Kochi: To Become the Design Center of Japan

[Richard W]

When I decided to f-i-n-a-l-l-y use my long ago purchased Kato Unitrack 23-125 Viaduct Station Kit, I had no idea that it would blossom into a major project.  The layout started simple enough: build it on an existing 30" x 65" table with existing engines, rolling stock, and buildings. 

 

For reasons long forgotten, I became enamored with the Unitram product, probably because the Viaduct Station was regularly featured with it.  At that point I realized that the existing buildings in my collection wouldn't work so I started to purchase the Kato Dio-Town series along with the Unitram system of plates and tracks.

 

I've posted the layout pics in an album named Train Layout November 2013.

 

I quickly realized several things.  First, the reason I hadn't used the Viaduct Station before was the requirement for a very long approach and exit to the station (46 inches) which I couldn't accommodate with the existing table.  Then there was the matter of the track.  I decided I wanted to use the Kato superelevated double track for a cleaner looker.  And finally, if I was going Japanese, then the locos and rolling stock needed to be Japanese.  Ultimately I decided to stick with passenger trains since I was modeling the downtown area of an urban city.  (I now refer to my city as Kochi as it was the prototype for Kato's Unitram set.)

 

I actually went through multiple layouts and layout sizes.  I finally settled on 42" x 84" (about the largest size that would fit in the apartment space available.)  That included two trips to the big box for hardboard - not a good choice versus plywood, but it was cheap - which was placed on top of the existing table.  And several rearrangements of the plates and track.  Ultimately more buildings were needed as well. 

 

I will attempt to move the layout into the dining area for adequate lighting and get some pictures taken by the end of August; otherwise, it could be awhile since I will have other commitments until December.  I've attached some recent pics; however the lighting is not adequate resulting in somewhat fuzzy pictures.  The custom buildings are not shown off well either (although rather colorful when the internal lights are on.)  I should also mention that it is Fashion Week in (my) Kochi which would explain all the ads on the buildings (they are actual ads found around the shopping district in Tokyo during Tokyo's recent Fashion Week.)

Edited August 31, 2014 by Richard W

[katoftw]

Did you say the lighted building are custom built?  If so, could you do a little write up sometime about them?  I would love to make the multi coloured one.  They are awesome if custom built.

[Richard W]

Did you say the lighted building are custom built?  If so, could you do a little write up sometime about them?  I would love to make the multi coloured one.  They are awesome if custom built.

Yes, they are custom built using metallic eggcrate styrene lighting panels (diffusers) from Home Depot. 

 

The taller structure (Design Center) has an internal floor structure made of painted balsa wood sheets and wood dowels with the ground floor taken from a Tomix large office building.  The exterior is textured acrylic sheets (Innsbruck FFX) cut to size from TAP Plastics.  The lighting is Hitlights SMD 5050 Color Changing 150 LED Light Strip with wireless remote (Amazon.com).  The flooring was a "labor of love" which I decided I never wanted to do again - that there had to be an easier way.  Although the LED strip is color changing, I actually have it set to one static color (which appears multicolor externally given the nature of the LED strips and their close proximity to each other.)

 

The shorter structure (telephone switch building) has an internal floor structure made of black ABS sheets.  There is no "entrance" visible since the building contains digital switches and servers with no human beings (except to do infrequent maintenance).  The exterior is clear polycarbonate sheets covered with frosted/pearl window film.  The window film was used to give a different look to the building and to save money over custom cut acrylic sheets.  The lighting is a generic SMD 3528 Color Changing 300 LED light strip with wireless remote (Ebay).  The wireless remote hardware is located in the building alongside the custom built structure.  For some reason the LEDs could be seen on the sides of the structure so I placed the black ABS inserts which resulted in a better and unique look vs. the other structure.  The LED strip is set to cycle through all of its color changing programming.

 

At some point I will photograph the internal structure and post for both buildings especially since I will probably be moving next fall and will have to break down the layout for packing.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Richard

[cteno4]

Richard,

 

Great work! Love the effect. The use of led lighting on buildings like this is all over the place these days. Brilliant use of those rgb led strips and controllers!

 

Kudos!

 

Jeff