Yet another Woodland Scenics Scenic Ridge layout… ^_^;;

[qwertyaardvark]

Update: Ballasting completed

Out of sheer boredom (and deliberate delay of building plastic kits) all track under the tunnel has been ballasted and a lot of lessons learned from this ballast practice that lasted most of the weekend. Pictures of the fruit of my labor are attached. The first picture showing the soon-to-be tunneled left side of the layout, and the second picture showing the soon-to-be tunneled back side of the layout.

Any parts not covered by ballast was painted black in anticipation of tunnel walls being put up and making the task all the more difficult. Patterns for the profile boards have been cut out and profile board have also been assembled. Still eagerly awaiting my tunnel entrances from Japan...  

Next week will hopefully bring about better weather than this weekend (which was cold, damp and rainy) so that I can actually go about painting my plastic structure kits. Temperatures still seem to range only in the upper 40's at warmest and I hope that the paint will dry at such temperatures. This is a big concern since I have to paint outside, but if necessary, I am considering painting outside and then bringing the pieces in to dry in room temperature settings.

[Mudkip Orange]

Ballast looks GOOD. What brand did you end up using?

[qwertyaardvark]

Thanks~ ^_^ Ballast is the WS Dark Gray Fine Ballast. I chose to stick with WS as its fairly well stocked at my LHS and much everywhere else so that I can get it in a pinch. Looks like for this project the included ballast in the kit (WS Light Gray Fine Ballast) was woefully undersized even for the original plans, plus i didn't like the color (I wanted the concrete ties to stand out a bit). At the rate I'm going I'll need to buy another 32 oz bottle...

[Bernard]

Welcome to the "Wonderful World of Ballasting" 
Qwerty - it looks great. Now if you have to do other work in the track areas, make sure you cover what you've already did with masking tape on top of the rail heads.

[serenityFan]

Yes, the ballast looks super ... really brings out the concrete ties. Nicely done ...

[qwertyaardvark]

Update: Airbrush + No Skills = DISASTER

Having tried out my new airbrush and airbrushing for the first time, I am now officially deftly afraid of airbrushes. It was one of those dumb, "how hard could this be?" moments, and after only spraying on cardboard for a few minutes as practice, I went on straight to my Kato girder bridge... talk about bad ideas! The paint finish went on about as thick as if i had painted with a spray can. *much sadface* So i must add a Kato bridge to the casualty list and buy a new one. Thank god i went for my Kato bridge first... I'd be kicking myself all night if i had ruined a station or platform kit!

I'm gonna talk to my LHS to see if there are airbrushing lessons I can get from the store employees or elsewhere. I did try looking on the internet and youtube for airbrush lessons, but i guess im old fashioned by learning with a teacher/mentor that will give me feedback that a video or website simply cannot offer. I figure a lesson session or two ought to do the trick for large coats and killing the shine off the plastic kits. I suspect I'll need to do such lessons again when i move onto double action brushes and more elaborate paint schemes. In the far flung future, I do plan on taking junk shinkansen sets and painting them in custom or UP, NS, CHSR, etc colors... ^_^

[qwertyaardvark]

Update: Tunnel Walls and Wiring Completed

This weekend was very light in productivity since I was helping another friend with his hobby, brewing beer, and I am his bought-with-and-paid-for-with-beer engineering consultant. ^_^ (For those curious, we worked on a Belgium Double Ale)

Progress on the layout included the placement of the tunnel walls, painting of the tunnel walls, adding any additional ballast to the flanks of the rails near the tunnel entrances, and wiring. Wiring was fun since I finally got to truly run a train on the layout (instead of pushing it along) to check the wiring and clearances; my EF65-53 (attached with OHANE 25-100) was the lucky locomotive to finally grace the rails of the recently named Ougakemachi (桜崖町), which literally translates into Sakura (cherry blossom) Cliff Town. In preparation for the next step of finally covering the tunnels and getting on with the landscaping of the layout, tunnel ceilings have been painted black and side profile pieces glued together and painted black in appropriate ares.

In store for me is finally cementing my building, road, farmland, and geographic plans as I place the last of the foam sheets and add crumpled newspapers next weekend and then plaster the layout to hell and back.

Photo 271 - Placing the Foam Tunnel Portals
Photo 275 - Tunnel walls added and painted black
Photo 276 - Close-up of tunnel entrances on left side (viewed from the back)
Photo 277 - Close-up of tunnel entrances on center and and right side (also viewed from the back)
Photo 279 - The EF66-53 and OHANE 25-100 being used to test wiring (since i didnt have a voltmeter... ^^;;) and test clearances
Photo 280 - View of some yet-to-be-permanently-placed wiring. All said and done, this layout will need two controllers/power packs to run the two independent "loops" on the layout.
Photo 283 - Placing of final inside-tunnel ballast up to the tunnel entrances (left entrance, viewed from back)
Photo 284 - ditto above (right entrance, viewed from back)

[Bernard]

Looks great!
What is you plan for access to the trains inside the tunnel? Also what method did you use to attach the wires to the rails?
Airbrushing is just a lot of practice. (and I still don't have it ) One of the members here, Stickboy is excellent airbrush artist.

[Mudkip Orange]

What's the ascending grade on that outer loop?

[qwertyaardvark]

@Bernard: The Scenic Ridge layout instructions say to make a few access panels in the edge profile boards (which I did) in case any trains get derailed or otherwise stranded so that ought to take care of that. As for the wires, I took the lazy route and purchased Atlas rail joiners to attach wires to the rails. It was perfect: joiner attaches to the rails, wire of sufficient length pre-soldered to the rail joiner; assembly included, just attach. I figure I'll have rail joiners sprinkled around my layout where the flex track ends, so might as well make a few of them powered :) The outer loop has two feeders, while the inner folded dog-bone loop has three feeders. Each loop is connected to its own Kato extension cord which will then connect to the two separate controllers.

@Mudkip: All grades in this layout used WS 4% grade inclines (4.167% to be precise), which a lot of people seem to consider steep, especially on curves, but my locomotive seems to be able to handle it, so i'll go with it. besides, for this size layout, I couldnt imagine going with a lighter grade w/o my trains constantly changing altitude at every point. The smallest radius on graded curves is the Kato R282 (11.1"). For the future though, I'd like to work with 3% or lower grades when a large enough layout permits it.

@Everyone: speaking about tunnels and getting in them... Despite having access panels, I still won't be able to do much good in keeping the rails clean with my Bright Boy, so are there any cleaning cars that y'all recommend, preferably ones that are easily available on the American market? (though I am open to purchasing a Tomix cleaning car, and while im at it, a rolling stock cleaner track piece) And what liquid cleaning fluid do y'all use in cleaning track/rolling stock? Ive heard a lot of different cleaning agents being used, from more normal things like Goo Gone, to weirder things like automatic transmission fluid, and everything in between.

[KenS]

I'll second what others have said: those tunnels look good.

While I haven't tried it yet, and it's a bit pricey, I've been looking at the CMX Clean Machine as a way to get a non-abrasive cleaner I can use on my less-accessible track.

[CaptOblivious]

qwerty, while your question about cleaning is a good one, it would be better if we could avoid starting another cleaning thread; here are some good ones to contribute to or read for the curious.

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1750.0.html
http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,198.0.html
http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1905.0.html
http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1512.0.html

FWIW, I've found that a full 10-car Tomix 209-0 cannot quite climb the WS 4% risers, nor can my Kato 11-car E231. Other shorter trains have no issues. seven cars (plus a loco) seems to be the max for long 4% inclines in my experience. Not that this will be too much of an issue for you.

[CaptOblivious]

Qwerty: I wonder if these would be useful. Curved platforms
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10108790
Outer platform for 317mm (12.?") curve, inner for 280mm (11") curve

[Mudkip Orange]

Qwerty: I wonder if these would be useful. Curved platforms
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10108790
Outer platform for 317mm (12.?") curve, inner for 280mm (11") curve

WOW! And this would work just as well with Kato, since 282/315 would nestle in (With just a bit more gap between the train and the platform). Depending on how my layout/living situation goes in the next year, I can definitely forsee owning one of these.

[qwertyaardvark]

@KenS and Capt: Thanks for the rail cleaner advice~ I'll try better next time to research around the forum a bit more before asking questions... ^^;;

Looks like I'll go ahead and try the Tomix car cleaner. I'm gonna go with 6442 that includes the wheel cleaning track, track cleaning car *and* cleaning liquid, since it seems there is a lack of consensus of rail cleaner on the threads I looked at. For now, I'll go with the "official" stuff. The threads seemed to boil down to basically no off-the-Autozone-shelf conductive oils, some that use the official Tomix cleaning liquid and a divided camp on isopropyl alcohol.

If i ever go with any liquid-based method, especially oils (like my LHS suggested), I will definitely have a car or separate run to mop up the liquids. I would eventually like to go with isopropyl alcohol since its cheap, at least in America, and it will happily evaporate off the track letting me not have a mop car/run but it seems i have to be really careful to make sure it doesn't contact paint on any rolling stock. Definitely devoting a pipette to my cleaning car tool kit.

@Capt: ZOMG those would have been nice to know about during the design phase~! Unfortunately the curvature of my turns into the station are 315/348. >_< Definitely would have reduced the turning radii to design those in. Despite it not having Kato spacing, I'll go Mudkip's route of overlooking that for the ability to have curved platforms in my next layout! I wonder if Kato has something similar in the pipeline. Would definitely be interested to see it made to different radii (but i know full well that would be too expensive manufacturing side... but I can still dream)

[inobu]

Good work! Its nice to see the progress.

On the airbrush, keep trying it is the only way to create seamless renderings. Most of us travel down the same path when we start off. The LHS sells the simple AB items but our expectations in what we want to achieve can only be delivered with the higher end AB units. The problem is most LHS sell the general type of AB. Its funny how the natural occurrence of business cause all of us to repeat the cycle all over the country. Your next stop will be at an AB shop and all question will be answered.
Instead of hijacking this I'm going to create an Airbrush thread and give a little insight to what I learned.

But for now,
 
Remember we are painting in N-Scale. This means that each coat has to be really thin (in the micron's). The brush that you need must have a super small or fine needle/valve, the paint needs to be thinned down not to clog the spray head (needle/valve) and your compressor must be able to generate enough air to smoothly drive the air through the brush.  

Inobu  

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Just one area shy of finishing forming the terrain with foam

Thanks inobu for the airbrush thread~  Looks like I'll be working on saving some money for decent airbrush and compressor for the next few months. For now, all i need is a bridge completed, but for the rest of the structures on the layout, those will wait for the new airbrush and compressor to come around.

Finally got about putting on the tops of the tunnel and the sides of the layout. Also added an additional power feeder for the inner loop, bringing total power to two feeders for the outside track and four feeders for the inner track (matching the roughly 2:1 track length of inner to outer loop). No train will travel more than about 6 feet between feeder to feeder. Beyond that, flat foam areas for the town, station, farm, and shrine have been put into place. Additional foam lining the edges of the risers for the double track have also been added to aid providing an actual place to connect soon-to-be-placed plaster cloth to the risers. The only flat foam area left to work on is the namesake of the town: the cliff that overlooks the town where I'll be putting a path and sakura trees.

If it looks like I havent done much, truth be told, I don't think so either; putting down and securing foam is hardly time consuming (compared to say everyone's *favorite* pastime of ballasting...). For starters, since plaster is about to be placed, I really needed to finalize my plans for where the stairs/paths, inclines, bridges, etc were to be placed so I spent a good chunk of my time just staring at my layout and thinking about how to place and orient important features on the layout. Unfortunately, I'm still in this process. After putting in the last foam foundation and placing poster board for where stairs/paths will be, I figure I'll spend the next weekend just placing and replacing crumpled up newspapers trying to get a general mountain shape that looks at least somewhat real and natural looking.

Secondly, I will admit I am kinda beating around the bush getting to the plastering step. The scant instructions WS gives, and the taste of the plaster process I got on flat risers and small inclines, sends alarms going off in my mind for the shaping of a mountain. WS also recommends layering the plaster sheets 50% over each other, which already sounds difficult on a bumpy, inclined surface, and then leaves to the user to figure out how to deal with the sheet when it hits up against a tunnel entrance or riser. By now, I've figured that this skill is one I'm just gonna have to acquire through trial by fire; something learned as an art, not a science, which leaves me with bumbling feet. The only thing encouraging me to get through the plastering step is finally being able to lay down the rest of my track so that I can at last run my trains once again~

298 - View through access hatch B
300 - "" hatch A
301 - "" hatch C
304 - Layout rotated to work on front wall and tunnel roofs
305 - Hole cut into front and center of layout for power cords going to Kato power pack
306 - Left side of tunnel roof being added
307 - Right side ""
311 - Front view of layout with all side walls placed and tunnel roofing completed

[qwertyaardvark]

315 - Another view through access hatch C
316 - First foam foundation made, town will go here
317 - Road added; at the top of the ramp will be a grade crossing and road to "outside world"
320 - Front view of the layout with all side walls and foam foundations in. Elevated foam piece next to shrine (top left) not yet carved
322 - Support foam for the foam foundations
325 - Close up of 16% road incline
331 - Foam strips added to the sides of double track risers to aid in getting single plaster layers on riser, and butting up double layer plaster next to riser/trackbed

[KenS]

As someone who can spend an entire evening I'd planned to use carving foam staring at the layout and adjusting track placement, I know what you mean about feeling like you're not making much progress. On the other hand, I'd say you've accomplished quite a bit.

And I like the way you've raised the flat foam leaving a gap underneath for wiring. Are you going to glue the foam in place, or leave it removable for maintenance access to the wires?

[Mudkip Orange]

I like the idea of doubling up (or quadrupling as the case may be) WS inclines to get smooth road profiles.

[CaptOblivious]

Having used something akin to the official WS process, I can tell you that the plaster cloth step is actually a lot of fun. But rather than overlapping each sheet by 50%, let me recommend just doing two layers of non-overlapped sheets. The reason is that once the first layer is down, the second layer will give it the extra rigidity that that 50% overlap method gives, but it is waaaaay easier to get the second layer in place. You'll see. The other piece of advice is to be sure to smooth each piece down as you place it, spreading the wet plaster evenly over the surface of the sheet.

[qwertyaardvark]

@KenS: The foam will be staying in place, but I plan to make access panels underneath the layout to access the wires. The wood board is currently only a foundation for the foam to rest on and the foam moves freely. I may regret saying this, but I have confidence that the wires I've placed shouldn't cause a problem for a long while. If or when the need to repair arises, then I will make the access panels in the appropriate places. Worst case scenario, I'd have to rip up track underneath the tunnel which by then the layout would need to be "destroyed" to fix only an electrical component. My hope is that it never reaches that state. In such a case, I'd rather burrow as much as I can underground before even touching the upper surface.

@Mudkip: That idea belongs to WS. I noticed on the side of the packaging the inclines came in had a diagram showing different combinations of 2, 3, and 4% inclines to get 1, 5, and 6% inclines as well. I wanted my roads to look as good as my rails so I just took the idea further and stuck 4, 4%inclines together.

@Capt: I presume that when putting the 2nd layer, I should then overlap the first layer but with a 50% "shift" in the area covered, aka doing my best to cover the gaps of the first layer? Just in general, this method sounds A LOT easier than what the manual describes. Thanks for the advice~ :)

[qwertyaardvark]

Update: FINALLY~! A functional layout! \(^o^)/

Too excited to sleep, here I am typing up this update report for y'all. :)

Wanting to run trains by the end of the weekend I decided to push through the last of the landscaping steps so that I could finally put down some roadbed and rail. Friday and Saturday were pretty much spent on the plastering process. Friday afternoon was spent on forming the landscape with the newspapers. I went through at least 20 of my college's newspapers making the many crumpled balls that were soon to become the "core" of my mountain. The landscaping plans essentially called for a mountain with it's top flattened for a shrine, a 45-degree-angle grade path for which I will later put on stairs to go up to the shrine, and, above a cliff, a flat path for the imaginary citizens of Ougakemachi to walk through the sakura blossoms overlooking the city. For the shrine and sakura path, simple flat pieces of foam were used, and for the stairs, thick cardboard sheets would make the profiles for the stair path clear when plastering. After all the newspapers, foam and cardboard were secured with masking tape, the side boards were cut down to shape of what would remotely look like a mountain. The mountain and stair path came out alright, but, admittedly, the cliff did seem a bit out of place, but as the namesake of the town, I kept it. I may do some rather extreme changes to the cliff wall when I get to placing the rock faces.

Next came the step I was dreading for so long... plastering. Friday night and all of Saturday were spent on plastering. The reason I don't like this step is that the plaster is so hard to handle once its wet; I would compare it to trying to handle static-laden Saran Wrap. I did fine on the 45 degree angle portions of the mountains, but as soon as I hit the large sections, things quickly headed south, but, deeply wanting to simply run trains, I muddled through. After the large vertical portions were finished, the risers, station area, town, and farm were a piece of cake. In the end, plastering wasn't too terrible, though I am dissatisfied with the number holes that are left over in the process. My one complaint about the plaster is that you can never get a completely hole-less surface unless that plaster is resting against something which came to haunt me in my mountain: the nooks and crannies between the crumpled newspapers left nothing for me to push the plaster against, leaving me with no choice but to attempt to rub completely limp plaster sheets with little success or leave the holes were they were. Perhaps when I get to mixing Hydrocal in large amounts, I will smother the mountain area with the stuff and fill in the holes.

Late Saturday night, I decided to get a head start on the roadbed, so I laid down what little supply I had down for the inner folded dog bone loop. Sunday morning, I headed out to the LHS and bought some more roadbed, came back, and proceeded to finish the road bed for the outer loop. While waiting for the outline roadbed glue to dry, I worked on placing the track in the inner line, and when I was done with that, went head and finished off laying the rest of the rail. Pretty straightforward, though I started to figure out how much I hate those little track joiners esp with flex track rails that kept extending/contracting and whatnot and the little buggers simply falling off or being undesirably crinkled/crimped/crushed or otherwise destroyed. (=_=#)

But know what? This whole weekend was worth it. When I finally got around to placing trains on a track and going around the layout, I couldn't help but grin for the first half hour! My roommates were also ecstatic to see trains running and congratulated me in my milestone. They know I've poured my heart and soul into this layout every weekend since this semester started, so it's nice to know they appreciate the work that goes into it! In a little over a month, I finally have trains running again, and was reminded what made this hobby great in the first place.

334 - Initial adding of newspapers to the layout. Top left piece of foam for shrine, Sakura Path is piece of foam below and to the right of shine area.
340 - Interesting slice shot of newspaper core and carved side walls being partially covered by the initial plaster layer
345 - Layout after plastering completed
347 - Along the top from center to right, closeup of the Shrine area, Stair profile, and Sakura path/cliff
348 - Long view of the layout after plastering
351 - Layout after trackbed and rail laid
354 - Maiden run of the EF6653 and Blue train Fuji on outer loop and Eurostar on inner loop, my apologies to the purists :P
357 - Long view of the layout after trackbed and rail laid

[KenS]

Very impressive.  And very good looking.

Looking back over this thread, you've put a lot of effort into this layout, but it's still something to think that you essentially started construction a month ago, and have come this far so quickly. I can understand why you're so excited. Congratulations.

Now you just have to do scenery, and buildings, and... 

But nearly-finished terrain and working track is a major milestone.

[CaptOblivious]

Hey, very nice, Congratulations! KenS is right, you've come quite a long way in such a short time.

Now, to make it not look like Hoth :D

I recommend going over the whole thing with a coat of cheap acrylic paint roughly the color of whatever you will be putting atop it (e.g., green for forested areas), which will help strengthen the plaster, and hide tiny gaps in your scenery. This painting is, I find, the most tedious part of all.

[qwertyaardvark]

Many thanks for the congratulations and to all that have posted replies ever since I started the layout as it has helped and encouraged me tremendously and am grateful for y'alls input~ 

Work on the layout itself may slow down from here on out with the ramping up of academic workloads coupled with three project-oriented classes. I may go as far add the rock faces and paint basic color coats in acrylic to cover up holes, but I would like to get buildings finished and laid out before I start laying down roads/foundations and vegetation. I may also ballast the inside the track and between tracks just to keep it in place. Purchases for buildings and airbrush/compressor are slated for March so soon y'all may see posts focusing on kits.

[Mudkip Orange]

Hey, so you get a few months of running trains through Hokkaido in the wintertime.

What's so bad about that?

[qwertyaardvark]

Hey, so you get a few months of running trains through Hokkaido in the wintertime.

What's so bad about that?

There have been thoughts running through my mind of spraying ungodly amounts of Scenic cement on the layout and covering it with WS snowflakes out of sheer laziness...

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Work on the Layout... Or Lack Thereof

This weekend has gone by pretty slowly due to academic priorities, and I'm sad to think that this annoying trend will continue to get worse with time until my graduation in May... >_<

Various small things around the layout have been completed over the weekend:
 -Concrete track ties have been placed under the track joiners.
 -Tracks rechecked for alignment, re-glued/re-pinned as necessary
 -Hydrocal rocks placed on mountains
 -Tunnel entrances and nearby track/ballast covered with masking tape in preparation of coloration of the mountain

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong, or if I'm doing anything wrong, but I found a lot of difficulty of trying to get the hydrocal rock castings to stick to the layout and eventually gave up and instead used a hot glue gun to get the rock castings in place. As is, I have a feeling that rock faces will end up looking as randomly placed as they are now. My hopes are that with some color and a lot of vegetation added will make the rock placement appear more natural. Next week, I'll consider filling in holes with flex paste before going off and painting the mountain areas

Though not much was done on the layout, there was quite a bit of spending going on. Several bags of clump foliage, another bottle of ballast, a bottle of latex rubber, styrene strips, cutting board, and acrylic paints were purchased over the weekend. Later this week, I plan to make a massive purchase of buildings and kits from Hobby Search because I need to finalize the layout of buildings; I can only go so far with approximated dimensions and plans before actually laying down the roads and building foundations. Beyond that I may go ahead and purchase a double-action airbrush and compressor. I've been eying an Iwata Revolution gravity-fed airbrush and a Pasche compressor for a while now.

One must wonder what the styrene strips are for... I'm not entirely sure how crazy the idea is, but I plan on making stairs for the path up to the Sakura Path and Shrine. I intend on making a master mold first with the latex rubber (since I want to practice mold making and I anticipate my wanting to make stairs for future layouts), and then actually making the stairs with either Hydrocal or the Smooth-it products to give it the concrete texture. Only experimenting with styrene to make a 4-step staircase, while it did turn out well, it has become clear that I need a cutting tool (something along the lines of this) so that I can pre-set lengths and quickly make "steps". I never thought I'd ever scratch build anything from any material, so I wonder if I'm going off a deep end or something...

366 - Sample stairs made with styrene strips - for scale, the grid is 1/2" spacing; .06"x.25" styrene strips are used
367 - Overall current layout view, minus two tunnels not being covered
370 - Rock faces placed under the Shrine an path to Shrine
371 - Rock faces placed under the Sakura Path

[Mudkip Orange]

For a minute there before I read your post I was like "wait a minute, he's going to build an entire staircase out of styrene?" Will be interesting to see how the plaster casting goes...

[Krackel Hopper]

hey hey,

I think you are making great progress on this!  I've been lurking this thread since it started.  The kit is a lot cooler than I originally thought.  I am thinking of trying to convince my dad he should buy this.  He runs his trains in a loop on the dining room table.  I was going to try and convince him to do T-Trak, but he has the space to make something like this.. and it seems very beginner friendly..

I think your Japanese twist is great.  While not specific to Japan, the concrete tie track gives this layout a completely different feel from other pictures that I've seen online.  All the Scenic Ridge layouts I've seen have stuck to the traditional 50's era design that Woodland Scenics is known for.  The concrete ties immediately give it a modern feel (a very welcome change) from the 50's style American railroad.

I am eagerly awaiting to see what buildings you decide and exactly how you arrange your city streets.

I think the rock molds will blend once you get the mountainside covered.  I've seen people blend rocks very nicely using the woodland scenics mold-a-scene plaster stuff.  It's gritty, so it provides more of a rough texture like rock.  Although, mostly I've seen it used to blend several rock castings into one big rock face.. but I have also seen it used to blend the single rock into the plaster cloth background so you don't end up with a big square rock and nothing else.  That might be a good idea.. but might be a waste of time/money.. it's at least something to look into..

Jon

[qwertyaardvark]

For a minute there before I read your post I was like "wait a minute, he's going to build an entire staircase out of styrene?" Will be interesting to see how the plaster casting goes...

I hope it goes well... the sample staircase alone took 10 mins to assemble! I dont want to think about the 2 foot-long staircases I need for the master molds ^^;;

I am thinking of trying to convince my dad he should buy this.  He runs his trains in a loop on the dining room table.  I was going to try and convince him to do T-Trak, but he has the space to make something like this.. and it seems very beginner friendly..

heh... "seems" is a keyword :P While im sure it did minimize disaster occurrence , it still commands a lot of dedication and patience, so i'll make no illusions about that. I definitely though would recommend it for those who have never touched model railroading before, like myself before I started this thread. :)

I think your Japanese twist is great.  While not specific to Japan, the concrete tie track gives this layout a completely different feel from other pictures that I've seen online.  All the Scenic Ridge layouts I've seen have stuck to the traditional 50's era design that Woodland Scenics is known for.  The concrete ties immediately give it a modern feel (a very welcome change) from the 50's style American railroad.

I did want concrete ties and electric catenary for this specific reason; I got tired of seeing American model railroading of the past and yearned for something a bit more recent. A quaint, traditional, but modern town setting fit the bill perfectly. :)

Will also look into the mold-a-scene plaster when I get the chance.

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Prefecture Governor Qwertyaarvark Approves Building Construction Stimulus Bill in Ougakemachi

Calling out to several contractor sources (HS, HW, and Ebay) the following buildings, vegetation, and vehicles have been commissioned by the Governor:

Kato: Restaurant w/ Traditional Eaves (451B & 450A)
Tomix: Sakura Trees, 6442 Cleaner Set, Ryokan, Farmhouse D2, Belfry/Gate (Temple Series), Main Building (Temple Series), Bathhouse
Greenmax: Shops (47-1, 47-2, 47-3, 47-6), Wooden Schoolhouse (48-5), Rail Crossing (45)
Sankei: Bathhouse, Police Box, Fire-fighting Squad, Soba Shop and Storehouse

Sources in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry say that the stimulus bill will help jump start tourism, farming, and commercial centers in the region to help diversify the economy of Ougakemachi, primarily founded by a nearby mining operation, that was recently hit hard by the global recession and layoffs. While traditional petroleum-based manufactured construction modules by Kato, Tomix and Greenmax Polymer Industries are major winners of the stimulus, this is no doubt also a big win for emerging Sankei Wood Industry with their environmentally-friendly, renewable-material chip card stock modules to be used in two of the three municipal buildings and three additional commercial buildings slated for construction. Tomix has also contributed to the "green" effort by generous donations of Sakura trees to add to the already locally famous cliff, as well providing a maintenance of way vehicle to the nearby depot to support the local transit scene.

While the stimulus only supports the purchase of materials, other capital investments, including finishing equipments like airbrushes and compressors, will have to wait for a second round of funding. While unclear if the second round of funding will go through, the Governor intends to apply and present a draft proposal to the Otoo-san/Okaa-san Project Support (OOPS) Committee in Tokyo next month.

-Asahi Shimbun, 2010年2月23日

[KenS]

 

Good luck with the funding proposal.

[CaptOblivious]

No need for a 2ft master staircase! Make a mold from the piece you have, then cast it over and over again, assembling the pieces with Aileens tacky glue to make a stair case as long as you please.

Also, totally skip the hydrcal for the way more durable and way cheaper tub of plain old plaster of paris.

[Mudkip Orange]

UPDATE: Prefecture Governor Qwertyaarvark Approves Building Construction Stimulus Bill in Ougakemachi

Calling out to several contractor sources (HS, HW, and Ebay) the following buildings, vegetation, and vehicles have been commissioned by the Governor:

Kato: Restaurant w/ Traditional Eaves (451B & 450A)
Tomix: Sakura Trees, 6442 Cleaner Set, Ryokan, Farmhouse D2, Belfry/Gate (Temple Series), Main Building (Temple Series), Bathhouse
Greenmax: Shops (47-1, 47-2, 47-3, 47-6), Wooden Schoolhouse (48-5), Rail Crossing (45)
Sankei: Bathhouse, Police Box, Fire-fighting Squad, Soba Shop and Storehouse

Sources in the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry say that the stimulus bill will help jump start tourism, farming, and commercial centers in the region to help diversify the economy of Ougakemachi, primarily founded by a nearby mining operation, that was recently hit hard by the global recession and layoffs. While traditional petroleum-based manufactured construction modules by Kato, Tomix and Greenmax Polymer Industries are major winners of the stimulus, this is no doubt also a big win for emerging Sankei Wood Industry with their environmentally-friendly, renewable-material chip card stock modules to be used in two of the three municipal buildings and three additional commercial buildings slated for construction. Tomix has also contributed to the "green" effort by generous donations of Sakura trees to add to the already locally famous cliff, as well providing a maintenance of way vehicle to the nearby depot to support the local transit scene.

While the stimulus only supports the purchase of materials, other capital investments, including finishing equipments like airbrushes and compressors, will have to wait for a second round of funding. While unclear if the second round of funding will go through, the Governor intends to apply and present a draft proposal to the Otoo-san/Okaa-san Project Support (OOPS) Committee in Tokyo next month.

-Asahi Shimbun, 2010年2月23日

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Project on Finite Hiatus - Further Work Delayed Till Graduation

Just an FYI for those who notice project threads that just suddenly stop updating, and letting people know this project is down, but not out. :)

Despite wanting to continue on the layout, grad school and my wallet have finally caught up to me. Looks like this project won't be worked on, let alone completed, until after my graduation in early May and moving back to my home in Houston or where ever I happen to find a job. While fortunate the layout can be used to run trains (and will most certainly be taken advantage of), building kits and the like will most likely collect dust in the coming months. Gone are the days I can check the forum so often that I only read 1-3 new topics at a time. Recently I've had to read them in bunches of 10-20.... Looks like I'll also be missing out on the second Project Party...

*sadface* ;_;

Will try to stay active as much as I can in the coming months.

[Mudkip Orange]

I'm at almost the exact same point with MD2.0, although I'm holding out hope that I'll get a part-time "McJob" before graduation (and the real jobs), in which case I'll definitely divert some cash towards the layout...

[CaptOblivious]

qwerty, I feel your pain; only I'm in grad school, and am finishing my dissertation. It's crack-down time…*sigh*

UPDATE: Project on Finite Hiatus - Further Work Delayed Till Graduation

Just an FYI for those who notice project threads that just suddenly stop updating, and letting people know this project is down, but not out. :)

Despite wanting to continue on the layout, grad school and my wallet have finally caught up to me. Looks like this project won't be worked on, let alone completed, until after my graduation in early May and moving back to my home in Houston or where ever I happen to find a job. While fortunate the layout can be used to run trains (and will most certainly be taken advantage of), building kits and the like will most likely collect dust in the coming months. Gone are the days I can check the forum so often that I only read 1-3 new topics at a time. Recently I've had to read them in bunches of 10-20.... Looks like I'll also be missing out on the second Project Party...

*sadface* ;_;

Will try to stay active as much as I can in the coming months.

[Bernard]

Quarty - I know that you have been busy of late but have you had time to work on the layout?

[qwertyaardvark]

UPDATE: Continued Hiatus, Moving Layout to Houston Home, Spring Break Job Seeking

@Bernard: Pardon the slow response, as I'm checking JNS on a few-days/weekly basis... :( *sad* Unfortunately, I didn't get any time on the sankei building kits, let alone the layout, and probably wont until mid-May.

Tomorrow, I'm driving back for spring break and bringing my layout and all train stuff to store in my room till I graduate. And looking at my google calendar for the month of April, I won't have much hope of working on anything, which is the basis of why I'm moving the layout. Furthering this series of unfortunate events, spring break will be spent primarily not relaxing or working on the layout, but on job seeking. Having only a little over one month to graduation, I still haven't secured a job... ;_;

To make the April Hell worth it, the job seeking will sow the seeds for a job in May that will a) free my soul after 5pm on weekdays for the rest of my life and b) have a real income to devote to trains. Right now, I've got at least one job application and words could not express my happiness if I were to get this awfully-close-to-my-idea-of-a-dream-job job. It is a startup (ive recently begun to hate the idea of corporate) renewable energy company (green!) that has an office in Dallas (yay back in Texas) and requires ~50% traveling (wait for it...) to Japan (ZOMG!) to act as liason engineer between the R&D labs in Japan/Korea and manufacturing centers here in the US. Aside from the obvious J-train benefits, this'll also do wonders to my Japanese which may finally break free of the "Academic Japanese" barrier that can only be overcome with total immersion. On the other end of this job desirability spectrum... I may just work for the energy oil companies located in Houston, get paid well to pay off my ever-interest-accruing student loans and jump ship to a more desirable job later. Too many unknowns and uncertainties... such is life.

Pardon the off-project-topic-ness, and advanced apologies on the month I'll continue being absent. orz

[Mudkip Orange]

Having only a little over one month to graduation, I still haven't secured a job... ;_;

I'm in the exact same boat, and I wish you the best of luck.

[Bernard]

I also wish you the best and I hope you get your dream job. I understand perfectly well about the time you are going to have to dedicate to your career at this point, but still keep in touch.

[qwertyaardvark]

*blows dust off thread*

Guess who's back?

It's been too long since ive visited... the unread posts page is 3 pages long! x_x

Well, graduation has come and gone, and I'm almost settled back at home in Houston. Though still job searching, it looks like I can squeeze in some time to finally get back to working on the project, albeit at much less fanatical pace I had going earlier on this year. Along with the free time, some funds have been secured and a compressor/airbrush purchase is a top priority. The only thing stopping me from ballasting the rest of the track and landscaping the layout is building/road placement, so the construction of the obscene amount of buildings i ordered is necessary for building placement. Looks like it'll be a long haul of plastic and paper kit construction... Ganbarimasu yo~~ ^^;;

@mudkip or anyone in the greater Houston area: any hobby stores you would suggest I ought to look at that had a decent airbrush/compressor selection and decent prices? (am willing to support local shops, but internet shop suggestions okay too)

[Mudkip Orange]

I have no idea on airbrushes.

[scott]

Well, welcome back, and congratulations on the graduation!

[Mudkip Orange]

So it's been four months since you posted in this thread man. What's new?

[qwertyaardvark]

Sup, JNS. It has indeed been a long since ive posted ^^;;

Can't say that there's been any work done on the layout, but now that i have some semblance of a real job (which i'll start sometime in the coming week), work on the layout may again continue soon. I have acquired an airbrush (Iwata Eclipse w/ gravity feed) and compressor (Iwata Silver Jet). They got a good breaking in while I worked on another hobby of mine over the summer: commissioned anime cosplay props. Painting quite a number of plastic resin replica models has given me some good practice before trying my hand on the plastic kits for Ougakemachi. As mentioned in my last post, the buildings are next on the to-do list, and so i'll be digging those kit sets out of closet and working on those once ive gotten the hang of my work schedule ( graveyard shift... x_x;; ). Hopefully, another update will be within a week or so. Until then, i'll continue lurking in the forum shadows... :)

[Bernard]

Hey, if you're doing a lot of airbrushing...why don't you post some tips in scenery. Right now I've got "runny paint on model" down pat!

[Mudkip Orange]

---BUMP---

Better watch out, some dude just copied your layout design...

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,2809.0/topicseen.html