Tomytec Building Collection

[gavino200]

I put a few Tomytec buildings together loosely tonight (no glue/decals/LEDs), to get an idea of what kind of finishing they might need. I like the look of this office building. But I was disappointed to find that the front 'glass' facade is solid opaque plastic. I was expecting it to be translucent plastic to simulate windows. I was hoping to section it off inside and light some floors but not others.

 

I wonder if anyone has succeeded in removing the blue plastic facade and reconstructing it with translucent material with a lattice for the 'window frames' placed over it. 

 

[gavino200]

I added lights to small Tomytec store today. I think it's a sushi shop, but I'm not sure. The interior in this model is very nice and well detailed. The plastic was quite translucent and had to be 'lightproofed'. 

 

I'm considering an idea shared by @Quinn in the Senkei thread. The idea is to put the urban areas on two circuits. A day circuit with strorefronts lit. And a night circuit with apartment lights, street lights etc. 

 

Day

 

 

Night

 

[railsquid]

30 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

I added lights to small Tomytec store today. I think it's a sushi shop, but I'm not sure.
 

 

It's a butchers.

 

Quote

The interior in this model is very nice and well detailed. The plastic was quite translucent and had to be 'lightproofed'

 

Pretty much all of the Tomytec ones need some level of lightproofing.

[Quinn]

Those buildings are quite impressive. Do the pieces fit together nicely? I tried one, it needed cementing and clamping to get the wall joints tight.

And then, how do you light proof them? 

 

I did some papercraft a while ago with fairly thin card (bristol board) and made it opaque by blacking the inner wall and later overpainting it with white.

Is it roughly the same?

[gavino200]

3 hours ago, Quinn said:

Those buildings are quite impressive. Do the pieces fit together nicely? I tried one, it needed cementing and clamping to get the wall joints tight.

And then, how do you light proof them? 

 

I did some papercraft a while ago with fairly thin card (bristol board) and made it opaque by blacking the inner wall and later overpainting it with white.

Is it roughly the same?

 

Thanks. Yes, the Tomytec buldings are nice and very well detailed. I did the little shop recently and put some lights into it. The walls came together quite well. I used E6000 glue so that I could take it apart in future if I ever needed to. I held pieces together manually while they dried. I'd love to know what clamps you have that would be suitable for that as it would sure make life easier.

 

I also used black and then white to light seal. First I sealed the corners with some white glue as I was afraid the black paint might leak through and ruin the model.

 

The bank is one that I did years ago with superglue when the trains were more of a toy than a hobby. I recently "broke into" it to add some lights. It was a bit of a salvaged disaster operation. I'm not sure I'll try that again. 

Edited June 9, 2018 by gavino200

[bill937ca]

9 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

I'd love to know what clamps you have that would be suitable for that as it would sure make life easier.

 

 

 

Coffman Graphic Solutions Co offers a 90 degree clamp for gluing building kits together.  I've had 2 of these for at least 10 years. Won't want to be without them.

 

https://www.coffmaneng.com/

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, bill937ca said:

 

Coffman Graphic Solutions Co offers a 90 degree clamp for gluing building kits together.  I've had 2 of these for at least 10 years. Won't want to be without them.

 

https://www.coffmaneng.com/

 

Thanks for the tip bill. They're pricey but perfect. I ordered a splice clamp and a right angle clamp.

[gavino200]

Can anyone tell me how many strories/floors the Tomytec Pachinko building has. I've never been in a Pachinko parlor my many of those I've googled have a large high room with a high ceiling. On the back of the Tomytec building it looks like a straightforward three story builing. But the floor lines on the back don't line up with the windows in the front. The line between floor 1 and 2 is in the middle of the weird slatted window on the front. Anyone know what's going on here?

 

 

[katoftw]

Looks like 3 floors to me

[Das Steinkopf]

It could be the case of where there is an office in the back corner that is elevated above the gaming floor and is situated at the level where second floor would normally be. I have never bothered to walk into a Pachinko Parlour as I am not a big fan of gambling machines but from what I have seen the groundfloors do have very high ceilings that would be the equivalent of two stories high, mind you they would need as much airspace as possible to try and dissipate the huge volume of tobacco smoke, they are normally so bad it makes a Korean Barbecue on a busy night look smoke free.

[cteno4]

Yeah I would guess the same as das, two story parlor in front and then maybe a 1 story concession area (cigs and snacks and buy tokens) in the back and 1 story office over it. Then third floor all one space for maybe different office space. 

 

I dont recall seeing small ones like this, but maybe just never noticed the little ones. The larger ones are so hard to miss with lights and so much glass and mirrors in parlor areas. They kind of visually sear themselves into your brain.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

Starting to get the hang of illuminating Tomytec buildings. I just realized that it's much easier to make interior walls and floors if I get rid of the stock clear plastic window pieces and replace them with thin clear plastic pieces. Cutting the floors to fit around the thick stock window pieces is very difficult and usually introduces a bit of "light leak". The lightproofing is much easier with the thin plastic.

 

I was give a sheet of this stuff for free by my local Hobby shop guy. Anyone know what it is or where to get it? I know I could scavenge for this plastic from various bits of packaging but I don't think this stuff is likely to be expensive. I'd prefer to just get a bunch and have it on hand for when I need it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[katoftw]

All the clear plastic from those cardboard model train cases (eg kato) have this for the front windows.  Gives a near unlimited supply for nothing.

[Kiha66]

I think this is what you're looking for, clear film (Acetate?).

https://www.amazon.com/Grafix-Clear-Dura-Lar-20-Inch-25-Feet/dp/B004QVJLZE/ref=pd_cp_201_4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=ef4dc990-a9ca-4945-ae0b-f8d549198ed6&pf_rd_r=FA3ZTPPJNYQ009KV5NEY&pd_rd_wg=7mXqh&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=FGhLH&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=4b63e312-f448-11e8-b5fe-297cd78b4fb2&pd_rd_i=B004QVJLZE&psc=1&refRID=FA3ZTPPJNYQ009KV5NEY

[cteno4]

you can clear acetate in a number of thicknesses and also as sheets. check your local craft and art store as well.

 

as Kato notes if you look at front windows of various train and other boxes they have nice panes of the stuff. ive collected a box full of varying thicknesses over the years for just this use!

 

its funny clear acetate sheets use to be dirt cheap and not are pretty pricy! we use to use them as transparencies for design markups and a big box of like 100 thick ones (like 010) was like $10!

 

jeff

[gavino200]

14 minutes ago, cteno4 said:

you can clear acetate in a number of thicknesses and also as sheets. check your local craft and art store as well.

 

as Kato notes if you look at front windows of various train and other boxes they have nice panes of the stuff. ive collected a box full of varying thicknesses over the years for just this use!

 

its funny clear acetate sheets use to be dirt cheap and not are pretty pricy! we use to use them as transparencies for design markups and a big box of like 100 thick ones (like 010) was like $10!

 

jeff

 

Thanks. Btw were you able to see if the candles with the flicker circuits were still available. If not, no bother. I'll have a look in Michaels.

[cteno4]

Sorry but no, a lot of life happened this week and am still digging out. Hopefully next week.

 

jeff

[maihama eki]

It may have been mentioned before, but I have received great service from this site on LEDs and associated circuits.

 

https://www.modeltrainsoftware.com/

 

I have asked him to do some custom items and he was very responsive - shipped them right away.

 

This is not the cheapest place to buy LEDs, but I think the quality is very good.

 

He offers a variety of different flashing, flickering, alternating circuits to go with his LEDs.

[kvp]

7 hours ago, cteno4 said:

its funny clear acetate sheets use to be dirt cheap and not are pretty pricy!

Because they got replaced by PET sheets. Also the acetate sheets degrade over time in as little 40-50 years or so. The PET sheets are good for at least a 100 or more years. You can also print on some variants with laser printers and get them in various transparent colors, like gray or brown or even red. This could match the brown color pieces used in many Tomytec buildings to better mask the empty insides.

 

ps: Even Tomytec uses PET sheet pieces as glass in some of their kits, complete with protective foil that has to be removed before gluing them in.

[chickendrop]

I already shared this on another thread, but this thread seems more relevant.

 

I just started building a 1/150 scale city. I bought a mix of TomyTec, Tomix, and KATO structures. They are all very well made, but the KATO and TOMIX buildings are the standouts when it comes to details. The office buildings are spectacular! I hope the 5th Ave. and Broadcast buildings become available again. I'm currently trying to figure out how to get all of the curb heights aligned. As some have already mentioned, some of the TomyTec bases are absurdly high. It would have been great if they made the bases a uniform height. I'm also trying to figure out what material to use for the asphalt/roadways. If anyone has suggestions I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

Here's what I have so far.

[gavino200]

11 minutes ago, chickendrop said:

I'm currently trying to figure out how to get all of the curb heights aligned. As some have already mentioned, some of the TomyTec bases are absurdly high.

 

 

Generally what people do is to build the diorama on a thin sheet of foamboard. Maybe 5mm. Then you cut a hole the exact shape of the buildings and fit them in. You can use underlays of styrene or foambord (1mm, 2mm, 3mm etc) to adjust the curb size to whatever height you want. 

 

I was baffled by this too, a few years ago.

 

 

Edited May 15, 2021 by gavino200

[chickendrop]

5 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

Generally what people do is to build the diorama on a thin sheet of foamboard. Maybe 5mm. Then you cut a hole the exact shape of the buildings and fit them in. You can use underlays of styrene or foambord (1mm, 2mm, 3mm etc) to adjust the curb size to whatever height you want. 

 

I was baffled by this too, a few years ago.

 

 

Perfect! Thanks for the tip!

[railsquid]

  

5 hours ago, gavino200 said:

 

Generally what people do is to build the diorama on a thin sheet of foamboard. Maybe 5mm. Then you cut a hole the exact shape of the buildings and fit them in. You can use underlays of styrene or foambord (1mm, 2mm, 3mm etc) to adjust the curb size to whatever height you want. 

If planning to use Tomix tram tracks, 2 x 3mm sheets is an exact match for the tram track, e.g.:

 

other-main-road-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

General building embedding from an earlier layout attempt:

 

road-construction by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

road-improvements by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited May 16, 2021 by railsquid

[chickendrop]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

  

If planning to use Tomix tram tracks, 2 x 3mm sheets is an exact match for the tram track, e.g.:

 

other-main-road-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

General building embedding from an earlier layout attempt:

 

road-construction by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

road-improvements by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Thanks for that detail. I don't have plans to add tracks or trains, I'm just building a small section of the city, but if I change my mind in the future this will be helpful to know. Your set up looks incredible! Are those Tomix road plates with the crosswalk in the last photo?

[railsquid]

36 minutes ago, chickendrop said:

Thanks for that detail. I don't have plans to add tracks or trains, I'm just building a small section of the city, but if I change my mind in the future this will be helpful to know. Your set up looks incredible! Are those Tomix road plates with the crosswalk in the last photo?

 

No, that's just Tamiya foamboard painted with lightly diluted grey acrylic paint (very easy way of making plausible road surfaces), with Kobaru / Tsugawa road marking decals.