New Japanese N gauge exhibition layout.

[sunbeam]

Hi Guys,

 

Some of you will remember my old JR Coast Japanese N layout. That layout was sold years ago, and I've missed having a layout ever since. After 4 years trying to work out what I want, need and can store, plus one false start a few months ago, work is now well underway.

 

Although a long way from finished, it's starting to take shape. Ends need to he made for each box and steel supports for the middle so as not to sag etc. There will be a smaller 3rd box with an interconnecting covered box. The first two boxes will have one scene in and the 3rd box will be totally different .

 

This part of the railway is 12 1/2 foot long, 2 foot deep and 4 foot to bottom of box and 6 foot to top. It will have a skirt running along the bottom. The 3rd unmade section will be 5 foot long, and much shallower in depth, but the same heights to match.

Edited September 18, 2016 by sunbeam

[Drunkenclam]

Looks like some nice solid tables there.

[cteno4]

Wow, nicely constructed! How do you transport these to shows? Do you have access to a wider van? This has always been a challenge with our club layouts, so always curious about it!

 

Will be great to watch the layout come together!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[sunbeam]

Way back when, I had my trailer made to carry JR Coast. It was custom made 2" wider than the standard 4 foot so I could two fit 24" base boards (JR Coast) and still have room for my fingers! The trailer is 6 1/2 foot long. We've had it 20 years now!! I just fitted a new SS top last January as the old wooden top I made rotted to nothing. This trailer has consistently been used for my business for the last 8 years!

 

The layout (and the unmade bit) has been very carefully designed to fit in the trailer. The very first thing I do when designing a layout is to design it around transport, storage is always secondary, oop's!

 

 

Edited September 18, 2016 by sunbeam

[Matteo_IT]

Very accurate structure!!!

[cteno4]

beautiful! thats cheating! we looked into that but just too much money and issues (like insurance and storage) for the club to try to do... we are not incorporated at all so no great legal status here to deal with this stuff. larger clubs have nice big trailers to haul large volumes of ntrak modules and such, always jealous of them!

 

so we just try to desgin modules around the size that can get split up in the vehicles of the club members. layout 3.0 we have made them a bit smaller as 2.0 box size was just a little two large to get two side by side in most suvs and thus really poor space usage... hopefully 3.0 can go ini a couple of hatch backs and its expandable to deal with show space and transport resources...

 

hate dealing with all that stuff but so important when doing mobile layouts like this!

 

looking forward to the layout coming together!

 

cheers

 

jeff

Edited September 18, 2016 by cteno4

[Fenway Park]

Well Rob you are ahead of me!!!!! Just sorting the new garage out, need to add insulation and plasterboard to the walls and seal and paint the floor. Then I can start the layout construction. 

Looking forward to seeing how your new layout develops. What era?

 

Malcolm

[sunbeam]

Hi M,

 

Era, LOL, I don't do era, I just play trains. I'll be running anything and everything.

 

The main boards you see will be sea, cliffs, rivers and bridges. It will have two main lines, Shinkansen and single branch. The second unmade board will be a Town scape. They  will be linked by a box with a viewing window as it will be quite interesting. The two scenes will be made independently, so the joining box will have to get the passing trains lined up ready for the next scene. I was going to make this part in clear Perspex tubes for the public affect, but maybe not.

[sunbeam]

I bought the led day lighting defused strips today, £130 if anybody is interested? I also bought the alloy sheet for the sky and ply for the over head suport system. I made the main suport from it.

[Drunkenclam]

Lets just hope you don't have to transport it in a Sunbeam :D I was wondering why you put a roof on it?

[sunbeam]

Lets just hope you don't have to transport it in a Sunbeam :D I was wondering why you put a roof on it?

That would be no bad thing!

This is my personal car, a Sunbeam TI ;-)

[sunbeam]

Update.

 

With such a thin frame, sagging is an issue, this is how I've overcome it.

 

The end MDF (will be middle) panel will be cut to the shape of the landscape. At that point, the roof bracing will hold the roof level.

 

More to come.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

That would be no bad thing!

This is my personal car, a Sunbeam TI ;-)

I have not seen one of those in years. A friend had a bronze coloured one in the mid 80s. There can't be too many of them running around today.

[sunbeam]

I love mine, I fully restored her in 1998 and won 4 ASOC events and a number of classic car shows. Corgi made their Sunbeam TI model based on my personal car as it was the best one in the UK! They used my number plate and even painted the rear quarter glass trim in black as per my car. They were meant to be body colour, but I thought they looked better in black on the TI version, so I restored mine black and Corgi even copied that  :-)

 

Corgi pics of my car :-)

 

 

[velotrain]

About 45 years ago I had a Sunbeam sports car - don't recall the model name.

[sunbeam]

Maybe one of these ?

 

[velotrain]

Yup, that would be the one.  I recall the "fins" at the tail, and suspect that was in the midst of the Detroit big fin era.

[ToniBabelony]

I love mine, I fully restored her in 1998 and won 4 ASOC events and a number of classic car shows. Corgi made their Sunbeam TI model based on my personal car as it was the best one in the UK! They used my number plate and even painted the rear quarter glass trim in black as per my car. They were meant to be body colour, but I thought they looked better in black on the TI version, so I restored mine black and Corgi even copied that :-)

 

Corgi pics of my car :-)

Insanity. What an honour and what a beautiful car indeed. The coolest and maybe most underappreciated hatchback from that era. It's the little FR underdog like the Toyota Starlet KP70 in Japan was.

[sunbeam]

1000's of Ebay trees came today as well as my lighting :)

 

[utrainia]

Trees look good! Are they from China? Packing tape on the box looks familiar lol. Are the trunks made of twisted wire?

[sunbeam]

The trees are from a Chinese seller, Everestmodel.

 

They are twisted wire, there are some slightly different shades and light green, these are the best cheap trees I've ever found.

 

£8 for 40 or so. My normal 'go to' UK tree seller asks £8 per tree !!!!!! Nice quality, but a bit matt, these Ebay trees have a level of shine like a real tree and in bulk from a few feet away look very good.

 

I'll also get busy with the air brush on them at some point and add more gloss green shades to mix it up a bit :)

Edited September 27, 2016 by sunbeam

[sunbeam]

Work on the new layout has been flat out over the last week, pics so far.

Edited May 20, 2017 by sunbeam

[sunbeam]

Can't seem to post more pics ? :(

[sunbeam]

End boxes were made today.

[Kiha66]

Wow, amazing work so far sunbeam, love seeing the progress!  Are those bridges from tomix?