The Beginnings of a Desktop Layout

[Sir Madog]

Oops!

 

I thought you meant the name of the EMU!

 

Yes, it is sad, but true. There is no way for me to continue, and that is hurting a lot.

[cteno4]

Ulrich,

 

very sorry to hear about this! I hope things turn around soon and you can get back to trains some. are you keeping the modules at least? doing some more scenery usually can be done cheap or free with stuff laying around. be good to keep doing a little if you can do it on the very cheap or with materials you have laying around from past projects.

 

best of luck with this.

 

jeff

[Densha]

That's no good, all hoping for that the situation will get better as fast as possible. Jeff pretty much said what I wanted to say. And as people on the other forum were also saying, I was inspired by your modules and am sad to see the project stopping.

[Sir Madog]

Made a little video this morning - I hope it shows:

 

[cteno4]

ulrich,

 

i really love the bookshelf layout like this, really shows off what you have done and the quality of your scenery and vision. maybe think about taking the modules to a show sometime and show them off! usually you get free entry into a show if you are showing something like this. might get you some encouragement and energy to hang in there. hope things are looking better.

 

jeff

[Densha]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but what kind of ballast are you using?

[Sir Madog]

I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but what kind of ballast are you using?

 

It´s a German brand called tams Elektronik. Their key line of products is model railroading electronics, but they also have ballast in different scales and shades. I ordered two bottles years ago, when I built a small HOe layout and still have plenty of that stuff left.

[Sir Madog]

Just a few new pictures, shot today while I was running some trains.

 

 

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Wonderful Ulrich!

 

You should grt these out and show folks.

 

Jeff

[Sir Madog]

Jeff - that´s easier said than done. Most train shows have a purely commercial background, and unless you belong to one of the two big associations, you have no chance to display your trains.

 

I have discovered a new hobby within the hobby - making little videos of my layout. Here are some more I´like to share:

 

 

 

[Densha]

Jeff - that´s easier said than done. Most train shows have a purely commercial background, and unless you belong to one of the two big associations, you have no chance to display your trains.

Eh, but there should be shows that have the hobby and fun as goal right? Or not...?

[Sir Madog]

Jeff - that´s easier said than done. Most train shows have a purely commercial background, and unless you belong to one of the two big associations, you have no chance to display your trains.

Eh, but there should be shows that have the hobby and fun as goal right? Or not...?

 

One should think so, but...

 

There are smaller and more privately organized events, but they are too far away  for me to go there. Sigh...

[cteno4]

ulrich

 

very fun videos. you should string a few together with different interesting angles of each train at different spots along the layout like one of the follow the route videos.

 

thats too bad most of the shows are all commercial. luckily our commercial shows locally here usually let clubs and individuals show layouts and some even pay to have them there. great public draw and shows what can be done with the materials on sale!

 

perhaps there is some small local event, anything with japanese culture in the area at all? even set it up at a library in a conference room or something? who knows maybe find a few more enthusiasts in your area? they are just so nice, i think folks would love to see them and its so highly portable. also be a good shot in the arm for you to see folks reaction i think.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Sir Madog]

ulrich

 

very fun videos. you should string a few together with different interesting angles of each train at different spots along the layout like one of the follow the route videos.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

You say, I obey!

 

Here is the latest version:

 

[cteno4]

hey really nice! you are having too much fun!

 

jeff

[Sir Madog]

The quality is not that good, apparently the camera is having fits with the extreme close-up situation. The lens is only 2" from the moving train. Maybe more light would help ...

 

More experiments to come!

[cteno4]

Ulrich

 

yeah lighting will help. if you can get a bring source (or even a few close to each other) coming from one place and get rid of other lighting it might give you some nice shadow effects and more consistent lighting. try to use the same kind of bulb if you use more than one. then fiddle with the white balance on the camera to help it match the color of the light in your light source. many cameras let you set the white balance by just putting a piece of white paper in the middle of the scene in the focus area and you set the white balance for that shot in place. the white also reflects a lot of light so your darker modules will tend to be a bit underexposed and if you try to get them exposed right then the white wall will look way overexposed. moving the lighting around with different shots can give you some fun effects as well for different times of the day and sunny vs cloudy.

 

also might help with a little backdrop. the white behind the layout will cause the white balance to have some issues as well with all the reflected color light from the scenery. also gets really hot so messes with the exposure. perhaps a backdrop would be a fun hobby project to tackle with some paints on cardboard or thin masonite. or on a long paper roll and just pin it to the wall. printed ones can be very cool, but they take finding the right photo and can cost a lot on ink and good paper! doing something interesting painted could be very creative. theres lots of tutorials out there on the web about doing this sort of backdrop.

 

also try moving the camera back some and zoom in a tad. you can sometimes get interesting depths of field this way and not have the focus sensor freaking out as much when things move thru the scene from a couple inches from the lens to a couple of feet.

 

good you are just doing static shots. its best to work with static shots and find the really nice framing and angles that make interesting shots rather than try to do pans and/or zooms. those are very hard for pros to do well with pro gear, usually really horrible with small cameras. using a tripod as you have been is good as tight shots like this every jiggle is a big movement in the scene at scale. if you were doing it on a real size train the jiggle is not as noticeable, but on scale stuff it looks like an earthquake is going on if you hand hold video! keep playing with the framing and angles you have a real eye for that from your photo and videos you have posted!

 

play and experiment a lot. electrons are pretty cheap and thats the way you find out the best about things like this and get a real feel for it. dont change too many things at once or its hard to tell what had what effect!

 

jeff

[Densha]

hey really nice! you are having too much fun!

 

jeff

You can never have enough fun!

 

The quality is not that good, apparently the camera is having fits with the extreme close-up situation. The lens is only 2" from the moving train. Maybe more light would help ...

 

More experiments to come!

I may not be right in this case, but this could be solved by setting the zoom manually I think. But I guess your camera isn't able to do that, in that case Jeff's solution is more helpful I think.

[luis_lopes]

Hi there.

 

I am trying to build something simillar here in Portugal, so that people can see that we don't need much space for a layout. I am using the same standards.

 

can't wait to star building these tiny modules.

 

keep up the good work.

[Densha]

Ich habe eine Frage. ;)

Yes again. Your catenary poles seem to be from Greenmax. If that's right, how did you attach them/made them stand straight. And how is it aligned with the Unitrack? I want to know what I get before I would order catenary poles, alternatively I could go with the Kato ones.

[Sir Madog]

Densha,

 

sorry for being a little late in answering your question.

 

Yes, the catenary poles I use are Greenmax. To attach them to the ground, I simply drill a small hole (more a "ditch" than a hole" and glue them into it, using CA (the gel type). Setting time allows me to adjust them properly.

 

Actually, I am not really happy with them. I will eventually replace them with poles I´ll make from scratch, using brass tubing and wire, with N scale insulators from Sommerfeldt. This will allow me to string the wire.

[The_Ghan]

Madog,

 

Is it because they look too plastic?  I'd like to know why you don't like them before I go and invest in catenery myself.

 

I was thinking of using brass H sections and making my own too.  Sometimes paint and weathering just can't hide the plastic look but it can enhance something made from metal.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Densha]

You're not late at all, one day is nothing.

 

On the pictures they look very plastic, but with the paint job like Sir Madog had done it looks pretty neat to me. Of course it's nothing compared to this here: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10094756 or self made brass ones, but I don't have experience with and don't really feel like doing making them myself.

Here's more catenary poles: Most are like the Greenmax ones, the Kato ones look very close to the Greenmax as well.

[Dani]

I'm also using Greenmax poles, and I also think they look too plastic. That's why I tried painting and weathering them. Doesn't matter the exact colors, it will be better than using them right out of the box.

 

(I didn't want "to cloud" the topic, just post a solution to a problem, sorry!!) 

 

Cheers,

Dani.

[The_Ghan]

Dani,

 

I like your weathering.  I'd be more than satisfied with that result.

 

With these kind of parts I usually sand off the moulding seam first, particularly on tubular sections.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan