My layout - Plan done! Time to start (page 7)

[cteno4]

they also now have a gap filling type here in the states that works better for doing larger bits like this. neat trick with the water, didnt realize water catalyzed the polyurethane reaction! 

 

good work, coming along nicely!

 

 

cheers

 

jeff

[E6系]

Hello,

 

I look forward to see more!

 

Just one little note on building mountains: Unrelieved Sags!  That is to say, any bowls or depressions that water would naturally collect in, should be modelled with water in them.  It looks to me like you have one on the top of your mountain, slightly left of middle.  This could make an attractive little lake from which the water flows into a larger lake at the bottom.

[NJHA]

Hello,

 

I look forward to see more!

 

Just one little note on building mountains: Unrelieved Sags!  That is to say, any bowls or depressions that water would naturally collect in, should be modelled with water in them.  It looks to me like you have one on the top of your mountain, slightly left of middle.  This could make an attractive little lake from which the water flows into a larger lake at the bottom.

That is the idea... 

 

I am planning on putting some "snow" on the mountain top and then start a running river that ends on a small lake and then overflows possibly making a waterfall. :)

[NJHA]

Hi guys. A bit of time to show you my progress on my mountain. 

 

These past weeks i have been doing some scenery and also tried to make trees. In the end the trees came out ok, although now, after they got sprinkled with the ground cover material  they seem a little bushy. Will have to try again, maybe using less filter material.

Here are some photos of my "inventions"

 

First i started with my river, and a light paint of green, along with some "rocks":

 

Then it started to arrive some snow:

 

And then i realized i needed also a waterfall: 

By the way, aluminium foil and silicone match very well. So well it was impossible to remove my waterfall from the foil. So i retried it but this time i used baking paper as a support and worked great.

 

So i started practicing on my trees. The wire i was using is not the best match for these trees, it is too thick, but i was trying to make trees for the first time ever :)

 

Then i tried a second time and finally a third:

Started with 18 wires that i twisted a bit and then separated on 3 branches of 6 wires each.

 

 

Then i twisted things a bit more and came to this:

And finally this (after this stage you just cut the loops and try to make simple branches):

 

with just the wire the tree was to bare, so i got some aquarium filter wool and cut a few little bits from it and sprinkle them over:

 

Latter i spray paint the tree with black color and then coat it with ground foam/fine foam to get to this:

 

 

And this is my work so far. Having a huge load of fun doing all this, never thought i would like it so much.

 

 

[cteno4]

NJHA

 

Looking very good! Great work.

 

On the tree armatures you can also go backwards and start with wound wire. Take some 12-16g stranded electrical wire and remove insulation. Then solder a short section of the end (you can solder in a pin on the end if you want). Clip off 2-6" length and the you can in wind back to create branches. Basically the reverse of your process.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[NJHA]

NJHA

 

Looking very good! Great work.

 

On the tree armatures you can also go backwards and start with wound wire. Take some 12-16g stranded electrical wire and remove insulation. Then solder a short section of the end (you can solder in a pin on the end if you want). Clip off 2-6" length and the you can in wind back to create branches. Basically the reverse of your process.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

Hi Jeff

 

I have tried that wire also. Problem, at least for me, is that the Portuguese stranded wire is made of individual wires that are no thicker than a human hair and as such the bundle lacks consistency.

I managed to get my hands on 0,6mm wire (the one i was using is around 1,1mm thick), so i will retry the trees.

By the way, for the trees, for those interested i followed a tutorial i found on model railroad forum : 

http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?5015-How-to-Make-Trees-and-Shrubs/page2

 

And for the rest of the scenery i followed tutorials from these guys: 

https://www.youtube.com/user/terrainoob/videos

https://www.youtube.com/user/RubbishInRubbishOut/videos <-- this guy has loads of ideas and even some crazy terrain materials (that really work)  

[LuckyJim400]

Appreciate you taking the time to keep this post going. I just joined the forum and I'm fascinated by your project. Keep up the good work, it looks fantastic so far...

[NJHA]

OK.9 months gone by and what of my project?

Well... it is semi-gone. Why? Well in May I had a job interview in Sweden and got accepted so I just came to Sweden with my family.

 

The trains and track were sent here, but I will be moving out of this house in December so no fixed layout for me now. For the time being I will just run trains Japonese style... on the floor :)

 

I will keep in touch, I hope!

[cteno4]

NJHA,

 

Wow big moves! Glad to hear you will still have some track to set up on the floor and play with? That can get you thru!

 

Enjoy the new job and location. Keep in touch!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[NJHA]

December! Yes, I am still alive and I moved in a new house at the 1st December. These past days my train material has been kept carefully packed on its box, just waiting for the time to come an restart a new project.

I have been on "diplomatic talks" with my better half trying to "claim" some space for a new layout.

 

Just dropped by to share the news :)

[cteno4]

NJHA,

 

great to have you back! Glad you are in the new digs and the territorial talks have begun. Please keep us up on the progress.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[NJHA]

"Claim" talks are progressing. This is still not my final address since this is a rented apartment but for the time being will do.

Will have to build a new baseboard, come up and with a new track plan and redo my scenery.

I think I will stay with the EMUs and run away from the shinkansen. Not that I don't like the shinkansen but I like the EMUs more :).

 

I will continue to come and share some news as I can.

[nah00]

If you still want to go with Shinkansens but don't feel that you have the space you can always go with the Yamagata or E6 Super Komachi 'mini Shinkansens' that run off of the JR East Tohoku Line. They only run at 80 mph at the most on their lines and they don't look out of place going around a curve. Also they run on normal track so it won't be out of place to run them and other trains together on common track. And if you do 'WANNA GO FAAAAST' the E6 will REALLY fly if you turn up the throttle. Also since both of them are short you won't need a huge platform for them to pull up to. 

[NJHA]

I am considering a baseplate around 2,5m long, so that is enough space for the shinkansen. But I already own some regular trains and I don't know why but I kind of like them more. Maybe I will consider a 2 level station with a upper level for fast trains on kato double track with canted curves and a lower level with either kato or a similarly good track brand.

As for mixing zones and trains from different lines, I really don't care about it as long as it makes some sense.

 

But the mini shinkansen I do like :)

[NJHA]

Hi. Talks have now ended and a new plan idea is ready. 

 

I took some ideas from plans on the forum and also some plans on kato page. 

 

My idea is to have 2 lines, one for fast trains, other more city commute line. The trains may eventually change from the city commuter line to the fast line, that will depend on switches and station area, since as you will see there is still some questions on that area. 

 

Blue lines: city commuter line. 
grey lines; fast line.

red line: fast line, just different level.

 

Track will be kato unitrack and eventually peco flextrack. radius for fast lines is 414/381? and for commuter is 348 and 315.

It will be DCC.

 

The plan:

 

As usual I welcome ideas. Baseboard is 270Cmx120cm and will be movable. Not much space to make baseboard longer, that is about the limit. 

 

[katoftw]

I like it.  It needs a few additions like yards/sidings.  They can come later in planning.  But the general plan and idea looks good to build on from.

 

Is the commuter more subway based?  Or just cuttings into the ground at certain parts?

[NJHA]

Hi.

The commuter line just goes under the fast line where needed. I have noticed that for mostly of the trackage it may well be below the baseboard due to the incline settings and that isn't what I really want, since I want to see the trains most of the time.

I may have to tweak the station area a bit, probably the fast line will start at +50 being a viaduct line and go to +100 when crossing over itself. Then I will need "access" ramps for the "fast" trains to reach the station at ground level or consider a viaduct station and a ground station.

[cteno4]

NJHA

 

Looking good. Are you going to have the Shinkansen tracks at +50 and the commenter at ground for the station? Lots of Japanese stations like this.

 

Good to hear negotiations finalized with a good accord (hopefully not too many concessions!) and the layout is back underway.

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[NJHA]

Hi Jeff.

 

Yes conversations came to a good accord, concession was just to build an extention on my baseboard for the kids to put their Lego kits on, so it is a sane concession. My wife is just marvelous. I was expecting a severe constraint on size and I was surprised when I showed her a 270x270 layout plan from kato and she said it would be ok (living room is 500x420).

 

Spending money on tracks... that is a different subject. I was planning to use kato viaduct track but that becomes very expensive to buy here in Sweden (individual packages are about 2 times more expensive not including postage) or even to import since vat is 25%. EBay was an option but last auctions went with wild prices. So I guess I will use mostly code 80 flex track (is code 55 usable with kato?) from peco. This track is usual here in Sweden so not overly expensive.

 

For the station I have 3 possibilities.

1- only one station, ground level with at least 4 tracks, used by both train types.

2- one ground station, one viaduct station placed on station area.

3- same as #2 but one station goes on the lower part of the baseboard, and the other goes to the top part.

 

In terms of interest I think #1 and #3 are better options. #1 gives the operations side with throwing switches and controlling coming and going trains.

#3 gives 2 focal points eventually making the layout look more "busy"

 

Food for thought.