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

[JR 500系]

Little more fun with the layout on a Sunday...

 

 

We now have a fully operational Fire Station!

 

 

Let's just say our Sunday was a 'Walk in the Park' ?

 

 

Finally some greenery our residents will certainly enjoy...

 

 

I love the colourful flowers!

 

 

Place for Nature's Call within Nature ~

 

 

Back onto the layout, just beside a Day Onsen and along the tram tracks in the city centre 

 

And a little video of it ~~ now all we need is some more greenery on the left side for a green tunnel!

 

 

And from JR East's Hachioji station, we arrive at JR Central's Nagoya station!

 

 

From left to right, 313-8000 Central Liner, 383 series Shinano and 373 series 

 

 

Without that light in the way... 

 

 

And our yard is also packed with JR Central trains ~~ A JR East Furusato visits the yard for some minor maintenance 

 

 

And a Kiha-25 undergoing some repairs in the yard 

 

 

[Lina_Blue]

Added an additional throttle for my analogue Shinkansen track. This way I don't have to unplug on of the jump throttles anymore for this.

 

[miyakoji]

Really great line up there JR500.  I think that's the best looking lineup of JRC rolling stock I've ever seen, including prototypes! lol

[Khaul]

I made some flex-track. The whole story is here.

 

 

The technique is explained in this video:

 

 

[gavino200]

32 minutes ago, Khaul said:

I made some flex-track. The whole story is here.

 

 

 

The technique is explained in this video:

 

 

 

Nice. I've tried that. I think I used the same video. 

 

I also modified the technique to make custom length straights and curves. Basically I laid down the piece, and marked where I want the end to be. Then I marked the same gap in the middle of the track underlay. Then two cuts. Remove the plastic piece between the cuts. Move the end plastic down to close the gap. Then cut the extra rails at the end. Voila - a custom track length with normal track joints. Allows for non-standard track plans with perfect geometry. 

[Khaul]

4 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

Nice. I've tried that. I think I used the same video. 

 

I also modified the technique to make custom length straights and curves. Basically I laid down the piece, and marked where I want the end to be. Then I marked the same gap in the middle of the track underlay. Then two cuts. Remove the plastic piece between the cuts. Move the end plastic down to close the gap. Then cut the extra rails at the end. Voila - a custom track length with normal track joints. Allows for non-standard track plans with perfect geometry. 

 

I though about that this morning in the shower 😀

[gavino200]

Just now, Khaul said:

 

I though about that this morning in the shower 😀

 

It works really well. If you chose your cuts carefully it's almost 'invisible'. I use it now instead of the 'flexitrack'. 

[Khaul]

The cuts can be easily disguised with a bit of ballast which I like to use anyway together with vegetation so Unitrack does not look so high. 

[gavino200]

On 6/25/2018 at 1:28 AM, JR 500系 said:

Little more fun with the layout on a Sunday...

 

 

We now have a fully operational Fire Station!

 

 

Great scenes JR! Whose fireman figures are these?

[gavino200]

2 minutes ago, Khaul said:

The cuts can be easily disguised with a bit of ballast which I like to use anyway together with vegetation so Unitrack does not look so high. 

 

Yes. That would work. 

 

Also, I found that if you can make the cut through the black ties, but so as to bring together a normal width tie, it's harder for the eye to perceive. But that was my experience. Your results look great!

[JR 500系]

6 hours ago, miyakoji said:

Really great line up there JR500.  I think that's the best looking lineup of JRC rolling stock I've ever seen, including prototypes! lol

 

Thanks! There are still more 313s, 311s and the 683 series Shirasagi which I cant fit into the layout for a full Nagoya scene.... 

 

5 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Great scenes JR! Whose fireman figures are these?

 

Thanks! Those are from Tomytec

[Pauljag900]

 

The freight yard is starting to take shape now with the addition of a few trucks.I m just trying to organise the sidings with anyrail to fit as many as possible in.

Seems I was the only bidder on these 5 trucks for the freight yard,eBay,£10 inc postage.

it would have been rude not to have them for that😂👍

[cteno4]

18 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Nice. I've tried that. I think I used the same video. 

 

I also modified the technique to make custom length straights and curves. Basically I laid down the piece, and marked where I want the end to be. Then I marked the same gap in the middle of the track underlay. Then two cuts. Remove the plastic piece between the cuts. Move the end plastic down to close the gap. Then cut the extra rails at the end. Voila - a custom track length with normal track joints. Allows for non-standard track plans with perfect geometry. 

 

It works great for flex and odd straight lengths. I made a couple of dozen odd length tracks in an hour or so for the new club layout a few months back. Longest part was clipping the spikes off to remove the center bit! Dab of epoxy on the joint and good as new.

 

i used the band saw with a fine metal blade on it to cut the roadbed and it made super clean cuts that were easy to clean up and mated up almost invisible. Trickiest bit is trying to locate your cuts so that he mating does not join 2 ties or gaps together. I put a strip of blue tape along the edge of the roadbed and then with the calipers set to the width I need to remove I find where it will come out the cleanest and mark ends on the tape.

 

btw Gavin your new scroll saw is perfect for cutting the roadbed and you can even do the rails with a metal blade and going slow.

 

When cutting rails off it’s good to take a small block of wood and cut two slots in it for the rails to go in up to the roadbed. This way you can put this over the end of the rail to cut along it with power saw or coping Saw and this way you won’t put any lateral force on the rails and break them from the end ties. Also helpful when filing ends of the rail smooth.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

 

It works great for flex and odd straight lengths. I made a couple of dozen odd length tracks in an hour or so for the new club layout a few months back. Longest part was clipping the spikes off to remove the center bit! Dab of epoxy on the joint and good as new.

 

i used the band saw with a fine metal blade on it to cut the roadbed and it made super clean cuts that were easy to clean up and mated up almost invisible. Trickiest bit is trying to locate your cuts so that he mating does not join 2 ties or gaps together. I put a strip of blue tape along the edge of the roadbed and then with the calipers set to the width I need to remove I find where it will come out the cleanest and mark ends on the tape.

 

btw Gavin your new scroll saw is perfect for cutting the roadbed and you can even do the rails with a metal blade and going slow.

 

When cutting rails off it’s good to take a small block of wood and cut two slots in it for the rails to go in up to the roadbed. This way you can put this over the end of the rail to cut along it with power saw or coping Saw and this way you won’t put any lateral force on the rails and break them from the end ties. Also helpful when filing ends of the rail smooth.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

I used mini hand saws for this. But that was back in the "pre-scroll saw" era. Things were a whole lot different back then. 🙂

[Pauljag900]

Almost finished the refinery kit from greenmax,just waiting for tanks and figures then finish off the detailing.

[railsquid]

It's Friday, so the Anglo-German Banana Train is rolling into town.

 

[/ur]

bananarama-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

bananarama-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

bananarama-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Don't ask.

[chadbag]

I have a German Banana car or two, but not enough for a whole train!  And no yellow engines.   That is fun.

[bill937ca]

A quick spin around the layout early on a Sunday morning.

[AllScales]

The Tomix Berlin Tram?

[bill937ca]

Yes, Tomix GT6N Berlin tram.

 

https://www.modeltrainplus.net/collections/n-scale-lrt-trams-new/products/tomytec-berlin-city-tram-type-1000

https://www.modeltrainplus.net/collections/n-scale-lrt-trams-new/products/tomytec-munich-tram-type-2000

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10483596

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10483598

 

EDIT: The Berlin and Munich trams were restocked at Model Train Plus today.

Edited July 2, 2018 by bill937ca

[chadbag]

8 hours ago, bill937ca said:

A quick spin around the layout early on a Sunday morning.

 

Does the Merc have a parking ticket yet?  He's been sitting there for quite some time.

[cteno4]

New scene tow truck backing up to it...

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

I found some grit on the power pack yesterday, so the whole layout probably needs a good dusting.  But then we did pull the heat /cool unit out of the wall last Tuesday. Still its too hot with all the sun to get close to the windows.  30 feeling like 40 right now.  Both a/c going. This is Canada!

Edited July 1, 2018 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Another operating session on the tram layout.  This time with Munich MVG 2105.

 

 

[Pauljag900]

Got six Tomytec trucks from eBay for £8.50,front wheels are missing on one of them but I ve got some cheap buses that I can pinch a set off.

also got the last of the small 15 degree curves I needed to complete the trackwork.

 

More or less complete now apart from some detailing and a couple of kits.p