HO Scenery and Where to Find it?

[GDorsett]

Hey all, I'm back once again looking for information.
I'm kicking around the idea of starting a narrow gauge layout using the newish Tomytec models (The ones that are HO scale, but run on N gauge track) but I have one major issue: I have no idea where to find vehicles and structures. I know cars at least exist, but most of the builds I see are paper craft. Is that my best options for buildings or do plastic models/kits exist as well? Also, do turntables exist for the really narrow gauge trains or could I possibly repurpose an N scale turntable?
And for cars/trucks/busses, are there online shops where I can find these or are they ususally only found in local shops in Japan? The theme for this new modular layout is yet to be determined, but it will likely be in five or six, 4x2 foot sections arranged in a rather lopsided L shape. I'd like to put either a town at either end or a town at one end and an industry at the other. Both towns will have a small round table if such models exist, and one town will interface with full HO scaled track so I can tie it into the rest of my club's layout. I'd like to use the other end to have a third, 10mm gauge sections to tie into the recently built narrow gauge branch of said club.

Edit:
I am also considering adding a "portal" somewhere in the middle between the towns so I can reuse my American structures, although I'm hoping that most my track-side utility buildings are basic enough that I can reuse them as-is without the need for a tunnel pretending to be a space warp.

Edited November 24, 2019 by GDorsett

[bill937ca]

Hobby Search has a semi dedicated HO/Z page.

 

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

 

HO scale structures have their own category. At the top of the listings you can sub-sort for structures by clicking on the item series drill down.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3066/0/1

 

There is a 16th Street line from Cosmic of railroad structures and details. they appear to be arcyclic. 

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3066/0/1?ItemSeries=The+16th+Street

Edited November 24, 2019 by bill937ca

[Martijn Meerts]

Narrow gauge turntables tend to be much smaller / for really short trains. Of course, you can look for a non-Japanse turntable, which should be very much usable on a Japanese narrow gauge layout.

 

I've found that Japanese H0 buildings is fairly limited. For my own H0e / H0j projects, I've started looking into blueprints of buildings / structures, and then scratch build those. I've bought 2 H0 scale plans which can be used as templates, 1 is a fairly standard sawmill, the other is a water tower. Neither of these are typically Japanese, but with some modification they're very much usable in my specific situation. (I have no pictures since I haven't actually finished any of them, just been experimenting a little)

 

Scale lumber is really easy to work with. It does take more time than building a kit of course, but on the other hand, the end result often looks better, and painting them is definitely easier. Narrow gauge is also often mining / forest railroad related, where most structures would've been (temporary) wooden structures, and quite a few wouldn't even look typically Japanese either.

[marknewton]

Cosmic make a turntable kit for HO which could be adapted for HOe. But as Martijn says, most of the turntables on Japanese NG lines are quite small.
 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10497050

 

The only injection-moulded plastic kit for a Japanese building I know of is made by Tomix, apparently based on a structure that appeared in a movie. It's in the same style as their N scale structure kits - it consists of pre-coloured snap together parts. It also has some figures and scenic material included. I've got a couple of these for future use, they're quite nice little models.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10064046

 

Sankei's range of card kits are very good. With care they make very nice looking models. 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3066/0/1?Make=Sankei

 

You can improve the appearance of the Sankei kits by replacing the printed roofs with these plastic tiles:

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3066/0/1?Make=Sakatsu+Gallery

 

If you fancy scratchbuilding some structures I have numerous drawings I can send you.

 

The largest range of Japanese vehicles in 1/80th scale is made by Tomytec. Most are relatively modern, but there's some older vehicles in the range as well.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/3065/0/1?Make=Tomytec

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2019 by marknewton

[GDorsett]

6 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

Narrow gauge turntables tend to be much smaller / for really short trains. Of course, you can look for a non-Japanse turntable, which should be very much usable on a Japanese narrow gauge layout.

 

I've found that Japanese H0 buildings is fairly limited. For my own H0e / H0j projects, I've started looking into blueprints of buildings / structures, and then scratch build those. I've bought 2 H0 scale plans which can be used as templates, 1 is a fairly standard sawmill, the other is a water tower. Neither of these are typically Japanese, but with some modification they're very much usable in my specific situation. (I have no pictures since I haven't actually finished any of them, just been experimenting a little)

 

Scale lumber is really easy to work with. It does take more time than building a kit of course, but on the other hand, the end result often looks better, and painting them is definitely easier. Narrow gauge is also often mining / forest railroad related, where most structures would've been (temporary) wooden structures, and quite a few wouldn't even look typically Japanese either.

 

My current plan is to either modify an existing N scale turntable or use a CD and tray. I don't need a big turntable because of the short trains, but a CD should be enough to turn an entire train instead of just the locomotive or one car. I toyed with a run-around, but I'll have to see when some of them get here if that is plausible. Some may have to be actually turned.

 

@marknewton
The goal of this layout is more of a permanent, small town to small town connection rather than a temporary mining or logging operation, although I will eventually be getting some Roco tipper cars to park somewhere and will be adding an entrance (Gotta give some incentive for others to create and link in!).

I will likely be doing mostly papercraft like you've been doing since, as stated, there's not much selection. I can probably reuse some of my existing HO buildings from my American stash, especially trackside stuff, but I'd rather do it properly.

Are there any other places where I can get vehicles? There doesn't seem to be much left on Hobby Search.

[marknewton]

I've gotten a lot of my vehicles from Yahoo auctions by using one of the proxy bidding services. That's worth trying.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[shadowtiger25]

On 11/28/2019 at 7:23 AM, marknewton said:

 

 

If you fancy scratchbuilding some structures I have numerous drawings I can send you.

 

I do, but I dont know when I will ever build a layout...

[Martijn Meerts]

On 11/28/2019 at 4:33 PM, GDorsett said:

My current plan is to either modify an existing N scale turntable or use a CD and tray. I don't need a big turntable because of the short trains, but a CD should be enough to turn an entire train instead of just the locomotive or one car. I toyed with a run-around, but I'll have to see when some of them get here if that is plausible. Some may have to be actually turned.

 

I know Peco has a really small plastic turntable for freight cars in H0e which is also quite cheap. Of course, it's all plastic, so can't run trains over it, and it's not motorised either, I think it's more of a display piece.

 

Also, there's http://www.kitwoodhillmodels.com/hoe-10m-deck-turntable/ for example. Slightly out of scale for Japanese H0e, but better than an N-scale turntable 😉