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

[nah00]

9 hours ago, IST said:

First attempt with the lavender field continued. Last time I finished the grass, now I added some lavender petals (from Scenic Express) which were ground by another member of the club, because I think originally it is too big. I used white glue in very small amount on the top of the grass and added the petals. I have to say that I am not pleased with the result, it is not contrasting enough for my eyes. Maybe I have to add another layer(s) of petals - I tried it, you can see the result on the bottom right corner of the 3rd picture.
I would really care how do you see my lavender field or if you have any ideas how would you do it, then let me know!

 

     

 

 

I think it looks great, you;re never going to see an even distribution with something like this and I think if you add more it will look overdone. 

[IST]

Thanks for the opinions! At this moment I do not know what should I do, I will check again in the club that after glue dries how it looks like. I think I will add white, yellow and red stripes in the same form to the next modul, maybe it will be better in contrast (something like this on the opening picture here).

[EH500 (12)]

@IST

 

That looks great!

One little tip: next time try to add such things at an angle to the layout edge. This gives a scene a more natural look.

Edited December 11, 2017 by EH500

[Khaul]

I have been painting the Greenmax factory kit.

 

[valkyriepm]

2 minutes ago, Khaul said:

I have been painting the Greenmax factory kit.

 

Really nice! I started to build it myself. Looking forward to see it finished! What will you add to the scene?

[Khaul]

I am considering to build it next to a loading platform or an embedded track... not sure. I have been playing around with this idea:

[gavino200]

9 minutes ago, Khaul said:

I am considering to build it next to a loading platform or an embedded track... not sure. I have been playing around with this idea:

 

Nice work!

 

Is that a Tomytec crossing? Looks like you have it fitting the standard Kato track spacing. How did you manage that? 

[Khaul]

1 minute ago, gavino200 said:

 

Nice work!

 

Is that a Tomytec crossing? Looks like you have it fitting the standard Kato track spacing. How did you manage that? 

 

I am cheating. The track on the left is not glued on to the module.

[gavino200]

40 minutes ago, Khaul said:

 

I am cheating. The track on the left is not glued on to the module.

 

Damn! I thought maybe you had found a 'made for Kato' version. I guess I'll just have to 'whittle' mine to fit. It's a pity, cause I'll lose some of the markings.

[JR 500系]

Nice work on the Greenmax factory kit! Very detailed indeed!

[Khaul]

You just need to cut the patterned light grey ends and make a middle part to measure with balsa wood, evergreen sheet of something like that. Anyway, you gave me idea: I could actually use Tomix track for the industrial sidings. With curved turnouts I could have more space in the freight yard...

[Kiha66]

Wow, that looks amazing!  What are you using to secure your track to the module?

[Khaul]

Just PVA glue. I always place catenary supports next to the joint to give more strength. I also removed the S joints from the platform so the modules are only held by Unijoiners.

 

[nah00]

Built my station I got from Nariichi-san the other day, overall I like the effect much better than the single commuter stop that used to be here. Also did clearance checks on the railroad crossing signs with an H5 shinkansen car, moved the signs back a litttle bit so everything should make clearance now.

 

Also,  Panzer Vor! 

 

Edited December 12, 2017 by nah00

[JR 500系]

3 hours ago, nah00 said:

Built my station I got from Nariichi-san the other day, overall I like the effect much better than the single commuter stop that used to be here. Also did clearance checks on the railroad crossing signs with an H5 shinkansen car, moved the signs back a litttle bit so everything should make clearance now.

 

 

Also,  Panzer Vor! 

 

 

Nice work there! Looking good!

 

What's really amaze me (sorry not exactly a tank lover) is the large fleet of Caterpilla Excavators you have in the background there! Any chance to take a closer look at that yard? Being in the industry, these machineries always interest me... even more so in scale!

[bill937ca]

I had completed this some time ago, but didn't photograph it until today. One of the features I want to add to my new Euro themed Unitram layout is automatic blocks at a central plaza.

 

To do this I have created a simple automatic block with off-the-shelf, plug-and-play Kato components. On the selected track piece, I replaced the normal Unitram Unijoiner with the black 24-816 Insulated Unijoiners and added a 44-847 Tram Feeder Power Cable under the selected track piece. The feeder is plugged into a 24-850 Kato Power Feed Control Switch which clips onto the side of a Kato power controller just like a Switch Selector. When the power switch is turned OFF the car always stops at the selected location. When the power switch is turned ON the car continues on through the block or if stopped already begins running.

 

I plan to have a junction with trams coming into a station from four directions like many the tram stops at many European train stations.   Two blocks are installed now before the intersection and two more will installed later at the actual tram stop.

 

 

Edited December 12, 2017 by bill937ca

[Khaul]

I put the factory together today. I made a mistake so I had to unglue, switch over and re-glue the roofs. The kit itself is a bit nasty. I had to cut bits of plastic to make it fit, but I managed to make it work. I'll still need to add a tiny bit of putty in the cracks and touch up the paint. Happy overall.

 

I have applied some dry brush rust, one of my favourites.

 

 

I think the red of the DE10 goes very well with the factory colour. 

Edited December 13, 2017 by Khaul

[Pauljag900]

11 minutes ago, Khaul said:

I put the factory together today. I made a mistake so I had to unglue, switch over and re-glue the roofs. The kit itself is a bit nasty. I had to cut bits of plastic to make it fit, but I managed to make it work. I'll still need to add a tiny bit of putty in the cracks and touch up the paint. Happy overall.

 

I have applied some dry brush rust, one of my favourites.

 

 

I think the red of the DE10 goes very well with the factory colour. 

Well it s turned out just fine there buddy,well done.All the greenmax I ve had,this factory included,pose a bit of a challenge to assemble,that said they re ridiculously cheap,I guess that’s the trade off mate.

looks great mate,good job👍👍😀

[Pauljag900]

Just thought I put these couple of pics up to show where I m up to with the tram layout.

As I m off work at the moment and it’s cold in the shed I brought it indoors to have something to do.

i ve put all the wiring in,wired in the switches,extended the shelf at the front which needs painting,re organised the controls,added as many lights as I can for the time being,fitted a single bus lane tho this will be replaced in the new year with a new one,and added some buildings,including fixing in place the burning building which now works brilliantly.Thats about all I can do for now so thought I d take a few pics and a short video for anyone that’s intrested.It ll be back in the shed tomorrow and covered up.I have a few buildings here to assemble and can t do much more till they re done,plus we need the table for over xmas.

 

 

[Khaul]

On 12/12/2017 at 10:36 AM, valkyriepm said:

Really nice! I started to build it myself. Looking forward to see it finished! What will you add to the scene?

 

I've thinking how to better integrate the industrial buildings in my layout. I think I have found a fun yet simple way.

 

Industrial buildings are rotated 45 degrees so they can be seen from multiple angles. It could all fit in a 340mm x 910mm. It could be possible to add a third parallel 45 degree track and then split the industrial area in two 340 x 600mm modules. This solution deals with the problem of filling the centre of the layout. Industrial tracks will be mostly embedded, or course. The plan relies on my DD13 and/or DE10 to be able to negotiate the mini turnouts.

 

Operations require switching, but this is not a switching puzzle. Loads are stored in the "flat" track at the top. Empties come from the main line into the branch. They are left in one of the 45 degree tracks. Loco turns around and spots the cars to the correct tracks. Then takes loads out. Easy.

 

[valkyriepm]

Nice design Khaul, it still have a lot of space for develope scenery. DE10 and DE13 will do fine on the mini switch. Mine will be a micro layout with a refinery, still thinking on the layuot design tho. Keep us posted, looks great!

[cteno4]

Khaul,

 

nice, gunna have to rip that off at some point, it’s a nice little simple but fun switching set up and I love the 45 off set ans the buildings on the outside and cutter dividing the tracks! Sweet.

 

kudos on your weathering perfect rust application on that structure, really makes it pop! Did you just hand paint the windows or mask them and airbrush them? The @#$& moulded in window on greenmax are always a pain to paint out easily. Not found the Magic way to make it easy, tried masking ans spraying, hand painting and markers ans all have their issues...

 

jeff

[Khaul]

Jeff, I have never been even close to a paint brush. I have tried masking and painting with a normal brush a couple of times and failed miserably. The paint always bleeds below the masking. I will start a please give me masking tips thread soon if I don't find one.

 

So I did everything by hand for the factory. I learnt the hard way that Tamiya paint from the hobby shop works very well on plastic. Just a couple of light coats and it looks quite nice. The problem is I don't have many colours. For instance, the walls are a Royal Navy battleship green I had lying around. I first tried to paint the windows white with a German brand acrylic paint. It was too sticky and the result looked patchy so I cleaned with alcohol and tried a non-Tamiya black, bit better but... I finally settle for the brown artist acrylic I use to paint rails. It is still too thick and tend to clot, but it covers well. 

 

As you said the windows were a pain to paint, but sort of a fun pain.

[railsquid]

This is the bit of the layout which looks clever on paper but involves lots of curves crossing at shallow angles and also a gradient, most of which I want to hide in tunnels, and oh it's all very close to the wall and there will be 11 (!) individual tracks entering what will be some sort of landscape feature and bits of it will need to be partially removable for access.

 

I think I've got the first part sorted in principle, though it will be topographically fairly implausible.

 

Tunnel planning by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited December 16, 2017 by railsquid

[Pauljag900]

I ll be watching this development with great interest squid,I m going to have the same problem when I re do my layout after xmas.

I ve managed to remove the shrine and village mountain in one piece but need to work out how to re fit it in the corner,it ll have four double tracks to accommodate at three diferent heights and I ll also need it to lift off for access. 

It s going to be fun that’s for sure,👍👍😀