Unitram and road plates together make downtown and burb's

[FFISKIV]

2 years ago I got sick of work and having a home office, so with great prejudice I threw out all my office stuff and used my desk as a base for this layout.
My goal is to have a modular layout that can be redesigned when ever I get bored and as I have little time for serious and permanent layout construction I am content with the "kato catalog" look of the layout.
This is (4) V50 kits assembled so all the streets go in the same direction.
I've never been to Japan (I'm an american indian living in New Mexico) so I've used Google Earth and the forum for placement of street signs and details.
The black GatorFoam base needs ground cover besides green grass.  Keeping with the modular theme, cutting and covering squares (same size as the road plates) with various textures should make for a quick fix.
Comment or suggestions appreciated.  
Check my gallery for Unitram disassembly and Unitrak to Unitram track mod. picks.

[Bernard]

What a great idea converting the train viaduct track into a viaduct for cars! (I put this in the catagory of "why didn't I think of that!" It would have saved me a lot of time building bridges from scratch.)

I like the track plan, a very busy city scene with a tram running thought out the layout.

[FFISKIV]

Thanks, Ebay is a good place to find cheap viaduct track for cutting up.  I just got my 1st Tomtec portram, It's not the same caliber as the Kato Portram but it sure is fun to see just how fast it will tear around the tram track without flying off.

[Mudkip Orange]

Agreed, work sucks, but it's a neccessary evil to have money for trains.

Kato should use your layout in a catalog.

[Hobby Dreamer]

Kato should use your layout in a catalog.

Agreed!  Great layout!!!  Best tram layout with Kato unitrack I have seen!!

...and a lot better than work..

Rick

[westfalen]

Very nice.

[KenS]

That's a very nice layout.  I like the mix of green space and paved space, and the layered look of ground, train viaduct, and highway.

[lordwinslow2]

I love this layout.  I am thinking about doing the same now because of this.  Keep it up and keep posting photos.

Winslow

[quinntopia]

FFISKIV  - I love this layout!  This is a great example of why and how to make this hobby FUN!  Just looking at it makes me smile!  This - to me - is what its all about....making your own little world where you can create and change things and then share a really exciting, individual, and fun expression of that!  Great job!

[FFISKIV]

Actually I should thank all of you because without this forum and all of your efforts I would still be stuck with a boring all american railroad. Information found here have saved me much time, money, headache and pointed me in directions I would have never thought of on my own.  I hope this layout inspires those thinking beyond the basic V50 oval.  I've recently negotiated another square meter for layout space in our shared office so this layout will live in its present form for another month before I add a yard and some switching action.  LONG LIVE THE FORUM!! 

[boiselfish]

Your layout has delivered me some new found inspiration (and a source for more expenditure)! Thank you so much. Very well done. :)

[CaptOblivious]

This looks quite nice! Shows what you can do with only Kato's ready-to-use models!

But, FWIW, the banners hanging from balloons? Photo no. 7 from the top? The labels are on upside down ;)

[to2leo]

I am glad, I think a lot of us are in the same shoes without this forum. 

Wig Wag Trains in New Mexico have generally a better deal with Unitrack product then on eBay.  Feel free to visit their site for comparison!

[quinntopia]

FFISKIV -  What did you use for the base for figures?  I like those little round things you have, they blend in nicely (I only noticed them because I was looking for how you did it as I didn't see the usual pile of glue/sludge that these little people typically stand in!)

[FFISKIV]

I glued the figures to clear plastic disc's cut from the plastic packing material they came in using a 3 ring paper hole punch.  The discs seem to disappear on the streets but unfortunately stick out on the grass.  I like to move things around so this seemed the logical solution for quick and easy placement while avoiding globs of glue. 

[FFISKIV]

This looks quite nice! Shows what you can do with only Kato's ready-to-use models!

But, FWIW, the banners hanging from balloons? Photo no. 7 from the top? The labels are on upside down ;)

are they all up side down? thanks.

[Kamiyacho]

The three banners are upside down, as is a sign on the building behind them (the sign under the bicycles). 

[Kumo]

The light green one on the 102 building is also upside down.

[Tosaden]

Hey, this looks really great !!!

[Webskipper]

Glad to see that Unitram is catching on.  Lots of fun to work with.

[nightshade]

thats looks intresting
Q: the unitram paltes conect to normal kato track? (not to hijack ur tread)
but might have another use for that........ (just want to confirm before i go
and get it ..... )

[cteno4]

Nightshade,

yes you can hook regular unitrak to unitram track. the spacing is 33mm on the perpendicular sections (its 25mm in the center of the curves) so you can even attach double unitrak sections to it. height is pretty much the same.

check out what some of the forum folks have done with it like this

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,2301.0.html

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,4172.0.html

cheers

jeff

[nightshade]

wondering is it possible to run superlines (passing by on straight section... all i need is straight sections)

[cteno4]

wondering is it possible to run superlines (passing by on straight section... all i need is straight sections)

not quite sure what you mean by superlines. do you mean the double track unitrak plate sections? those can connect to the straight unitram sections or the ends of the unitram curves (not in the center of the unitram 90 degree curves as the track spacing there goes down to 25mm from the standard 33mm). or you can just use 2 single pieces of straight unitrak as IST did below.

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,2301.0.html

jeff

[nightshade]

mean Kato Amtrack superliners or Athearn bi-level Metrolink cars...
this is just in idea stages but wana use the few tram sections
to run the train thtought the city like in california (middle of the street LOL)
just wondering if the spacing between the tracks are good enough for them to pass by
one more Q: that wont conect to a double track straight up right?

[cteno4]

ok i see what you are getting at. sure you can use the unitram straight sections to run down a street then attach any of the single or double track unitrak sections off of those. both the unitram and unitrak use the same connectors and 33mm track spacing that works for large cars. generally where trains go down streets its usually a straight shot on the street sections (like downtown oakland where the trains go through jack london square area).

i would avoid using the unitram curve sections for large cars like this as they might nick each other as they are tight curves and the tracks are not parallel through the curves, but come to a 22mm spacing half way (45 degrees) through a 90 degree curve, then back out to 33mm spacing.

you can also roll your own street road/rail sections pretty easily if you are doing only straight sections. you can use foamcore and styrene or chipboard to build up around the tracks easily and bring your roadway right up tot he edge of the tracks. between the rails you can use strips of 1/4" wide 040 thick styrene you can get at the hobby shop. this will fill the between the rails area just right between the spike heads (they sort of align the strip well) an give just enough flange clearance for the wheels.

you can then either paint the top for your road and your road marking or you can even print out your roads from the computer where you can make road textures/colors for your kind of surface, manholes, oil and tire stains, road markings etc, then just glue these down. again as long as its along straight sections this is really simple, but on curves its a real mess!!!

i like using the print out method as you can keep playing with road ideas and markings till you are happy and then just use that or change it later easily. painting road markings can be a real pain in the butt in n scale. there are some threads here about making road markings and road textures some interesting ways of using various things like fun foam and pin tape here

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,4177.0.html

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1022.0.html

http://www3.telus.net/public/crowley/ashphalt_roads.htm

cheers

jeff

[cteno4]

Nightshade,

Hey I really screwed up and got things backwards in my head. the straight sections of the unitram are 25mm spacing, not the standard 33mm spacing. only on the curves does it swing out to the 33mm spacing. I dont know how i could have gotten that so backwards when i chimed in here! havnt played with the unitram in months here and its all in the box right now! dont know what i was thinking there, it obviously would be strange to have things narrow on the curve -- outa my gourd!

good news is that there is a new kato track set V53 coming out in late october which will do exactly what you want. it takes things from standard ballested 33mm plate track down to 25mm spaced road track for a block then back out to 33mm plate track. of course you can add more street track in the middle if you want that area longer.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10150117

again sorry for getting the 25/33 flipped, its always fun as those are the ttrak standards as well and folks are always getting those backwards!

you can also do a 25 to 33 transisiton by just using a bunch of 29mm sections in a row, sort of makes a bit of flex track, but this one looks to be a lot more graceful.

25mm spacing should be plenty on the straight aways to make sure your cars dont bump. you can check this as you get the 25mm track spacing if you just put two pieces of unitrak right next to one another with the roadbed touching.

cheers

jeff

[bill937ca]

You can spend $110-$120 for the V53 and change the track center from 33mm to 25mm.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10150117a2/20/2

[nightshade]

not a problem just wanted to know
if i can use that ..... its just an idea
for puch pull operations going through a city
like Amtrack California and surfliner going through
mille of the city street (or Sandiego Coaster)
thinking about making 4 sections of 2x4 California
surfliner coming out of la to Sandiego
and need a city street track plates (wich looks like
unitram would be perfect for it LOL)

sorry for hijacking ur tread
 

[cteno4]

should work fine, just have to do the transition between your main line track spacing and the unitram's 25mm. again a number of different ways to do it. flex track would be fine as well.

what are you planning on using for your main lines?

jeff

[nightshade]

probably a double track
will see ......

[cteno4]

probably a double track
will see ......

you mean double track unitrak?

jeff

[nightshade]

yup  (need to draw it out to see what exactly i gonna do).