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Uh, you seem to have a B-train shorty too much issue. I hope there is a cure for that haha. Awesome!! Funny how what started off as a toy has really taken off. I myself didn't know about it until my friend sent me all of his old stuff. I have since bought a ton of 11-109 chassis'.

You know, the one thing that gained my interest is the size of their drivers. They really looked like they could go fast with their drivers looking so big and the rods being so close to the centers. However, when I compared them to the UP Northern at 80 inches, most didn't come close. But, they look awesome. I haven't invested in one of their passenger locos yet but am still looking. Seems that I gravitate more towards freight, but I use them to pull passengers anyway.

Oh yeah, looking good! Every little bit helps. With the shallowness of the casting, painting the pipes, valves and gauges are a real challenge. You seem to have a steady hand and good eyes to go with that. Yeah, I do have the crew that I ordered back in Oct. I may just stick them in my EF65...

Yes, the British locos were beautifully decorated and the drivers were like astronauts at a certain point in history, travelling faster than almost anyone else in their iron machines. Sadly none of the reference material I found had any extravagant colours and everything was subdued and functional in colour. Nor was any detail that pronounced to really go to town. I did paint the pipes in a rust colour although they are actually in the shadow in my original photo. That gauge detail is very nice in your loco. In the D51, the seats are part of the body weight just like their N scale version. That was very difficult to get a crew in so I hope I can do it with the HO ones when they arrive. Perhaps N Hut will produce a detailing set eventually.

This is a really clever setup—thanks for sharing! I’ve struggled with the fixed magnet setups before, especially with accidental uncoupling during normal operations. Your hinged design looks much more reliable and discreet. Curious, how consistent is the uncoupling action after repeated use? Any issues with alignment or magnet wear over time?

Attached are two images of gems of the Meiji-Mura. The main lobby of the Imperial Hotel Tokyo (built in 1922 and designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) which survived the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, was reconstructed at Meji-Mura in 1960. Sharp Stewart & Co locomotive built in 1874 was still pulling carriages at the museum in 2016 when I visited...I hope it still is😀 Graeme

Afair, the reservations for the CR400AF and the DF4Ds closed after three days. The BF-Z seems to be going the same way, with the slots being picked up very quickly. The CR200J has been definitely in less demand. Which is not entirely surprising, it's a less sexy design and more expensive model. Though I personally like it more over the sleek CR400s, it has more personality. I should probably move the next part to the J-scale thread, but I'm kind of hoping my answer is just the end of this off-topic. Yes, contact form or email. The email is on the site, and I'm not sure how the redesign will affect the form as Wolf has been in charge of that aspect. My role is mostly taking care of China and finding unobtainiums. DMing here or on the discord is also possible. We haven't gotten requests on Insta yet, so can't vouch for that. I'm personally always happy to answer requests as I know how hard it can be to find things and import them, and we cannot stock large quantities of everything. Even more since interests in China Railway models is still very much just in its infancy compared to people modelling Japan. So stock doesn't represent the full amount of what we can get. I personally approach this as an extension of my involvement in the hobby. Wolf only asked me to partner up as I was getting frustrated with the difficulty of sourcing Chinese models as a private person.

Located twenty minutes from Inuyama, Meiji-Mura Museum is a must-visit if you're anything interested in Japanese architecture. Located on the shore of the Lake Iruka reservoir and dating back to 1965, the museum was created by then-Meitetsu vice president Motoo Tsuchikawa and his former university classmate Yoshirō Taniguchi as a tangible means of preserving Meiji-era history and culture at a time when modernization was starting to sweep that history away. Although its stated aim is to preserve Meiji-era history, the museum does include a few buildings from the Taishō and Showa eras. Rather than show off everything, I'll showcase a few examples from around the museum. To start off with, how about two different architectural styles from the same decade? On the left is the Saigō Dojo built for then-future Naval Minister Saigō Jūdō in 1880, while on the right is the house the writers Mori Ogai and Natsumi Soseki occupied at different times, built in 1887. While the Saigō Dojo is a uncompromisingly Western-looking structure, by contrast the Ogai and Soseki house is very traditionally Japanese. Meiji-Mura breaks its grounds down into five different areas dealing with different time periods within the Meiji era; these two structures are in area 1, the nearest to the entry gates. Alastair

Thanks! I used a test piece to try the drybrushing method the ripples and I couldn’t quite get it to look right, I don’t have the technique. I also tested polyfiber for the white water but it was way too much volume. The baking powder and gloss medium I find is much easier to apply and has the right amount of volume.

Nice! Cool using the baking soda for the white water in the gloss medium! Nicer effect than having to paint the white on top. Gives it that bubbly look! jeff

Looking back through my photo folders, I don't have any of Kanayama Station besides a few random train photos from last year's trip. So with that said and done, let's head out and see a few of the sights. Although I typically do my first full day at the SCMaglev and Railway Park in Kinjofuto, we're going to get a little out of chronological order and head to Inuyama to visit Meiji-Mura. If you want to get to Inuyama, the fastest and most convenient way to do it is by Meitetsu, taking around half an hour or so. Back when I did my trip in 2023, it cost ¥570 one-way, whereas nowadays and going by the information on Google Maps it's since risen to ¥630. For those wanting to travel to Inuyama by JR Central, it's possible, although bear in mind you'll have to go out to Gifu and change trains to the Takayama Line, and the nearest JR station (Unuma) is in fact two kilometres north of Inuyama on the other side of the Kiso River. Inuyama itself is a former castle town, and there's more than a few attractions based around it including the Cultural History Museum, Sankoinari Shrine, and a recreated/restored part of the old jōkamachi district. If you're heading to Meiji-Mura though, don't be distracted by that and head for the eastern side of the station where the buses come in. Gifu Bus operates a private, cash-only connection to the museum - be sure to check the timetables before you travel. Alastair

Been going full throttle on this diorama. White water was added using a mixture of Mod Podge Gloss and baking powder. Then a thin layer of Mod Podge Gloss was applied and used an airbrush to push it around to create ripples, tried and true methods found on YT. Still waiting for everything to dry completely to see how it looks, I think more white water will need to be added here and there. In hindsight, I would've wanted the water to be more opaque green/blue tint and not see the river bed as clearly, but this is not atrocious. The first photo shows is how it looks with it being 95% dried.

This is why I got started in the UK market. And check out that drawbar power. I've seen multiple connector type drawbars for the decoder in the tender solutions. I was going to try to adapt that to the D51... The utube isn't good for my wallet.

Jeff probably explained most of the important things for feeders, and the minimal version should also work just fine. But a lot depends on how you want to operate the layout. Just as a quick example: If the siding on the bottom left will have an engine shed, it is typical to have a separate switch to turn on/off the section of the engine shed so the engine inside won't move while another engine is moving onto the track in front of it to just refuel. That would add a switch + a feeder for the blue part (engine shed). There can be a lot more of those situations on your track plan so a good next step would be thinking about the landscape first and playing around with a temporary setup to identify places where you wish the engine would be able to stop. You can also post the landscape sketch here and we might be able to identify those spots from experience as well.

@Ekiben if you dont have a lot of other ttrakers around you, you can always just do a little loop or point to point of small modules with a single track on small wooden canvases which you can get at the local art supply or craft shop inexpensivly. No worries if the track overhangs some as it helps separate the different scenes and lets you even wander the single track around the table with bits of track between modules and moving the track around on the modules as best suited for the scenes [ttrak usually is the opposite with track really fixed and linear and track placement and module size really takes president over the scene]. BTW ttrak was started from a model train mag editor presenting using A4 sized pieces of plywood [available at many stores] into mini railroad dioramas. Lee Monaco saw the presentation while they were trying to bring n trak to japan and realized it was just about 310mm long and a small modular system could get based on this and ttrak was born. jeff

Yep, like most hobby shops in my experience you can directly ask them via contact form or email for any inquiries or special orders. In my experience, it's always worth inquiring about something you are looking for even if it's not listed because they may still have stock of it or can get it ordered. In J-Scale's case you can use the contact form then work through email when they get back to you, but it might change as part of the upcoming site redesign. Instagram DMs may be another option, or even DMing them on here may work. I'll let @disturbman or @Wolf confirm on these ones though. @disturbman It's definitely possible. The reservation wechat has been blowing up my phone the past couple days with all of the new people joining, much more than the CR200J preorder. I thought the 10-day or so window for the CR200J was nuts, but seeing it potentially in less than a week for the CR400BF-Z would be impressive. At least you get a better chance this way than buying a DF4 or something on Taobao during their "Crazy Thursdays," lol

Hi @TattTatts, Welcome to the forum, glad you found us. Take a sec when you get a chance and introduce yourself over in the introduction forum. I assume you are just wanting to use the power routing of the points in order to control the sidings’ power. Also is this a temporary layout setup or something you want to fix down? If you are going to fix it down then it’s always best to use more feeders in case you get any voltage drops in unijoiners later due to scenery materials getting in there. If temporary you can just experiment. For feeders i am a huge fan of just making your own one of two ways. The most solid day is to use a roto tool and cut two slots in the roadbed just below the rails about 1cm long. Then tin the bottom of the exposed rail with solder and tin the end of a piece of wire for the feeder [like 20g wire] and then place the tinned end of the wire in the slot and hit it with the soldering iron quickly and the two tinned surfaces will fuse quickly. Once soldered put a drop of epoxy over the slot and end of the insulation of the wire. This will make the most positive connection tot he rail you can do and is the most unbreakable. You can then have a feeder on any piece of track not just a 62mm feeder. The second way to make your own feeders is to take a unijoiner and using some pointy needle nose pliers put lol the metal connector out of the plastic roadbed clip housing. You can slide the end of a stripped wire into the plastic housing and slide the metal joiner back in with the wire under the metal track joiner. No solder joint is needed, but you can solder the wire to the bottom of the metal joiner, but you have to make a nice flat solder joint for it to fit back in. You can then use these like the Kato unijoiner feeders. You can use 22g wire [and 20 if you get good at it] and the soldered versions are not quite as delicate as the Kato unijoiner feeders are [they can break easily and are 24g wire] Both techniques require a little practice and also soldering practice to get good at, but thats something a couple of hours and a couple pieces of sacrificial track and wires can get you! Don’t be scared of soldering, it’s really not that hard. Tons of videos on youtube on it to watch and learn from then just practice and experiment some and you’ll get it. Anyone can solder! Using the points for your power control and a power pack on each of your two loops the only real rules are dont put a feeder on as siding or on either track of a passing siding [the mainline track and the passing track]. Its best to put feeders on either side of a passing track [outside the ponts] on each end so each track would be fed well from either side as you cant have a feeder inside the passing tracks]. You also have to remember that a double or single crossover will not supply power thru the crossover, you need to feed them from both sides of the crossover. Only other thing is to make sure you spread of feeders ends up with a feeder like every 5 or 6 feet. If it’s going to get set in place I find it better to reduce that to more like every 3-4 feet to be safe off into the future since all those track joints cant be cleaned later without tearing stuff up. If you do have a power drop develop later you can always add a feeder by drilling a hole next to the track on the outside of the rail and soldering the wire to the outside of the rail to make a new connection. But this is tricky to do to not melt the roadbed and its a bit ugly. if this is going to get nailed down i would first make sure to set it all up on the table and experiment with the feeder placement to make sure it all works as designed and also make sure there are no mods needed to the track plan due to how trains run and such. Playing with the actual track layout with a train is really different than looking at it on a cad screen. you can do all this using the 62mm feeder and or the unijoiner feeders. Just need to engineer in where you can swap out of their straight track to slip in a 62mm and with the unijoiner feeders just be careful with them as they are just easy to break. Down side of the Kato wires is they are 24g and a bit whimpy, so best not to try to feed very long sections of track with them. heres a rough shot of what i would think the minimum for this layout, but i would probably add a few more if getting nailed down to be safe. You can just buy some wire and then dress the wire back to your throttles and connect them all to a little terminal strain. There are simple screw down or lever operated terminal strips to connect all your wires up to each throttle easily. cheers jeff

I'm already a j-scale shop customer, but didn't know it was possible to order or asking for non catalog parts I've made my Taobao order from Parcel Up. It has the most Taobao's system comprehensive interface

@disturbman That is what i suspect too. That 0524 got lot of people to buy in. I know i wouldn't have with an AF-Z coming in next year if it was the regular version. In the span of 3 Months, I have ordered CR400 AF-Z, CR200J3C, HD3CA and now this lol.

It's a great learning experience for all. Sometimes you have to Project Manage the hobby. Picking and choosing the things you go after. There are so many facets to the hobby you can chase minor projects to the point you make little progress on your overall build. I look at it from the number of units needed. For example one will have 1 or 2 auto reverses but 15 or 20 switches. The switch controllers can be costly. So DIY the switch controllers will give you a better payoff. You bringing the Arduino into your build process opens a huge opportunity. Inobu

They probably will close their TB pre-order in a few days if the slots are selling that fast. The European vendor will still have until May 29 to send their reservations. I'm interested to see how they deal with the very real possibility that the 0524 will out sell their planned capacity for that running number.

@disturbman Its going to be interesting timeline for that changming cr400 bf-z. Already 2000+ orders on taobao store front.

Maybe that's the plan then. My gimbal only has a clamp for phones unfortunately though. Maybe I can get an adapter or something.

Hi Thanks so much for the answers, so if I’m understanding it correctly InfraRed isn’t the way to go, I’ll have to change to current sensors…. I’m still learning (especially when it comes to Arduino’s and setting them up)…. i see I have to learn a lot, but it’s a great hobby !! So i want to appologize if sometimes i aks for the obvious (for most of you) At this moment i’m not using sound on my locs, but maybe in the future i will, so my goal is to build a full proof system that works for any situation…. No doubt i will have more questions… sometimes my mind 🤯 Tom

If you are in Japan, the used market is insanely good for great cameras at cheap prices (compared to the US).