My Unnamed Suburban Mini Layout

[mr_bananies]

Hello! 

 

First off I'd really like to thank this forum for fueling this hobby for me. I've always had model trains but never had a layout. This Forum has given me the inspiration to start working on one and really get into modeling (well that and quarantine). Seeing everyone's stuff really makes me want to share what i'm up to as well.  Here we go! 

 

I want to state my intentions with this layout. Above all my main goal is to make a fun, clean, simple layout that will remind me of my time living in Japan. I want to focus on fun details and not so much on being ultra realistic. I want to focus on having details that remind me of Japan, for example people air drying clothes and school children with their square backpacks . I lived near Zushi so I want a suburban feel. Hopefully when its done I can sit back and reminisce with my family. This is my first layout so of course learning things has been taking time but my passion to model Japan keeps me going. I'm just so exited to build a model that's (in my opinion) so much more interesting than the American Model railroads that I usually see.

 

I don't really know where or how to start explaining what I've been doing so i'm just going to bounce all over.

 

Since i have minimal space and I don't care about being prototypical to the max I've made an  small roughly 40x80 Cm loop. I only plan on running this 2 car 103 train.

For depth in the bottom left I've started building a hill with those classic concrete wall formations. On the top right there will be an elevated track going across the corner for some more depth. on that track I want to have a train with an interior cut, so you can see into it. Most of the buildings are in position. the right side of the board is all figured out but the left is TBD. I want to have some sort of bus station thing. I'm going to wait until i have more scenery to figure out how I want to make it.

 

On the side with the houses I'm trying to model an area similar to this.

 

I plan on building a short chain fence with ribbon and wire and of course having some grass and small bushes. I've used air dry clay to make the terrain because its cheap. My roads are made using painted foam sheets. 

 

I've been slowly building some Green Max kits and I can't get enough of how awesome the look! They've taken the most effort out of any individual thing but the efforts are worth it. The satisfaction I had when I finished my first house was immeasurable. Only 4 more to go!

 

 

 

across from those houses the plan is to curve the road and have a small pedestrian train crossing based off of this picture I got off of google maps. 

 

 

Below is a fruit shoppe I kitbashed with left overs from the Green Max kit and styrene. This is another piece I had some big satisfaction from successfully fabricating a complete building. I plan on making a little awning and boxes of fruit. I used to have one of these near my house and I just had to have one .

 

 

I've made a few Sankei kits but my favorite by far is the park. I just glued these on . I made the sidewalk with textured pstyrene and I think it looks great .I plan on adding grass and trees.

 

 

 

Speaking of trees here is one I made for the corner of the park. I used the Wire and tree foam method. These are definitely my favorite to make.

 

 

 I experimented with ballast. Getting some practice before I commit to the real thing. 

 

 

This post was kind of a ramble but I hope you enjoyed what I've been up to. If you got any scenery related advice I'd love to hear it. I'm young and this is my first layout so anything helps. Thank you! 

 

 

[Madsing]

Thanks for posting photos of your layout! I love it. It’s always a good idea to get inspiration from photos of the real world, it’s easy today thanks to google street view. And your tree is awesome!

[MeTheSwede]

Thank you for showing us your layout in progress. It's really inspiring to see how much can be done with no need of big budget, big room, or big skills.

[Morcs]

On 8/16/2020 at 1:03 PM, mr_bananies said:

 I experimented with ballast. Getting some practice before I commit to the real thing. 

 

 

This post was kind of a ramble but I hope you enjoyed what I've been up to. If you got any scenery related advice I'd love to hear it. I'm young and this is my first layout so anything helps. Thank you!

 

For ballasting highly recommend getting one of those small fluffy craft paint brushes, really good for brushing the ballast off/into place before applying glue mix.

Edited January 11, 2021 by railsquid
trim excess quoted photos