Hamamachi Station

[Grant_T]

Hi all, new poster here (I've come over from RMweb where I'm also posting this). Here is week one of my new layout. The scene is a very quite rural seaside line (sort of modeled after the Todoroki station on the Gono line, but freelanced and fictional). This will be a single mainline. The pictures largely speak for themselves:

 

 

Thanks for viewing. Grant.

Edited October 6, 2020 by Grant_T

[Kiha66]

Welcome to the forum Grant!  The bench work looks top notch, can't wait to see the progress.  Todoroki station is remote but very scenic, should make a great little scene!  

[Darklighter]

Great subject and the benchwork looks promising.

[gavino200]

Thanks for posting these benchwork pics. I'm looking forward to following your progress and learning how it's done.

[Grant_T]

Thanks guys. Today's work was installing the lights and back board. Now I'm going to pause and have a good think about the actual modeled scene before I commit to it.

 

[Kiha66]

Nice work on the lighting!  I just saw the announcement that tomix is releasing a model of the Kiha 48 which currently run on the line, and have done the Kiha 40s for the line in the past.  I am excited to see how the scene will look, as I think this will be one of the few layouts that escapes for the "trackwork spaghetti" curse that usually befalls small layouts and will actually allow viewers to enjoy the remote beauty of the station.
https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/98058.html

Edited November 25, 2018 by Kiha66

[kvp]

Do you plan to have a fiddle yard somewhere? Point to point or a loop layout?

[Grant_T]

16 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

Nice work on the lighting!  I just saw the announcement that tomix is releasing a model of the Kiha 48 which currently run on the line, and have done the Kiha 40s for the line in the past.  I am excited to see how the scene will look, as I think this will be one of the few layouts that escapes for the "trackwork spaghetti" curse that usually befalls small layouts and will actually allow viewers to enjoy the remote beauty of the station.
https://www.tomytec.co.jp/tomix/products/n/98058.html

 

Awesome, that's exactly the kind of thing I'm after. Thanks.

[Grant_T]

6 hours ago, kvp said:

Do you plan to have a fiddle yard somewhere? Point to point or a loop layout?

 

There is space at the back for a fiddleyard and storage. This is a loop disguised to look like a single mainline scene. The back scene will have a couple of holes cut in it once I work out the precise layout of the track.

[katoftw]

What is the length of this layout?  What track are you using?

[Grant_T]

The layout is 2200mm long. I'll be using either Fleischmann or Peco. I have a lot of the former and the latter is readily available here.

[Grant_T]

A bit of an update. I attached the power board for the lights and controller. And, now seeing the space I have, I've been experimenting with the track placement. I was going to go very minimalist but I now think I will add a little more both so that it has a little more operating interest or playabilty, and for the modelling opportunities. It's now a small station and local freight depot. I'm also thinking about  the setting, basically by looking at a bunch of pictures and trying to imagine myself into the space.

 

[Grant_T]

I need to get the backscene in before I start the modelling, so I'm taking the plunge and painting it. I prefer painted backscenes over photos for various reasons, but it means that I actually have to paint it myself. I've prepped the panel and actually had a go at a small practice scene. I'm using oil paints and will be trying to keep the background quite soft and abstract so as not to distract from the foreground models (this is one of the problems with most photo backgrounds I feel, which are too busy and draw the eye away from the scene). For me the backscene is there just to give a basic sense of the environment and a bit of depth to the modelled scene.

 

Backscene prepped: 

 

 

First very rough sketch:

 

I'm clearly not much of a painter, but I'm satisfied that this will work. The hill shapes need to be a bit more rounded and the colours a bit more brownish green in the front and bluish in the back, and I need to work on my shadowing. Also, ignore the dirty looking cloud, I chose the wrong colour. 😜

 

 

[Grant_T]

Sky painted and background blocked in today. This will have to dry over the next week before I revisit it to tidy it up and add some more detail. Time to clean up the hobby room.

 

[cteno4]

Nice, you do well for not being a painter! 

 

Jeff

[Grant_T]

4 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

Nice, you do well for not being a painter! 

 

Jeff

 

I really enjoyed painting this actually. I might have to have up another hobby.

[cteno4]

Grant, can’t wver have too many hobbies! You have a nice eye there, great depth and shading but as you wanted it doesn’t pull the eye. Kudos!

 

 Cheers

 

jeff

[Kiha66]

Wow, great work Grant!  Love how it came out.

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, Grant_T said:

Sky painted and background blocked in today. This will have to dry over the next week before I revisit it to tidy it up and add some more detail. Time to clean up the hobby room.

 

 

 

Wow!

[Lawrence]

Hi Grant, just read this through, what a talented guy you are, great carpentry and super mountains, can't wait to see how this rest of it turns out.  Only comment I would make before you get any further, if it is a seaside scene and you plan on having a sloping beach or rock pools etc, it may be worth covering the layout with some Celotex or foam board now to raise the base level to give yourself some height/depth for sculpting down to the beach area.

[Grant_T]

On 12/3/2018 at 3:18 AM, Lawrence said:

Hi Grant, just read this through, what a talented guy you are, great carpentry and super mountains, can't wait to see how this rest of it turns out.  Only comment I would make before you get any further, if it is a seaside scene and you plan on having a sloping beach or rock pools etc, it may be worth covering the layout with some Celotex or foam board now to raise the base level to give yourself some height/depth for sculpting down to the beach area.

 

Thanks. I have planned ahead for this, but rather than building up I'll be cutting down.

[sid21177]

I wish I could make this kind of benchwork 🙄

[Grant_T]

I have spent the last two weeks refining the background painting to the point where I'm now satisfied (for the most part, but I had to stop fiddling with it or I'd never finish). A lot of effort for something that will be partly covered up by the foreground scenery. I'm going to varnish this with a matte varnish to tie it all together. One this dries I will start the base for the forground scenery and track.

 

This will be interrupted though, because I'm taking my wife on a surprise trip to Osaka and Kyoto for New Years. 😃

 

 

 

[Grant_T]

Holes for the trains to get to the back cut, and then the cut outs that will allow me to add some depth at the front. Laying the track is getting very close.

 

[Grant_T]

Back from Japan. We had an awesome time again. Here is my haul from the shops. I bought some rolling stock, but not to any particular theme, just what I found attractive. The Tomytec buildings are surprisingly good, but I will probably repaint, detail and generally fix them up a bit before they go on the layout.

 

 

One day we rode the Keihan line up to Kurama in the snow. That was pretty magical and I thought it would be an amazing subject to model. And then by complete chance when I visited Popondetta in Kyoto later, the Keihan rail-car we rode was just sitting there on the shelf before me. 😃