And so it begins...

[Kiha66]

Wow, that shrubbery and overpass really make the scene come alive!  I really like the fence under the pedestrian overpass.  It reminds me of my time in Yokohama trying to get Higashi-Kanagawa station, except there they had fenced off the entrance too.

[railsquid]

Yeah I think squid is one of the most hardworking dude working on their layout, along with Eurostar and Paul ~ Looking great now!

 

A little bit at a time... On today's list of random do-what-I-feel-like-tasks is cutting out the surface of the other main road, which is tedious as it has a lot of tram track crossing it and/or curving through it. Anyway despite not being painted it now looks much more street-like, though buildings and pavements still require height adjustments.

 

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

 

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

 

While we're at it a quick peek down the side of the elevated track.

elevated-tracks by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

Messing about back around the local station area...

 

Local station surroundings gain a bit more shape:

local-station-tram-apartment by Rail Squid, on Flickr

A cluster of hot-spring-related structures fits in here quite nicely methinks:

[url=https://flic.kr/p/NaFGS2]onsen-area-1[/url] by Rail Squid, on Flickr


onsen-area-2 by Rail Squid, on Flickr


onsen-area-3 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[valkyriepm]

Wow! Love the views you got there!

[serotta1972]

How do you take your pictures Squid? It's like you're in the scene - do you shrink yourself down to 1:160 to take those nice pictures in your layout.  Just wondering because most of my pictures are like those taken from a drone but yours are almost like a first person perspective on the ground.  If they are trade secrets and can't be disclosed, it's all good.  :)

[railsquid]

How do you take your pictures Squid? It's like you're in the scene - do you shrink yourself down to 1:160 to take those nice pictures in your layout.  Just wondering because most of my pictures are like those taken from a drone but yours are almost like a first person perspective on the ground.  If they are trade secrets and can't be disclosed, it's all good.  :)

 

A decent compact camera (Panasonic DMC-TZ30) placed on the layout (may need to move some buildings out of the way), in manual mode (need to fiddle with aperture/exposure settings for best focus) and one of the macro zoom modes. Automatic mode doesn't usually work well close-up. Sometimes editing needed to e.g. crop out non-railway parts of the scenery (walls, shelf supports etc.).

 

I was also able to get some reasonable shots with my mobile (Nexus 5) recently as the camera was broken, but only in good lighting conditions.

 

Anyway it's an aspect of the hobby I never considered before, but it's very satisfying seeing what things look like "from the ground".

[Drunkenclam]

Love it. Are the brick walls breaking up the slope a greenmax part?

[serotta1972]

Thanks Squid, I was afraid it was done in manual mode. Good stuff, thanks for taking the time to take great photos and sharing.

[railsquid]

Love it. Are the brick walls breaking up the slope a greenmax part?

 

That they are.

 

Thanks Squid, I was afraid it was done in manual mode. Good stuff, thanks for taking the time to take great photos and sharing.

 

It's not rocket science, I managed to work it out as I was frustrated with close-ups in automatic mode.

 

The hardest part is often finding a way of keeping the camera steady at the desired angle.

[railsquid]

The glaziers have finally got to work on Ye Olde Wooden Tomix Station Building, and very painstaking it was too. Still needs a fair bit of touching up but looks better this morning than I thought last night.

local-station-windows by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[railsquid]

Hmm, long time no update... illness, work and small toddler have stolen the mojo, but I have hopefully solved various conundra on arranging the rather complex set of curves and inclines linking the various levels, hopefully I'll have some time soon to get the structural bits in place so I can get on with the fun part (testing trains ;) ).

[Pauljag900]

Nice to see you back squid,looking forward to your updates

[railsquid]

'k, so the critical junction between the main double-track loop and the line which will connect upper and lower levels is provisionally in place for testing...

junction-trackwork by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Probably not very prototypical but the best compromise I've found for the space available.

 

Happily the double slip, which I was somewhat sceptical about, is proving very reliable with all kinds of trains.

[railsquid]

Quick video "update", albeit in late 1970s British mode.

Work very much in progress, please ignore all the chaos.

[Pauljag900]

Looking good buddy.

There s always chaos when it's work in progress,you should see mine at the mo!

What size is your layout overall,if you do nt mind me asking?

Paul

[railsquid]

 

Looking good buddy.
There s always chaos when it's work in progress,you should see mine at the mo!
What size is your layout overall,if you do nt mind me asking?
Paul

 

 

The main part (shown in the video) is 300x90 cm, with a 210x30cm upper-level branch line on the shelving (the first bit I built) part overlapping.

Edited December 30, 2016 by railsquid

[Pauljag900]

Looks good buddy,very good,

Paul

[railsquid]

So, if you've ever wondered whether you can put this older blue Toyota Hiace van from Tomytec (bottom right) on a contemporary layout:


Crossing scene by Rail Squid, on Flickr

then the answer is "yes".

toyota-hiace-2016 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Spotted the other day in the general neighbourhood selling taiyaki.

[cteno4]

Love it! now you have to put the bits around the van to make it totally prototypical! 

 

jeff

[JR 500系]

Good job! thanks for sharing! So now we do know that those older Showa era vehicles are still being used today!  :)

[railsquid]

Well, a very select few I suspect, statistically about as frequent as seeing a 60's/70's American car, you know the kind about twice the size of the average Japanese apartment which use a gallon of fuel just to pull out onto the street. I say that because there is (or was) one parked a couple of streets away from where I took that shot... There's also a Renault 4 in the neighbourhood, and old-style British Minis are two-a-penny (yen).

[ToniBabelony]

On weekends you can definitely see more interesting cars around on the street in Japan. Especially on big through roads, you can see ultra rare cars running about to meetings or just to stretch their legs. The rarest one so far in the wild I've seen was a TRD Comfort GT-Z Supercharger, which is basically a standard Toyota Crown Comfort (the taxi vehicle by choice in East Asia), spiced up by TRD. Only 59 made and very inconspicuous looking. It takes cool to the next level.

[bill937ca]

Well, a very select few I suspect, statistically about as frequent as seeing a 60's/70's American car, you know the kind about twice the size of the average Japanese apartment which use a gallon of fuel just to pull out onto the street. I say that because there is (or was) one parked a couple of streets away from where I took that shot... There's also a Renault 4 in the neighbourhood, and old-style British Minis are two-a-penny (yen).

 

Sounds like Lisbon, Portugal with old Japanese vans and Renault 4's around the streets. These were widely scattered with the first van in Chiado, the second van in the Biaxa and the Renault 4 in Gracia.  All photographed on the same day in September 2012.

 

[ToniBabelony]

766 1024 x 768.jpg

Psst, that's a 1990s Hyundai New Grace, but actually a Mitsubishi Delica in disguise ;)

 

P.s. I feel like starting a thread about spotting rare road vehicles, but photographing private property without permission in Japan is kind of a thing...

Edited January 4, 2017 by Kabutoni

[railsquid]

And so it continues