Plaza Japan/Sankei - Prototype stations

[David]

Plaza Japan has been adding paper buildings from Sankei in recent days, and has just added 9 new stations (the station buildings, not the platforms).

 

What sets them apart from your regular Kato/Tomix/Tomytec stations is that these are based on actual distinctive stations, instead of generic JNR designs.

 

So far listing Kamakura, Inari, Kaya, Nara, Shin-Yokaichi, Yamazaki, Kurama, Omuro and Saga station.

 

http://stores.ebay.com/Plaza-Japan

http://stores.ebay.com/Plaza-Japan_1-150-N-Scale_W0QQ_fsubZ1407213010QQ_sidZ169030440QQ_stickyZ1QQ_trksidZp4634Q2ec0Q2em14?_sop=10&_sc=1

[bill937ca]

Platforms are available from Sankei.  Plaza Japan has a limited line of Sankei Miniatuart kits available.  Fuller lines are available at HS, HWJ and HobbyLink Japan.

[cteno4]

I have a number of these kits. they are nicely cut high density

chipboard that has pigmentation throughout the chipboard. i have a

buddy who does a lot of architecutral models and this is the kind of

chipboard he uses, gives nice edges that have the board coloration. he

can also set the laser to usually give an etch that has a few

different darker burned shades of the color as well. i think these are

laser cut, but they dont appear to have any darkening on the edges at

the cuts, but its thin material so it might be able to do this clean,

have to ask him if this is possible. otherwise its a plotter cut, but

some of the parts are tiny (the police station has a desk and chair!

try assembling a chair from 3 pieces -- fun!)

 

each piece is cut with just a few small tabs left holding it in place

you need to cut through with a sharp xacto. the biggest problem are

the instructions. they tend to be tiny and the parts are only

numbered. most walls are built up of 2-4 layers to give them some

depth (very nice effect probably a lot more to scale than most plastic

models), but you need to be very careful to keep track of your parts

and how they should go together. very easy to flip a part over! i use

a very sharp pencil to lightly write on the non visible surfaces a

code to show orientation and what should glue to what before i start

gluing! on my first project, the little police station, i flipped one

interior wall section, but luckily i was able to do some trimming to

make it all fit.

 

parts go together very well, nice use of small tabs and slots. these

definitely fill out your towns with some new looking buildings past

the usual suspects like tomytec, kato and tomix.

 

they also have some great detail parts like fencing, bikes, walls that

are not cheap, but are very to scale compared to the options in

plastic so for a detailed part of a scene they are great.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

Wake me up when they release Katase-Enoshima.

[scott]

pigmentation throughout the chipboard

 

I wonder if it's possible to add color to heavy paper like this....

[bill937ca]

pigmentation throughout the chipboard

 

I wonder if it's possible to add color to heavy paper like this....

 

In the Sankei blog they spray paint a tram model built from a Sankei kit.

 

http://blog.livedoor.jp/sankei_miniatuart/archives/50968154.html

[cteno4]

they actually have quite a bit of color, most have 4-5 different color chipboards in them and they seem to be quite cleaver with how they layer then to give more visual detail and depth.

 

painting is definitely an option, just dont soak it and i would use solvent based paint, not water based to keep warping down. markers and paint pens are another option.

 

nice thing is that many you end up with 2 or 3 colors around a window frame with the layering they do so no trying to paint bloody window frames that are moulded in (ie greenmax).

 

cheers

 

jeff

[scott]

Paint pens are a good idea--I may pick up a couple of broad-tipped ones to experiment with.

 

they seem to be quite cleaver

 

I thought these were laser-cut....  ;-)

[cteno4]

Scott,

 

In looking at the cut edges of the white chipboard pieces they are laser cut. you can see a tiny amount of discoloration along the white edges. on the other colors its not at all noticeable. the tiny pieces like the desk and chair are just way too small for plotter cutting anyway!

 

wish my buddy with the lasercutter lived here, he is in calif. we looked at the potential of me sending him cad files and him cutting stuff and sending it back, but there is too much fiddling you need to do to get your cutting set up and going to be practical. he usually uses heavier stuff for his architectural models (usually more like 1/8" to 3/4" scale) so i couldnt just use his presets. also takes a while to get the cad files all kosher with the cutter...

 

cheers

 

jeff