Tomytec Showa B - Apartment Building

Anyone assembled their Tomytec Showa B - Apartment Building yet?  I was surprised that glue is essential for the assembly of this building. Usually Tomytec buildings just snap together.  Its a very common style of apartment building along tram lines in Hiroshima and other cities.

Its the building in the center.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10114270a2/20/2

A plus with this building is that you can vary the height. As it comes it is six stories high.

Here's a couple of Flickr photos taken in Tokyo with generally similar apartment buildings near rail lines. The top photo has lines on three levels.

The Showa apartment is segmented so it can be built with either four or six floors.  This appears to be a first for Tomytec.

Maybe it's a combination of the angle, the lighting, and the fact that Japanese cities really are that densely laid out in terms of zoning (or rather the lack of any), but I can't get over how the first photo wants me to think it's a model.

Maybe it's a combination of the angle, the lighting, and the fact that Japanese cities really are that densely laid out in terms of zoning (or rather the lack of any), but I can't get over how the first photo wants me to think it's a model.

I'm with you David! I had to look twice to confirm it was 'real' as some of those building sure looked like Kato/Tomix structures!  And the # of track levels is pretty amazing....very much like us modelers trying to cram as many trains into a small layout!

Back to the topic...anyone received one of these yet?  I passed on ordering it originally (and I see they're sold at at HobbySearch already) and would love to see some close ups.

This is part of the mess of tracks just north of Nishi-Nippori, where the Joban Line branches off to the east. That's are the ground-level tracks, with the Keisei Main Line elevated one level above grade and the Nippori-Toneri Liner (AGT) another level above that.

Beyond the fact that you can railfan E531s and Skyliners from the same vantage point, this also shows part of what I find so alluring about urban Japan - that even in a dense district like this, there are still single-family homes and owner-occupied shops, often squeeze into spaces that would be too impractical for a larger building.

Take that little beige building on the right side of the street just after it passes under the Keisei. That's what - a 7 foot by 12 foot lot? Maybe 150 square feet? And yet someone has built a two story house here.

Bill, do you have URLs for those photos (the first in particular)? They look like good reference photos for urban modeling, and I'd like to get full-resolution copies for my files.

Like David, I thought the first one was a Tomix catalog photo at first.

Back to the topic...anyone received one of these yet?  I passed on ordering it originally (and I see they're sold at at HobbySearch already) and would love to see some close ups.

On my Tomix blog.

http://jtrains.wordpress.com/2010/10/09/tomytec-062-showa-apartment-building/

Bill, do you have URLs for those photos (the first in particular)? They look like good reference photos for urban modeling, and I'd like to get full-resolution copies for my files.

 

Like David, I thought the first one was a Tomix catalog photo at first.

 

Ha ha ha those photos sure had you guys fooled!  There are 1,416 photos on his Flickr page.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pict_u_re/sets/72157594401228831/with/471140576/

Quite the collection.  I think you will find his city/town collection interesting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pict_u_re/collections/

Bill, do you have URLs for those photos (the first in particular)? They look like good reference photos for urban modeling, and I'd like to get full-resolution copies for my files.

 

Like David, I thought the first one was a Tomix catalog photo at first.

 

A little PC tilt shift in Photoshop could easily make it look more like a model :)

Tokiwa Hotel at Nippori Station has a map that shows the general location in the top photo. The photo location would be the top left corner of the map.

http://www.tokiwahotel.com/access/station_e.htm

There also are a couple of videos of the walk from Nippori Station to the hotel.

Here's a couple of Flickr photos taken in Tokyo with generally similar apartment buildings near rail lines. The top photo has lines on three levels.

 

This picture is so packed with details that it took me some time to see that there is also what I guess is a four track line in the top left corner.

And yes, I agree with David the combination of the angle and the light give the impression this is a model. But gosh, if someone was capable to model like that it will become my god!

Ha ha ha those photos sure had you guys fooled!  There are 1,416 photos on his Flickr page.

 

Quite the collection.  I think you will find his city/town collection interesting.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pict_u_re/collections/

I thought it might have been that bloke's photos. His photo sets of signage and old buildings are particularly useful.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pict_u_re/sets/72157594411721732/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pict_u_re/sets/72157594401448293/

Cheers,

Mark.

These models are sold out at HS and Plaza Japan, but are available at Rainbow Ten as of Monday morning.

http://www.rainbowten.co.jp/english/index.html

Product number , Manufactur , Scale , unit Price , Product name

0151601522572,TOMY,,"1600YEN(was 2000YEN)",22572 DIORAMA COLLECTION SHOWA ERA BUILDING(A)

0151601522573,TOMY,,"1600YEN(was 2000YEN)",22573 DIORAMA COLLECTION SHOWA ERA BUILDING(B)

0151601522574,TOMY,,"1760YEN(was 2200YEN)",22574 DIORAMA COLLECTION SHOWA ERA BUILDING©

End of Data.

This is another photo from his Nippori collection that shows two of the three lines in the foreground and in the background the Yamanote line beginning to curve down  on both sides of Nishi-Nippori.

Thanks for the URLs.  Those "bird's eye" photos are really a unique perspective for modeling; it's not often you get to see rooftop and balcony detail that way.

I'd been looking at those angle-sided apartment buildings, both the older Condominium and the newer Apartment Building.

It has been a long time since I lived in Tokyo, and I don't recall the Nippori area, but I assume those are love hotels in the photos?  Seems like another good Japanese detail to model.

It has been a long time since I lived in Tokyo, and I don't recall the Nippori area, but I assume those are love hotels in the photos?

Unmistakenably, yes. These are love hotels.

I love those love hotels. When I was in Shinosaka, I saw this old man, well dressed walking in to one, with like five or six Japanese school girls. I couldn't tell their age, but they were ins sailor uniforms, and they followed him in like like chicks following am other ducks. They seemed impaired somewhat.  I tired to get a picture, but then some Japanese railfan who was trying to get pictures of the Hankyu tried to ask me a question.

Hotel Peace1 seems to have copied the typeface from Samuel L Jackson's wallet in Pulp Fiction.

The Tomytec apartment building is again available at HS.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10114270

It has been a long time since I lived in Tokyo, and I don't recall the Nippori area, but I assume those are love hotels in the photos?  Seems like another good Japanese detail to model.

Well, these are old photos, but since there is renewed interest in love hotels I thought I would repost:

And a little NSFW (so, link only):

Nice kitbashing and I like the sunbathers in your link!

Nice kitbashing and I like the sunbathers in your link!

Sunbathers?  Your imagination is rather tame Bernard.   

Nice kitbashing and I like the sunbathers in your link!

 

Sunbathers?  Your imagination is rather tame Bernard.     

No Bill just my eyesight is! Had to enlarge the photo..... I thought they had sunlamps inside, I'm wrong. :icon_colors:

Well, these are old photos, but since there is renewed interest in love hotels I thought I would repost:

Well I've got two questions, the first is, if the hotel is painted rainbows when why are all the couples inside hetero? That's not what I would expect given the color scheme...

Second question, where did you get the figures?