Sankei Slow Progress

[Tony Galiani]

I like the Sankei kits but they take me a long time to make progress.  For me the key to making them is patience - something I lack.  Trying harder with this kit:  MP03-48 Bookstore.

So far, so good but I did mess up the windows a bit.  The instructions show specific sizes for the window "glass" but I just cut some of the clear gazing by eye.  This turned out to be a mistake as the pieces were the wrong size - they need to be small enough to fit into the space but large enough to be easy to glue in.  The one I did measure worked just fine so back to the clear glazing with a ruler tonight.

I have also had some problems with good corner joins.  This time I plan to assemble the basic shell and then add the brick facing.  I think this will allow me to get a better final result.

With any luck I will have this done by next year!

Tony Galiani

[cteno4]

They do require some patience! But once you learn the basics (like the glaring mistake and others I’ve made) you get into more of a groove. Having a good sized surface to lay out the parts and keep track of stuff helps!

 

luckily you can get glazing at the hobbyshop or many model cartons end up having a good hunk for clear package window bits.

 

but ahh yes, patience grasshopper, patience! They are not a Tomytec or btrain click together, that’s for sure!

 

i just got a pile of them in in the last month and must start a building campaign soon!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Taxman]

This was one of my Christmas presents.  I am looking forward to trying a Sankei kit and I am taking notes on anything you note as a "mistake" to avoid doing the same.  Thanks tony! 🙂

[ben_issacs]

Folks, 

The Sankei kits do give dimensions for the window glazings, study the instruction leaflet, they are in there.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[Tony Galiani]

The instructions are indeed clear about this.  I thought I could estimate the size for the glazing which was not a good idea.  This is where - for me at least - a little patience would help.  Yesterday I actually followed the instructions and completed the glazing and most of the basic shell of the building.  The results so far are much better.  Today, I plan to complete the front facade and add the rest of the details.  I will post a picture when it is finished.

Happy New Year,

Tony

 

[disturbman]

I also have trouble taking my time with them, as I don't have much time available for hobby work. I started building more kits but I fear I was a bit less successful with my first one, a three-storey commercial building, than I had been in the past with simpler kits.

I am not sure adding the facings after having constructed the initial structure would work better. The facings seems necessary to make the corner joints sturdy/actually hold.

[cteno4]

They do take practice. Laying out the parts and going thru them and how they all glue together and orient is important, it’s easy to flip a piece or get it 90 degrees off with some (my first sankei mistake with two solid wall sections only 2mm different in size). Lightly penciling in the part number on the back sides of parts also helps keep track of things as many parts can be similar.

 

their instructions are minimal so best to study them for a while, I find that they can look too sketchy when I first look at them but after looking thru them for a minute and visualizing in my head they start to look clearer. Also need to redo this each time you come back to working on a model.

 

use some of those flat alligator hair clips to hold parts while laminating them. They have just enough pressure to hold them without slipping or leaving marks. You can also bend them to be flat and parallel with 2 or 3 layers clamped. Don’t put a weight on laminating parts as parts can slide before the glue sets. Thicker “tacky” white glue helps prevent this but always something to watch for.

 

https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/6483-simple-clips/?tab=comments#comment-75200

 

also made some corner clamps using the hair clips to hold corners together. Simple just a bit of 3/4” stock with 2 hair clips epoxied onto it. Simple and easy to position. Find it less fiddly to line stuff up than using the metal base and magnetic block jig I have. 
 

https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/6573-i-so-want-this-but-the-price/?do=findComment&comment=75178

also there are a number of great videos of sankei kit being assembled. Some in this big thread along with some more sankei assembly tips

 

https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/2026-sankei-paper-kits/

Cheers,

 

jeff

[disturbman]

I used to use various size of drawing clamps to laminate the layers but have now switched to a bookbinding sandwich technique: place the laminated parts between two pieces of cardboard and then place a couple or more heavy weights to rest on the cardboard. It worked pretty well, the pressure is better spread over the whole of the piece but you have to be careful with the amount of glue, you don't want it to bind with the cardboard pieces.

[Tony Galiani]

I (mostly) finished this building on New Year's Day and am generally pleased with the result.  It is definitely better than my previous efforts with Sankei kits.  I am not sure I like the roof coping and may I may paint that later on.  Also will need some signs and maybe some other details like roof top equipment and vents but not sure yet.  Some of this will depend on where it ends up on my layout project.

 

There is a wealth of info for building these kits on this forum - I plan to go back and reread the various threads.  I skimmed through them before but probably should have read them in a bit more depth.

 

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[Tony Galiani]

Yet to be determined - - will Sankei kits hold up when attacked by Catzilla?  My last project did not fare so well - I am still trying to decide if it is worth salvaging but live and learn I suppose.

Ciao,

Tony Galiani

[cteno4]

Nice work! Looks great!

 

bummer on Catzilla, cats and layouts don’t interact well... even the fur is toxic! I cleaned out a number of engines from friend’s with cats and pulled out amazing amounts of cat fur! For some reason it seems to be just the right size and consistency to get sucked into motor trunks and all the way into drive trains! One was one of those spring drive Tomix mechs and the whole spring shaft was totally packed with cat hair and grease mix...

 

cats hate any type of obstruction to the layout as well, just pisses em off and becomes a challenge to get past... then you have the I’m more important than these silly toys attitude to deal with! One friends cat would want attention and if not given it after a few leg rubs and meows woud jump onto his train table and just smack a car or structure onto the floor and sit there for a minute and if no attention, repeat... the cat knew how to get him!

 

love cats dearly and had many of them, but the dog doesn’t touch the trains, “no” is not a challenge to him and no issues! Most of the cats I’ve had saying “no” would be throwing down the gauntlet! My childhood cat was great with my trains though, as long as I left a dresser drawer open high enough so she could watch what I was doing on my layout in my bedroom and on working on projects at my desk she would be happy curled up there keeping watch. No drawer open and she would walk across my desk catzilling everything in her path across it! 
 

best of luck with catzilla.

 

jeff

[ben_issacs]

Tony,

Your little building looks o.k.

The only item on the roof could be a small a.c condensing unit, not sure if such an item now made.

Or maybe window mounted a.c units, again not sure if made in model form

In real life roof access would probably be by a cherry picker now-a-days.

But, you do need a couple of signs on the front.

Can't remember if anyone makes just sheets of signs, if you had a Tomytec or Kato building kit, these have stacks of signs.

If you could get good side on views of actual Japanese buildings with signs, you might be able to scan these and run them down to a suitable size.

Anyrate, please keep us informed on your future building programme.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

 

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

Bill - thanks for the info.  I was wondering about roof access since a few random views I checked on the interweb didn't show access ladders or roof top doors.  And I see cherry pickers around here often enough so should have guessed that.

 

Feeling more confident now, I am starting a slightly different Sankei building project this weekend.  My first one did not come out all that well with some gaps in the corners, slightly uneven roof and the walls bowing in slightly in one section.  I was experimenting with a fix last night and think I can salvage this building - the small police station - and make it look pretty good.  If all goes well I will post the results next week.  If all goes bad, forget that I ever posted this ....

 

The building in question is the tan building dead center in the picture.  It looks okay from this distance but get any closer and the flaws are very obvious.  You can easily spot them in the second picture.

Cheers,

Tony

 

[cteno4]

Tony,

 

looks nice in place, I think some of this is your memory of the frustration on a few of the little flaws, we tend to hold onto those and that ends up shadowing our view the building. Noting jumps out here on this building in place. One difference that can make the sankei stand out so they tend to not be as pudgy in the details as tomytecs where they make the plastic thickness pretty robust for snapping together. Also tomytecs have a rather rough weathered paint and sankei are clean flat matte surfaces. Bit of weathering to the sankei can help them blend in.

 

many small two story buildings have no roof access or any machinery up there that would need access. 
 

it is funny that rail modelers would end up worrying about roof details and such as we see that part of our buildings the most with the usuaal view from more on top than we see in regular life!

 

keep at it, your neighborhood is looking nice!

 

jeff

[ben_issacs]

Tony,

Are the other buildings on your layout Sankei too, or are they Tomytec and Green Max?

And don't worry about minor flaws in the structures, even if you're looking at the model  building from one foot away (pretty close), you're  looking at a full sized building from 150 feet away, so any faults don't really show up.

You need a few people on your layout now, unless one is out in the bush, there's usually a fair number of bods around in Japan, unless they've all gone to the baseball match!

Also, if possible, a better station building.

Some of the Kato, Tomytec and Green Max stations look a bit large for you, but might be worth sussing out.

Anyrate, keep on building!

Regards, 

Bill,

Melbourne.

 

[Tony Galiani]

The buildings are a mix.  The factory area is a cut down Kibri H0 building next to a Pikestuff warehouse.  The buildings on the left are Tomytec as are the two residences on the right across from the station.  The blue building is a Green Max kit and the two buildings towards the front from Faller - made to look more Japanese by leaving off the chimneys.

 

The station, such as it is, was an attempt at scratchbuilding.  I had hoped to improve that area and add more details:  people, vehicles, vending machines, lights and signage.  Unfortunately, Catzilla 1 (not the one pictured above) made a mess of the layout.  I rescued it after the first attack.  Much to my surprise, I discovered that Catzilla 1 had figured out how to open the closet door and got at it again!  Right now, the layout is in limbo - I can't decide if I should scrap it and salvage the track to start over on another project.  Or if I should try a rebuild.

 

Cheers,

Tony

 

[cteno4]

Tony,

 

ugh! Sounds like catzilla 1 has taken the layout as a competitor for your attention! Our dog has learned how to open most doors short of having to turn the door knob, and I’m worried he may figure that out at some point being half pure bred cattle dog and the othet half a lot of German Shepard...
 

unless you were really unhappy with the way the layout was going I would give it a little time rebuilding it may come back quickly. May be a lot of the upset of the attack shading the effort to repair. Hang in there.

 

i actually used a dogzilla attack as an April fools jok on the forum a few years back. Making it a plausible thing helps really hook folks.

 

https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/2407-jrms-new-sectional-layout-april-fools/

 

best of luck with the recovery

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

[ben_issacs]

Tony, 

I hope that you don't give up on the layout, it was coming along well.

You'll just have to work out a way to properly latch the door, and to  chuck the cat out if it does sneak in.

Yes, not nice to treat a pet that way, but you've got to show it who's boss!

When I had a cat, she'd come into the train room, look around but not try to get up onto the layout, then go back to snooze on my bed.

Regards, 

Bill, 

Melbourne.

 

[Tony Galiani]

You mean the cats and dogs aren't in charge?  If only I could convince my wife of this ....

 

I have a few layout options/desires I am trying to sort out.  Probably should post in the Layout Planning section at some point.  I set this layout up to be extended so my initial thought is to work on the extension and then go back to repair the damaged layout.  Especially as I will have to figure out a way to blend the scenic sections.  But we shall see.

 

Ciao,

Tony

[cteno4]

My theory is cats and dogs were alien species that crash landed on earth thousands of years ago. Cats were in charge and dogs their loyal subjects. Once on earth the dogs turned on the cats and decided humans were better masters than cats and the cats decided humans were better loyal subjects than dogs. why where we are now with them...

 

looking forward to your expansion toni.

 

cheers

 

jeff