Hamamachi Station

[Sheffie]

This is looking fantastic, and is inspiring me to try something related with my next layout idea. 

 

One thing that I’ve seen in photography studios, that you might be able to incorporate, is the idea of rounding off the inside corners of the backdrop, so that (in a plan view) you don’t have a right angle between the back and side panels, but a quarter circle. That will help the corners not to attract attention. 

[Densha]

Amazing job so far on this layout, Grant!

 

As for the correct wording for of seaside, I will try to explain some of the different word choices. Your Google Translate シーサイド (shiisaido) is the transliteration of the English word seaside, which in Japan is mainly used as an exotic foreign word for commercial and marketing purposes and evokes images of tropical beach resorts. The by Khaul proposed 臨海 (rinkai) is a word that is used to describe modern developed waterfronts brimming with industry, skyscrapers or amusement parks. The word 海岸 (kaigan) is a more traditional word meaning coast and refers to natural coastlines of rock and beaches, and is a word actually used in the names of several Japanese railway stations placed along the coast just like on your layout. I think kaigan fits the theme of your layout the best, but to make the station name sound realistic you would want to add the town name in front of it. Do you have a town name in mind or do you want to make up one? The station name will then become xx海岸駅.

 

You could also think of maybe calling your town something like 浜町 (Hamamachi), which literally translated means something like coast town. Just calling the station 浜町駅 (Hamamachi Station) already makes you think of a town on the coast. 浜町海岸駅 (Hamamachikaigan Station) would kind of emphasise this even more, but I'm not sure if this doesn't sound a bit too cliché and exaggerated.

 

Sorry for the lengthy blabbering. I got into this a bit too much at some point haha.

[Grant_T]

59 minutes ago, Densha said:

Amazing job so far on this layout, Grant!

 

As for the correct wording for of seaside, I will try to explain some of the different word choices. Your Google Translate シーサイド (shiisaido) is the transliteration of the English word seaside, which in Japan is mainly used as an exotic foreign word for commercial and marketing purposes and evokes images of tropical beach resorts. The by Khaul proposed 臨海 (rinkai) is a word that is used to describe modern developed waterfronts brimming with industry, skyscrapers or amusement parks. The word 海岸 (kaigan) is a more traditional word meaning coast and refers to natural coastlines of rock and beaches, and is a word actually used in the names of several Japanese railway stations placed along the coast just like on your layout. I think kaigan fits the theme of your layout the best, but to make the station name sound realistic you would want to add the town name in front of it. Do you have a town name in mind or do you want to make up one? The station name will then become xx海岸駅.

 

You could also think of maybe calling your town something like 浜町 (Hamamachi), which literally translated means something like coast town. Just calling the station 浜町駅 (Hamamachi Station) already makes you think of a town on the coast. 浜町海岸駅 (Hamamachikaigan Station) would kind of emphasise this even more, but I'm not sure if this doesn't sound a bit too cliché and exaggerated.

 

Sorry for the lengthy blabbering. I got into this a bit too much at some point haha.

 

That is awesome, exactly the type of information I was after. I like Hamamachi Station I think. 

[Grant_T]

More static grass, foliage colour and bushes. I am thinking about painting the station platform this weekend.

 

[marknewton]

I’m very impressed with your scenery, Grant. It’s well observed and well executed.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[Grant_T]

No progress to report, but being a serial layout builder I've been thinking about what to do next. (I have typically sold my past layouts once finished, but there is a place in the living room for Hamamachi Station when it is done so I get to keep this one to run trains on.) My first idea is for a layout of about the size and design of Hamamachi Station but based on the Chuo line in Tokyo (specifically a spot near Akihabara I'm thinking of). This would have the elevated dual line running above a street scene and between large buildings. This would provide natural view blocks and lots of cool things to model (e.g. tall buildings, lighted building interiors, lighted signs, etc).

 

The second idea is for a Shinkansen line where I can depict trains blasting along at full speed. I was sort of thinking of the San-yo line east of Hiroshima where the line emerges from a tunnel, passes a bunch of rice fields and a semi rural scene and then disappears into another tunnel. One requirement for this would be that the curves are realistic (i.e. almost non-existent) because I don't really like the look of high speed trains running around sharp curves. So this would have to be a very long modular diorama (20ft?). I think it is very doable and packed down won't take up too much space. It would also be super simple in terms of track layout, which suits me fine.

 

This is all very early planning of course, but I find both ideas very attractive. 🙂

Edited July 4, 2019 by Grant_T

[Madsing]

I vote for your first idea (if I may 😉) and can't wait to see what you will come up with...

Marc

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Something to keep in mind with shinkansen running at full speed, especially 16 car ones, is that they are very noisy. Visually it might also be a bit questionable, unless you model a section where the maximum speed is limited.

[katoftw]

Lots of 8 car shinkansens on the Sanyo line. Should help with less noise and layout length.

[Grant_T]

On 7/4/2019 at 8:07 PM, katoftw said:

Lots of 8 car shinkansens on the Sanyo line. Should help with less noise and layout length.

 

That is helpful to know. I was thinking about the length of the trains.

[Grant_T]

More Heki trees to fill in the forests on the ends. I think these look the part but it is still looks a bit patchy and so this number of trees again is needed (and maybe with a bit more variety of shapes). Maybe next weekend.

 

[Grant_T]

This still being my favorite reference movie:

 

u

[Grant_T]

I'm back from Japan. Great trip for the most part, but I did catch a bug which I have really paid for this week. I'm a transplant recipient, so the immune system suppressing drugs I'm on make a basic cold a bit of a big deal. 😞 

 

I did a tiny bit of shopping in Kyoto, mostly small detail parts for the upcoming detail build (small vans, lineside details, power poles etc).

 

 

This afternoon I put a bunch more trees on the layout. If anything, the latest trip reminded me how rich the greens are in Japan.

 

Almost done with the background I think. Maybe just a few more trees and shrubbery. And then on to the buildings and detail.

 

I also did some research for the next layout while in Tokyo. 🙂

 

[Grant_T]

An update on the beachfront. First I finished the painting on the rocks and sand (actually it will need a bit of weathering, seaweed etc before it is finished). And then I painted in a bit of the desired sea colour. Note: the vivid blue green is fully intended because I like the contrast with the other colours and aim for pretty and stylized scenes rather than necessarily realistic ones. Then I did a couple of pours with the Woodland Scenic product. This has been tinted the same colour with acrylic paints. It will need several more layers because shrinkage is a factor with this stuff. I could do it with resin, but this product is so easy to clean up. After its all dry I may add some surface effects depending on what it ends up looking like. Then there will be a bit of additional detail painting and maybe someone walking their dog.

[Sheffie]

Every step continues to look good, Grant. I’m looking forward to what’s next. 

[beakaboy]

On 8/16/2019 at 6:02 PM, Grant_T said:

 

 

I also did some research for the next layout while in Tokyo. 🙂

lol! I reckon you could have a decent layout in short time by the speed you make these modules

[cteno4]

Really looking nice grant! Any bathers planned for the beach? Guess the water is not deep enough for the shark fin... 😜 

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

4 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Really looking nice grant! Any bathers planned for the beach? Guess the water is not deep enough for the shark fin... 😜 

 

jeff

 

Just use some of the SciFi channel shark movies as reference, and anything is possible 😄

 

[cteno4]

You mean shark-train-o?

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

For example.. Or super shark, sharktopus, 2-headed shark attack, sharktopus vs whalewolf.. Plenty realistic reference material there 😉

 

 

[lighthouse]

Looks great!

[cteno4]

If you can have snakes on a plane you can certainly have sharks on a train!

 

jeff

[Grant_T]

As tempting as a sharkopotamus is, not on this layout. 😜

[Grant_T]

Final pour of the water. Probably four layers? I'll let this dry and use the water effects on the surface. It always surprises me how much bigger the scene looks in the photos.

 

[cteno4]

The camera adds inches...

 

jeff