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On My Workbench


marknewton

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marknewton
On 5/10/2020 at 4:32 PM, Kamome said:

As I currently have no ED78 to detail, I turned my attention to painting the annoying blue plastic moulded seats in the Kato OHA 12 coaches.


The coaches and the EF81 both look very smart with these details highlighted.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

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marknewton

It's hopper car night tonight. Numbers, affiliation marks and details being applied to the Seki1 four-wheelers, replacement numbers being applied to the Tenshodo Seki3000/6000 bogie hoppers. I bought one boxed set of 10, and managed to buy the same set again with identical numbers! 🙄 

 

We look like having a running night at the club within the next fortnight, so I want to have these cars ready for that.

 

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While I'm waiting for the paint, decals and glued joints to cure on the hopper cars, I've started applying numbers and details to my Tomix Series 159 multiple unit. These were specifically built for school excursion traffic, distinguished by the special livery. This is the KuHa159 driving trailer.

 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

Edited by marknewton
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3 hours ago, marknewton said:


It's very simple. I sanded the surface of the plywood base until it was very smooth, then painted it with two slightly different shades of green acrylic paint. Once the paint dried I stippled on a layer of Mod Podge to make the gentle surface ripples. Once that had dried and hardened I painted over that with a coat of acrylic gloss varnish. The best part is that if the varnish gets a bit dusty you can wipe it clean with a damp cloth and the shiny surface looks like new.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

That has a really good look.

 

Inobu

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18 hours ago, marknewton said:

I've started applying numbers and details to my Tomix Series 159 multiple unit. These were specifically built for school excursion traffic, distinguished by the special livery. This is the KuHa159 driving trailer.

Looks like I always find the idea of a specially designed train for school excursions both amazing and absurd. I read somewhere that they were equipped with cleaning materials so students would clean the cars themselves. There surely can’t be anything like this anywhere else in the world.

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ranger10178
1 hour ago, Kamome said:

Looks like I always find the idea of a specially designed train for school excursions both amazing and absurd. I read somewhere that they were equipped with cleaning materials so students would clean the cars themselves. There surely can’t be anything like this anywhere else in the world.

The only similar thing I know of is that one or two times a year, there's some South Western Railway (UK) services that are lengthened to allow students from a private school to go on school trips to London. They usually add 2 or 3 coaches to the train. All I know is that the school's gonna be paying a lot of money for it!

Edited by ranger10178
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On 4/17/2020 at 1:01 PM, marknewton said:

The loco is a Tomix ED76, also secondhand. I've had it for a while, but it needed some serious work to replace almost all of the external detail parts that were missing, as well as fitting two new pantographs. The mechanism also needed a thorough clean and lubrication. Now it runs beautifully, and looks good as well.

Looks like you’ve done a great job getting it back up to scratch. I actually see this very loco each morning on my commute. I often see ED76 1018 hauling Kokis from Moji to Fukuoka yard and then I sometimes see it on its return journey with the Nitric acid train. 

Edited by Kamome
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marknewton

Thanks for the compliment! I'm glad it worked out alright because the ED76s are one of my favourite ELs. But I had no idea that there were any still in service. That's great to know that 1018 is still running. 
 

I started annual leave this week, so I want to crack on with the Bakuromachi cameo layout. I'm making a start on building the platform. This is a view along the track with some trains showing where it will be. I've made a paper template for the core, which will be nominal 20mm balsa. I'll cut that to shape with the scroll saw. Once it's the right size and shape I'll skin it with some 2mm extruded styrene sheet. That'll make it easy to scribe the stone courses and platform edging.

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I've also finished another rake of the SeKi1 hopper wagons.

 

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All the best,

 

Mark.

 

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marknewton

The balsa core for the platform. It needs a little tidying up with a sanding block, but otherwise it fits quite neatly - much to my surprise. It's the first time I've used the scroll saw.

 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Das Steinkopf
On 5/15/2020 at 3:25 PM, marknewton said:

I started annual leave this week, so I want to crack on with the Bakuromachi cameo layout. I'm making a start on building the platform. This is a view along the track with some trains showing where it will be. I've made a paper template for the core, which will be nominal 20mm balsa. I'll cut that to shape with the scroll saw. Once it's the right size and shape I'll skin it with some 2mm extruded styrene sheet. That'll make it easy to scribe the stone courses and platform edging.

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I'm loving the superelevation on the curves, the trains look great as they work their way through it.

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marknewton

Some progress with the platform for Bakuromachi. I've started attaching the foam overlays for the platform faces. Once the glue has cured I can trim them to their final size and start scribing the stonework.

 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

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marknewton

Platform faces trimmed and sanded to their final size. Now to attach the paving on the top, and start scribing the stonework.
 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

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marknewton

Earlier today I was looking for some laser cut concrete block walls, but I also found this:

 

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Its a kit for animating a level crossing with sounds and flashing lights. I think it's going to be tonight's project.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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marknewton

To my utter astonishment, I not only assembled the crossing kit tonight, it actually works. 🤔

 

Just I gnore the atrocious wiring, there's a reason why I became a boilermaker and not an electrician. I'll tidy it all up when I install it on the layout. The kit provides a choice of 3mm LEDs or minuscule surface mount types. I have no intention of trying to solder leads to those little buggers - I might mount the 3mm ones under the base and run fibre optic strands up to the crossing signal lights. Or buy in some pre-wired SMLEDs. But for now I'm going to enjoy the wonderfully authentic tinny sounds of the crossing chimes. Until the missus comes out and tells me to turn it off!

 

 
 
Cheers,
 
Mark
Edited by marknewton
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Martijn Meerts

Nice! Good thing it works too, trying to find the error in these circuits is a pain in the ass 😄

 

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Nice little kit, simple circuit for what it does! Even sounds like it has a little cap delay tapering the sound off some.

 

now to add a detection circuit to fire it and you can tell the missus it’s automated safety equipment and can’t be tapered with by law!

 

jeff

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marknewton

Funny you should say that Jeff, the circuit board has traces and solder pads marked for "sensors". That might be a project for later, with assistance. Electronics is definitely not my thing. 
 

In the meantime I've attached the platform faces and top to the balsa core, and drawn on the stonework using a very fine tip felt pen. It looks a bit overpowering at the moment on the white foam side, but once it's painted and weathered it'll look alright. I used two different thicknesses of foam in different colours because one side of the platform has a narrower gap between it and the train than the other. I wanted to keep the gap as small as possible for a prototypical appearance, which I think I've achieved. Next task is to make and fit the platform structures and furniture, lights etc.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

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Ha, you do fine with electronics Mark! Like most thing it just takes some time and learning to figure it out.

 

lovely rockwork! 
 

jeff

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Finally got my ED78 up to scratch with numbers and detail parts. It was actually quite a fun build. The photo-etched cab numbers were very small however. Her Majesty’s 5 pence for comparison.

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Edited by Kamome
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Looks great with all the details attached, nice one!

 

I've made some platform lamps for Bakuromachi using the white SMLEDS and K&S brass tube. The lampshades are from some ancient model streetlights I had in the stash drawer that used "grain of wheat" incandescent bulbs. I think the LEDs are far better in every respect.

 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

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Tonight I fitted the insanely small red SMLEDs to the model crossing lights made by TGW. In the photo they're both illuminated as I wanted to be sure they still worked after installation. They do! 👍


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Cheers,

 

Mark.

Edited by marknewton
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Yesterday I started making the waiting room for the platform. The roof and detail parts are from an E-Bell platform kit. Once the joints in the styrene sheet are completely cured I can sand them smooth.

 

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Cheers,

 

Mark.

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I had a "rethink" about the platform lights and the way the lamp housings were attached. I've inverted them and made a top out of styrene strip, which I think looks much better. The housings are translucent, so they diffuse the light and soften the glare.

 

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Mark.

Edited by marknewton
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Martijn Meerts

With the warm weather coming up again, I needed something small to pick up and which I can do without being in the hobby room up on the attic. I've been wanting to do a photo plank for the H0j and H0e stuff for a while. Some time ago I noticed I had these 2 wooden IKEA DVD storage boxes which looked like perfect bases for a photo plank. 

 

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For the one in the front, I cut out a little section for a small stream and a little wooden bridge, the one in the rear will just be a simple flat one. The H0j one will probably just be a simple piece of track, whereas for the H0e one I want to add maybe a turnout or 2, maybe with a little loco shed or something.

 

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Sorry if this is a silly noob type question,

 HOe is the same as HOn30 as I understand it, HO 1:87 scale running on 9mm track.

Is HOj 1:80 scale running on 16.5mm track, as in standard off the shelf Japanese HO or 1:87 scale running on 12mm track?

Is that what the majority of the “full scale“ Imon models conform to?

 


 

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