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

[Darklighter]

12 hours ago, kvp said:

My club had very bad results with vallejo and peco tracks. You can also remove them easily from kato unitrack rails, but it does stick to the roadbed. Revell matt reddish brown (37) worked for us so far. (i don't paint my unitrack, by IST does so it's tested with both peco code 55 and kato unitrack)

Many German model railroaders use Revell leather brown.

[Martijn Meerts]

That's just the thing.. Many modellers use Revell leather brown, many use Revell reddish brown, many use Vallejo burnt umber, many use Tamiya hull red, etc, etc, etc ;)

 

It also sort of depends on which area, era, region etc. you model, and whether it's main line track, urban track, little used sidings etc.

 

[Drunkenclam]

Nothing much done recently. Been working 6 days a week and Mrs Clam dicates that the 7th is spent with family. I did get a 6 way extention lead from Argos to plug all the Kato transformers into. Then only to find out that the sockets are to close together. So can only fit in 3 :curse: so picked up a different brand one from B&Q. To save my knees. I also invested in some smart sockets. So I can now turn on the layout power, plus my pachinkos and pachislos remotely (anywhere in the world-for some reason) 

[cteno4]

Not a whole lot... Cut some wood to mill up to start the construction of the new cases for the new jrm layout modules. Think I've got the whole case design worked out to be very sturdy but the most effecient as possible for inside from for modules. Found great handles and latches for the crates.

 

Also putting together a 2x Ttrak module for one of our members.

 

jeff

[IST]

I did not do too much, but my new workers were very active!

 

[ToniBabelony]

Got rails in for the traverser... Now I just need to fill the empty spaces. XD

 

[cteno4]

toni, we want a video of the traverser in action!

 

jeff

[ToniBabelony]

26 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

toni, we want a video of the traverser in action

 

Will do once it's in operation.

[Densha]

10 hours ago, Kabutoni said:

Got rails in for the traverser... Now I just need to fill the empty spaces. XD

Or first build an actual layout to use the traverser with? :P

[Pauljag900]

With the arrival of the fire trucks the burning building was assembled.This will be added to the tram layout over the weekend.

 

 

[Suica]

That's one nice looking fire. Japanese and German rescue services are working together there, I see! :D

[Pauljag900]

50 minutes ago, Suica said:

That's one nice looking fire. Japanese and German rescue services are working together there, I see! :D

trust you Suica!!!¬I knew someone woukd notice but did nt think it d be that quick,ha ha

I bought the tomix fire trucks but the others I already had so thought I may as well use them for now.

but hey,thanks for pointing it out ha ha

[ToniBabelony]

10 hours ago, Densha said:

Or first build an actual layout to use the traverser with? :P

 

I'm going to compensate the length of this traverser with an equally long landscape module. All base construction materials are in (I think) and connecting bridge curves should arrive tomorrow. It's mostly a matter of putting everything together, though the traverser is meant be be modular, so it can be used in any sort of setup.

[kvp]

Yes, that feeling when you run your nice new passenger train, run around with the locomotive to couple up on the other end aaannd... You find an imitation coupler on the end of the train. A bit of searching in the box revealed a rapido equipped bogie frame. This means taking the car apart, removing the end bogie, taking off the imitation coupler, removing the wheels, remembering that this is an all wheel pickup lighted passenger set, so removing the metal journal bearings, building the new bogie, carefully adding the secondary suspension springs and trying to assemble the whole thing with the main bogie screw. Then assembling the car again while trying to hold the windows and the light inserts in place while pushing the frame in from the side to fit in the tail light guides too. The result is a nice N scale passenger set with 5 cars. I do like to assemble Tomytec models, but when i get a Tomix set, i did not expect it to need any serious assembly.

 

ps: Comparing the bogie and suspension characteristics of european and japanese N scale passenger cars, it looks like, that apart from the mostly stock close couplers, the european cars look like Tomytec cars with plastic bogies and no bearings or suspension springs. And most newer lighted cars (mostly cab cars) still use axle wipers with one pole per bogie that act and run more like a locked handbrake than a pickup.

 

ps2: Also ran a brand new in box european cargo set bought dirt cheap from an ebay shop. Turns out one of the cars had its couplers installed upside down and then inserted into the box wrong way around, so i had to carefully pry it out without damaging the car then disassemble the couplers and rotate them. Ok. it was cheap, but still.

[ToniBabelony]

This should work for now. Maybe make an upgrade later because this is super ghetto.

 

[railsquid]

Random freelance scenery

Simple crossing by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[kvp]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

Random freelance scenery

Nice! How did you make that nice shiny looking rock formation at the back? (i already know about your colorful foam terrain under the ramp)

[velotrain]

Do they really have rock walls like that in Japan, where random sized stones are set at equidistant spacing in horizontal rows with smooth concrete between them?

 

I've seen those wall castings for years and always wondered about them.

[bill937ca]

A couple of new additions to the work table.  A clear desk tray from the dollar store for on the table hobby tools and a small container for my Wave Corporation sandpaper. Much better than the old plastic trays full of open spaces.

 

 

[ToniBabelony]

Made a bit different and more elegant solution:

 

[railsquid]

7 hours ago, kvp said:

Nice! How did you make that nice shiny looking rock formation at the back? (i already know about your colorful foam terrain under the ramp)

 

Nothing fancy, just lumpy plaster smeared over the Kato plaster mesh thingy, then painted in random shades of grey. Unpainted it looks like this:

santa-fe-train by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

5 hours ago, velotrain said:

Do they really have rock walls like that in Japan, where random sized stones are set at equidistant spacing in horizontal rows with smooth concrete between them?

 

I've seen those wall castings for years and always wondered about them.

 

I'm sure there must be some somewhere, probably in more rural areas.

[cteno4]

ive seen a lot of different kinds of retaining walls in japan. lots of engineered stone which ive always assumed the greenmax sheet was to represent.

 

jeff

[velotrain]

That looks more contrived than engineered, but I'll reserve judgment until I see some proto photos.

Edited October 25, 2017 by velotrain
clarification

[cteno4]

Sorry not the one I was thinking of in railsquid, that does look like natural stone wirh cement/motar.

 

jeff

[ToniBabelony]

Sloooowly improving the setup.

 

 

The next step is to improve upon the sliding parts (metal slabs). Maybe springload them so they can stay in place more reliably.