Yamahama - A newbie constructs a somewhat ambitious n-scale layout

[cteno4]

Cool that noch stone walk printed board has great visual depth to it, could have sworn it was 3D! A 1/144 minimalist friend has gone to great lengths to do various brick and stone walks and floors to scale and man is it work!

 

ah yes you would have to tint the water some for the deeper bits to make the koi drop out of site more with depth. Not like usual situations where you only need a thin clear water layer on top is good.

 

have you tried turning your own flower pots? If you stick a bit of hardwood dowel or toothpick in dremel/roto tool chuck and clamp the dremel to the bench you can use it as a lathe to cut slightly tapered flower pots, complete with top lip, hollowed out, and saucer attached on the bottom. Just use a xacto knife tip as a chisel. Make a little stand out of a block of wood or metal about even with the wood as a chisel rest. It’s amazing how fast you can crank them out and I got them down to about 9” dia scale. When done you can cut a deep groove where you want the bottom of the pot to be then slice it off (don’t try to turn cut it all the way off the stock while spinning as it will fly off an you will never see it again…). It’s quite fun and one of the few details you can mini turn at 1/150! I made a few dozen for a friend in an hour or so for his layout detailing. If you don’t want to try this yell and I’ll turn you some and pop them in the mail.
 

cheers

 

jeff

[Tom C]

Mr. Sweed,

 

I take great joy in informing you that you have created a most delightful little scene with your koi pond and I do not hesitate to give you the full 10/10 👍

 

Wonderful modeling. However, I shall not hesitate to summon Shinigami down apon you, should you slacken the pace on creating scenes of beauty for our enjoyment 😈

[MeTheSwede]

Darn!

If that was good enough to get me cursed, I'm glad I didn't wait with posting a photo until it's actually finished.  🤣

 

 

[MeTheSwede]

20 hours ago, cteno4 said:

If you stick a bit of hardwood dowel or toothpick in dremel/roto tool chuck and clamp the dremel to the bench you can use it as a lathe to cut slightly tapered flower pots, complete with top lip, hollowed out, and saucer attached on the bottom.

 

 

You just taught me five new English words within one sentence! I feel like I'm back in elementary school again. 😆 

 

I don't own the required tools, so don't see myself trying this method any time soon. If you'd like to send some pots to Sweden, I'd be honoured to have some Yamahama residents plant something in them. And I guess it could be fun to play "can you spot Cteno's pot?" whenever I'm posting photos. 😀

 

[Cat]

1 hour ago, MeTheSwede said:

I don't own the required tools,

Me, I would just take my trusty XActo #212 blade, the tiny curved one, and carve the pots from a strip of styrene tube.  I live by the #212, the #16, and the standard #11.

[cteno4]

Ok I’ll get back to turning some of the pots. Once you get going is simple, fast and fun!

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

Work has been pretty crazy this week, but today I managed to get some relaxation time at the pond.

 

 

 

 

More and more plants have been added, but there's still a lot of gardening work to be done here.

 

 

[Madsing]

I think I saw more fish!

[MeTheSwede]

Yamahama has been quiet lately. Not much going on.

 

 

Work has been draining my energy more than usually lately and I won't be able to finish the park before my "information gathering trip" to Japan starts next month.

 

 

 

[MeTheSwede]

I've updated my track diagram with adjustments I've made since I got the layout build started 2 years ago.

 

 

 

 

An explanation follows below.

 

The areas marked with a red background are hidden staging yards. The magnet icons in the freight staging yard are magnets that allow for (blind) auto uncoupling of the museum railway's freight consist with my Tomix locomotive.

 

The layout is operated through 3 speed controllers marked with blue, green and red stickers, that controls the track lines of those colours. Points are numbered and coloured in the colour of the speed controller they are attached to. Points of the same colour and number are controlled by the same points control box. The lightning bolt shaped markings indicate where power feeders are attached. Arrows on the left and right sides signifies a connection. The main lines connect in loops through tracks hidden under the cityscape.

 

When the blue number 8 points are set to connect the blue line with the red line, the blue speed controller is inactivated, making the red speed controller take control over the yard to let a freight train move out on the main (red) line.

 

When the red number 3 points are set to connect the green line with the red line, the red speed controller is inactivated, making the green speed controller take control of the red line. This is typically done to allow a train to depart from Yamahama Station's track 2 to Yamahama Minami Station, or vice versa.

 

There's a little symbol at the entrance to the coastal branchline, marking a point where the track is isolated. The track feeder on the branchline can be turned off and on, allowing a train to be parked there being unaffected by trains operating on any other line. There is also an isolation point on track 2 in the passenger train staging yard. This was required when the stubb ended staging track P-1 was added, to prevent current getting to P-2 from the right side, when the geen point 3 is set for current to reach P-1.

 

It's often said that one can never have too much staging on a layout. I quickly found that to be true! Atleast my bank account is happy about there not being room for more trains on the layout. 😅  Each of my 5 passenger trains has it's own dedicated place in the passenger staging yard. This also mean freight trains can only arrive or depart when either of the trains connected to P-4 and P-5 is present at Yamahama, because a red track needs to be open through the passenger station yard.

 

[MeTheSwede]

Sometimes when working on the layout I can overhear the inhabitant's conversations.

 

 

 

- I have a question for you, fellow adult citizen on the zebra crossing...

- Fellow adult? Why are you fellow adulting me?

- Well I have to, or other people who might overhear us, might not understand which two people are talking.

 

 

 

 

- Here's my question fellow adult citizen, do you remember that Pet Salon being there yesterday?

- Not really, but then I'm happy if I can find my home without having to call my wife again to enquire about our address.

- Maybe they knocked down a house and built a new one today.

- Today? But it looks at least slightly weathered, doesn't it?

- I've heard they sometimes paint brand new houses to look a bit weathered.

 

 

 

[cteno4]

I guess it’s ok to listen in to the conversations on your layout but maybe time to see the doctor if the people on your layout start talking to you… 

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

9 hours ago, cteno4 said:

I guess it’s ok to listen in to the conversations on your layout but maybe time to see the doctor if the people on your layout start talking to you… 

 

jeff

 

No problem. There's a doctor living in one of the houses near the signal tower.

 

[Cat]

You don't want to hear what they have to say after you chop their feet off so they can fit inside an automobile...

[cteno4]

He’s called the butcher of Yamahama…

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

If you want to enjoy your layout construction for a long time, build parks! 

 

😅

 

After a couple of weeks of fact finding tours in Japan, I'm back to building on my layout. Progress is slow because I'm getting a bit caught up in details.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This area near Yamahama station used to be occupied by some derelict light industries. The city bought up the properties, tored down the old buildings and constructed a centrally located park to serve the community.

 

At the time, the city was also looking for a suitable spot for a public outdoor stage and it was decided to construct it at this place. It's far from an ideal location, being so close to the rail tracks. At the meeting were it was decided, the chief city planner is rumoured to have said"let's put noisy stuff together, so the rest of the city may have peace".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today the task of trying to be noisier than the trains has fallen to Yamahama Nishi High School Light Music Club which are doing a pretty good job at it.

 

There's not much of a crowd here to day, but at least not fewer people than they are used to having.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When designing the stage I took some inspiration from the Tsuruma Park Universal Suffrage Memorial Ampitheater in Nagoya. The stone work is simply carved styrofoam. I made the benches out of styrene.

 

The band itself is a Kobaru figure set bought from Sakatsu Gallery.

 

The next project will be to slightly trim the tree growth behind the stage, because trains are getting stuck... Then it's back to continue working with the unfinished areas of the park.

 

[cteno4]

Excellent! Another mini onetrak scene to do! Thanks I’m stealing it!
 

jeff

[Beaver]

2 hours ago, MeTheSwede said:

Today the task of trying to be noisier than the trains has fallen to Yamahama Nishi High School Light Music Club which are doing a pretty good job at it.

 

There's not much of a crowd here to day, but at least not fewer people than they are used to having.

 

And it's all good practice for beating those chumps from Higashi-Yamahama High School in the regional contest this summer!

[Madsing]

Soooo nice! You have wonderful ideas!

Is the Kobaru kit still available? I cannot find it on the Sakatsu web site. 

Marc

 

[cteno4]

Here you go Marc! 

 

https://sakatsuglobal.com/products/1395mls01013

 

jeff

[Madsing]

Thank you Jeff!

I am flying to Japan tomorrow for a one-week business trip. Maybe I find some time for shopping. 

Marc

[cteno4]

Ohh you gotta go to Sakatsu! The store looks amazing. And a small spare suitcase will get an amazing haul home for you!

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

12 hours ago, Beaver said:

 

And it's all good practice for beating those chumps from Higashi-Yamahama High School in the regional contest this summer!

 

Can't let the chumps from Higashi win. They are the worst.  🤣

[Brennan91]

On 5/12/2023 at 2:21 PM, MeTheSwede said:

Today the task of trying to be noisier than the trains has fallen to Yamahama Nishi High School Light Music Club which are doing a pretty good job at it.

Is ‘light music club’ a common term for Japanese schools? Or have I met a fellow reader of Shiori Experience?

[MeTheSwede]

It's a common term. The Japanese term is 軽音楽部 (keiongakubu) or sometimes 軽音部 (keionbu) and simply denotes a school band playing some kind of pop music (as opposed to classical music). I haven't read Shiori Experience, but I've seen the anime adaptation of K-On! , the name of which should be explained by my previous sentence.