My Layout so far

[Sean]

End of the month.  Dont be angry, get ordering!

 

Tomytec part number 255079 and 255086, available end of Oct.

 

OMG!!! YES!!!!!

 

That is the best news ever.  Well, at least it is the best model railroad baseball stadium related news ever.  Thanks for cueing me in, I just looked them up and they are perfect.

[railsquid]

No worries Sean! There are baseball players, just that their release was delayed from September to October.

 

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/diocolle/lineup/jyoukei_h/index.html#30

 

You know I'm going to have to bookmark that site now...

[JR 500系]

You know I'm going to have to bookmark that site now...

 

Sure! You should! Actually along with many others. I have almost all the makers website on book mark; like Kato, Tomix, Tomytec, GreenMax, MircoAce etc. And all the online retailers so far like Loco1, MTP, HS, Yahoo Auctions, etc.

 

I especially find Tomytec website very important and interesting, as a bus collector... It always shows what new releases there are, and any changes in release dates, along with nice pictures to drool at ~~

[Densha]

I still find the loop around the stadium to look strange, but if you're going with a station next to the stadium you should include a footbridge for the supporters to go there without blocking other entrances.

I don't know about any example in Japan, but here's one in the Netherlands: https://www.google.nl/maps/@51.4430121,5.466878,3a,75y,140.12h,96.54t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sNOQxm63BAZhBg6pW3hut9g!2e0

[Sean]

That would be an interesting idea, though with the elevated line running directly over the main line I unfortunately won`t have any place for a pedestrian bridge.  So an inconvenient level crossing it is for all the baseball fans who will have to wait for the barriers to go up and down.  Poor urban planning I know!

 

The loop line does indeed look strange, given that train lines in real life generally have more than one station and don`t just go around in a little circle :)   My idea is to one day expand that side of the layout, turning it into an L shaped layout, which will allow that loop line and the main line to expand.  This will have to wait until I get a bigger home to put it into of course!

[railsquid]

That would be an interesting idea, though with the elevated line running directly over the main line I unfortunately won`t have any place for a pedestrian bridge.  So an inconvenient level crossing it is for all the baseball fans who will have to wait for the barriers to go up and down.  Poor urban planning I know!

 

Don't worry, this is Japan where poor urban planning is prototypical ;)

[Sean]

Don't worry, this is Japan where poor urban planning is prototypical ;)

 

Very true :)

[railsquid]

Which does make it easier from a modelling perspective... Residential houses real close to the tracks? No problem. Implausibly crazy road layouts? Just like the real thing.

[katoftw]

Does make modelling Japanese layout much easier.

[Sean]

I love that about Japanese model railroading.  The jumbled look of urban areas actually makes for a more interesting subject in 1/150 scale! 

 

Fortunately the same principle holds true with baseball stadium architecture - since they generally have a lot of random features and are not at all symetrical, if you screw something up it isn`t as noticable as it would be in, say, a soccer stadium where everything is more or less rectangular.

[ozman2009]

Well done Sean. It's starting to look good.

[Sean]

It has been about four months since I last updated my layout, my son is 4 months old now so there may be a correlation between these two facts.

 

I haven't had time to do anything major with it, but I have added a few buildings and tinkered with the way they are laid out a bit.  Also added a team of baseball players to the baseball stadium and started doing some of the pavement/landscape around it.  I took a bunch of random photos of the whole thing this afternoon, this is what it looks like.

 

[JohnD]

Thanks for sharing!  You have many nice details - and the many people all over brings life to the city!  What are the dimensions of the layout? 

[Sean]

Thanks!  I think I have spent almost the same amount on the people as I have on the trains in my layout!

 

The dimensions are a bit odd, but roughly 90 cm - 75 cm deep (narrower in the middle) and 180cm long.  I plan on expanding it into a L shape with a similar sized addition in the future.

[railsquid]

You've got that 駅前ビル街 atmosphere done very well. This view in particular looks very convincing:

 

[Sean]

Thanks!  I picked up several of those Kato buildings for that part as I found they looked pretty convincing. 

 

I kind of wish there was a bit more variety of bigger downtown buildings like that available, I've almost got every one out there that I'd be interested in yet I still have room for a bit more and I like to have them packed closely together since it looks more realistic and gives the city a more intimate feel.  The downside though is of course that buildings are more expensive than streets or parking lots so the cost/area of the layout is getting a bit high. 

[Sean]

Its been about a year since I updated this, having a baby will slow the pace of your hobbies to a crawl!

 

I haven`t actually changed much since a year ago, but the other day I picked up via Yahoo Auctions some interesting things.  I bought five custom made architectural models of large scale condominiums.  They are of buildings between 10 and 17 stories high and exactly in N scale so they are perfect for layouts.  They are made of cardboard and plastic, the quality and detail are quite good.  I had been wanting to get some taller buildings for the layout to add a bit more vertical interest, but all the KATO, Tomix, etc models max out at about 7 or 8 floors and no more. 

 

My layout isn`t actually big enough to accomodate these yet so they are just sort of sitting at random places in these photos and not in their final positions.  I will be getting a new baseboard that is a bit bigger soon and transferring the whole layout onto it (I have about half an hour of free time a day after my little one goes to bed so will be using that to work on the layout this year).

 

[railsquid]

Its been about a year since I updated this, having a baby will slow the pace of your hobbies to a crawl!

 

Didn't stop me starting my layout, though without baby I'd probably have finished the whole thing by now ;). How's the little one doing?

 

I haven`t actually changed much since a year ago, but the other day I picked up via Yahoo Auctions some interesting things.  I bought five custom made architectural models of large scale condominiums.  They are of buildings between 10 and 17 stories high and exactly in N scale so they are perfect for layouts.  They are made of cardboard and plastic, the quality and detail are quite good.  I had been wanting to get some taller buildings for the layout to add a bit more vertical interest, but all the KATO, Tomix, etc models max out at about 7 or 8 floors and no more.

 

Interesting, I've noticed these popping up for quite reasonable prices, was vaguely wondering what they might be like. Too big for my tastes though. I trust you'll be spamming the mailboxes of other buildings on your layout with leaflets advertising the apartments in these for sale? ;)

[valkyriepm]

Wow! They really stand out! Very nice addition!

 

Martin

[Sean]

Didn't stop me starting my layout, though without baby I'd probably have finished the whole thing by now ;). How's the little one doing?

 

 

 

Interesting, I've noticed these popping up for quite reasonable prices, was vaguely wondering what they might be like. Too big for my tastes though. I trust you'll be spamming the mailboxes of other buildings on your layout with leaflets advertising the apartments in these for sale? ;)

Wow, how do you find the time? my little one is great, he loves trains actually. I already have a massive pile of Plarail waiting for when he is old enough. How is yours?

 

And yeah, the prices on these are pretty reasonable given their size, etc. they are way better quality than those papercraft ones that are all over Yahoo Auctions.

 

I have an entire sales force that will not only be blanketing the town with chirashi, but also ringing on doorbells to constantly invite people to open houses, being especially certain to ring at exactly the moment those with young children have gotten them down for a nap. Wanted to make it like our neighborhood.

[cteno4]

Sean,

 

Wow those are very impressive buildings! Developer paid a lot for them I bet! Great you could pick them up at a reasonable price!

 

Yes want to see all those scale fliers stacked in door jams and the sales teams waking the sleeping kids from naps!

 

Do you think you could post some more up close pictures of the details and construction of these buildings? Always curious on how they do these as each architectural modeler has some interesting techniques and short cuts to learn from! Looks like they may have done some printing on acetate for some of the layers.

 

Layouts are never done! Nice to have something to keep piddling on! Nice work!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

[Sean]

Hi Jeff,

 

Thanks.  Yeah, the developer must have paid quite a bit for them, they look like they took somebody a fair bit of time to put together.  They cost me about $50 each.

 

And sure, I`ll try to get some close up photos and do a bit of a post on any techniques they might have used.  Actually part of the impetus for the purchase was just that, I was wondering how feasible it would be for me to put together some buildings like this myself!

[Blobby]

Thanks!

 

I use a bunch of 30cm by 60cm boards that I picked up at the 100 yen shop.  The total layout is a bit oddly shaped, but more or less it is about 75-90cm deep and almost 2 metres long.

 

Hi just come across your thread - really like what you've done in such a small space, I have much the same problem with space so I am very interested in what you've done. What are the dimensions of your 'main' board please ie the one in the middle with the station and office blocks on?

[tossedman]

Cool! Is it common for architectural models to be built in N scale?

 

Todd

[JR 500系]

Those buildings look great! I'm green with envy!

 

The layout looks really like a busy metropolitan! Well done!  Thanks for sharing!