Totoro module layout

[JR 500系]

That 3-wheeled truck is perfectly matching! 

[cteno4]

its not a crappy printer just not an n scale one! those will require you to sell off a kidney or child to afford it...

 

jeff

[kvp]

Actually there are cheap (diy) N scale printers. The idea for higher resolution is to use a smaller head with smaller steps. I've seen a home built one that takes around 3-4 days for 1x1x1 cm cube or equivalent, but prints near shapeways quality. A 20m N scale shell can be done in a month of 7/24 operation or faster if you print as a series of flat panels that have to be glued. Faster ones are more expensive though.

 

The bright side is that these machines can be used as high precision cnc machines, so it's also possible to mill the window glass paneles with them.

[cteno4]

Yeah i took a quick look at dyi lasercutters and realized that the dyi part is a whole nother hobby then as well. while i love to pick up more hobbies it means less time for others and if you get stalled in making the tool, you dont get to making parts for the model trains! This is why i have delayed on arduino as i can see many hours slipping down into circuits and programming! need to make sure i have the time to do it! but soon hopefully!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[tossedman]

Nope, no diy 3D printers or laser cutters here thanks gents. Like Jeff says, I don't have time for another hobby. Looking into a laser cutter at work. Just gotta see if we can squeeze it into the budget.

 

On another note, I began hacking away at that little blue truck. Got one door cut out. It's only 4 mm wide so it's pretty delicate work. Once I get the other door cut I'll look at modifying the front and see if I can't flatten it out a bit by replacing it with flat styrene.

 

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman
Uploaded images

[Socimi]

For urban scenes, a "Whispers of My Heart" - inspired module would be perfect.

[tossedman]

That's one Studio Ghibli movie that I have yet to see. I'll see if I can find it and get some more ideas. Thanks for the tip.

 

I'd thought of getting more of the Sankei Ghibli buildings for another module but that's somewhere down the road.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[tossedman]

Whilst trying to avoid doing real work (that I get paid to do), I did some more hacking and slashing to this poor little truck. Cut out the other door. I used thread to cut part of the opening. Need to clean it all up as you can see. I also took off the hood/bonnet and need to pick up some 1mm styrene to build a new front end for it. I found a 0.005" saw blade for the Dremel in my tool box. Who knew? I bought it years ago and totally forgot I owned it. I carefully used this to cut off the front end. Cuts like hot knife through butter.

 

 

Here's the module from one end to the other. It's 60" or 1524 mm because that's how wide the sheet of plywood was and I had room. There'll be two more modules the same length added to either end of this one. It's a pretty complicated track plan on this module as you can see. I've got the initial ballast down and need to finish that off and "plant" some grass on the edges of it like I've done on the right side here in my testing. I'm not too fussy about it right now. It look ok and the left side of the track here will be against the wall and only visible to me (I'm 6'6" or 198cm tall).

 

 

I'm having second thoughts about the rice paddies as well. As Jeff mentioned earlier these Tomytec rice paddies are left wanting. I don't really like the colour, so I'm going to experiment on the third, incomplete paddy, and see what I can come up with. They're on a piece of foam core so I'll be able to remove the whole paddy as one piece. I think I'll try cutting some foam to divide the individual paddies.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman
Uploaded images

[cteno4]

Todd,

 

Looking very nice!

 

Super cool thread saw trick, never seen that one! Can't wait to try it on something! I think a tomytec car is going to become a convertible...

 

Ultra thin blade looks nice, even though I have a bevy of cutoff discs and blades I only use them where there is a waste side as they generally are not thin!

 

Jeff

Edited January 11, 2016 by cteno4

[tossedman]

Got some more mail today. A bus and another B Train Shorty. The bus is Tomytec and with some surgery and paint will make a reasonable facsimile or this bus. It'll be close but not quite as the headlights and other details are different. But, It's close enough.

 

 

 

The B Train Shorty is a Tokyo Metropolitan Bureau of Transportation Toden 6000. With a bit of surgery and paint it'll resemble this. I hope! Again, it's not right on but it's close enough.

 

 

And here they are, grist for the mill.

 

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

 

 

Edited February 23, 2020 by tossedman
Uploaded images

[Mudkip Orange]

This is awesome.

 

Although that's a mighty rough low water crossing you got there, even by Texas standards.

[tossedman]

If you go fast enough you don't even notice the creek. Gotta build me a bridge or two yet.

[katoftw]

This is awesome.

 

Although that's a mighty rough low water crossing you got there, even by Texas standards.

Does the General Lee come in N 1:150?

[jasona2z]

I found this thread recently and started thinking about building a Totoro t-trak module. Has this part of your layout progressed at all in the last year? Im keen to see more of it. 

I purchased the sankei paper kit of the house ( http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10131948 ), but haven't made it yet. 

These two videos seem to be good guides on how to build it, However, Ive never made a paper kit before, so it could be interesting.

 

Have you had luck finding any other items that work on the layout? I've looked as im sure most have, for a somewhat appropriate sized totoro figure, but It isn't easy to find anything. 

 

Would love to see some updated photos if you have any :)

[cteno4]

Jason,

 

The sankei kits are really nice and not hard to do. What I would suggest is you get one of the cheaper smaller sankei kits to build before you try the bigger more complex totoro house. It helps you figure out the process and a little practice so of you screw something up no worries! I did this luckily and screwed up with a couple of wall sections laminated wrong as they were within a mm or so different from each other. I neglected to write the number of the part on it in pencil when I cut them out! Lesson learned.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

Thread dig from the past. haha  I have noticed recently many new 1:150 Studio Ghibli stuff coming out.  Some may have been useful for this module.

[tossedman]

I found this thread recently and started thinking about building a Totoro t-trak module. Has this part of your layout progressed at all in the last year? Im keen to see more of it. 

I purchased the sankei paper kit of the house ( http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10131948 ), but haven't made it yet. 

These two videos seem to be good guides on how to build it, However, Ive never made a paper kit before, so it could be interesting.

 

Have you had luck finding any other items that work on the layout? I've looked as im sure most have, for a somewhat appropriate sized totoro figure, but It isn't easy to find anything. 

 

Would love to see some updated photos if you have any :)

 

Hi Jason,

 

Sorry nothing new to report on this module. I kind of got stalled and then involved with other projects. It'll happen one day though. Still haven't found the right size Totoro. It'd be easy to make one with clay. I just need to do it. 

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[cteno4]

Maybe cell phone charms? Is easy one to model and paint though!

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

All the cell phone charms we found were too big for Totoro. Cat Bus was perfect though.

[gavino200]

This is awesome. Any updates?

[tossedman]

No, sorry, it's kind of on the back burner at the moment.

[macdon]

3 hours ago, tossedman said:

No, sorry, it's kind of on the back burner at the moment.

Now, why do you think that is? LOl!

 

Enjoy your summer buddy........its the rainy season for us so im back with trains 😄

btw- just the other day HBO showed "Herbie: Fully Loaded" and I remembered you! haha!

[tossedman]

Getting the Bug ready for a comp next weekend Mardon. Spend a lot more time outside now when it's not -25°C!

[tossedman]

So, haven't done anything new here in a couple of years but I got rid of my personal website which had all of the pictures hosted on it. I hate seeing missing images so I've uploaded them to the forum again. 

 

Who knows, this module may see the light of day yet.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[cteno4]

Thanks todd! Nice of you and useful to folks finding the thread! 
 

yep always good to upload here as well if folks are willing as external services can go poof or change link structure, etc and the image go dark.

 

cheers

 

jeff