How did you improve your rolling stock today? (HO & other scales)

[cteno4]

Very nice work kamome!

 

jeff

[shadowtiger25]

Replaced this connector so that my Tenshodo C62-2 Hokkaido style can run again.

Luckily it was a simple repair, unplug the 2 connectors, desolder one wire, then plug the new one in and solder that wire to the new light board

[Raicho485]

I was working on destination sticker last night. 
Some Tomix passenger car does illuminate well. 

[Raicho485]

Keep fixing Twilight express set.

Sold as junk train set without any warranty, but I try my best to look better. 

[Kamome]

What are people’s view on mixing 1/72 military vehicles with 1/80 flat cars? 

 

I would normally say for 1/87 HO this would be very noticeable but unsure in 1/80. Umming whether to build a short military logistic train using Tramway Chiki 7000s.  Aoshima and Fujimi produce quite a lot of JGSDF equipment in 1/72. Thinking the largest loads would be Type 96 APC from Komatsu along with a few lighter vehicles. Can’t seem to find any FH70 155mm Howitzer models in this scale. Fujimi announced it but trail seems to have gone quiet. The tarps over the Tramway ones look horrific. 

[Beaver]

7 hours ago, Kamome said:

What are people’s view on mixing 1/72 military vehicles with 1/80 flat cars?

 

My view is that 1/72 vehicles are already too obviously large in 1/76 so 1/80 would probably be too much. Using 1/80 vehicles in 1/87 doesn't really work either.

 

That's with the items in different scales in proximity to one another. Placing one directly on the other would really make it obvious. Yes, a light vehicle would physically fit even though oversize but if it is taking up as much space as a heavy vehicle should that will look very weird.

 

That is just my view though. Looking at your workbench thread makes it clear your sense of what is important in a convincing model is quite different from mine. You might be satisfied with the result. Maybe just try one wagon with a vehicle or two and see how it looks?

[cteno4]

Yeah I think the issue with most military vehicles is they are bigger than usual vehicles already so even at scale they look even more oversized to our minds eye as most of our visual memory of vehicles being regular cars and trucks, not oversized military vehicles. Then add on the extra 10% with the 1/72 scale may make it stand out a lot in a 1/80 scene. Perhaps get a couple inexpensive 1/72 models and plop it on a flat to see how it feels to your eyes, that’s what’s important. Many take much more from the meaning of the scene and that pushes aside small differences, others go batty if something is just a tiny tad off. I’ve always enjoyed seeing how much you can play with your own mind’s eye and that of the average viewer of the layout and never bother with trying to satisfy the it must be spot on viewer as I know I will never be able to satisfy them.

 

I expect you will definitely notice the difference if the 1/72 military vehicles are near any regular 1/80 regular vehicles. The eye definitely goes to any 1/160 (6.7% smaller) or 1/144 (4% bigger) vehicles put in amidst some 1/150 vehicles, but if separated you don’t notice it much. Also depends on viewing distance and angle, our eyes stop comparing small changes in sizes as much with more distance and at an angle you can hide odd things, but you can’t always control the viewing angle and/or distance.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Kamome]

Thanks for your comments @Beaver @cteno4 I was trying to mock up some rough sizes on a drawing program to get an idea of size but wasn’t convinced. When thinking about literal millimetres of difference, it didn’t seem that much, but across 3 dimensions, I wasn’t sure and your comments have confirmed my reservations.

Shame as the models themselves look nicely detailed. Definitely a big gap in the market for 1/80 anything. 

 

8 hours ago, Beaver said:

Looking at your workbench thread makes it clear your sense of what is important in a convincing model is quite different from mine. You might be satisfied with the result.

No offense taken 😂

I appreciate your comments. I would be interested in your thoughts though. As a relatively inexperienced modeller, I’d be happy to get input on what works and what doesn’t for others. I am open to some honest critique on what to look for or where to improve as long as it isn’t just “your models look like shiitake!”  Not to say I will always agree, but good to take on others views and perceptions and tips and tricks to help me become more accomplished. 

[Kamome]

Storage improvements thanks to Susukuma’s Youtube channel. Ordered these B4 Desk trays to reduce storage space for my HO trains. This solution is robust, a lot more cost effective than buying the Imon boxes and should reduce the headache of opening individual boxes. Also able to keep the stock in accessible cases and in formation order much easier. 

 

Dividers were made with cardboard sheets and packing foam sheets, courtesy of ¥100 store. (They now produce a range of shipping products for online sellers like Mercari)

 

Cost

Box ¥1000 + ¥30 packing material

 

As Susukuma says, you can get 9 coaches in each case which vastly reduces the space required for storage. 

Just need to see whether I can sell the old boxes or just have to recycle them. 

Once I get home, I’ll take a photo of the reduction comparison from original boxes to new storage solution.

 

Update

 

I’d say about 60% of storage space is saved compared with original packaging. 

 

Here is a 15 coach 20 series Fuji formation as well as a 12 coach 24 series Tsurugi formation. 

 

I worked out that although you can get 9 coaches, Koki will get up to 10 as they're slightly narrower. Taki 1000/4300 I can fit 13-14 per box, other wagons like Wamu between 18-20. This actually improves the space saving quite considerably and beats options in terms of size and price from train case manufacturers. I'll keep locos in there original boxes but rolling stock I'm less concerned about. Also the Tomix wagon kits no longer come in useable storage so this will greatly help once I order more.

Edited October 22, 2024 by Kamome

[Kamome]

A morning of hobby time allowed my to finally update my Tomix EF64-1000 “milk carton” I bought it used from Book Off some time ago and it did not come with the detail parts that had been omitted by the previous owner. I managed to find the plastic GPS antenna detail previously but have now added the Fuji Model wire grab rails and the dry rub transfers for his shed allocation (Aichi) I also decided to give it a matt dull coat to take away the sheen that a freight loco would lose pretty quickly. The body is easy to remove the glazing although I had to mask the front windscreens. 

 

Quite excited to hear Tomix will release this again in May 2025  to have a pair although the price is creeping up again. 

 

My weekend also suddenly opened up so had additional time to get some other long awaiting projects to near completion. It’s rare at this moment to get enough time to get my airbrush set up. Currently space is a little limited so can’t have my spray booth or airbrush set up anywhere permanently. This means I need to block in a time for set up and clean up. Not a relaxing activity so I need to create myself a job list so that I can complete a few tasks in a painting session. 

 

I had already started weathering a Mani 60 for my Nichinan formation. Haven’t found many useable colour pictures of these to use as reference but mail vans certainly don’t look as well cleaned as passenger stock. The pristine roof needed bringing up to the same level of dirt as the rest of the coach, as well as being behind the loco, also wanted to try out adding some overhead wire and panto crud to one end. 

 

 

In this image background you can also see a Kiha 28. Having found a “eureka” colour for toning back grey roof colours, My Hobby 137 Tire Black is a great grey/black tone. When diluted and sprayed sparingly to build variations in roof colour around vents etc.. I also added some to my 4 Kiha 58/28/65 diesels as the robes looked a little too clean away from the exhaust dirt which I used a sooty flat black. Adds some tone and extra dirt and discolouration around the vents. Also added so Flat earth colour around the bogies and underside to give variation to the rust brown of the wheels and kick up by the bogies.  

 

Finally project is to bring to almost completion a JRF EF510, ex Hokutosei livery. I have been working on this and putting it off for some time but managed to get it to a runnable level I’m 85% happy with. 

Added a lot of dirt and grime to the roof. Luckily there are lots of photos of unit 504 looking pretty worse for wear. I’m not 100% happy with the pantographs, think I need to tone these done a bit.  I also used some light brown enamel with a lot of thinner to try and simulate the unique run off patterns these locos have. The matt too coat tones this down a lot so I made need to go over again to create a second filter layer. 

 

Colour is very subjective but here’s what I used.

 

Roof dirt - Mr Color 137 Tire Black

Pantograph dirt - Mr Color 22 Dark Earth

Frame and roof rust - Tamiya Nato Brown XF-68

Frame dirt - Tamiya Flat Earth XF-52

Edited November 17, 2024 by Kamome

[EB421]

Welp, I really love to make my life difficult. Here's the list of my current insanity:

 

• I want to build a modular Hex-Trak based layout.
• I want to use an international approach so I can run fictionalised scenarios like the real Flying Scotsman US and AU tours. I'm picturing Scottie pulling into Kakunodate (hey, it's fast enough to meet line speed an fits in the loading gauge!) and an O-Series pulling into Rennes TGV station. Things like that.
• This means my Japanese rolling stock has to be 1/87 real HO. Easy as long as I stick to Shinkansen. Hard if I add cape gauge.
• This ALSO means my UK rolling stock has to be 1/87 real HO. Rather considerably harder, as only half a dozen locos exist, and fewer rolling stock.

I'm rolling with "Rule of Cool" then, but only within my personal view of reason. While I could run OO and Japanese HO together as 1/76 and 1/80 are really close... the gauge difference would break my brain.There's a couple more informal rules just to make things even harder.

• Rule 0: I hate seeing things wasted, so i have to reuse and upcycle things where possible instead of buying very expensive new models.
• Rule 1: I'm not allowed to throw insane money at this unambiguous hobby. No しゃくまんえん IMON models, much as I want them.
• Rule 2: I must put silly things everywhere.

Anyway, onto how this applies to the thread: Rule 0 and 1. I cannot buy the Zoukei Mura Shinkansen. I've ought one expensive locomotive recently (a UK one) and I'm racked with guilt. Instead what I have is the Lima Tokaido Shinkansen model from the 70's. That's a Ringfield driven HO 0-Series for the few who don't know it. And today, I serviced it! The motor works fine, after some grease, some oil and some isopropyl alcohol. (Not in that order).

 

I also ordered some modern wheels for a rake of Lima British Mk 2 coaches I'm putting together (fun side note, these are also valid on a Cape gauge railway. Not a Japanese prototype mind you, but they're all over NZR. These are also some of the correct wheels for the 0-series, so I tested them on my Code 80 track, and the bumps went away!

 

A project for the next week or so is to try out an OpenDec02 RP2040 based DCC Decoder in one of the OO models I'm restoring for 'family heirloom' reasons, and if that pans out that might also see use in the Shinkansen. I'd also like to eventually have sound capability, which doesn't yet exist on the OpenDec02; but it could be reused as a function decoder in the DVT for lighting if it gets replaced.

 

What are others up to?

[Kamome]

I tend to flit from project to project. This one I had disassembled some time ago as well as masked up.  Not content with plastic box fresh JR freight models, I wanted to represent my Kato DE10 looking towards the end of its working life. I found images of the actual locomotive, which is/was based in Okayama yard. I scoured the internet for various freight DE10 pictures, paying particular attention to those that were looking rather worse for wear. I appreciate this is not to everyone’s taste. I’m still learning a lot and making mistakes so better it’s on something not too expensive. Think I paid around ¥12,000 when it was new. 

 

I decided to combine a number of weathering examples which I liked the look of. 

 

The red was faded with some a mixed pink enamel paint from the airbrush. This allowed me to bring it back a little if it got too heavy, which it did in places, particular on the lower red panels and it wanted to settle in some of the panel lines. Some downward strokes with some thinners on a q-tip formed faded areas to give the impression of rain streaks. 

 

So here it is. It’s a heavily weathered example. With hindsight I may have been more sparing with the rust and grime on the sides above the fuel tanks but other than that, it’s a combination of reference photos to give an impression of a yard shunter ready for retirement. 

 

1575 had a good amount of fading, rust and grime in the photos I found, but had less underside dirt. I found a few other pictures from other locos with some pretty heavy weathering. 

 

One photo ref.  loco had this large dirt patch on the side of the short bonnet. I quite liked it but didn’t add to both sides to have some variety to where the crud had stayed. One reference image showed a lot track dirt around the fuel tank just next to the wheels. 

 

The inspiration for rust and dirt on the side boxes was taken from a different loco which had a little more. I had to restrain myself a bit but still think I should’ve restrained more. My main self criticism. 

 

Actually doing some work. You can see more of the faded pink added on the bonnet. Kokis are looking way too clean, especially those factory fresh 103/104s. 

 

Im still considering adding some photo etched numbers as on Kato’s model they’re printed from the factory. 

 

Colours used

 

Mr Hobby- Mr Super Clear Flat clear coat. Used this at the beginning to tone down the shine as well as blend everything together at the end

Tamiya Enamel Flat white/flat red as a pink fade filter

Mr Color - 22 Dark Earth - general dirt

Mr Color - 137 Tire Black - diesel smoke (I’ve found this very dark grey thinned allows you to build up filters where regular black is just too heavy)

Tamiya XF-68 Nato Brown - Rust and/or darker track dirt (adds contrast to earth colour)

 

Tamiya panel line accent diluted (added thinner) mix black/dark brown. 

 

Wheels and bogie assemblies were painted in a mid grey first then weathered. Apologies I can’t remember what colour I used but weathering colours with above paints. As the DE10 have exposed wheels, the edges of the wheel are dirtier than the centre. The wheels on this model can be removed as they fit to a plastic gear shaft. Kato stock is pretty good like this for dismantling stuff. 

[EB421]

4 hours ago, Kamome said:

I appreciate this is not to everyone’s taste.

 

So here it is. It’s a heavily weathered example. With hindsight I may have been more sparing with the rust and grime on the sides above the fuel tanks but other than that, it’s a combination of reference photos to give an impression of a yard shunter ready for retirement.

 

The inspiration for rust and dirt on the side boxes was taken from a different loco which had a little more. I had to restrain myself a bit but still think I should’ve restrained more. My main self criticism.

 

I think it's gorgeous.

 

4 hours ago, Kamome said:

Actually doing some work. You can see more of the faded pink added on the bonnet. Kokis are looking way too clean, especially those factory fresh 103/104s. 

 

Im still considering adding some photo etched numbers as on Kato’s model they’re printed from the factory.

 

Etched details are always a nice touch!

 

My current stock plan is the 0S Doctor Yellow, a Fowler 4F, Gresley A3 and Class 66 "Pride of GB Railfreight" (popularly called Trainbow). The Trix A3 is fully detailed and as the most expensive model I ever bought, I ain't touching it except to feed it oil and booze; and to make it go. The Lima 4F is ancient and simple, but ... so were the originals? The livery I'm replicating is BR 44255 which was "black", "fancy logo on the tender", "simple number on the cab".

 

The gay pride diesel is going to be a complete repaint and is *probably* going to be kept pretty clean but I like your exhaust stains. That one will definitely get etched everything if I can find someone who'll make them custom in 1/87. The 0Series - again a total repaint of the Lima. Looking at photos of Doctor Yellow, they were kept pretty clean.

 

So I'd like to play around with weathering the Fowler. These were unloved workhorses by the 60's, and mine was only used to run a snowplough through the highlands in winter months. So I'll be borrowing your heaviest paint brush for that one!

 

Hmmmm. Four locos and three are British Prototype. Insufficient. Maybe one of the Japanese manufacturers will make this? https://www.dreamstime.com/editorial-photography-high-speed-train-overhead-wire-maintenance-vehicle-kyoto-japan-april-shinkansen-special-very-rare-image76324232

 

It's a standard gauge Shinkansen vehicle, so it will be 1/87, right? Right???? ;D