New Member - Sunshine Coast, QLD, Australia

[katoftw]

Hi all,

 

Just signed up.  Recently become addicted to model railroading.  Was when I was a kid.  Now I have kids of my own, and use them as an excuse to get back into it.

 

Recently decovered Kato Unitrack N scale which makes life very easy.  And T-Trak from the team from Gold Coast model club.  Was gonna jump straight into T-Trak but decided to go a regular 3"x5" layout first.

 

Been using anyrail to mock up a simple plan.  But I think I'll just build the Armhrst 2005 plan from the Katousa website.  But use slightly larger (up 33mm) curves 282mm, 315mm and 348mm.  And make the inside shunting yards slightly different.  This allow the use of 2 regular controllers.  Will go to DDC later when extra shunting roads are added to out branch loop.  Thinking Digitrax Zephur with the 2 current controllers in the jump ports for the kids.

 

My sons are train mad like myself.  The 5yo love diesels.  Then 2yo loves steamies. (Insert Thomas The Tank Engine joke hear).  So currently got a Union Pacific ES44AC and BNSF ES44AC with mixed freight.  And 282mm V5 loop, and 315mm M1 loop, and a V4 siding loop on the way from japan.

 

And only be back into it 3 weeks. lol

 

The Kids love the bullet trains, so a few of those will be acquired asap.  And Kato really only catering for the JP and USA markets, the british steam scene is none exsistent, so will be getting a few D51s (same as Hiro in TTTE), C11s, C58s and C62s.

 

In the end when I've spent too much money and time on these things.  I probably have a American midwest layout with Amtrak superliner, BNSF and UP freighter, a Japanese steam era layout, and a Japanese modern era layout.  The wife will kill me...

Edited September 26, 2013 by katoftw

[Martijn Meerts]

Just a quick notice considering you mention 282mm curves and getting bullet trains.. Bullet trains generally recommend a minimum radius of around 315mm (depends a bit on the brand). Many bullet trains will run through 282mm curves, but some do have problems with it.

[katoftw]

Yeah thanks.  I did read that somewhere, or something similar.  Some USA diesels dont like 249mm dia either.  Which is why I bumped all the curves up 33mm dia from the original trackplan.

 

The original trackplan uses curves of 249, 282 and 315mm.  I'll be using 282, 315 and 348mm curves.  I know the ES44ACs wont do smaller than 282mm dia.

 

http://www.katousa.com/track-plans/n-plans.html

 

Trackplan is second one down.

Edited September 26, 2013 by katoftw

[cteno4]

katoftw,

 

welcome! 

 

you might think about keeping things flexible for a while and playing with different layout designs. unitrak is awesome for doing this. check out this article

 

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

 

barrie has had a lot of fun changing the track plan around but still having the feel of a layout by doing small scenery bits that can get plopped around. using fabric for a base you can also hide wires and visually make it look like a more not flat surface to work from. the scenery bits lets you get into working on scenery techniques in little bits and dont hit the wall with big chunks to do on a layout at times (seems to be one of the stall points for many on layouts or frustration with getting techniques to work big scale at first go on a larger layout). its sort of the wargaming approach to model railroading. might be fun for the young ones to work on mixing things up a lot and letting them exercise their imaginations w/o it then getting totally set in plaster so to speak!

 

ttrak is fun in that you can do all sorts of scenes on them then put it all together with others. can be a bit chaotic but fun to change things up a lot. once you get enough you can do themed loops or half loops with larger scenes stretching across a number of module. down side is the track plans are pretty boring with ttrak even when you get to big setups, basically big loops. you can shake them up a little by routing the track to the back side of the modules for a bit and having the scene in front, but still a simple loop or bent L at best usually. but its the fun of getting together with others that makes it fun.

 

we will look forward to seeing what you come up with! have fun being a kid, your kids will out grow you pretty fast, good to stay the youngest kid in the family though!

 

jeff

[katoftw]

katoftw,

 

welcome! 

 

you might think about keeping things flexible for a while and playing with different layout designs. unitrak is awesome for doing this. check out this article

 

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

 

barrie has had a lot of fun changing the track plan around but still having the feel of a layout by doing small scenery bits that can get plopped around. using fabric for a base you can also hide wires and visually make it look like a more not flat surface to work from. the scenery bits lets you get into working on scenery techniques in little bits and dont hit the wall with big chunks to do on a layout at times (seems to be one of the stall points for many on layouts or frustration with getting techniques to work big scale at first go on a larger layout). its sort of the wargaming approach to model railroading. might be fun for the young ones to work on mixing things up a lot and letting them exercise their imaginations w/o it then getting totally set in plaster so to speak!

 

...

 

jeff

thanks for the link.  i was thinking of something similar for a temp second layout.   but seeing it in picture form has sold me on the idea.  thanks again.

[Densha]

Hi! Nice to meet you!

For large radiuses I once again recommend looking at Kato's cool double-track sets: http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/unitrack_v11_e.shtml & http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/unitrack_v15_e.shtml

[westfalen]

Another local, relatively speaking anyway.  We may have crossed paths at some train shows, I am president of the Ipswich Model Railway Club which also has gotten into T-TRAK in a big way.  If you get to the Ipswich Workshops Museum model train show at the end of October look us up.

 

Re shinkansen on tight curves, the inside curve on T-TRAK corners is 282mm radius and couple of our members with Kato 700 and N700 series have trouble on the curves but an E4, an E5 and my E6 glide around the curves at full speed without a care.

 

There is a lot of good British steam out there, especially recent Graham Farish and Dapol releases.

[katoftw]

Yup looking at attending the big one in October at the Workshops.

 

Also have a small one in Caloundra on the 12th of October also to have a looksee.

[katoftw]

I am looking at doing something like this.  Sorry to split it.  I am being cheapo with Anyrail and only allowed 50 pieces with the trial version.

 

Dining table at home is 900mmx1500mm 3"x5".  So that is what I'll go with until I attempt to build a baseboard.

 

No requirement for DDC.  And can build it in stages.  Speading the cost of it out.

 

May go nuts and turn the outer half loop into a full figure 8 double loop using a 15 degree crossover.

 

Edited September 28, 2013 by katoftw

[Mudkip Orange]

Download Xtrakcad if you wanna be cheap, bit of a learning curve, but it's freeware.

[katoftw]

A bit of a learning curve is an understatment.  It's a complex program.  Had a quick look.

[cteno4]

Kato,

 

it takes an hour or so to get all the basic things for snapping track together. the hard part is you really need to make yourself a cheat sheet of the basic 12 funtions you use for laying sectional track as the the interface is very non intuitive and the kind you will forget it all after leaving it for a few days. 

 

it really is a decent program, especially for the price!

 

jeff

[katoftw]

I think I've figured out what region I wanna model.  The Hakata-Kumamoto Kyushu region.  Allows use for Shinkansen 500 and 800s, which are just a personal choice as favourites.  And the N700s and 885 series dont look too bad either.  Gotta look into a few more suburb rail options to add to this collection/layout.  Now to begin.

[katoftw]

So after a couple of model train shows.  I've backflipped on all the above plans.  I wanna do T-Trak modules and the will be styled in the northern Kyushu region.  T-Trak I think is the best for my situation as I'm space poor and I like the protablility of the modules.

 

Currently still collecting the rolling stock.  But will be using 500 and 800 shinkansens.  A 885 white gull "if" it likes R282 curves, and some (maybe x2) red 813 series commuters.  Will add to the rolling stock further in time, but the list provided should do me for a while.

 

Next step is to approuch a local club and find someone that can cut the module componenets out for me, and I will assemble.  Then the ball will start rolling very quickly.

Edited November 7, 2013 by katoftw