Kanjiyama - An N gauge Japanese Terminus Layout

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Not too much has happened on the layout over the previous couple of months, although yesterday I finally managed to get a couple of hours in the dining room to put together the long overdue backscene for the station board.

 

I have been hunting around for quite some time for a suitable image to use. As Kanjiyama is set in the mountain, I wanted a mountainous scene, without looking too European, or American; however Japanese scenes are really tricky to get hold of, especially decent sized panoramas. European Alpine scenes would be fine, as many mountain views in Japan look German, or Swiss, with lots of pine and rocky outcrops.

 

In the end, it was not just one scene that was used. I had an overall image upon which I overlayed a number of smaller scenes, for example a closer hillside behind the farm. The various joins were disguised by trees and bushes.

 

This overall view shows the town board, although the light in the shed is not great.

 

 

The backscene runs behind the main station board, and along the station end. This is mainly to provide some protection for the buildings immediately behind the platforms along the end of the layout. This end board is still being completed, with a couple of additional pictures - including a view of the disused trackbed looking away from the station - to be added.

 

 

There are two roads which lead directly into the backscene in the town. The main road has a simple Japanese street scene culled from the net, whilst the other is simply a photo of one of the buildings already on the layout, cut out and fixed to the backscene. This keeps the style of building the same, as well as (and perhaps more importantly) the shade of road surface.

 

 

Finally we move up to the farm. The same technique as in the town has been used for the barn. In addition, an additional wooded hillside scene has been added to improve the visual effect...a number of trees have been added to try to blend the backscene.

 

 

It's not perfect...the colours are a little pale (although distance views often are) and you can see the joins. I am also not absolutely happy with the quality of the card used, it has not fixed to the backscene perfectly. That said, it looks pretty good, and I am reasonably pleased with it.

[Mr Frosty]

Excellent. I like the idea of "layering" the back scene to get the right details in the appropriate places.

[ianlaw]

Looking nice!

Any type of background can only improve a layout.

[KenS]

Oh, that looks very good.  I particularly like the idea of photographing model buildings and blending them into the backdrop photo.  That's a really great idea for making a gentle transition from 3D to distant 2D landscape.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks all...

 

Oh, that looks very good.  I particularly like the idea of photographing model buildings and blending them into the backdrop photo.  That's a really great idea for making a gentle transition from 3D to distant 2D landscape.

 

It is also a useful technique for helping to blend colours; such as with roads and structures.

[Bernard]

Beautiful layout....love how you used your backdrop! Nice spacing of the buildings with the background.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks for all the positive comments about the backdrop...

 

It took a lot of consideration and hunting around on Google images, but the actual execution did not take too long. I have seem a number of layouts with layered backdrops, but not yet with photos of scenes or structures from the layout itself fixed on. That, to me, seems to be the perfect 'cheat' as the style and colours already match with the layout, thereby giving some continuity. Also helps with matching road colours - a common issue with backscenes!

 

Something that really helps with the blending is the Woodland Scenics foliage kits. Ideal for branches in 00 and 0 gauge...perfect trees in N!

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Well, we are now into a new year...and this year the layout will be completed! It's only taken three years since delivery of the boards!

 

Over the last couple of months between jobs, I have been able to take advantage of some available time, and press on with those tasks that needed doing...just little things; extra foliage, a new shrine in the town centre, telegraph poles etc.

 

I am also on the homeward stretch as the layout is due at its first exhibition in February (the Midhurst show, Sunday 17th; the usual stamping ground for the club).

 

Today I was able to get a couple of pictures of the town board following an outing to the club last night for opinions (I have a list of minor tweaks and changes based on feedback!). This first shot shows the board with the board join dowels. These are really only guides, as the boards are held together by coach bolts.

 

 

Looking the other way, the main street can be seen clearly. I am still thinking about suitable road markings. At the very least I will need to unleash the steady hand (if one can be found!) and add the white lines along the shoulder of the road. The very front of the layout will need some attention as well. The front will be protected by a perspex sheet, so more growth and foliage will be added here.

 

 

The idea for the station design is that it was originally on a through route, which was curtailed in the mid 1980s. This means the tracks stop suddenly, however the track bed continues. Some time was spend hunting down a suitable picture for the back scene, which was blended with the main backscene image by using the footbridge, plenty of trees and a fence.

 

 

The opposite end of the station has had a couple of little details added. The foot crossing now has the yellow lining, and the two red stop lights have been added - orange poles - to guard the foot crossing. The small maintenance yard at the front still looks a little bare; I'll see what I can add without it getting cluttered. One of the new Kato Toyota Hiace vans - in JR Eastern livery - will be added to this area.

 

 

Back to the main station, and a couple of shots of the station with a Kato KiHa110 two-car DMU in platform 1. I have two of these two-car units and another two single cars, which form the basis of the JR Eastern passenger service on the branch.

 

 

 

Finally I have more or less completed the factory scene. A few pallets have been dotted around, as well as some fencing along the back. I'm quite pleased with it, although the yard surface needs a little more weathering. The rather nice lorry is a Tomytec product.

 

 

We have a final working day in about a months time before this layout, along with five others (yes five!) represent the club in some shape or form at the Midhurst show...

[Densha]

That looks honestly very good! It really has that rural diesel line feeling to it and the Kiha110 series adds up for more points.

 

I still can't decide whether I want to make my layout a diesel or electric layout but diesel really does have its own charm after all. >_<

[ianlaw]

Looking good! And you also have so many nice Japanese car models in N-gauge.. :)

One thing I really miss though are people (and some bikes). I can only see one on the photos. You need to at least populate the platforms.

Whenever I make a scene I always add the people straight away. It get the creative juices going and prevents this from getting forgotten.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

There will be people, but not too many. Two reasons for this, firstly I don't like too many people on a small layout. This is because the trains move, but everything else is stationary...vehicles, animals, people etc. Vehicles are easy, they can be parked to convey life, but people are trickier. Lots of people on a layout will emphasise this disparity, so I want to keep the numbers down. There will be a few sitting around, but not hoards on the platform.

 

Also, being set in the country, there won't be many people around.

 

There will be some bikes in due course...

Edited January 5, 2013 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Densha]

How are you doing the train movements on a show? Do you have some sort of system?

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Yes, a terminus layout like needs a sequence, as you can get into awful knots otherwise.

 

I have put together a couple of sequences, each of which last about 40 minutes. The club working day will give me a chance to play and work on the sequences to provide interest at shows...

[Densha]

Will you do them by hand or automatically?

[Claude_Dreyfus]

That looks honestly very good! It really has that rural diesel line feeling to it and the Kiha110 series adds up for more points.

 

I still can't decide whether I want to make my layout a diesel or electric layout but diesel really does have its own charm after all. >_<

Thanks...I have long had a bit of a soft spot for the KiHa110. I also have an H0 version, which is very tasty...

 

The diesel layout is a little unusual, as the majority of layouts I have seen depict electric lines.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Will you do them by hand or automatically?

There is no automatic sequencing. It will be printed on sequence cards, with hand shunting in the fiddle yard.

[Densha]

Thanks...I have long had a bit of a soft spot for the KiHa110. I also have an H0 version, which is very tasty...

 

The diesel layout is a little unusual, as the majority of layouts I have seen depict electric lines.

I think I have a soft spot for both the Kiha110 and diesel lines too. This layout was one of the first Japanese diesel layouts I've seen and had the Kiha110 on it, it's one of the layouts that got me into Japanese model trains back one and a half year ago: http://s-layout.com/snstopic/layout04001.htm

Last month I could finally get hold of a Kato Kiha110 single car (motor+trailer), hopefully more people will be able to get it with the re-release this year and maybe I'll get a Kiha111-112 set.

 

Ohhh.... I want to see that H0 model!

 

There is no automatic sequencing. It will be printed on sequence cards, with hand shunting in the fiddle yard.

Well that certainly has its own charm, but I would get tired of doing that for a while.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Ohhh.... I want to see that H0 model!

There is a picture of it on this thread...a few posts down.

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/2294-japanese-on-our-uk-00-layout/

 

I'll see if I can find a better snap...

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Interesting to see the thread on diesel fuelling, with a couple of useful pictures...this one in particular...

 

http://blogimg.goo.ne.jp/user_image/2e/07/5ad3bc42295c281d0ed4c64357851dac.jpg

 

Inspiration is starting to form, with some suitable odds and ends being gathered together for some basic facilities.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

The image in the previous posting of the Kanto railway refuelling point has finally given me something to work on.  :)

 

I had a dig around the many odds and ends in boxes and drawers in the shed, and was able to put something together that bares some resemblance to this fuelling pump.

 

The basis of the pump is the backing from a street vending machine kit, provided in a street furniture pack from - I think - Kato. The various plugs were removed, and a small piece of balsa was added to make the main body of the pump. A couple of small strips of 'Evergreen Strip' were also included to hide some joins and make it look a little more interesting. The small appendage to the main pump was a bin attachment to the original Kato kit. This was only slightly cleaned up to remove some of the detail.

 

The whole thing was added to some anonymous concrete base; I think of Greenmax origin.

 

 

The bottom strip was a little crocked, however the pump had not been fitted to the base at this point; allowing for some tidying up.

 

The main unit was then painted black, with an orange panel to the rear; similar to the Kanto example. The base had a mixture of concrete and black paint. This fairly poor photo (mainly due to bad light) shows the unit in its current state - orange around the back and out of sight in this picture.

 

 

Still to add the hose to fuel the units (black cotton), the thicker hose from the fuel lorry (black wire covering), manhole covers and some protective fencing. I am retaining the lorry as it provides more visual interest than a static tank (although I will probably get something else other than my Jomo tanker, which was originally bought for Yamanouchi Oshika to match the petrol station), and takes up a lot less space!

 

Thanks all for the inspiration!

Edited January 7, 2013 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Claude_Dreyfus]

We have had another of our club's occasional working days, in preparation for an upcoming exhibition, which has given me the opportunity to carry out some long overdue work on Kanjiyama.

 

First up is the completion and positioning of the fuelling point. This is not a slavish copy of anything in particular, more my version of the fuelling point shown in an earlier prototype photograph. It is probably not accurate either, with pipes leading to apparatus which seems to me to be logical, but is probably totally wrong in reality!

 

 

As you can see, it is of mixed parentage...with the pipe from the Tomytec lorry being wire casing, and the pipe to fuel the trains being black thread. I cannot recall the company that produced the really nice black and yellow fencing. The little man is a Preisler model, with just the right pose to fit behind the truck!

 

As well as some trees and stuff, the main addition to the layout is the plexiglass protection along the front...a necessity for exhibiting as it keeps fingers away from the stock and other fragile items! Here it is being fitted...

 

 

...and then following completion, with the addition of the curtain, especially made for the layout. Looks very smart!

 

 

Well, just a couple more weeks before showing, so I also sorted out my stock for the layout in a specific carry case. Saves all the hassle of unpacking and packing during the show...

 

 

 

Finally, this a shot of a rather busy looking yard. I need to remember to fit the number plate to that TDE10!

 

 

[ianlaw]

Nice looking exhibition set-up. Will you be providing some sort of lighting? When is the first show?

[Densha]

I want to double-like that post! That's awesome stuff Claude!
The fuelling point looks great, I'm definitely going to build something like that on my future layout.
The plexiglass and curtain looks good, can you take it off at home for better viewing of the layout?
The carrying case is different than the type Japanese use, are you holding it with both hands when transporting?

 

Finally, this a shot of a rather busy looking yard. I need to remember to fit the number plate to that TDE10!

Don't forget the detailing on the Kiha40! ;)

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Thanks...

 

The first show is on the 17th of February. My local show, with another possibly in April. No lighting is in place at present, but a lighting gantry is planned for the near future.

 

Had to edit this post as something went awry with the last sentence!

Edited February 3, 2013 by Claude_Dreyfus

[Claude_Dreyfus]

I want to double-like that post! That's awesome stuff Claude!

The fuelling point looks great, I'm definitely going to build something like that on my future layout.

The plexiglass and curtain looks good, can you take it off at home for better viewing of the layout?

The carrying case is different than the type Japanese use, are you holding it with both hands when transporting?

 

 

Don't forget the detailing on the Kiha40! ;)

 

Of course...mustn't forget the unit!

 

The curtain is fitted with velcro, but the plexiglass is srewed on. Removable, but fiddly to do so.

 

The carry case has two sections, which are both shown. They fit into the black plastic case which has a single handle...and is about the size of a small briefcase.