear thin acetate over the front to give it that glass in front effect. Tenorikuma was trying to light some of his from behind as well, a thought i have always had for some hyperdetailing at some point. will require a tiny amount of light and good shielding for light leakage.

 

also have something to show you for your lobby, but had an unexpected detour the last week, will try to get something posted this weekend on it.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

fyi a cross post here.

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1602.0.html

 

interesting building made with the green max modular kits

 

cheers

 

jeff

[mbloes]

Update for 2013:  I just completed these two buildings using the Greenmax kits.  These were specifically designed to occupy the very skinny spaces in front of the Kato station.

 

These were not the first buildings I've built with these kits, but I will just second, third and fourth everything everyone has commented on previously about their finickyness - sanding each side of 150 tiles in order to get them to fit properly can be mind-numbing, to say the least.  But hey, who minds a precision kit here and there?!?

 

First, is the "Century Tower Shinbashi":

 

Century Tower 1 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

Century Tower 2 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

Century Tower 3 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

Next, the "Subaru Building";

 

Subaru Building by mbloes, on Flickr

 

 

 

 

[mbloes]

Some photos of the buildings in place:

 

DSCF2969 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

DSCF2970 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

DSCF2974 by mbloes, on Flickr

 

DSCF2978 by mbloes, on Flickr

[miyakoji]

Looks awesome and really authentic.  Squeezing a purpose-made building into a tiny footprint is true to the prototype country!

[bikkuri bahn]

The Century Tower looks like some of the Toyoko Inns I have stayed in on my journeys (appearance and location wise).

[cteno4]

Mike,

 

Excellent work! Thanks for posting

 

Jeff

Edited February 27, 2013 by cteno4