How did you improve your building kits?

[Tokyo West]

Hey all!

 

So with some difficulty, I managed to get a small Tomix business tower. I have a bunch of card kits on the way which I'm looking forward to assembling. 

 

Sadly, the tower had absolutely no interior at all! So I decided to at least add some floors. 

 

They're held in place with some blu-tak for now until I go back and add lighting or a more full interior. 

 

What's everyone else done lately?

 

Michael

[Cat]

I always add interior floors if they are not provided.  For me, seeing straight down through a model building completely breaks the illusion of enjoying the larger scene.

We have one of those Tomix towers in the model stash, but unfortunately haven't spotted anything that looks vaguely like it in our modelling region.  That billboard top will likely get moved to another model where we can use one like that.

[cteno4]

Nice work michael, few bits and bobs for some desks and such or a store and some cheap Chinese architectural figures and it will be great! Those big windows show a lot. That building does really pop with some signed on the windows and top billboard!

 

Cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

1 hour ago, Cat said:

We have one of those Tomix towers in the model stash, but unfortunately haven't spotted anything that looks vaguely like it in our modelling region.  That billboard top will likely get moved to another model where we can use one like that.

btw if you haven’t already seen them, TomyTec makes a few scenery packages for just sinage. One is a roof box like that.

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10121365

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10320897

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10121363
 

jeff

[Bjorn]

I have the exactly same tomix building, when I put it around my tempory track this weekend, my girlfirend first comment was about the void behind that big windows.

[Jimbo]

I have the same building also,,, was surprised it didn't have floors!!  I was thinking of some way to tint the huge window??  or floors??  But now I natleast have a idea of what can be done,,

[cteno4]

It’s an issue with those Outland buildings as well as they just put one floor in for like a 6-8 story building. Windows are smaller so not as noticable but if you light it half the building lights up with one led!

 

jeff

[Cat]

Styrene is my medium of choice for most any modelling problem.  The floors and supports in this building are styrene, the furniture are left over bits of MDF from some laser cut kit.  The triangles cut out of the floors are away from the angle of viewing into the building, and provide a space to slide lighting up inside later.
 

[cteno4]

It’s amazing what a few bits and bobs and a few cheap figures will do once you see it thru the windows from a couple of feet! few cardstock walls with some little colored squares on them for posters and pictures.
 

I actually save little cuttoff bits and odd little pieces for this sort of stuff. Also a pile of cheap findings, beads, etc, off ebay 10 cent auctions.

 

jeff

[ben_issacs]

Remember, in buildings over say four stories, there would be a lift shaft and stair well between the floors, so these should be shown also, as well as the intermediate floors.

 

Also, there would be toilets on each floor, usually part of the lift shaft structure. On these buildings, the location of the toilets are generally indicated by small windows and sometimes exhaust fan outlets.

 

Bill

Melbourne

[cteno4]

If you want to get really detailed, yeah but those features are usually not near the front, larger windows and are all behind closed doors so really no chance of seeing those features. Bathrooms and stairwells tend to have very small or no windows to see in. It really just takes just a tiny bit nearer the larger windows (usually in the front) to give a great impression as the mind’s eye fills in the details you will never be able to see unless you hyperdetail and put your eyeball right up to the large windows.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[railsquid]

On 4/5/2020 at 9:27 PM, Tokyo West said:

Hey all!

 

So with some difficulty, I managed to get a small Tomix business tower. I have a bunch of card kits on the way which I'm looking forward to assembling. 

 

Sadly, the tower had absolutely no interior at all! So I decided to at least add some floors. 

 

 

These Tomix  structures are genuine "classics" and have been in production for 40+ years, so are not quite up to modern standards, but are cheap and excellent for improving.

[Lawrence]

I was after some building a/c units, down pipes, fire escape ladders etc, wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction please. I was told about the 

Kobaru MA-18 House Accessory Set but it seems sold out everywhere

[railsquid]

30 minutes ago, Lawrence said:

I was after some building a/c units, down pipes, fire escape ladders etc, wonder if anyone can point me in the right direction please. I was told about the 

Kobaru MA-18 House Accessory Set but it seems sold out everywhere

 

Kobaru ceased trading not so long ago, so unless you're lucky, it's unlikely you'll find any more stock around/

[Lawrence]

24 minutes ago, railsquid said:

 

Kobaru ceased trading not so long ago, so unless you're lucky, it's unlikely you'll find any more stock around/

Hi squidy, fortunately over on the other channel 😉 Tutenkahmensleeping has offered me a pack. Still going to need more as I have two 6 storey and one 8 storey building to do 🙄

[railsquid]

Come to think of it, this small company:  http://ysk-models.com/150index.html do an eclectic range of N scale 3d-printed building accessories and military hardware, though I only ever come across them at exhibitions.

[Cat]

HLJ backorders the YSK models.  I got some of their Pizza Bikes, and they're brilliant.  Ordered more Pizza Bikes and a variety of shrine models.  Those have been slow to arrive on the backorder, but am hoping they will come through at some point.

[Lawrence]

2 hours ago, Cat said:

HLJ backorders the YSK models.  I got some of their Pizza Bikes, and they're brilliant.  Ordered more Pizza Bikes and a variety of shrine models.  Those have been slow to arrive on the backorder, but am hoping they will come through at some point.

Thanks @Cat I have emailed YSK with an order request

[cteno4]

I think ysk does batch runs of items widely spaced apart in time. I’ve tried backordering many times and once and a while stuff comes in a few weeks, other times stuff does not resurface for backordering for months and months. Took a year for desks to come back again. I put in a backorder for some more pizza bikes (and a few other items) around the time cat got hers (her order alerted me they were back again!) but I guess I was too late as it’s been on backorder now for 6 weeks, so I’m guessing out of stock and waiting for another casting run.

 

it was odd, out of the blue our club was contacted by a ysk distributor for bulk sales. They sent the full product list and only a small fraction was marked as available then (maybe a year ago). Unfortunately they were asking SRP, had a very high minimum order, and only would ship ems, so nothing to gain sadly.

 

has ysk responded to direct sales Lawrence? Be curious to hear!

 

jeff

[Lawrence]

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

I think ysk does batch runs of items widely spaced apart in time. I’ve tried backordering many times and once and a while stuff comes in a few weeks, other times stuff does not resurface for backordering for months and months. Took a year for desks to come back again. I put in a backorder for some more pizza bikes (and a few other items) around the time cat got hers (her order alerted me they were back again!) but I guess I was too late as it’s been on backorder now for 6 weeks, so I’m guessing out of stock and waiting for another casting run.

 

it was odd, out of the blue our club was contacted by a ysk distributor for bulk sales. They sent the full product list and only a small fraction was marked as available then (maybe a year ago). Unfortunately they were asking SRP, had a very high minimum order, and only would ship ems, so nothing to gain sadly.

 

has ysk responded to direct sales Lawrence? Be curious to hear!

 

jeff

Heard nothing yet Jeff, I followed their instructions regarding emailing them (I think) and who knows what their current situation is? I'll let you know if I hear anything

[railsquid]

8 hours ago, Cat said:

HLJ backorders the YSK models. 

 

Who are HLJ?

 

4 hours ago, Lawrence said:

Heard nothing yet Jeff, I followed their instructions regarding emailing them (I think) and who knows what their current situation is? I'll let you know if I hear anything

 

Bear in mind it's holiday season right now ("Golden Week") so you might need to wait a few days for a response.

 

 

[bill937ca]

4 minutes ago, railsquid said:

 

Who are HLJ?

 

Hobby Link Japan     https://www.hlj.com/more/railroad

Edited May 3, 2020 by bill937ca

[Cat]

Sounds very much like one person with a printer running a small side business.  We'll happily wait for the next batch of goodies to come along.

Checking HLJ records, our first batch of Pizza Bikes shipped on 9 March after a short backorder wait.  As soon as they got here and we saw how cute they were, ordered more on 13 March which are still waiting.  

[cteno4]

I ordered mine about when you did your second batch. I have a couple of the pizza bikes and had tried to backorder then a couple of times on hlj, but always went to like the 90 days until they give up!

 

ill have to look closer at the more descent ysk I’ve gotten as the old stuff I’m pretty sure are resin cast as I could see mould lines. I’ll see if I can see any printer layers.

it does seem like a garage business, but they at least have a distributor! 
 

jeff

[Lawrence]

Had a reply from YSK within 24 hours which is good, they distribute through Rakuten  using a reseller called Sakatsu

I went to their store and did a search for YSK and there was a lot of stock, including the pizza bikes @Cat

 

https://global.rakuten.com/en/search/?k=ysk&sid=sakatsu&l-id=gs_product_search

 

However the shipping costs for a small envelope was between £12 -£20, there was nothing specifically Japanese that I was ordering so I'd be as well ordering from shapeways or another UK based supplier given the tax and handling fees I'll get charged.