Climb to Kurama ( eizan Mini layout)

[Bubule]

 

Hello all, I get mine at hobby search.

 

It is a quite expensive controller Yet. But i think the quality is as higth as the price. All components are the best availble. Everything is metal  and electronic is top quality.

 

I have the project to do a video review, with unbox of the controller and explainations of all the functions. The instructions are At 90% in japanese and 10% english, So it is quite dificult to understand all the features of the device and it take time to have a great overview of the system and you need to test by your own the functions.

 

The Driving need some practice to apprehende the intertia and do great stops at stations. But i think it is the aim of that controller and you will have great fun to learn that. After two hours of practice you will be able to drive like an engineer. And it's really cool to drive. I think if your kid if older than 8 year old there will be no problem for him. With video game, the kids are very adaptive and they understand how that kind of objects works at the ligth speed. Theyre learning capacity are so impressive.

 

If the price is a problem, Tomix will sold a re-release of there N-DU101-CL controller. It is the third of the price of RMC-D1Z and works well. There is no sound and no speed indicator, but you will get the traction/brake trottle like the real EMUs. Tomix stuff are very reliable items. If you are interested you can make a reservation they will be availble in august or setpember. But be fast. When i have purchassed my tomytec tetsudou controller,  i have reserved it 2 years before the commercialization at the first annoucement, to be sure to get one. The item was sold out after 15 days and never have been re-releazed since 2012.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10360986

 

 

 

My two cents !

 

Best regards.

 

Jef

Edited July 11, 2018 by Bubule

[JR 500系]

Hi Jef ~

 

I've yet to try out your advice on the RM-1J, but will do so when I get the chance too... 

 

If you love the inertia driving, you might want to try the TCS Power Unit N-DU204-CL  too! It's amazingly fun!

 

 

 

Though it is much more expensive than the N-DU101-CL , it certainly feels much better with the controls and almost feels like the real thing! Shipping is a terror for this beast to... I recall lugging this beast back all the way from Japan myself back in 2015!  🙂

 

I wish Tomix will re-release its TCS Power & Sound Unit N-S2-CL, the holy grail of all controllers... Man that is WAY fun!

 

 

 

[Bubule]

Hey you know What ... Watching the video of the TCS Power & Sound Unit N-S2-CL a few years ago is the event that have given to me the addiction of japanese trains. The layout (one of best layout design i have seen) shown have been a big source of inpiration for designing Kurama. You can see the bridge over the city, the upper station an the double sets of S curves.

 

A pleasure for me to watch it again !

 

 

Edited July 11, 2018 by Bubule

[gavino200]

15 hours ago, Bubule said:

 

Hello all, I get mine at hobby search.

 

It is a quite expensive controller Yet. But i think the quality is as higth as the price. All components are the best availble. Everything is metal  and electronic is top quality.

 

 

 

 

Ah, yes, it IS quite pricey indeed. I'll have to work on my wife a bit to convince her that my son is deserving of such lavishness. I may have to set him some sort of learning challenge to earn it.

 

We love your video btw. You're obviously having so much fun!! It's great!

[Bubule]

Hello all !

 

We have spoken about carpentry appliyed to the construction of model railroad on this thread and some of you seems to be interested on that subject . So i have made a mix of a vlog to see advancements of the built and a tutorial that explain the way i have installed the support of Kurama Terminus layout and the different choices i have made. It is a very detailled video, step by step. It's the first time i have made that kind of long video (27 minutes). So please tell me if you  appreciates the format or if you feal it boring or simply too long. 😅

 

 

See you soon, best regards.

 

Jef

 

Edited July 12, 2018 by Bubule

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, Bubule said:

Hello all !

 

We have spoken about carpentry appliyed to the construction of model railroad on this thread and some of you seems to be interested on that subject . So i have made a mix of a vlog to see advancements of the built and a tutorial that explain the way i have installed the support of Kurama Terminus layout and the different choices i have made. It is a very detailled video, step by step. It's the first time i have made that kind of long video (27 minutes). So please tell me if you  appreciates the format or if you feal it boring or simply too long. 😅

 

 

See you soon, best regards.

 

Jef

 

 

Jef. This is AMAZING!! Exactly the sort of thing I need. Thank you so much for making it. You rock!!!

[JR 500系]

Wow Jef that's just amazing! Great wood skills! I see you have the Tetsudo collection controller which is quite rare, nice! 

[sid21177]

I see you are wearing a Les Bleus jersey 😊 - all the best for the final 👍

Edited July 13, 2018 by sid21177

[Bubule]

5 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Wow Jef that's just amazing! Great wood skills! I see you have the Tetsudo collection controller which is quite rare, nice! 

 

Yep, i'm very proud and happy to get one at the re-release in 2012/13. I love this controller. 😁 A modeler in france, have seen mine on photos. He have proposed me 600 bucks for that 150$ contoller. He was crazy about that thing. But i have to waited a too long time to get mine, for selling it.  I dont understand why tomytec dont make another run of that marve l. . . .I have got a lot of friend that would be happy du get one.  I would like to get The deluxe clock and brake command, but i never have the chance to get one ... 😥

[Bubule]

 

 

Hello all.   😃 Tomorow :      Allez les Bleus ! ! ! ! !  Thanks ! Hope a second star on the jersey !

 

 

 Like i have expected, tutorials interested some modelers but are not has appreciated as advancements or rolling stock video 😉 .

But i have prepared three tutorials during my built, so i will still edit and publish it. After, i will come back to photos advancement posts and when there will enougth advancement a small video blog to check it.

So here is the smaller tutorial. It's a little tip : how to build power plugs panels for an exhibition layout, reliable and easy to use. Hope it can help ... 😋

 

 

The last tutorial will be about electricity.

 

Best regards,

 

JEF

Edited July 14, 2018 by Bubule

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Bubule said:

Like i have expected, tutorials interested some modelers but are not has appreciated as advancements or rolling stock video 😉 .

 

Maybe more traffic for the pretty rolling stock. But deeper appreciation for the tutorials I'm sure!!

 

[Bubule]

Hello all !

Electricity is finished ! So here is the first update video.

On this video you will see :

0'0"       =  Overall view of electricity on the layout. (Power supplys, canals, relays, control pannel...)
11'16 "  = Test peco cisor Crossing with MRC-M1Z controller
14'24"   = Test peco cisor Crossing with TETSUDOU controller
18'         = Work to come up soo.
21'40    = Some runs with kirara

Hope you will enyoy, Best regards.

 

 

[gavino200]

Great video! Your layout looks almost as good underneath as on top. I have a couple of questions.

 

The pico crossover looks very nice. Is there an advantage to having both sets of crossovers on separate circuits, as opposed to the way many manufacturers have all four points wired together so they all flip together. (That is, apart from it just looking cool and prototypical).

 

Second question. Roughly how many layouts have you built? What other carpentry/electric applications/hobbies do you do? What I mean is, I guess, how long has it taken you to develop this excellent level of skill?

 

Congratulations on the World Cup Victory btw!!

Edited July 15, 2018 by gavino200

[Bubule]

11 hours ago, gavino200 said:

Great video! Your layout looks almost as good underneath as on top. I have a couple of questions.

 

The pico crossover looks very nice. Is there an advantage to having both sets of crossovers on separate circuits, as opposed to the way many manufacturers have all four points wired together so they all flip together. (That is, apart from it just looking cool and prototypical).

 

Second question. Roughly how many layouts have you built? What other carpentry/electric applications/hobbies do you do? What I mean is, I guess, how long has it taken you to develop this excellent level of skill?

 

Congratulations on the World Cup Victory btw!!

 

First question :    Very good question ! But tricky answer 😅 The peco crossover is an electrofrog switch. It means that all the frogs are metal. So they need to be wired and juiced to have a great conduction of electricity to the rolling stock.

  Below there is a photo of the crossover and a shot of my control panel.You will need to watch them to understant my explanations.

 

The red arrow shows two cuts made by Peco. That cuts isolate the two pieces of tracks i have colored in blue at the right  (the same two pieces at the lef are isolated too).

- When you pass on the red crossover on the pannel, the blue piece of track need to be juiced with the polarity of bottom rail on the photo .

- When you travel on the blue crossover on the pannel, the same blue pieces of track need to bee juiced with the polarity of the upper rail on the photo.

 

So you need to separate the two crossover to juice correctly this pieces of tracks an prevent a short circuit. The same pieces at the lef than the blue ones at the right works exactly with the opposite polarity of the rigth blue pieces. So two contacts of the 3 positions switch used to drive the crossover are use as an invertor to juice that two frogs.

 

I dont know if i am clear, it's complex to explain and my spanish cow english is so poor ... 😥

 

 

 

Second question :  

For electricity skills : Like you have guessed beyond your question, i am a profesionnal in electricity business. I am since 16 years an Electricity/Automation project manager in a pharma chemestry plant. So i can apply my work knowledge to model railroading. It's very usefull 😋.

 

For carpentry and more artistics job on model railroads : I am building model railroads since i was 12 years old. So modelrailroading is for me a devoring passion since 25 years. I have built or worked a lot on more thant 10 different layouts in my modelrailroad club (that i have leaved) and on my personnal layouts. But what gave me the more skills is to buil my last US prototype N layout : The Turtle Field Railroad. Here a video of an over view. It's not a japannese layout, i dont if i can show it on your forum ? I have have started that layout in 2003. And it is still not completed yet because there is a lots of big and very complex scratchbuilt buildings to made on the "spirit of Denver" part of the layout.

 

 

 

 

For example that full scratchbuilt overhead crane for by round house have taken to me six month of works to design it on prtotype photos, to built it fom nothing in platic and brass, paint it, and weathering it :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that will answer to your questions.

 

Thanks a lot for you interrest on mya work it is very nice.

 

Jef

 

 

Edited July 16, 2018 by Bubule

[Pauljag900]

Wow!! Seems carpentry is nt the on,y thing you re good at.

superb detail and scratch building work good effort jeff👍👍😀

[kvp]

5 hours ago, Bubule said:

So you need to separate the two crossover to juice correctly this pieces of tracks an prevent a short circuit. The same pieces at the lef than the blue ones at the right works exactly with the opposite polarity of the rigth blue pieces. So two contacts of the 3 positions switch used to drive the crossover are use as an invertor to juice that two frogs.

Actually if you use the 3 position strategy, then it's possible to connect the crossing frogs to the opposite side frogs of the inner or outer turnouts. This allows the turnout to be used without motors or even with blade polarization only, as long as the turnouts are set according to the 3 position strategy.

 

For fully straight or fully crossed over operation and DCC, it's possible to wire the two crossing frogs with auto frog power (like a Gaugemaster DCC80), so the polarity will always match what is required. (assuming no two trains try to cross at the same time, but that would be bad anyway) This would result in the same operation as what Kato uses with their insulated frog crossover.

 

Btw. i think you could improve your power control logic for the crossovers. If you route power from the mainlines according to the route switch position. So in case of straight through, the inner part could get power from the ramp, while the outer from the outer loop (depending on their cab selection). For a ramp to outer track crossover position, the crossover could get power from the ramp and in the outer loop to inner track position the crossover would get power from the outer loop. This would eliminate the two crossover cab select switches from your panel. (it would need auxiliary relays though, but a single pole 3 position switch and some diode logic would work nicely) The only downside is that this setup doesn't allow trains to be parked on the crossover.

[gavino200]

31 minutes ago, kvp said:

The only downside is that this setup doesn't allow trains to be parked on the crossover.

 

For me this would be a big downside. According to Murphy’s law , “This will keep happening accidentally until it finally drives you bonkers”

[gavino200]

7 hours ago, Bubule said:

 

First question :    Very good question ! But tricky answer 😅 The peco crossover is an electrofrog switch. It means that all the frogs are metal. So they need to be wired and juiced to have a great conduction of electricity to the rolling stock.

  Below there is a photo of the crossover and a shot of my control panel.You will need to watch them to understant my explanations.

 

The red arrow shows two cuts made by Peco. That cuts isolate the two pieces of tracks i have colored in blue at the right  (the same two pieces at the lef are isolated too).

- When you pass on the red crossover on the pannel, the blue piece of track need to be juiced with the polarity of bottom rail on the photo .

- When you travel on the blue crossover on the pannel, the same blue pieces of track need to bee juiced with the polarity of the upper rail on the photo.

 

So you need to separate the two crossover to juice correctly this pieces of tracks an prevent a short circuit. The same pieces at the lef than the blue ones at the right works exactly with the opposite polarity of the rigth blue pieces. So two contacts of the 3 positions switch used to drive the crossover are use as an invertor to juice that two frogs.

 

I dont know if i am clear, it's complex to explain and my spanish cow english is so poor ... 😥

 

 

 

 

 

Second question :  

For electricity skills : Like you have guessed beyond your question, i am a profesionnal in electricity business. I am since 16 years an Electricity/Automation project manager in a pharma chemestry plant. So i can apply my work knowledge to model railroading. It's very usefull 😋.

 

For carpentry and more artistics job on model railroads : I am building model railroads since i was 12 years old. So modelrailroading is for me a devoring passion since 25 years. I have built or worked a lot on more thant 10 different layouts in my modelrailroad club (that i have leaved) and on my personnal layouts. But what gave me the more skills is to buil my last US prototype N layout : The Turtle Field Railroad. Here a video of an over view. It's not a japannese layout, i dont if i can show it on your forum ? I have have started that layout in 2003. And it is still not completed yet because there is a lots of big and very complex scratchbuilt buildings to made on the "spirit of Denver" part of the layout.

 

 

 

 

For example that full scratchbuilt overhead crane for by round house have taken to me six month of works to design it on prtotype photos, to built it fom nothing in platic and brass, paint it, and weathering it :

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that will answer to your questions.

 

Thanks a lot for you interrest on mya work it is very nice.

 

Jef

 

 

 

Jef, thanks for sharing about your background. It's nice when work skills translate to fun stuff! 

 

I think it's totally fine to post a video showing non-Japanese stuff in a Japanese part of the forum to make a point. People are pretty relaxed about that kind of thing here.  Also, if you want to post about a completely non-Japanese project that's fine too. There's a sub-forum for that here - "Worldwide Models". 'Turtle Field' would be very welcome there.

 

Your scratch built crane is superb! The crafting and paintwork are outstanding. But, I think there's one detail - the loosely draped cable - that really makes it spring to life!!

Edited July 16, 2018 by gavino200

[Bubule]

Hello all,

 

Thanks a lot for your comments. I see that the US layout is interresting some of you. So when i will have some time, i will create a thread in the special part of the forum about Turtle Field.

 

Return to plastic work now ! I need to install the bridge to finish the installation of the tracks on the layout. So i need to made all the poles of the bride.

 

The challenge is to get a standard shape and maintain the same geometry on each poles. To reached this objective, i have realized a jig with plastic card and strip. It have been designed to glue in place the parts of the poles without sticking on the jig itself ( the little transversal strips in the bottom, keep the poles away from the base) :

 

 

 

 

The tool have been very usefull, to made the 5 poles.  Each pole is made with 8 plastic parts. All gaps have been filled with deluxe putty, filled and sanded : Ready to paint now !

The two larger (poles 2 and 4) are made to support catenary poles.

 

 

 

I have made a test of rigity on charge : NO PROBLEM it's very strong :

 

 

I have also prepared the wood sokets of each poles. I have chosen to vary  the higth of each poles. They are gowing up on the three first poles and the two last are lowering . So the center pole is the higthest. It is more work and more difficult to trig but i think it's beter for the scene appearance :

 

 

 

Here is a view with a train to get an idea of the volumes :

 

 

So thanks for watching and see you soon to see the next steps of the bridge integration.

 

Best regards.

 

Jef

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 20, 2018 by Bubule

[disturbman]

Amazing work! Je suis envieux de tes talents.

Edited July 20, 2018 by disturbman

[Bubule]

Thanks, nice french ! Tu parles français ?

 

So here the next part.  One point witch is very caracteristic for this bridge is the two Waren catenary poles. They are placed on small platform with handrails. 

 

To built these i will take from base, the waren catenery poles from Kato ... so lets go !

 

First the base have been cut to fit my small girders :

 

 

I use three poles to make one arcade. So i need to cut it :

 

 

 

 

Here is the arcade :

 

 

Platform are scratch built with .015 card and Plastruct styrene hand rails:

 

 

 

The structure is made with I-beam from evergreen :

 

 

Some details with reinforcement triangles :

 

 

 

Here the pole finished :

 

 

More to come ...

 

Best regards.

 

Jef

 

 

[Bubule]

Here are two Bonus views of the test on the girder :

 

 

 

 

[gavino200]

 

13 hours ago, Bubule said:

Hello all,

 

Thanks a lot for your comments. I see that the US layout is interresting some of you. So when i will have some time, i will create a thread in the special part of the forum about Turtle Field.

 

Return to plastic work now ! I need to install the bridge to finish the installation of the tracks on the layout. So i need to made all the poles of the bride.

 

The challenge is to get a standard shape and maintain the same geometry on each poles. To reached this objective, i have realized a jig with plastic card and strip. It have been designed to glue in place the parts of the poles without sticking on the jig itself ( the little transversal strips in the bottom, keep the poles away from the base) :

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tool have been very usefull, to made the 5 poles.  Each pole is made with 8 plastic parts. All gaps have been filled with deluxe putty, filled and sanded : Ready to paint now !

The two larger (poles 2 and 4) are made to support catenary poles.

 

 

 

 

I have made a test of rigity on charge : NO PROBLEM it's very strong :

 

 

 

I have also prepared the wood sokets of each poles. I have chosen to vary  the higth of each poles. They are gowing up on the three first poles and the two last are lowering . So the center pole is the higthest. It is more work and more difficult to trig but i think it's beter for the scene appearance :

 

I like the jig that you made to hold the bridge pier piece in place while you glued them. Could you post a picture of the jig unloaded - with no pier pieces on it.

 

Also, what is the "delux putty" you mentioned?

[gavino200]

On 7/16/2018 at 2:54 AM, Bubule said:

For example that full scratchbuilt overhead crane for by round house have taken to me six month of works to design it on prtotype photos, to built it fom nothing in platic and brass, paint it, and weathering it :

 

 

 

 

Hope that will answer to your questions.

 

Thanks a lot for you interrest on mya work it is very nice.

 

Jef

 

 

 

Jef, when I saw this first, my attention was captured by the scratch built crane. I didn't really notice the 'concrete' that it's standing on. It's done really well. Can you comment on how you created this concrete effect? 

[disturbman]

3 hours ago, Bubule said:

Thanks, nice french ! Tu parles français ?

Oui, oui. Je suis français, though I haven't lived in France for the past 11 years.

Et de rien, you really do amazing work.