Going Japanese!!!

[Pauljag900]

All the track arrived for the mountain module but it s just too small for any inclines,the trains could manage them but would uncouple themselves as they levelled out due to the angle of the incline.So plan B was put into action,four seperate loops set at diferent heights.I used old piers and styrene tubing for the supports and styrene foam board for the track support and the roadbed,I ve run out but waiting for some more to arrive.Once all the road bed is on and everything glued down the track will be removed,the tunnels put in place and the mountains and hills formed then the whole thing will be covered in 3 layers of plaster cloth and base painted.

I ve also split the baseboard in to two pieces for ease of handling.

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

You can try to slice horizontal cuts across the bottom of the roadbed right down to the track with the a razor saw and then gently bend the track vertically to create a smoother incline transition for them. Or look at using more fixed connectors between the cars.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[serotta1972]

Wow Paul, When I saw the drawings, I couldn't visualize it but now that have mocked up - it looks amazing! Quite a ride for the passengers.

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jeff,

I considered a few options Jeff,including glueing them together.I m going to see what it looks like once I ve got the hills and mountains made but before I plaster cloth it,if anything it s just going to look a bit high for the size,if so I ll simply remove the top loop but as I estimate that about a third of the track will be hidden inside the hills I may get away with it.

 

Hi serotta,

Ha ha,yeah,the trains will need a health warning on them.

Just hoping it looks a bit better once covered.It s so dificult to visualise until you actually have the track laid out.

Paul

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

There are double ended T shanks you can get at a few lengths to bond two cars together. Also just a wrap of thin alumium strip stock around the joined rapidos will work. Or the Kato or Tomix couplers also do a better job with changes in angles like this than rapidos as they hold themselves vertically and the sharfenbergers are a total positive lock. Going to need 4 more transformers for the 4 loops and that many trains that close popping in and out could be fun or total maham as this is smack in the middle of your layout. Too much distraction front and center may make it hard to look at the rest of the layout behind/around the mountain layout.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jeff,

I totally agree with everything you ve just said

[JR 500系]

Wow now that looks amazing! It definitely looks like great fun to run 4 independent trains on them! What are those stands for supports to the rails by the way? Would you also be building up some sort of a hill to cover them up?

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jr. 500,

Thanks for the comments.

Yes the supports are only there to keep the track in place.Its 5mm foam board and 6mm styrene tubing all hot glued together,it's really stable to be honest.I ran out of foam board but should have some more today or tomorrow,it's on it's way anyway.Once the track bed is in place and all glued together I ll work out where the hills and mountains will be,put the tunnels in and then plaster cloth the whole thing,so in answer to your question,yes all the supports will be hidden,they re only really there to hold the track in place until it's plaster clothed.quite a lot of the track will be hidden inside the hills/mountains,just hoping it s not too high.

Paul

[serotta1972]

Hey Paul,

Are you able to run a train on there now - I would love to see some trains going around those tracks.   :)

Edited September 29, 2016 by serotta1972

[Pauljag900]

Had a look at things today and rather than run the risk of things not looking right I decided to lose a level to reduce the height slightly.

I removed the top two loops and made one slightly bigger and one slightly smaller so the top two are now on the same level,I may just raise and Lower slightly just to give a bit of variation.

First track test went ok tho,

 

https://youtu.be/JYbM2r1BoZc

All track removed now ready to fit the track bed.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Pauljag900

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Try the crumpled newspaper test.mjust wad up newspaper around the tracks and tape it down with masking tape to get the general shape and mass. Greatly helps when building a big lump. We did this with the last JRM mountain and it changed the shape and orientation of it when we did it. Then had a good model to make the measurement for the shell off of.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jeff,

I ll use the paper and stuff for the front but on the back where I need access to the track inside I m going to use wire mesh.

I did a track test today as well and I ve just updated the post with the YouTube link,all went well to be fair,no trains fell off so that s a plus.Next step is the track bed.

Paul

[cteno4]

Paul,

 

Sorry just meant to crumple up paper and tape it down to get the rough shape to plan for, not build with. lets you figure out if slopes will look too much or shape is odd or change balance, etc. from that you can then do some rough measurements to build the mountain standard ways after tearing off all the wadded up paper! its a crumpled paper space filling model! actually how gehry starts a lot of his space thinking!

 

some tough do build this way by laying down plastic then just plaster clothing over the whole thing. once dry then you can pull the whole shell off and remove the paper. then come back and cut in portal holes as needed. Benifits are you can remove the whole mountain to work on cleaning track etc and also you can do a lot of the heavy scenery work off of the tracks which can be messy. but i doubt it would work well in your situation with the multiple tracks and all the portals as making it removable would be really tough and require whacking it all up a lot!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

[Pauljag900]

Hi Jeff,

Sorry buddy,got it now,I had nt thought about that way but if I could do the mountain side that way it would be great to be able to lift the whole thing off for cleaning.you re right about the one side tho,I do nt think I ll be able to do it on the side where the track is lowest.i just need to get this track bed down so I can see what goes up and what goes down ha ha

Paul

[cteno4]

Im a big fan of mocking things up quickly like this. even if you are good at visualizing it really helps make sure its what you are thinking in your head (disconnects do happen!) and also able to play with ideas that you might not have thought up in your mind while just moving things around. I figure if someone who can think in 4 dimensional space like Gehry does uses it, it must be handy!

 

yeah track access will be needed for cleaning and retreiving trains. can you make a hole in the bottom of the platform to go up thru the bottom? harder to see what you are doing but just doing a rag on the track might not be bad. but that does bring up the thought are the supports sturdy enough on this to take track cleaning abuse in the long run?

 

An aside:

It is a totally true fact Gehry does this. My design partner worked in Eames office in the 70s which was next door (Eames and Gehry were buddies) and when he was in his office the first time and saw all these bits of crumpled paper wadded up on his desk and scotched taped down. Gene asked someone in the office what that was going on as it looked so odd and they told his that was his second phase after his famous one line scribble drawings that he used in starting to focus a shape of an idea. Gene told me about this when i was very young and it stuck big time with me and ive used it very successfully ever since.. he got a big kick when i showed him the simpsons bit decades later! it also taught me to draw out my ideas even if in crude scribbles (i have little drawing talent and lots of practice has not made it prettier!) and its done me very well over the years communicating with other design professionals. ive had to work with some architects and designers that will not do any crude sketches in a meeting as they think it not professional to not do something polished in a meeting like that (i later learned most of them could not draw or even sketch and that was the real reason), but as crude as it is it gets the idea across enough at the very early stages to brainstorm with and without it no one communicates. I also learned those who wrinkled their noses at it were not worth communicating with in the end anyway.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Pauljag900]

I could nt agree more Jeff,I always scribble things down first,wether it's a track plan or the garden or anything in the house,like you,I can t draw to save my life,but so long as I can understand it I can explain it.The track supports a pretty rigid to be fair Jeff,I m not saying they would nt rip out if I gave them a bang but for track running and cleaning they seem fine,once I get the plaster cloth on it should make the whole thing pretty solid,I am also covering the track bed with plaster cloth too,in fact,once the track bed is done I ll be working out where the tunnels will be,I ve got a guy making me some resin ones from eBay,then I ll mock some up slightly smaller and use them and when finished I ll simply glue them on top of the foam board cut outs, then I ll form the mountain/hills,roads etc and then cover the whole thing in plaster cloth,so in fact it will be one large shell really.

As for access,it will either be from underneath or,my favoured option if I can do it,is to have a removeable panel on the right hand side built into the mountain, I m hoping I can disguise it sufficiently and also hinge it in some way.

Paul

[Pauljag900]

Having finally settled on two levels I decided access should be from the top,I used the cut out piece from the top loops as the base for the mountain and also made it removeable for access to hidden track

I decided to do the top piece first as I ve been waiting for tunnels for the bottom.

I formed the hills and road from a mixture of newspaper,wire mesh and card and covered it all in plaster cloth.

The tunnels arrived about an hrs ago and are glued in place so tomorrow I ll finish of forming the hills and rock face on the bottom section and then plaster cloth it all.

[JR 500系]

Looking good! Nice progress mate! cant wait to see the finished product!

[serotta1972]

Wow Paul, you just can't keep still can you! Very inspiring with the amount of stuff you get done in short periods of time.  Wonderful progress - thanks for sharing! Next post, I expect the mountains covered with grass and trees with little animals roaming around.  :)

[Pauljag900]

Ha ha,I think the next post will be it all covered in plaster cloth and base paint so I can see where I m going!

[Pauljag900]

Does any body have any of the tomytec harbour buildings by any chance?

I m just trying to find out if the depth of 13cm is just the building part or the overall depth includes the bits that stick out.

Any info would be gratefully recieved,

Paul

[Pauljag900]

Taking advantage of the nice weather I cracked on with the bottom section,and got it formed and plaster clothed in 4 1/2 hrs,

 

And the two sections together,

Next step is to base coat the diferent areas ready for scenics,replace the track and test.

[Pauljag900]

Gave the whole thing a base coat of paint,painted the rock face areas and carried out a track test

 

Glued the track down and ballasted the top track and the grass areas on the top level.

Edited October 7, 2016 by Pauljag900

[serotta1972]

That looks awesome Paul! For a minute I thought you were going for a Winter Wonderland scene and kinda liked it.

[Pauljag900]

Cheers serotta,they ll be made very welcome! Ha ha,I do have a few snow covered trees and a bit of snow scatter p here,so maybe a light sprinkling on the very top of the hill?ha ha