What did you do today on your layout? (HO and other scales)

[marknewton]

On 7/1/2018 at 10:48 AM, Kamome said:

Nice work Mark. I still need a quiet moment without toddlers to number mine as well as numbering a load of Takis and Kokis. Do you add a layer of clear coat over yours? I wondered how well these dry transfers hold up in the case of imprecise handling.

 

Thanks. I always give the dry transfers a coat of semigloss varnish to protect them. I apply it with an airbrush through a mask that's randomly shaped so it's not easily seen against the original finish. Although on a few of my passenger cars I've oversprayed the entire side with a flat finish to simulate the appearance of paint that's faded and starting to go chalky as it deteriorates. From what I've seen that's about as weathered as JNR coaching stock ever got in the period I'm modelling.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[Kiha66]

Not layout, but I completely disamebeled and scrubbed a used Kato dd51 today.  It had been covered in a overly enthusastic weathering attempt, luckily most of it came off with a little elbow grease.  Now I just need to find some replacement parts for the ones that are missing or broken.

[marknewton]

I spent the afternoon fitting decoders to my Kato D51s. 

 

Unfortunately, I discovered how easy it is to accidentally fry the damn things and destroy them. 😞

 

The moral of the story is to insulate all bare wires, and turn the power off before doing ANYTHING!

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, marknewton said:

I spent the afternoon fitting decoders to my Kato D51s. 

 

Unfortunately, I discovered how easy it is to accidentally fry the damn things and destroy them. 😞

 

The moral of the story is to insulate all bare wires, and turn the power off before doing ANYTHING!

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

 

Try using a product called “liquid tape” I swear by it for decoder installations. Don’t worry, I think we’ve all fried a few decoders along the way.

[cteno4]

Also run your finger over the solder joint before insulation as at times you get one strand of wire or solder filament poking out that can be very sharp and not get fully covered by liquid tape and can also pierce the ultra thin heat shrink on application if you use that stuff. This then can touch a ground...

 

jeff

[shadowtiger25]

On 5/2/2018 at 12:39 PM, marknewton said:

Another unfinished project, resurrected from the depths of the storage box - a kitbash of an old Walthers kit for an Airslide covered hopper into a "near-enough" JNR ホキ3100 cement hopper. I can't do any work on the layout right now so I thought I'd finish this one instead.

 

Where do you get your spoked wheels? I can't find any of these things

Edited October 12, 2018 by Densha
Staff Comment: Shortened Quote Length

[marknewton]

The car is riding on Tomix TR41 bogies/trucks, which come with spoked wheels.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10512725

 

Otherwise I use Steam Era Models 11.08mm 9-spoke wheels.

 

http://steameramodels.com/wheels.htm#HO99

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[shadowtiger25]

3 hours ago, marknewton said:

The car is riding on Tomix TR41 bogies/trucks, which come with spoked wheels.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10512725

 

Otherwise I use Steam Era Models 11.08mm 9-spoke wheels.

 

http://steameramodels.com/wheels.htm#HO99

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

Do they ship to the us? And thank you for the info!

[marknewton]

I don’t know if SEM ship to the US, you’ll need to contact David and ask him. 

 

Although I’m concentrating on the Belgian Congo project at the moment, I haven’t been neglecting the JNR modelling. I picked up one of these Sera1 four-wheel hopper wagons recently on a Yahoo! Japan auction. They were originally produced by Max Model, and are now available from One Mile, whose main product range is 1/80th scale diecast buses. They supply the basic wagon, you apply the details and supply wheels, couplers and numbering. The two cross braces at the top of the hopper body are supplied as etched parts, but they’re just a bit short, and very fragile. So I replaced them with lengths of brass flat bar. 

One interesting feature of these models is that they can be set up to run on either 16.5mm gauge or 12/13mm gauge. Extra bearings and brake rigging are provided for the narrower gauges. Mine’s on 16.5mm, using Tomix wheelsets. All that’s left to do now is some touch-up painting and some light weathering.

The prototype Sera1 hoppers ran almost exclusively in Kyushu, but a few made their way to Honshu to be photographed in service with Seki-type bogie hoppers, so I’ll probably get one or two more of these attractive little wagons. If I do I’ll use SEM wheelsets instead of Tomix, because I don’t have any more of them spare.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.
 

Edited November 17, 2018 by marknewton

[GDorsett]

I have been invited to set up trains at an elementary school again for a holiday event. Rather than take the convoluted mess that I had last year, I figured I'd dig out my old 4' x 8' layout that's been sitting out in the garage for the past ten years and resurrect it.

With the help of a soda, a sandwich, and one track eraser, It has been dug out (almost literally), cleaned off, and had DCC MacGyvered into it as well has a double loop of N-scale tossed in the middle.

 

 

Old, painfully messey wiring...

 

 

 

 

And this morning, it has seen it's first train in close to a decade.

 

Now I just need to get some scenery onto it before Friday and then figure out what I'm going to run on it, since my EF510 won't make these curves very happily...neither will my Amtrak coaches...

[cteno4]

Great you are doing this Garrett! Plant those seeds!

 

jeff

[GDorsett]

Gotta get em into trains so they can't afford...uh...other things...

[Kamome]

Not my layout or my trains but some of the guys running their new goodies around the beautiful layout at Kyushu Railway Shop. The new EF71 didn’t get any exercise as it was running day on the n gauge layout. Next time I’ll definitely take some of my HO along too.

 

Tomix EF66 with some  ReSa10000 from A-Class/Tramway.

 

DCC C61 from Tenshodo with own brand sound Unit. Coaches were repainted Kato 12系

 

DD51 and Wamus owned by shop for some added ambience.

[Kamome]

A few more for good measure. Apologies for the lowish quality of some images. They were stills taken from video.

[marknewton]

Years ago I bought this Tenshodo C51 from one of our forum members. Although it's an older model it's solidly built and nicely detailed. It's been sitting in the display cabinet untouched since then. But the other day I got a copy of a "mook" that features many photos of C51s, so I decide to start reworking it to represent an engine in Showa-era condition. So far I've removed the original chimney and headlight and replaced them with more modern parts, and I've replaced the open frame 3 pole motor with a Portescap RG4 can motor and gearbox. Some other detailing still needs doing, and then it's time for the paint shop.

 

 

I suppose once I've finished working on it someone will announce an all new, high spec RTR model! 😂

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[catcliffedemon]

On 2/3/2019 at 5:04 AM, Kamome said:

Not my layout or my trains but some of the guys running their new goodies around the beautiful layout at Kyushu Railway Shop. The new EF71 didn’t get any exercise as it was running day on the n gauge layout. Next time I’ll definitely take some of my HO along too.

 

Tomix EF66 with some  ReSa10000 from A-Class/Tramway.

 

DCC C61 from Tenshodo with own brand sound Unit. Coaches were repainted Kato 12系

 

DD51 and Wamus owned by shop for some added ambience.

Wow, that’s one of the best hobby store layouts I’ve ever seen. Where in Kyushu is this shop?

 

Cheers, Gareth

[Kamome]

It’s just outside of a place called Nogata. 

 

You can can get to Nogata on the JR Chikuho line and then you’ll need to take a bus and walk the rest. It’s much easier if you have a car.

 

http://www.kisyaclub.gr.jp/

 

The first Sunday of the month they have various things going on. They have an old JR bus they take people out on as well a 9600 that they’re restoring to run again. They also have a large n gauge layout which you can run on , although this does not have much scenery on as yet. 

 

The HO layout takes up 80% of the shop space. It’s based on Nogata in its heyday with its large roundhouse. Nogata was a main coal mining area as Kitakyushu was a coal and steel hub.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Kamome

[Kiha66]

That's really cool!  I was just wondering why there's no 9600 being restored, glad to hear that its happening.  Is there a way to help support the restoration without physically participating?  This is definitely on my bucket list to visit next time I can make it to Kyushu.

[Kamome]

On 2/11/2019 at 7:16 AM, Kiha66 said:

Is there a way to help support the restoration without physically participating?

I am not entirely sure but I’ll ask when I’m there for the first Sunday of the month get together.

[Kamome]

We could do with a separate thread for how you improved your rolling stock (HO and other scales)

 

Not layout related but finally got around to numbering my Eneos Taki 1000s as well as starting to get them looking a little more like their real counterparts.

Scale head couplers painted in a more suitable grey, underside given a black wash to bring out some of the detail, axle box bolts painted a prototypical yellow and  the ladders painted to match the 2 tone tank. Last step will be to add safety white to the grab irons and shunters steps on the handbrake end.

[marknewton]

In Bunnings - a national chain of giant hardware shops - the other day I noticed these: a pack of 100 warm white micro LEDs, wired to a battery power supply, for 10 dollars. I reckon they have great potential for lighting buildings and streets. I added a porch light to this Sankei rice warehouse using just one LED. So far it's been lit continuously for 9 days using the supplied AA battery holder.

 

 

 

Cheers,

Mark.

Edited March 15, 2019 by marknewton

[GDorsett]

Started building a small display track to take to events. The goal is to have a pair of tiered tracks with a DCC box hooked up to display a few HO models at N-scale events. Eventually, I'd like to add a third tier with the N-scale counterparts of the HO models.

 

 

Taking advantage of this fantastic day.

[GDorsett]

Here's a second built. Now I just need to figure out how I want to support them.

 

[Edit]

Rather than make another post, I just edited this one.

 

 

The GG1 and trailer flat car are a tad longer than an EF510 and a KoKi 104, so I'm hoping to get said 510 and 104 on the top track, and then a DE10, Yo 8000, and a few WaMus on the bottom track.

Both are powered.

Will likely putty the cracks before I paint/scenic it.

Edited March 15, 2019 by GDorsett

[Nick_Burman]

On 2/10/2019 at 10:28 PM, Kamome said:

It’s just outside of a place called Nogata. 

 

You can can get to Nogata on the JR Chikuho line and then you’ll need to take a bus and walk the rest. It’s much easier if you have a car.

 

 

Just checked this on the web...Nishitetsu bus 3 out of JR Nogata, runs every 30min, then walk. Not all that difficult.

 

If one is feeling in good spirits it is possibele to walk all the way from JR Nogata...

 

Cheers NB

[Kamome]

1 hour ago, Nick_Burman said:

Just checked this on the web...Nishitetsu bus 3 out of JR Nogata, runs every 30min, then walk. Not all that difficult.

 

If one is feeling in good spirits it is possibele to walk all the way from JR Nogata...

 

Cheers NB

Yes, you can walk but it’s quite a way out from Nogata station. Google maps suggests 42 mins. If you time it so you go on the first Sunday of the month, there’ll be a lot going on and probably the shutters to the 9600 shed will be open.