Going Japanese!!!

[Pauljag900]

Thanks mate,

[Pauljag900]

Most of the wiring is now done,I ve colour coded the wiring to each circuit,blue and white for street lights,red and grey for the cars,brown for the track and I ll use red and black for the buildings,if I manage to fit in a small fairground I ll use green for the motors,just to make it easier to trace if I need to replace anything in the future.

I need a total of 8amps to power the street lights and cars which are all 6v,I thought about wiring two together in parralel and connecting to 12v but as I needed to purchase a new power supply anyway I thought I may as we'll keep it simple and just buy 6v.IT s virtually impossible to buy 8amp 6v as one unit,so as the board has two central support ribs running front to back,it has effectively got three sections,so I've wired each section separately and added up the total amps needed for each section,the right hand side and Center section require 3amps each and the left hand section requires 2amps, I have one 3amp supply already and have ordered a new 2amp and 3amp,which I should have in about three weeks.i ve wired them to pluggable terminal blocks at the front and the power supply will just plug into them.Eventually these will be covered by an aluminium panel with switches to be able to turn each section on or off.

I connected each street light and car with its own connector block purely for ease of replacement should they become faulty,a bit of messing about but easy to repair if need be as it means I wo nt have to touch any of the wiring.

[kvp]

You made pretty short work of the wiring. It's strange to see how much power all these little lamps and cars could use.

[Pauljag900]

It sure is mate,I thought it would have taken me longer than it did,I think it took longer to plan it.it s not so bad once you get started I guess.

[cteno4]

Nice job! oming along nicely. smart to block things off and run to a terminal strip, as you noted makes life easier as you add controls and need to trouble shoot later.

 

Makes you love LEDs! I remember how fast those grain of wheat bulbs add up from my layout as a kid! Those were the days before wall wort and small transformer packs were everywhere!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Thanks jeff.,you re so right,I bought a lot of stuff before I actually started,including a 3amp power supply! I could nt believe it when I added them all up! Not helped by the fact that I d forgotten to count the twin street lights as two! They re 160ma each and not 80!

I ve had a little play about with things,had a look at the wiring and had a think(not easy believe me)and to be honest,now that all the wiring is in place it wo nt take long to re-jig the way I ve wired it up to change back to plan A and use a 12v supply and wire two lights together in parallel! Reducing it down to 6v,,so I ve decided that's what I m going to do,I ve just ordered a 12 v 10amp supply which will be more than enough. So that s the next weeks work sorted out while I wait for my next order from plazzajapan!

Regards,paul

[Pauljag900]

The new power supplies have arrived so I ve now altered the wiring of the street lights and wired two in parallel and I am using a 10amp 12v supply which will give me 3amps spare,I ve left the car lights as they were but connected them to a separate 6v 2amp supply,all seems to be working well at the moment!

However,I now have a dilemma,it was always my intention to make this a Japanese layout which will in the future be added to a larger board and will include bullet trains,my problem is this,I really like the faller kits,they re very detailed and I really like the architecture of the German buildings,so I m at a bit of a loss as what to do.The only way around it that I can think of is to keep the centre area as German buildings and still keep the rest of it Japanese,and maybe call it "downtown hamburg" the main issue is that I really want to run the Japanese bullet trains,if anyone has any ideas as how I could combine the two then I d be very gratefully to hear them! Ha ha,

I ve already bought and assembled one of each,the Japanese office building and the German old town tower house,but I m not sure,any comments will be gratefully recieved!

Does anyone know where I can purchase spare tyes for the tomytec bus? I ve just lost one of my rear tyres and I m having trouble finding some,

Regards,paul

[Densha]

Ummm where do you want to run bullet trains? On the tram tracks?? :P

Otherwise, paint the Shinkansen in ICE colours and you're done. ;)

[disturbman]

You know: your layout is your kingdom. You can do whatever you want to it. And if it can make you feel more at ease, you can find this in Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huis_Ten_Bosch_(theme_park)

So I do not see why you would not be able to run a Shinkansen through a German looking town.

[Pauljag900]

Kind words,thank you,thats exactly what i m going to do!! I ve just placed an order for my first three buildings from faller,i was talking to the gentleman i buy my kits from and he said more or less the same,he said 'its your model and you can do whatever you like,there are no rules! So we ll see how it goes.

[Pauljag900]

Just checked out that link to the theme park,if i was nt sure before i am now,thanks mate,paul

[Densha]

You know: your layout is your kingdom. You can do whatever you want to it. And if it can make you feel more at ease, you can find this in Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huis_Ten_Bosch_(theme_park)

 

So I do not see why you would not be able to run a Shinkansen through a German looking town.

Oh my god that's Dutch, not German! :')

[disturbman]

Duh! I know. :) The fact Japanese constructed a theme park around European architectural features give you a certain freedom regarding the urbanity of a layout. Could have been as well Parisian - I am actually wondering why they did not built such a Theme Park, would probably be a huge hit for couples.

[Pauljag900]

I think the point is,as far as my problem goes anyway,is that these things do actually exist,it made my mind up anyway,the first German building is done and the next two are on their way along with my first Japanese shops from plazzajapan! Can t wait! One of the buildings also has an arch which the bus will pass through on the other side and then a pub will fit in between the two,all of the same Tudor style.i ll post some pics in due course.

[disturbman]

I think the point is,as far as my problem goes anyway,is that these things do actually exist

 Exactly! :)

 

Looking forward to see your layout take form.

Edited August 7, 2014 by disturbman

[Pauljag900]

Cheers mate

[Pauljag900]

Cheers mate

[Pauljag900]

This is a oo/ho scale model that I m also working on,I buy alternate models for my tram layout and this layout,it's a model of a pedestrianised shopping Center which will have shops,bars and restaurants all around the outside with a fairground and carnival going in the Center,there s no trams or trains just a fun day in the town Center,but it s the same effect as I m hoping to re create on my tram layout,all the kits are German made by faller,I m working my way around in building order,I calculated it to th mm,as you can see its in a glass case and has a lid which I removed for the photos.

[Pauljag900]

Just a quick update to my "going Japanese" layout showing the plazza area buildings in place,I ll add some detail,trees,grass etc later.

[utrainia]

That's filling up nicely!

[Pauljag900]

Hi,it's been a while since my last post due mainly to a bad fall I had at work! Resulting in a pretty bashed up knee which now requires surgery in the new year! However,I had been having a few problems getting the trams to run at low speed,initially I thought it may be the damp as I had moved it to a shed in the garden,this was dismissed as I had no better luck inside the house.I thought it may be the tomix tram track as the wheels seemed to be binding in certain places,I tried a few other things but in the end I decided to completely dismantle the whole layout,make it slightly smaller and start again.A bit extreme maybe,but by making it smaller I was able to sit it on the top of an ho model I m also building which is in the house,I decided to keep it simple by having two basic ovals with a slight kink in the inside oval purely for interest.Ihad a rough idea of what I wanted to do,so I ordered some new rail joiners from plazzajapan and replaced them all before fitting the final layout.at first it worked fine,so I glued all the track down an delayed all the base coverings,ballast,paths,roads etc.Two days later it started again!stallin in certain places at low speed.I decided to leave it and accepted that I would just have to increase the speed to a point when it would nt stop.I d just like to add that it was only the kato Hiroshima tram,14-070 type 200,the double car one was fine on both ovals.Then I had a breakthrough!ha ha,I was looking on YouTube at other layouts and stumbled on an article reviewing a kato duwag tram,slightly different to look at but the same chasis as the 200,apparently ,due to the lack of weight in n gauge version of this type of tram it has difficulty in picking up the current through the tracks!!! Two options now are, dcc control,which I know very little about at the moment,or add extra weight.I decided on the easy option of adding weight.i placed two heavy coins on eithe end of the tram and held them in place with blue tack,guess what? It ran perfectly at very low speed,so the next step is to hot glue some lead fishing weights to the roof.Sorry if this has dragged on guys but in case anyone else has the same problem at least now you ll know.

As for my layout,it s coming on nicely now,I deliberated long and hard about the buildings but in the end I ve decided to stick with the faller kits for now and will somehow incorporate it into a Japanese layout when I start it next year.

[railsquid]

Interesting, my 14-070 goes around my mix of Tomix/Kato track fine, even though parts of it were quite dirty and were causing some other units to stall in some places. I've just bought some Tomix tram track so will see how it deals with that.

 

With the Faller kits, maybe you can pretend it's a German-themed village in Japan? There are such places; I'm using a similar excuse to add some British buildings and trains to my layout.

 

I hope your knee surgery goes well.

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Sorry to hear about the knee, hope the surgery goes well!

 

Yep 2 axle mechs like that can have pickup issues, especially around points and the weight helps a lot to make sure you keep enough of the wheels on the track to make a decent connection. 2 axle units also tend to be small, light weight units that need the weight! Make sure track joints are flush as if one is twisted you can get it into a situation where it will pull up wheels some and you get poor contact.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Thanks jeff,it never crossed my mind about the weight,or the tram,I assumed it was the track! Put it down to experience,or in my case lack of it!ha ha,I m going to hot glue fishing weights to the inside of the roof,there seems to be enough of a gap to be able to do it,or can you think of anything else?any suggestions will be gratefully recieved.

[cteno4]

Well it's a combo of both really! Your issues and results may vary! As seen by squid not having as many problems with his on his setup. Glad it's working for you. Always a good feeling when you can knoodle out an issue like this!

 

If you want to hide the weight more you can use lead shot. If you put down a bit of plastic wrap poked into the space you want to add the shot, then fill area with the shot, the drip some white glue on it to make it a little solid piece. Then pull out and strip or trim off the plastic wrap. Now you have a nice custom shaped weight to fit in the odd space and be more hidden.

 

You can also get thin sheet lead you can easily cut up and get into small places.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff