And so it begins...

[serotta1972]

Landscapers are working overtime!

 

Jeff

 

I can see that but where are the Highway Workers, are they on holiday. For the safety of drivers we are need of road stripes and a safety barrier on that sweeping curve.  I would hate for some teenager on a joy ride driving on to the roof of that house. :)

[railsquid]

Safety barrier has been removed as filming is currently taking place for a TV action series called "キケンン郡の公爵たち".

[railsquid]

A delivery attempt is being made.

 

delivery by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

On the other side of the concrete wall, some metres lower down, a train arrives.

 

local-station-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[JR 500系]

I wonder what's in the parcel?   :)

[railsquid]

Some 1:22500 model trains, I imagine ;)

[Kiha66]

Some 1:22500 model trains, I imagine ;)

Hey! That violates the second rule of model train layouts! 

(Courtesy of http://xkcd.com/878/)

[cteno4]

Edited August 24, 2016 by cteno4

[railsquid]

If I had a bit more space I'd add a theme park/zoo with some T gauge track and trains as a fairground ride.

 

Meanwhile the apartment building has arrived:

 

apartment-building-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

apartment-building-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

As with the other Tomix (not Tomytec Diocolle) buildings it will need some modifications and weathering to tone down the plastic look, but overall it looks the part and I'm sure given its proximity to multiple stations, both owner and real estate agents will earn handsomely from renting its four units.

[railsquid]

And another tiny bit of progress...

station-sidewall by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

station-sidewall-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

And this weekend we have proceded a bit further along the retaining wall...

 

local-station-2016-09-04 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

local-station-2016-09-04b by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Pauljag900]

Looks superb squid!

[serotta1972]

I see a lot of similarities between your layout and travel pictures. That's awesome and now I see where the inspiration comes from. Good good stuff!

[velotrain]

I can see that but where are the Highway Workers, are they on holiday. For the safety of drivers we are need of road stripes and a safety barrier on that sweeping curve.  I would hate for some teenager on a joy ride driving on to the roof of that house. :)

 

Not to mention the difficulty of driving out of that garage area onto the sloping street  .  .  .  .

[railsquid]

Not to mention the difficulty of driving out of that garage area onto the sloping street  .  .  .  .

 

There's a prototype for that:

 

[velotrain]

OK - I'll wait until it's been finished.

 

 

 

 

[railsquid]

Any other shortcomings you'd like to highlight? There's a long list... I see you didn't pick up on the "no entry" sign, which is designed to be placed on the left-hand side of the road, as the sign is offset to the left, to minimize intrusion into the road area - I'd really need to remount it offset to the right for its current position. Also reword the exception, which is invalid for this situation.

Edited September 5, 2016 by railsquid

[velotrain]

Sorry, but I was just piling on to Serotta's comment - guess I forgot to add the smiley.

 

You're clearly doing a ton of work at a very fast pace.

 

I just tend to be very visual and notice things that don't seem quite right - I'll try to suppress commenting on them.

[railsquid]

Grindingly low pace... All work-in-progress, as and when I have the time and mood, things like carport/road interfaces are lower priority and will happen probably when I get round to modifying the buildings themselves.

 

Meanwhile the onsen hotel has acquired a small ornamental garden:

Japanese-style garden (2) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Japanese-style garden (3) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Japanese-style garden (1) by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Usual WIP disclaimers apply, additionally I have no particular knowledge of Japanese ornamental gardens so it's perfectly possible it's totally unorthodox, but it's based off the example on the back of the Tomytec pack so I guess it's good enough ;). My first water feature too, seems to have come out OK.

[JR 500系]

Wonderful work... the place look o serene and the couple looks like they are having so much fun enjoying the scenery and each other's company...

 

Did you do something to the pond? It looks really like real water!

[railsquid]

It's some watering model gel stuff applied in 2 or 3 layers, with some brown and light green flock/scatter mixed in to murk it up a bit. Surface creatively stabbed with a toothpick once it had settled a bit.

[railsquid]

As I'm getting sick and tired of the preceding scenic section, ploughing on with a snow scene. Err, actually nope, but laying out the groundwork around the local station building, complete with tram terminus.

local-station-2016-09-17a by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Happily everything lines up height-wise. There will of course be a strip of pavement in front of the station building so passengers don't have to hop up onto a 30cm ledge to access the station. Which as previously mentioned I started modifying a while back but never finished, hence the current semi-derelict look.

[railsquid]

Historical test shoot for a JR "Welcome to Japan" brochure?

nex-scene by Rail Squid, on Flickr
 

A little bit more work on the tram stop:

local-station-tram-stop-overview-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr[/i]


local-station-tram-stop-overview-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr


local-station-tram-stop-overview-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

It occurred to me how I can use the big Diocolle arcade usefully:

arcade by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Main road construction site:

main-road-development by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Pauljag900]

Good work buddy,looks awesome

[railsquid]

Asphalt has been laid over the permafrost:

 

local-station-tram-stop-overview-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Another road slowly emerges from the chaos:

main-station-road-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr


main-station-road-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr


main-station-road-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[Pauljag900]

Hi squid,

Looking really nice mate.

Will you use the back and forth control for the tram or just control it manually?

Paul