And so it begins...

[railsquid]

And a teensy weensy bit more detail to the rest area behind the station - a picnic table under the pergola, a water fountain next to the toilet block, and a couple of visitors.

 

[JR 500系]

The first few humans after the construction workers!  :)

[railsquid]

A coordinated policy of resettlement incentives is gradually repopulating this once declining rural town.

 

This particular fellow is so fascinated by the on-going construction that he's been standing up on the lookout-point observing developments since Day 1.

 

[katoftw]

He must have tried legs?

[JR 500系]

Wow... Looks like a stalker... Haha ~

[railsquid]

Wow... Looks like a stalker... Haha ~

 

Yeah, he was later arrested for following the DE10 to its shed and surreptitiously photographing its underside.

Edited October 23, 2015 by railsquid

[JR 500系]

Yeah, he was later arrested for following the DE10 to its shed and surreptitiously photographing its underside.

 

Luckily it was just a DE10.... You wouldn't happen to be buying the Kobaru toilet set and its people set anytime soon I hope?  :P

[railsquid]

Despite living in Japan I'm not quite that far gone... Meanwhile another random shot with some locomotives somewhat untypical of the region, but I like how it gives a sense of depth despite there only being about 25 cm between the nose of the red locomotive and the backscene.

 

[railsquid]

In the meantime a general overview of progress so far

 

Work currently mainly ongoing in the rear segment, which perspective foreshortening reduces significantly but it's still less than half-done. The "main" layout will be on the right of that section, and ultimately the plan is to have a semi-hidden storage yard featuring a metro-style station approximately 120mm under the area shown here.

[railsquid]

Not much progress over the weekend, though thanks to some protoype observation I now have a plan for how to connect the driveways of the houses-on-a-steep-slope to the sloping road.

 

 

Japan Post tells me the streetlights I ordered have made it off the slow boat from China and are now in Kawasaki pending customes, so hopefully I'll be able to make progress with the roads.

Edited October 26, 2015 by railsquid

[railsquid]

Planning department was out taking some photos earlier.

 

[railsquid]

Sloping residential street under construction.

 

[JR 500系]

I liking how it looks! Very nice! Great Work!  :)

[cteno4]

Hey fun! Gunna break an axle coming out of those garages!

 

Jeff

[railsquid]

This is why the properties are not yet up for sale ;) No electricity either yet :D

[railsquid]

No particular progress, but messing about with the camera I tried taking a shot from the rear right-hand side of the shelf the layout is on to see what it looks like from an otherwise inaccessible angle. I was shooting "blind" so not the greatest of shots, but after removing the visible "real world" I do quite like the view. The area in the foreground is still work-in-progress.

 

[cteno4]

How about a couple of little video cameras in these odd spots to watch the layout from the interesting angles?

 

Jeff

 

Ps is that a protest going on there blocking the new road construction? Or just too close to Kirin time?

[railsquid]

How about a couple of little video cameras in these odd spots to watch the layout from the interesting angles?

 

 

The thought did cross my mind :) That corner will ultimately the rear corner of an L-shaped layout, so it would be nice to get another perspective.

 

 

Ps is that a protest going on there blocking the new road construction? Or just too close to Kirin time?

 

 

That's Arthur Dent in front of the bulldozer, I believe.

[cteno4]

Thought I saw a towel somewhere.

 

Jeff

[railsquid]

A little bit more work on the sloping residential street:

 

Placed in context:

 

Far from perfect but mainly satisfactory so will do for now; there's a lot of detail I'd like to add but don't have the time so will revisit at a later date... It's in the rear corner so any deficits don't stand out too much. I will add lighting to the houses, which will be a PITA to light-proof the insides, so will put them together better then.

[railsquid]

Experimenting with lighting starting with the low-hanging fruit

 

 

 

Initial finding: need to block off the left-hand window of the shed to prevent the dotted patterns on the retaining wall.

[railsquid]

Not much to report, mainly been fiddling with miscelleanous bits of scenery. One development - I found a better solution for the road lining, a role of 1mm white stuff like masking tape from TORM, which is very easy to work with, particularly when making curved lines.

 

(The lining on the sloped road is from a sheet of TGW transfers, tricky to apply and easy to tear, so will be replaced with this stuff).

 

This close-up shot reveals all the sectional breaks between scenery elements - which are there because most aren't fixed down yet, including the road surfaces, so I can work on them more easily - but viewed from a bit further back, the lining is one of those elements which fools the eye into thinking the scene is more realistic than it is.

[JR 500系]

That tape looks good! How does it work? I've been looking at making these road details too but pen drawing is not as accurate as the one you have now...

 

Speaking of which, the Kobaru rub-on road markings are set to be released anytime soon!  :)

[railsquid]

That tape looks good! How does it work? I've been looking at making these road details too but pen drawing is not as accurate as the one you have now...

 

It comes on a roll, like sticky tape, you just pull out a length and apply as desired. Way easier than I imagined. The curved sections are fairly straightforward (excuse the pun) too.

[katoftw]

Must get me some of that.