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New Tram only Project.


keiman

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Wel your question is kind of difficult. Why

I personaly dislike pic. no. 1

               like pic. no.2 the best  (own it)

               like pic. no.3 second best

 

In your layout the situation is different!

I think

1. fits perfectly and looks the best.

2. looks to small and is oriented worngly

(I would rotate it by 90 deg counterclockwise)

3. looks much to bulky

 

my 2 cents

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issue may be that im not sure light industry like this would be rignt in the middle of a little town, but that being said the big thing about japanese modeling is there seems to be a prototype for everything.

 

I agree i think the middle one fits in best and might be the type of light industry that might be in town with house directly abutting it.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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I like #2 the best (because it has some open areas for contrast) and Japan does not have Western style zoning laws so the site is fine.

 

As Doug Coster has observed in the link below, "Japanese cities also do not have any sign control and any zoning laws to separate industrial, commercial, residential, and agricultural types of land. Walk for about 10 minutes in most neighbourhoods, and you will come across a mixture of residential houses, rice paddies, shops and offices, factories, golf driving ranges, pachinko parlours, and all of these covered with sign and billboards, and surrounded by vending machines. In one half hour walk in Yamagata (which is not a large city), I countered over 50 vending machines."

 

http://japanese-trains.com/setagaya/buildings/how-to.html

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Cheers guys, the middle one it is then. :cheesy

Have just finished wiring the rest of the lights I can fit for now.and decided to stop the construction for the night.

I am now just running one of the Tomytec trams round and round the outer loop, no buildings on the layout at present.

 

Maybe do a bit more tomorrow and try to find all the track inserts.

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:cool: The rest of my buildings have just arrived from Plaza Japan.

Hopefully be able to sort out the empty corner on the board now.

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Just got a few street lights to plant, waiting on the last of my lights from China.

Then clean all the track and lay all the inserts.

Final stage populate the town with those little stalls,and people, some cars,bikes and that will be it for now.

 

Still looking for the rest of my track inserts ???

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I just posted a nice little article that Mike did on the first part of creating Keitown on the jrm site

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/keitownpart1.html

 

he plans a part two once he is completed (is a layout ever completed though?!)

 

thanks again mike, great to keep showing all the different approached to japanese train modeling!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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There's some absolutely gorgeous shots there - they've earned a place in my "Layout Porn" folder for sure! :)

 

One of the Chinese eBay shops is now offering LED street lamps instead of the bulb ones - $8/10.

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Very nice, Mike, the night-time views with the streetlights and cars illiminated are very effective.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

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Thanks for the comments guys.

Update may even be able to DCC this layout.  Been reading my controlers instruction manual and as the points are all manual(mainly the cross over to the inner loop, do not think there will be problems. :cool:

Just need to sort out converting the other trams. The Modemo does not look like there is room for even a Z scale decoded in there.

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Got the double deck tram, can't modify it to be powered so static model it will be.

 

Being British I have a bit of a thing for double-deck trams... What's the problem with motorizing this one?

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Got the double deck tram, can't modify it to be powered so static model it will be.

The problem Ben is finding a suitable motor unit for a conversion.  people have posted a couple of links for me, but it is not at the top of the list of priorities.

 

Being British I have a bit of a thing for double-deck trams... What's the problem with motorizing this one?

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Did you ever find your track covers?  Cars are going to get stuck on the ties, people are going to trip and fall, and bikes are going to crash.  You need to put the covers on asap or there's going to be some BIG lawsuits coming your way.

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I just got mine a few days ago (thank keiman for starting this!).

 

the real issue is that its narrow. there is about 12.5mm inside the frame. you might get another half mm or so if you were to shave out a bit of the inside, but that would be tricky.

 

the issue with the kato pocket tram mech is that both the wheel base is a bit long and you would need to shave off a mm or two off the side of the kato chassis to fit. this could probably be done but you would need to also redo how the chassis is held together.

 

other issue is the bogie side frames. basically in 12.5mm you will only have room for the wheels and no side frames. i figured this might be cheated on to not have them as the side skirt hides most of this or print some out on acetate and slip them in there for the illusion of a side frame.

 

best bet for a mechanism for the width is the Tsugawa single truck chassis

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10139314

 

its wheel base would need to be lengthened a lot (its 9mm the tram is about 22). i think only the one axle is powered so perhaps it could be sawed in two and lengthened.

 

unfortunately no simple solution. these are cape gauge of 3' 5" so N gauge is like 30% overscale, hence the width issue.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Did you ever find your track covers?  Cars are going to get stuck on the ties, people are going to trip and fall, and bikes are going to crash.  You need to put the covers on asap or there's going to be some BIG lawsuits coming your way.

Very funny, will be looking for them this weekend.

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I just got mine a few days ago (thank keiman for starting this!).

 

the real issue is that its narrow. there is about 12.5mm inside the frame. you might get another half mm or so if you were to shave out a bit of the inside, but that would be tricky.

 

the issue with the kato pocket tram mech is that both the wheel base is a bit long and you would need to shave off a mm or two off the side of the kato chassis to fit. this could probably be done but you would need to also redo how the chassis is held together.

 

other issue is the bogie side frames. basically in 12.5mm you will only have room for the wheels and no side frames. i figured this might be cheated on to not have them as the side skirt hides most of this or print some out on acetate and slip them in there for the illusion of a side frame.

 

best bet for a mechanism for the width is the Tsugawa single truck chassis

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10139314

 

its wheel base would need to be lengthened a lot (its 9mm the tram is about 22). i think only the one axle is powered so perhaps it could be sawed in two and lengthened.

 

unfortunately no simple solution. these are cape gauge of 3' 5" so N gauge is like 30% overscale, hence the width issue.

 

cheers

 

jeff

Sorry Jeff,but they do look good. :grin I am probably just going to fill mine with people (amputated chinese figures. :cheesy)

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Did you ever find your track covers?  Cars are going to get stuck on the ties, people are going to trip and fall, and bikes are going to crash.  You need to put the covers on asap or there's going to be some BIG lawsuits coming your way.

 

We want track covers.  :blob5: :icon_bounce: :notworthy:

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Tram track covers found, put in place- as people know tomix only provide covers for the normal track not the points.

They will be properly fixed when the track has been fully cleaned- tomorrows task.

61233e14.jpg

ba99d39d.jpg

a couple of pics as a taster.

  • Like 2
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best bet for a mechanism for the width is the Tsugawa single truck chassis

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10139314

 

its wheel base would need to be lengthened a lot (its 9mm the tram is about 22). i think only the one axle is powered so perhaps it could be sawed in two and lengthened.

 

unfortunately no simple solution. these are cape gauge of 3' 5" so N gauge is like 30% overscale, hence the width issue.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Hmmm tricky. How about the BullAnt mechanisms? They're pretty pricey though!

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