Hello, Hello, Hello!

[NozomiFan]

Whoa. Long time no see guys.

 

In the style that I am- I got an email yesterday, about the UNITRACK System that was released by Kato. The new pieces of track were well thought out. So, I said to myself: "Hey, why not build one of these things and stick it on a table?".

 

This:

 

 

Yay!

 

Also will be following Qinntopia's work on LED's in buildings. This will be a full nightscape.

[Hobby Dreamer]

Hi

 

Nice track plan...  Did you draw this?  Currently, Kato is releasing either sets (as the ones you have) or some individual straight road plates, so everything is still quite restrictive to large urban, BUT the 2012 Kato catalog shows (hints, actually)  to an interesting intersection and they have revealed plans for a turnout/switch.

 

Unitram has to be the nicest looking track out there and the Kato trams with their lit interiors and bi-directional lights rock!

 

Looking forward to progress on your layout..

 

Cheers

Rick

[KenS]

The Unitram stuff is pretty cool, and makes for an easy way to quickly build a layout.  It's a lot like Unitrack in that regard, no doubt deliberately.

 

If you look around the site, you'll find a number of threads by people who've already built table-top layouts using it, if you weren't already aware of those.

 

Are you planning the figure-8 shown, or was that just an illustration and you're thinking of something else?  The nice thing about tram layouts is that they can be fairly small and track-dense, and still seem "real", unlike a typical spagettii-bowl freight layout.

 

The bad thing about Unitram is that you can go broke putting Kato's buildings on all those tiles. 

[NozomiFan]

Hi

 

Nice track plan...  Did you draw this?  Currently, Kato is releasing either sets (as the ones you have) or some individual straight road plates, so everything is still quite restrictive to large urban, BUT the 2012 Kato catalog shows (hints, actually)  to an interesting intersection and they have revealed plans for a turnout/switch.

 

Unitram has to be the nicest looking track out there and the Kato trams with their lit interiors and bi-directional lights rock!

 

Looking forward to progress on your layout..

 

Cheers

Rick

 

The track plan was done by Kato. It uses the V50 and V51 for the track and plates.

 

The Unitram stuff is pretty cool, and makes for an easy way to quickly build a layout.  It's a lot like Unitrack in that regard, no doubt deliberately.

 

If you look around the site, you'll find a number of threads by people who've already built table-top layouts using it, if you weren't already aware of those.

 

Are you planning the figure-8 shown, or was that just an illustration and you're thinking of something else?  The nice thing about tram layouts is that they can be fairly small and track-dense, and still seem "real", unlike a typical spagettii-bowl freight layout.

 

The bad thing about Unitram is that you can go broke putting Kato's buildings on all those tiles. 

 

That's one of the concerns I have with importing the Kato buildings. The figure 8 is the current plan, because of it's 3.5x3 Ft size.

[Hobby Dreamer]

That's one of the concerns I have with importing the Kato buildings. The figure 8 is the current plan, because of it's 3.5x3 Ft size.

 

The trick is to build in layers!

 

You could fill 2 of those city blocks with grass mat and a few trees (or keep one as a parking lot) and you only need buildings on one side of the block for starters. And you can get card stock structures for the background. Buildings can also be spaced apart!

 

Over time you get more structures, vehicles etc..  Then you can add lighting etc..

 

The fact that Unitram is fixed track and that there seem to be future releases of new product planned, you can build an amazing layout now and completely change it in the future. With Kato (and all Japanese N scale) you have the quality of the best HO stuff but with less space requirements, and less cost. And you don't need as much detail for many things, especially in the background!

 

Kato trams are well priced and you can get Tomix ones for less (they have less features such as no lit interiors) but more importantly you can get Tomix tram shells so you can have many non-powered trams for scenery.

 

I don't have the space or interest in a large layout so N scale trams are ideal. (Plus I love trams!). The nice thing about trams is the smaller footprint for a layout while still having most of what model trains offer.. And with Unitram you can change the whole thing because its modular!

 

Cheers

Rick