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

[JR 500系]

Wow! Looking great as every mate! I love the connecting section between the road piece to the grass piece, and all the lights in the buildings really bring life to the layout! Are those switches at the base beside the controller for the lights?

[Pauljag900]

Hi Sammy,

thanks mate,yes the switches will control everything,lights,fair rides,smoke motor,roof top flashing signs etc.

Edited November 11, 2017 by Pauljag900

[Pauljag900]

Well I thought it would be a cool idea to fit some flashing blue lights to the emergency vehicles,

 

Some considerable time later,

 

At the moment it’s a stic light but will be connected to a flasher unit along with the fair ride lights in due course.

[medusa]

Just playing a bit on an grey November afternoon...

It turned out one has indeed never enough KoKi.

 

 

Have to admit I fell a bit in love with Hokkaido the last months. :)

 

 

Edited November 11, 2017 by medusa
Image scale

[Pauljag900]

3 minutes ago, medusa said:

Just playing a bit on an grey November afternoon...

 

Have to admit I fell a bit in love with Hokkaido the last months. :)

Any train running is good👍😀I m really starting to like those container wagons👍

I m doing exactly the same with my grandson,he says he wants to play with the tramps,,😂😂😂

needlessly  to say I ve now abandoned the idea of doing the emergency vehicles blue  lights👍

 

 

To be honest he s having more fun turning the lights on and off!😂😂👍

[serotta1972]

2 hours ago, Pauljag900 said:

Well I thought it would be a cool idea to fit some flashing blue lights to the emergency vehicles,

 

Some considerable time later,

 

At the moment it’s a stic light but will be connected to a flasher unit along with the fair ride lights in due course.

 

Wow, good stuff Paul!  I think it needs head and tail lights too. :)

[serotta1972]

19 minutes ago, medusa said:

Just playing a bit on an grey November afternoon...

It turned out one has indeed never enough KoKi.

 

Have to admit I fell a bit in love with Hokkaido the last months. :)

 

 

 

Good to have you back Medusa, sorry to hear about the knee issues.  I love the scenery, nice barren green lands.  And these Koki's - been doing well staying away but so much exposure, it's beginning to grow on me.  I'm hoping the M250 Super Cargo will satisfy cargo train need.

[nah00]

9 hours ago, serotta1972 said:

 

Good to have you back Medusa, sorry to hear about the knee issues.  I love the scenery, nice barren green lands.  And these Koki's - been doing well staying away but so much exposure, it's beginning to grow on me.  I'm hoping the M250 Super Cargo will satisfy cargo train need.

 

But then you start looking at your koki and think 'wow it would be nice to have some taki too and Tomix makes these great 12 car sets'....

[Coromant]

Today was a little grassing on another T-trak:

 

[ToniBabelony]

Next step in the grand scheme of things: make a module to match the traverser. It's going to be simple. 15x100 with a raised trackbed through rice paddies. and girder bridge (to be bought) over a road. Not too difficult and plenty of space for details.

 

 

MaybeI'll chose wooden ties over concrete to make any era setting possible.

[kvp]

Yesterday it took me 5 hours to make and install 1 meters (160 scale meters) of chainlink fence posts and concrete (styrene) base. 2 more meters to go...

[Drunkenclam]

7 hours ago, kvp said:

Yesterday it took me 5 hours to make and install 1 meters (160 scale meters) of chainlink fence posts and concrete (styrene) base. 2 more meters to go...

That would make any contractor proud.

[bill937ca]

Not today, but recently kitbashed a Tomytec bus stop for use on a new Euro themed Unitram layout. I cut off the driveway side for a sidewalk shelter at a tram stop.

[railsquid]

I turned the time dial way back into the Showa era :D

 

Blast from the Showa past by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Khaul]

A few things done today:

 

#1 Station interior lights

 

#2 Spot the difference

 

#3 Weathering track. It needs more grass. I think.

[gavino200]

Finally got the Blue Thunder running today!!!! It's been a layout ornament since I got it, almost a year ago. 

 

You can see the LED needs to be adjusted, but for now I'm happy. And very relieved. 

 

I'd love to get a little fleet of Japanese freight locos. But converting this one was a nightmare. I hope others aren't quite so tricky.

 

[Yavianice]

I am installing interior lighting in my recently arrived TGV Lyria. It is incredibly frustrating.

[Coromant]

Hello!

 

Today was the 3rd T-trak grassing day :) I start to weathering the retain walls, but i thing it wasn't very good. Another things, it needs one or two trees the front of the left side wall (2nd pic) and a little fashion to the vegetation some place:

 

I am thinking about to add a hanging vegetation on the wall.

 

br.

Coromant

 

  

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, Yavianice said:

I am installing interior lighting in my recently arrived TGV Lyria. It is incredibly frustrating.

 

What method/product are you using? I'm still searching for the perfect interior light setup.

[Yavianice]

2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

What method/product are you using? I'm still searching for the perfect interior light setup.

Ordinary KATO interior lighting, such as recommended by the packaging, which fits sorta. You have to be very precise and there are no pins or slots to keep the interior lighting steady. If it gets slightly misaligned then you won't be able to close the car properly, which is an issue because you have to "click" one side in place and by doing that it easily shifts position. I actually gave up installing it, and will run/sell it without interior lighting.

Edited November 19, 2017 by Yavianice

[bill937ca]

In anticipation of Tomytec's two Adtranz low floor European trams arriving in December, I kitbashed an accessible tram safety island platform from two large craft sticks from the dollar store, like old fashioned popsicle sticks only longer and wider. Today’s accessible safety islands can be 5 metres or more wide and easily up to 40 metres or more long considering the length of today’s low floor trams. Judging by cab rides in Milan, Zurich and  Krakow many European accessible safety islands are surprisingly barren but often include shelters on the safety island. I cut off the curved ends at one end of each craft stick with a razor saw and attached them with Tamiya Craft Bond.  This gives my layout a safety island 265 mm long by 18mm wide, which this scales out to a 39.75 metre long by 2.7 metre prototype at 1/150. That is far larger than existing tram stop safety islands from Greenmax, Kato and Tomix.

 

 

Edited November 19, 2017 by bill937ca

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Ordinary KATO interior lighting, such as recommended by the packaging, which fits sorta. You have to be very precise and there are no pins or slots to keep the interior lighting steady. If it gets slightly misaligned then you won't be able to close the car properly, which is an issue because you have to "click" one side in place and by doing that it easily shifts position. I actually gave up installing it, and will run/sell it without interior lighting.

 

Yes, I agree the Kato light connection is terrible. It's very hard to get a good reliable connection that doesn't fail or flicker. 

 

When I get around to interior lighting I'm planning on wiring each car, each with it's own resistor and capacitor. It'll take forever but I'm going to do it car by car, rather than trying to do a whole train a one time. Slow progress is better than no progress.

[gavino200]

10 hours ago, Coromant said:

Hello!

 

Today was the 3rd T-trak grassing day :) I start to weathering the retain walls, but i thing it wasn't very good. Another things, it needs one or two trees the front of the left side wall (2nd pic) and a little fashion to the vegetation some place:

 

I am thinking about to add a hanging vegetation on the wall.

 

br.

Coromant

 

  

 

That looks great!!! Can you tell me where I can get some information on T-track diorama making?  Is there a standard length/width or track position?

 

I've never done any modelling other that model airplanes and such. I'd like to work on my skills a bit before trying to add modelling to my layout. 

 

Edit: Nevermind - I see we have an entire forum devoted to this. Duh!

Edited November 20, 2017 by gavino200

[Yavianice]

 

Yes, I agree the Kato light connection is terrible. It's very hard to get a good reliable connection that doesn't fail or flicker. 

 

This is not what I meant. I meant that -physically fitting- the KATO light board in the car is a frustrating and incredibly time consuming task. There is nothing holding the light board in place, the car body can only be fitted in one particular way which requires tilting it, and the body allows no error whatsoever in the position of the light board or the body won’t click into place. I have no issue at all (or not overly/noticeably so) with flickering on any of my trains; it’s a matter of cleaning the wheels, track, and to make sure the LED make good connection with the pickup and do not move around at all. This requires bending of the white plastic “holder”(also improved light distribution because there is usually a height difference between the LED and the board) and the pins that actually make contact.

[gavino200]

4 minutes ago, Yavianice said:

 

 and to make sure the LED make good connection with the pickup and do not move around at all. This requires being of the white plastic “holder” and the pins that actually make contact.

 

 

I've found this part to be easier said than done. I'm always able to get them perfect on installation. But over time (for me) they have a tendency to loosen. Sometimes one or two carriages need a tap, or flicker. Maybe I need to use a small amount of glue.