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For small text, in the Google Translate app if you press the shutter button you can then pinch to zoom as usual. For actually photographing the small text, a phone with macro mode helps. You have to download Japanese and English to your device to use the image translation feature anyway, but additionally on Pixel phones the voice recognition is done locally as well, so it's very responsive. My wife's iPhone lags a lot, but my Pixel doesn't. Actually her iPhone rarely seems to understand what she is saying anyway, for some reason the microphone on the Pixel seems to be a lot better.

I think this came in in the iOS 16. Sorta hidden feature. Handy for something fast. The app works well as well, pretty much the same as google translate app. You can download Japanese to the device in the apps so you don’t have the lag to it being sent out for processing. It’s pretty quick and easy. I like the app using the live view. Only downside is on the phone the translated text can be small if you are doing smaller text (translated text is the same relative sizes as the Japanese test is in). Comes up bigger on the iPad for when I’m doing modeling stuff. Definitely matured a lot in the last couple of years. I’m more tempted now sometimes of snapping a pict of a instruction sheet diagram with an important bit of info and printing it to shove in with the instructions for the figure now. another translation thing I’ve been meaning to do is to print out the English version of the hobbysearch description text for many of my trains, especially for painted trains that have interesting stories, and shove the in the train case.. My dyslexic mind has a hard time keeping details about trains unless there is some sort of connection to other bits, especially locations and lines, those just do not stick in my dyslexic brains (taxonomy killed me in school, at least anatomy was pretty logical in structure and prefix and suffix and I could think my way thru from what bits I could remember). jeff

Google Translate is rather useful. There is a lot more you can do with it, at least on Android. You can use it for real-time translation of two people talking. If you press the conversation icon it does everything else automatically, detecting when one person stops or switches languages automatically. On Android you can use it in Google Lens or whatever it is called these days. It varies from phone to phone, but on Pixel you hold down on the nav bar at the bottom of the screen and then tap the translate icon. It will translate whatever is on screen, and it works with images, in apps, everything. Very handy for Japanese only apps. It can also do real-time transcription of phone calls with translation, and the same for videos on YouTube etc. On Android to use the photo translate feature, open Google Translate and tap on the camera icon. It does it in real-time, or you can tap the shutter button to freeze it. You can also use it in the Google Photos. They can both handle hand-writing, which to me is deeply impressive because even I can barely read mine.

This was new to me so sharing in case I am not the only who was not aware of this iPhone feature. From the New York Times this past Saturday: Copy or translate text with the camera. Open the camera app and point your phone lens at a block of text. An icon with three lines in an outlined square appears at the bottom-right corner. Tap the icon, and it captures the text with the option to copy, select all, look up, translate, or share. I tried it on a Nimo5 video description and it worked okay. Not sure how it compares to translation apps but it seems pretty handy. Hoping I am not the last person in the Forum to learn about this! Ciao, Tony

Spent a little time in Imon Shibuya this morning. What a lovely shop. Came away with the basic Kato E5 and the extension sets, plus a bunch more track. I guess a Shinkansen layout will be my next. 🤪

Greetings friend, Thanks for the reply and advice! Yes, it is going to be an challenge and will have to come up with some custom set up. I was just wondering if anyone has done this as to get some ideas as some inspirations. That said, I do like a challenge on this matter as it will be an interesting one. Maybe I should do it and post some pictures (hopefully). Once again, thank you and best regards!

Greetings friend, Yes, I am aware of that......however it's something I will overlook as a trade off for a somewhat more affordable model and the other advantages that come with it. Best regards!

These etches look fantastic! I use a belt hole punch for cutting round shapes. This one https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001834900160.html makes 1.5, 2, 2.5, 3, 3.5 or 4mm holes. I use it for making road signals. It is still difficult to properly align the tool with the drawing, but the cut is perfect. Marc

Thanks for replying.

Nice joe! Maybe make the black out circle a bit larger diameter so you have some black to trim off once decal in place on the cover? I wonder if close cutting then last bit use fine sandpaper. But it must be tough holding a 4mm n scale manhole! so this was a decal onto an etched cover or blank cover? If on an etched cover did you try and micro sol on it to relax the decal down onto the etched details. I’m guessing this is getting to the very limit of decals and the surface relief! Also inkjet decal paper does come in several weights and bes on small stuff is the thinnest. All the laser decal I’ve used seems all to be the same thickness and a tad thicker than the thin inkjet decal paper. Toner added as well makes them come out much heavier/thicker than inkjet and they don’t lay down as well with micro sol I think due the harder toner not being as flexible. yes the runoff transfers use a dye sublimation system to print them and print white too, but are very pricy machines. i did have a rub off transfer system that printed toner onto a transfer sheet. You then applied a sheet with transfer adhesive to it and pulled off the backing. You then had to cut carefully around your decal area to cut it out and stick it onto your model and remove the transfer backing. One issue was it’s easy to get a halo of transfer adhesive around the toner of the decal and that can very quickly suck up dust bits if not sealed up right away with a dull coat. Also same issue of clear decals that white is not printed so will be a hole in your decal so has to go on white if you want it white and best to remove the transfer adhesive in that area as well. It was a bit of a mess but worked and I had one side of a tama train done as a test on a blank Tomytec portram I had and Tomytec announced their tama train so I decided better use if time on other projects and jsut bought the Tomytec model! Not sure if that system would be viable for sale though. cheers, jeff

The ones that spring to mind straight away are places like Popondetta or Recolor. Search 大阪レンタルレイアウト and see what will be in the vicinity of where you’ll be staying.

I'm making plans lo visit Japan and one of the things on my list is to run some trains. I'm looking for a shop to run my Taki set on thanks for any suggestions. I guess renting a set to run would be an option ad well.

Quick update of the manhole covers. While I was printing the water slide transfers for the pipe barriers I added a few manhole covers to one of the sheets to see how they look. I will say now that they look much better real life than in the pictures and I did a terrible job of cutting them out so there is a little white around the edges. 1:80 version: 1:150 version: I did a quick look for rub on transfer makers and oh wow the prices are insane! The best price I could find was £360 to make one A4 sheet (3 colours). I am sure there must be cheaper options out there. I also wanted to share some test etches for new lids. 1:150 first: Pretty happy with these, you can make out the little sailboats (left). Now over to 1:80 scale and boy did these come out well, the covers are 7.5mm across and you can even partially make out the word Hiroshima (top left):

That would be very much appreciated jeff, thank you.

Cool, thanks. Yes please post the video. I’m always surprised after doing these myself (il like the stranded wire armature method too) and watching lots of videos of others doing it I keep finding new tricks! cheers jeff

Joe, This looks good with steps and platforms separate. But more assembly but easy to grow to what ever height. Also much more space effecient etches. Since these things are usually bolted/welded all over the place, not sure all of the are as clean as the ones in Marc’s photos anyway. Those ones look like they could take elephants! I’ll see if I can get some various building floor heights measured from the usual suspects. jeff

Hi Marc, I really like this style of stairs too. Like you say they have a sleek clean design. I have yet to work out how to make these as an etch, I have an idea but I haven't tested it yet. The design I based my steps on has separate landings with each flight of stairs dropped in the gap and bolted together, like this: This was easy to turn into a net for etching as I could just use tabs on the steps that slot into holes on the landings: The design you attached has the landing attached to the steps that is lowered onto some for of support such as an I-beam like this: I gives a really nice clean side without any visible joins. For etching it with the steps attached would mean something along these lines: I have a feeling it would be easier to have the steps and sides as separate parts, I have yet to test my theory. If anyone has any novel way to make these easily I would love to hear from you. I did't mention before but there is a 1.5mm gap in the middle so that you can have 2 posts between the steps not on the outside: I agree it looks better that way, I like that it forms a series of triangles in the middle. Just checked the drawings, there is 20mm between floors, which is probably a little too much. If I take two steps out it would bring it down to around 17mm if that would be better? I can adjust it to whatever height works best by altering the depth of each step and seeing as I don't own any ready made buildings I am not entirely sure if any standard floor height is used for models. Regarding the slope I imagine from the height of the building it wouldn't be any steeper than 40 degrees, It could even be a 35. This is a handy guide from the Building Standards Act. Source: https://fujino-gyosei.jp/kaidanryokan/ Joe

Thnx Jeff, Here is the recipe.... 😉 1. Create the basic shape of the tree from 0.35 mm wire (8 double strains will do) 2. Wrap the base in Fimo (PVC modelling paste) 3. Add fibres 12 mm (2x), 6 mm (1x) and 2 mm (1x) 4. Spray in a dark base colour, i.e. RAL 7013 5. Add the leaves; I used ground leaves from Scenic Express 6. Fine-tune with airbrush and drybrush I will edit a video of the whole process once all the trees and bushes are done. Grtz! Huib

Hi Joe, This is one I like. Sleek, modern. There are only two support columns at the center, so they look lighter. I don't know the slope, though. How can you figure it out? Btw, what is the distance between two storeys in your design? Marc

Sneaky New Episode! #144 New Regional Yamagata Shinkansen Series E8 The new Yamagata Shinkansen Series E8, which has unique features inspired by Yamagata Prefecture, made its debut in March 2024. See the efforts being made along the line to attract passengers. Broadcast on May 17, 2024 https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/shows/2049143/

I’m just guessing that none of these will be preserved. I could be wrong. JR Central has one at the Nagoya museum. At least one could be displayed temporarily at the Kyoto museum on that track that comes in through the Umekoji yard, that wouldn’t surprise me. They’ve had some interesting stuff in there for a few weeks at a time. Now that I think about, I don’t recall seeing anything about plans to refresh the permanent collection. I’ll have a look around.

Recently purchased a Kato TGV Sud-Est (10-198) and a Kato Eurostar (10-327), and I am in need of some pantographs. I've read that the TGV pantograph can be replaced with part numbers 14746-3F or 14794-1F, but they are sold out everywhere. The Eurostar pantograph part number is 14730F, which is also sold out everywhere. Any suggestions on where I can search or who I may contact to locate parts? Also if there are any alternate parts that are easier to locate, please let me know. Thanks for the help! New to creating posts so if this is the wrong place for this, please correct me.

Thanks for posting. I have been watching Nimo5's videos as the 381 gives way to the 273 - neat to see another perspective. A bit disappointed that no 381s will be saved. I like the retro look (now that I sort of look retro myself....) and have gotten several models of the series. I had been thinking that some would be kept on as a recent Japan Railway Journal highlighted how JR West was using some older trains as an attraction to bring train enthusiasts out to ride some trains. Guess not though. Ciao, Tony

Nice Huib, what materials and methods are you using for your armatures and flicking? jeff

Some detail shots of the station and farm.