What did you do on your layout today? (N scale)

[disturbman]

Actually, very reminiscent of the original scenes.

[Martijn Meerts]

I spent some time cleaning the tracks of the helix, so I could run some trains up and down the thing for some testing. I'm still working on a design for the main station, but I think I'm getting to a point where I can possibly start experimenting with some actual physical track. Of course, that does mean I need to build a couple of section bases first. At least I have cleared enough space to build those by now 🙂

 

Running a couple of trains, even on a relatively uninteresting bit of layout does help with the motivation as well, so once the chaos at work* is under control, I hope to be able to continue, finally.

 

 

 

 

 

* I was switched to some new projects some months ago, but had to switch back to my original project again, so I need to do a little bit of catching up with some bugfixes and small new features on the rather short term.

[Pauljag900]

The weather and my bad back  were kind to me today So I took advantage and assembled and painted the baseboard 

The wood was already cut to size so it was just a case of drilling,glueing and screwing together.
 

 

 

Although a bit chilly it was sunny and windy so the paint dried in about 30 mins,just a slapstick coat to seal it up as it will be totally covered eventually 

 

 

90 mins it was back in the shed.?😂

 

 

 

The engine shed will be at the end of the siding,I’m  not keen on the transition track as it does nt seem to fit in so I m hoping I can jiggle the doors to fit the Unitrack without using it.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Pauljag900

[Pauljag900]

 

Messed about with the track options and the engine shed.

i decided to leave the transition tracks out and altered the engine shed to suit.

i had to leave the center stairs and base out but now the tram and all the trains I ve got just clear the Center doors which I ve glued together.
if any future acquisitions catch the doors then I ll just remove them. 

[bill937ca]

Have you thought about reversing the track plan and bringing the car house up to the right front?

Edited September 27, 2020 by bill937ca

[Pauljag900]

Hi bill,

yeah,i tried it that way but it did nt look right from an operating point of view,however, I may do that anyway just to hide the doors.

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Finished panel lining the 1/144 Gundam for my Odaiba scene, started painting the café, and carved a stamp for brickwork for the café as well. I figure in the long run a stamp of brick pattern will save me time. I also figured out how I want my floor layout to look like, only issue is I will need to dismantle it every time I pull it out since I don't need a cat and dog walking the rails.

[cteno4]

Nice work on the lining! Going to be a fun scene!

 

jeff

[Yugamu Tsuki]

On a side note, is there a way to create "blocks" of dioramas and you can incorporate into a layout later on? Something maybe like building them on foam sheets that can "plug" into same sized holes in a layout and the the seams painted up? Has anyone heard something like this before?

[cteno4]

Yep this works well. Just a piece of styrene or palite work well for a base. Wargamers do this a lot. We did this a lot on our first club layout that was set up on the fly. We made scenery sections made of hunks of Formica counter top material as it’s super thin and very stiff and tough. We had larger section and plastics would warp and be hard to keep flat over larger areas whereas the fiberglass Formica is really hard to warp.

 

here is a great article on making little scenery islands and structure surrounds

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/tempoary.html

 

this is now my approach to be able to share structures and scenery bits between club stuff, future home layout and Ttrak modules. Also lighting wiring as well using wires connected to little disc magnets to attach to magnets on the baseboards to hold the scenery module and provide power to lights on it. Can also just use the magnets to hold things in place.

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[Madsing]

This is also what I am doing on my layout, since it lives in a drawer and it is not easily accessible.

 

I am now working on the terminal tram station (inspired by Iwasehama station). I built it entirely on my workbench, including the surrounding area, on a 5 mm foam board sheet. 

 

 

This is what it looks like on the layout:

 

 

Same idea for the tram terminal near the main station. The station itself is a module made of styrene sheets. It remains removable, as well as the tracks leading to it. This is what it looks like on my desk:

 

 

And on the layout:

 

 

Even the entire main street is being built on my workbench as a detachable module, with all the details, and LEDs, before being moved to the layout.

 

[JR 500系]

Wow this is starting to look really really nice! I love the illumnated subway entrance and the tram station, has a unique Japanese feel to it! 

[Madsing]

 

I spent the past weeks fitting the cars and trucks on the main street with LEDs. Can't wait to see the busses and trams move around...

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Looking good! Really nice what you can do with the small SMD LEDs these days 🙂

 

Did you make the cars removable or are they glued in place?

 

[Pauljag900]

Superb work with the lights mate,well done👍😀

[cteno4]

Kudos madsing! Nice job with the turn signals and the third brake lights, details you rarely ever see!

 

did you do SMD for each light or make some light channels? Curious like martijn on if glued down. Always my issue with thinking about lighting cars is the power leads! Guess you could make the whole street roadbed an inductive charging coil and put coils in each car, but that’s sort of active masochism...

 

really sharp. Or as my friend's three year old says it has a pickle on top!

 

jeff

[Madsing]

Thank you!

 

On 9/28/2020 at 8:18 PM, Martijn Meerts said:

Did you make the cars removable or are they glued in place?

 

On 9/29/2020 at 1:35 AM, cteno4 said:

did you do SMD for each light or make some light channels?

 

The cars are glued in place, with one (pre-wired) SMD LED for each light. I painted the wires black and tried to hide them behind the wheels.

 

 

Installing the LEDs was difficult at the beginning, but along the way I got better at it. I purchased a set of small (0.3 to 1.2mm) drill bits that helped a lot. These are sharp and work very well: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32799180864.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.55574c4dwIUsJf

It's very important to embed the whole LED in the car body to get a realistic effect, something that I learned along the way and got right on some of the cars only.

 

 

The LEDs are connected to the layout's LED controllers described in this thread:

so they can be controlled individually (I don't know yet what I will do with that, maybe turn them on and off along the day/night cycle).

 

 

[gavino200]

Thanks for explaining the process. Amazing work!!

[Martijn Meerts]

Nice, the final result definitely looks really good 🙂

 

[cteno4]

Really does look nice, kudos again! Wiring all the lights back to the controller is a PITA, but then again you cna control them for day night and turn signals and such (have someone change their mind) or brake light go off a second, etc. I was thinking of trying to wire the resistors into the car so I could just have 2 wires per car to just power then.

 

no easy solution!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Yugamu Tsuki]

Absolutely outstanding!

[Tonytramman]

On 9/27/2020 at 3:51 AM, Madsing said:

This is also what I am doing on my layout, since it lives in a drawer and it is not easily accessible.

 

I am now working on the terminal tram station (inspired by Iwasehama station). I built it entirely on my workbench, including the surrounding area, on a 5 mm foam board sheet. 

 

 

This is what it looks like on the layout:

 

 

Same idea for the tram terminal near the main station. The station itself is a module made of styrene sheets. It remains removable, as well as the tracks leading to it. This is what it looks like on my desk:

 

 

And on the layout:

 

 

Even the entire main street is being built on my workbench as a detachable module, with all the details, and LEDs, before being moved to the layout.

 

 

simply fantastic work, love it.

 

[James-SNMB]

@Madsing, simply phenomenal work! Really fine work on such small parts, what craftsmanship! Very inspirational.

 

It looks like you have some backlit signs at your tram station. Would you mind sharing your method for those? The results are impressive!

[Yavianice]

9 minutes ago, James-SNMB said:

It looks like you have some backlit signs at your tram station. Would you mind sharing your method for those? The results are impressive!

@James-SNMB See below

 

[James-SNMB]

Ha, I'd spotted that thread but hadn't connected the dots. Didn't realise those ads would be tiny LCDs. Very cool. Another rabbit hole for me to get lost in!