Garage Unit Tram Layout

[bill937ca]

Progress on the cardstock building kits. Specifically, I have added awnings to the storefronts in the first Downtown Shops / Apartment Buildings Value Pack. Progress is slow , but I have the trams running and the layout will soon  fill in.

[bill937ca]

I decided to go with Tomix Stone Pavement tram track and the first stage of the re-fit is done. Basically just for appearance there is no change in function.  There is still a bit of asphalt track at the back of the layout. I may order another 91084 track set so I can get more curves. The small odd pieces are not offered in stone pavement so they will stay.

 

There is a small section of green tram track at the back of the layout. Heading for a European focused layout as I accumulate more European trams from Tomytec and Kato.

 

More photos with better light tomorrrow.

Edited August 29, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Here is how the stone pavement looks close up.  This typical of places like Milan, Italy and this is fine with me. Although Milan's stones are laid on the diagonal between the tracks.

Edited September 1, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Almost all of the track is now stone pavement or green track. More stone pavement was ordered last night. The scenery base is in place. 

[bill937ca]

Some further work on the tram layout.   I like to recycle materials from one layout to the next.  This way I add a bit more each time.

 

The first photo is a small parklike space along the tram track.  I will probably add the guard rails to the grass track. I like to add some trees, but that means cutting the grass fabric.  The base underneath is foamboard and tarmac sheets so it can't be anything wet.  Right now the sidewalks are glued to one another but not the surface below. I may use double sided tape. The grass fabric is also loose and probably will be secured with double sided tape.

 

 

When you use stone pavement tram track the small miscellaneous pieces will still be asphalt surface.  This probably works best with the 18mm piece which looks like a  crude construction patch job. Two pieces don't work so well so its hidden at the back.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by bill937ca

[brill27mcb]

Hi Bill -  Why not make it a cross-street intersection, scenically.  - Rich K.

[bill937ca]

Interesting idea. Thanks.

[bill937ca]

After going back to square one a couple of months ago, I continue to make progress on a more European layout. I've added a square to the end space and  a church. There are a lot of curves, which are more difficult than straights. The Greenmax sidewalks I used totally ignore curves so I need some other solution. The overall object is to create an interesting background to photograph trams in and that seems to be coming along. I'm surprised the number of angles I see flaws from in these photos. Just more to deal with. I'm now working on a tram stop over near the bank. In time the bank will be replaced with an Auhagen corner building. I may dig out the autos tonight and add some color to the layout. Although its an European theme, the track is Japanese, some of the buildings are Japanese and almost all of the trams are Japanese.

 

 

[disturbman]

Neat.

 

Depending on the country, if you want to model a more Northern European scene, that church wouldn’t be on an island but would be at the centre of the park.

 

With trees, benches and a playground around it. Even a little snack/kiosk nearby. Probably the large pedestrian alley would lead to the main entrance.

 

There would be less trees and more stones/pavement in Southern Europe.

[Giugiaro]

4 hours ago, disturbman said:

There would be less trees and more stones/pavement in Southern Europe.

 

Not entirely necessary. Some do live close to very forested gardens, at least in Northern Portugal.

 

This one could be a close match to what's being portrayed above. There's also this one, this one, this one and this one.

Edited October 11, 2022 by Giugiaro

[bill937ca]

Thanks for the input.  My influences are southern Europe and eastern Europe. I've been to Lisbon, Portugal 7 times and Prague Czech Republic once.

 

I tried a Busch 7079 paved street strip. It was ages old and when I tried to apply it to a piece of styrene it split in the corners. Either it was dried out or just very delicate. So as a replacement this morning I bought a 7 x 12 inch sheet of Model Builders Supply random stone. It cost about the same as the Busch strip and I have cut into size.  The LHS has had these as long as I can remember and they come from a local Canadian supplier.

 

I remember a place in Lisbon, Santos-o-velho, with trams, a church, stone pavement (Calcada), trees and a square near the French Embassy.

 

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.7067437,-9.1579145,3a,75y,90h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sPqqAZyU3mvPoJyNgDu_ipQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

 

Work continues on the layout. Thanks for the input!

 

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

I have changed the base for the church to the random stone sheet painted a dark charcoal.  For now the positioning of the church will be the same. Working on a Kato tram stop. More on that tomorrow.

[bill937ca]

For the past several nights I have been kitbashing a Kato 43-730 tram stop.  I modified it for Tomix Wide Tram tack according to this Japanese video.

 

 

When I weathered the base it tuned out blacker than I wished, so I brought as close to its location base color as I could.

 

A  major part of the project was collecting ad images from Milan and Prague to customize the shelter. The initial images I collected were vertical like most prototype shelter images.  But when I inspected the Kato shelter the ribbing on the clear panel made me change to horizontal.  It has a Prague tram and metro map in the center, and two beer ads on the ends.

 

The short straight makes a good location for watching my trams and taking  photos of my tram fleet.

Edited October 16, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

It's late at night and so far I'm not sleeping.  I have been applying trees, shrubs and figures around the tram station area. I'm using Tamiya Craft Bond and finding the figues are holding quite well, so far. Works great when its a bit tacky. Sorry, not the best light for photos. 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

We now have buildings, some vehicles, figures, trees and potted plants around the layout. I did a little bit more late last night I like the way that tram stop turned out. Much better than the stock Kato appearance. A good match to the Tomix stone tram track. The advertising sign base between the fence and the shelter looks like a garbage can to me. 

Edited October 23, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

From the "lets turn it around and see how it looks" department, I turned the church around so it faces the park walkway.  There is a precedent for this at Namesti Miru in Prague where several tram lines run through Namesti Miru (Peace Square) in almost the same configuration.  There tram tracks are to the side, there is  center walkway up to the church and lots of trees.

 

Namesti Miru location information.

https://www.prague.eu/en/object/places/797/namesti-miru-peace-square

 

Namesti Miru Metro station area map.

https://www.dpp.cz/cs/data/Dopravní schémata/Mapy okolí stanic metra/Verze_08_2020/trasa A NM.pdf

 

I may add shrubs around the church and at the top of park.  Again there is a precedent for this in Prague at St. Henry's Church in Jindrisska.   A short video of mine from 2019  with the church well hidden.

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

I've added a Greenmax 2142 Underpass Entrance as a metro Station entrance. Also some figures in the square.

 

The Greenmax 2142 is posed in front of the tram shelter to show its relative size. I'm looking to add a Yellow station sign from Prague to my entrance. nothing fancy about these structures. In fact, most I have seen in Prague don't have a roof.

 

 

[bill937ca]

Time to make some changes to the most recent tram layout while salvaging as much as possible.

 

The previous track plan was designed with running my various Kato LEX / My Tram models capable of an R90 radius.  This included an S curve  Now I want a layout that accommodates the Tomytec Tatra T3 trams on a R140 or greater radius.

 

For several years I have also had an Unitram Euro layout over by my living room window. The blizzard of December 24th cracked one of my 12th floor living room windows.  Just the inner pane of the window, but still a major event.  The local glass supply house was in on Tuesday, their first day back after Christmas holidays, and measured for a new window. But a broken window means the garage unit had to be moved away from the window and that was done early Christmas morning. No telling how long it will be until the new piece of glass is here, so this garage unit has a new home.

 

I have decided to create a new layout using buildings from the Euro Unitram layout.  So basically the Euro layout gets disassembled. There will be  a row of European buildings at the back of the oval, fronted with a Greenmax sidewalk.  The center of the oval will reuse the existing tram stop, church and the semi-circle park at one end.  Most of the sidewalks from the old layout were glued together but not to the base board, so they are good to go. This also gets the Kato bank and Tomytec bank off the layout. I felt those were out of place.

 

It would be nice to have a place to run a few trains in the future, so there is still a  use for the second garage unit..

 

The base board in the center of the oval is a left-over piece of foamboard from a previous layout. The base for the row of buildings behind the oval is also a leftover.

 

I have found my black magic marker (in plain sight!) and I can now blacken white edges of the foamboard and pieces of styrene for a better visual effect. 

 

Photos as I progress.

Edited January 5, 2023 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

It's late. Here is the first photo of the revised layout.

[bill937ca]

The one day conversion is done.  Far more buildings, but still some green spaces.

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

I am now working on a second garage unit tram layout. This one has an oval of Unitram track. It is a new home for many of my Japanese buildings.

 

Track sitting on the unit before I cut the foamboard sheet down to inside the Unitram oval. Once it is cutdown to size I blacken the white inner layer with a black magic marker. Nothing fancy just a black marker from the dollar store. This way there are no little bits of white showing.

 

A garage unit allows the Unitram cables to be dropped down into the holes.

 

I've started cutting the Metcalfe Tarmac sheets to size.  The white sheet is a piece of cardstock I use as a pattern to cut the corners. It is placed under the Unitram track and the outline is traced with a pencil and then cut to shape. That front middle piece will probably get replaced as I don't like the way it measures up. But it was a recycled piece. The Kato controller will be on the lower shelf.

Edited January 12, 2023 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

I'm starting to assemble buildings for Layout B.  The grey building with blue accents is my first effort from a Greenmax 2611 pre-colored kit. I haven't selected a sign yet.  I will probably add a bicycle to the vending machine, maybe at a careless angle.  The hand truck is from a Tomytec 098-2 Loading Dock Detail Set .    https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10478769

Edited January 14, 2023 by bill937ca

[RFJ25]

The revised oval layout is quite nice. There's opportunity for some great shots of trams looking through the park with the row of Euro building in the background. I really like your buildings. Are the Euro structures all from the same maker?

[bill937ca]

Just now, RFJ25 said:

The revised oval layout is quite nice. There's opportunity for some great shots of trams looking through the park with the row of Euro building in the background. I really like your buildings. Are the Euro structures all from the same maker?

Most are old Pola buildings along with a few Vollmer.  Many were second-hand buildings and most were long out of production.

 

Modelbahn Shop was one of my prime sources.   https://modellbahn-shop.online/epages/49b51cb1-4eb8-40e3-aeb1-d198fdf6a1c5.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/49b51cb1-4eb8-40e3-aeb1-d198fdf6a1c5/Categories/Spur_N/N_Häuser_Deko_Figuren/N-Fertigmodelle

[railsquid]

Ooh, useful source.

 

I've just embarked on the conversion of an ancient Pola building kit to something suitable for the former East Berlin.