My project begins

[keitaro]

Ok so i'm still tossing up on what to do. having bought most building kits and other scenery parts i'm about to start the mountain in pics below.

I'm expecting my tunnel portals and switches to arrive this week.

so i am either going to cover this with some rocky bits and a dark green sponge material all over to give it a more bushy look or to cover them with pine trees... i think the pine trees would be requiring up to 100 or more to cover both mountains and i think it will be over kill.

what you guys think

[Martijn Meerts]

One thing you could do, is to use detailed trees on the front of the mountain, where they're visible, and then simulate a forest canopy using the foam stuff. I do believe there is special stuff from Woodland Scenics/Noch/etc. for making larger canopies or bushes etc.

[Bernard]

I actually bought the WS forest canopy kit and all it is...dried /reeds that you find in any hillside and look like small trees.
http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/Woodland-Scenics-F1660-Light-Green-Forest-Can-p/woo-f1660.htm

You then add WS lichen or whatever other material to fill out the trees.

Another method which goes along what Marti was stating....put trees in front of the scene and add cotton balls that you dye green and dip in WS foliage to it or turf and place behind the "real" looking trees.   

[keitaro]

Finally I can resume the layout.

ok so I placed down the track I know the train yards look funny but with limited size this was all I could really do.

I made the yard large and lengthy because in the future I plan to intergrate this with a much larger layout.

I am missing a buffer piece I seem to have misplaced it.....

let me know what you think of the design i know its very unique  .



On the weekend if I have time I will do the wiring for these turn outs and track and then i will comence on finishing the mountains and the rice fields.

[KenS]

Photos and/or a track plan would make it easier to understand what you're doing.

[keitaro]

that is the weirdest thing i uploaded photos ....

here they are again



edit*** Oh forgot to mention i have tuesday as Anual Leave to see doctor so after that I will be doing lots on this layout to get some real progress.

criticism please 

[keitaro]

anyone got comments for me 

[KenS]

The s-curves in the yard make me nervous.  Short trains will likely handle them fine, and most Japanese trains are pretty forgiving when it comes to curves.  But two curves in different directions without a straight the length of your longest car between them is a recipe for derailments and similar problems, and something to avoid if you can.

Also, why are two tracks following an s-curve, but the one between them is straight?  If all three were curved (or straight) I think it would loook more natural.

[keitaro]

because it's 2 switches in a row the first 2 were too close and the second to far out hence the unique curves to seperate the tracks. i ran all trains on the bendy on seemed all right even for the shinkansen he was forgiving

[Bernard]

Can you shorten the distance between the 1st & 2nd switch? That might take away the bend and make the yard a little longer.

[keitaro]

unfortunately no it's 3 switches in a row no in betweens and the last was the mini point to reduce distancing between tracks. i had another design where they were all lined up perfectly without curves but the length was to short and could only hold 3 cars max.

[keitaro]

still playing around with this track. i think i have found a combo that makes it lesst curvy on bottom 2 tracks but it takes more space will try it tommorow when i have energy.

Mean while ran a bunch of trains along it today with the little one.

I have found his favourites are thomas (although Thomas gives me the shits he's easier to derail than the shinkansen) and the 800 tsubame shinkansen.

was running the shinkansen around 280mm curves at a fast speed and stupid thomas derails on it at low speed sigh.

I'm now left with no choice but to mod some more weight into thomas's centre and in his 2 cars so he doesn't tip off the tracks at corners.

[keitaro]

sweet so I had anual leave today booked in 1 to see the doctor which took forever and for the rest of the day making more of the layout.

So heres what I got done still drying.

Only nark I have is the ground is covered in lines 

however I keep telling myseld not to worry bucause 90% of that is going to be covered by something else anyway so it won't be noticeable.

I have done the under layer of greenery on the mountain and will detail later with some thicker clumb foilage.

you can still see the pva drying but here they are.

notice the pond in the last pic on second thread it is showing a irrigation path to a small rice field not completed yet but will place the water and the rice in it some time very soon.

[keitaro]

and more

[Bernard]

It's really coming together!
Are you going to add tunnel portals to the mountains?
Also what would be a nice addition to the mountains is some rock surfaces. They are easy to do and fun. All you need is some rock models, plaster of paris and your set. Here is a video on how to make rocks:
http://woodlandscenics.woodlandscenics.com/show/video/MakeARock

[KenS]

Yes, those steep sides look like a natural fit for rock outcrops.

But in any case, you're making great progress.

[Kumo]

Yep, a big rock wall would do it! :-)

[keitaro]

I have few small rocks on the side I guess hard to see in pics but your right I do need more.

I have the portals and the toilet rolls to go with em 

I have to paint the portals though, for the bridge portals I left a imprint to slip into. And the front two portals for each side will be just glued on

I'm going to leave portals for later and see if I can get this river done

[keitaro]

video cheers

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/PXvbaxhX96s" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/PXvbaxhX96s</a>

[Bernard]

It looks like everything is running nice and smoothly. Now a new problem (but it's a nice problem to have).....once you get the trains running it hard getting back to work on the layout  (I have this problem when I'm working on scenery and get tired, I stop and run the trains for a while...then go back to scenery.)

[Barobutt]

What's the grade inside that tunnel?

[keitaro]

I'd say border lime 3 - 4% 4 cm high over a 140mm straight and 2 corners 300 sumthen mm ones can't be bothered doing the math but all trains run it fine.

Bernard you are correct.

Sort of paused ATM need to get the rice field made and water done for the lake. Then I'm going to do the roads and place the houses and start with the ground in those areas.

[keitaro]

went to change couplers for my kiha 91 did all except motor car needs a stupid jewlers screwdriver or something....

[keitaro]

So I started on the ground details doing the outer edges atm such as grass etc.

I also spur of the moment decided to change the track layout i placed it but didn't get to test run it so tonight i will be playing around make sure it all works good with my trains then i will continue the ground cover.

Also got self made wooden fences being made atm to place around the track.

If I decide to stick with the new layout I will post pics tonight.

basicly instead of the botom track going around the edge of the table I have decide to have it turn out and go along the track and of the board for future projects to conect up to.

[Barobutt]

keep the pics coming :)

[keitaro]

My new 1720

while using rapido couplers it doesn't display any of the issues i have had with kiha 91.

It runs really well to if i flick it over at 50 it doesn't get insta speed like kato's do. it takes a few seconds to accelerate which looks a little more realistic.

it handles corners pretty well and is quiet till it picks up speed (unrealistic speeds)

it also picks up power pretty well and runs smooth.

[Martijn Meerts]

Gotta love the bonnet/nose on that one ;)

[keitaro]

pic of new track changes

also did some foilage on the side

[keitaro]

base ball field design

edit * printed the layout design it will have a fance around as well does it look too small?

[Mudkip Orange]

does it look too small?

Dunno, what are you modeling? Little league? High school? Puro Yakyu?

Pro baseball diamonds in Japan are the same size as America, so 90' between the bases and generally a minimum of 320' to the R/L field walls, 400' down center field. As in America, older stadiums may be smaller than these dimensions.

[keitaro]

elementary school right next door to it so i guess for the little ones.

it's 8cm from batter to base 1 not to scale in other words. just wondering if it looked insanely to small or not

[Mudkip Orange]

8cm is 40 feet so yeah, that's a little small.

US Little League is 60' or 12cm, tee ball is 50' or 10cm. Not sure about Japan LL

[keitaro]

ahh ok thanks mud i think though given my limited space i'll leave it that size.

BTW this is what i'm up to atm

did some ballast and made the base ball netting

and of course some train running. 

[keitaro]

had to have 2nd post wouldn't upload more

[Kumo]

The baseball field is a great idea! Really a japanese look!

Your ballast seems really wide. 

[keitaro]

Wide ?? Really the outer side is 2.5 cm all way round approximate I did not measure for complete accuracy.

Inner is 1.5cm.  I left it for fence and room for details to fit in between fence and track.

First time ballasting so was worried I'd stuff the track but the trains all run at a super crawl without getting stuck.

I usually find black spots by getting a non motor car with light installed and slide it across track to find weak spots and only one spot had a slight flicker.

Cleaned and fixed

[Kumo]

Yep, I find that there is a bit too much rocks aside form the tracks.
Otherwise, it's a great layout and it's moving forward so fast!

[Mudkip Orange]

Nice work on the fence.

[keitaro]

thanks for input guys.

mudkip i think i may extend the field a bit larger otherwise the fence will lok out of scale to the field haha.

I'm looking for a great way to make a tall fence to go around the park. I was thinking something like fly screen or a netted fabric from the local shop. Then dry brush it with some silver and a rust color to look like an old fence.

[keitaro]

So while i am slowly building my current project i'm designing my next layout.

The plan so far is to have 4 lines and i am thinking of starting with the largest line being dcc to test out so i am currently looking for a easy dcc compatable train. I'd like ot have it as the express service line but i am having trouble finding a dcc friendly set. I'd like to get the cassiopeia set but it's not dcc friendly.

Reason it's dc friendly is my skills in wiring involve ducktape and thats as far as it goes.

i really cannot see my self wiring up another one safely.

any suggestions. I also was interested in the sunrise express but same issue.

[keitaro]

more progress havn't finished the trees but yeah.

I need to weather the buildings and glue em enough to hold togther.

Will wire them in the future for lighting. basic street design but i need more houses.

[Bernard]

Doing a simple decoder install for the motor really isn't that hard, but depending on where you live there are some members here that can do it for you.

As for the Sunrise Express...nice train, it's a double-decker so it's a little taller than some of the other trains...the one thing I'm not wild about is that mine has the knuckle couplers on it and doesn't have the tightest of fits to other cars, but other than that it's a nice train!

So while i am slowly building my current project i'm designing my next layout.

The plan so far is to have 4 lines and i am thinking of starting with the largest line being dcc to test out so i am currently looking for a easy dcc compatable train. I'd like ot have it as the express service line but i am having trouble finding a dcc friendly set. I'd like to get the cassiopeia set but it's not dcc friendly.

Reason it's dc friendly is my skills in wiring involve ducktape and thats as far as it goes.

i really cannot see my self wiring up another one safely.

any suggestions. I also was interested in the sunrise express but same issue.

[keitaro]

i like double deckers so thats fine for me. are they easy to install ? would be less room due to the split levels?

[keitaro]

Since I am waiting for 3 packs of balast to come from rainbow ten (sal). I have painted some of my plastic fences I have.

Painted with a tinbitz paint so it looks like a rusty metal fence. Going to have fences different on each side due to having no cash .

Doesn't really worry me that much though can always upgrade them later.

Since I did not realise 2 packs of balast will only do 1/4 of my layout error on my part I now have to wait. I'm not even sure if this next 3 packs will be enough. but hopefully it will allow me to get the main parts done so I can start the roads.

Once I have painted the fences I will paint the tunnel portals. Although looking on tips how to paint them.

I have the green max diesel single track portal. I want to paint with a old clay brick colour.

Any tips on how to go about.

I was thiking black undercoat and a layer of a light brown then dry bush a more orangy brown colour ??

Never painted brick walls before. Any suggestions?

[keiichi77]

For brick walls paint the walls the colour your choice if they are not already molded in a colour you like, once it is dry rub an off white toll paint (most dollar stores sell toll paint) in the grout lines.  Let the toll paint dry, once it is dry rub the bricks off lightly with a damp paper towel, since toll paint is water based even when dry it wipes of plastic with ease. When done it should leave the white in the grout lines. This has worked well for me, in HO scale anyway...I haven't tried it in N scale yet. Hope this helps

[rankodd]

If you're modelling a location in Japan, real brick buildings are very rare. Most things that look like brick are usually moulded concrete and are painted a uniform colour. The only buildings I have that are brick are the Tomix small business buildings, and I'll be repainting them to some variant on solid white.

[keitaro]

it looks awfully brick made to me got anypics of a tunnel portal that looks like a brick portal but not?

cheers

[rankodd]

is it this:
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10007587

As far as I know, those are usually stone or cement - gray in colour.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938550@N03/5025244461/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938550@N03/4553585741/sizes/l/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8938550@N03/4614116739/sizes/l/in/photostream/

That last one is almost exactly what you're looking for.

[keitaro]

ahh ok yeah thats the one hmm i wonder what colours to get that look with.

[Samurai_Chris]

I am envious that you are in the building stage. And I am stuck in designing hell until we get back to Australia.. It's looking good..

One thing that I might suggest is your bridge section.. I just feel that each side of the bridge, the cut out is way too strait.. If a bridge is needed, then it means that water is normally present. Which in turn means that the valley has been created by water.. I would just suggest that you leave the tunnel entrances as they are, but just put a more natural curve on each slope under that point leading down to your river. It will just make look a little more realistic....

Chris