Mangarahara: my japanese layout (to be) ...

[FastFranz]

Why Mangarahara? Well … it sounds, at least in Italian, like Japanese!!!

 

Then “Mangarahara” is an highly endangered cichlid (a fish) living in Madagascar whose latin name – for those interested in the matter – is Ptychochromis insolitus (see second pic). Mangarahara is the river where they, in wild, live in. Aquaria, and generally fish keeping, are on of greatest interest ever. I study (fresh water) fishes and their aquarium keeping from, likely forty years now.

 

Then, as final foreword, an help you to figure out where I live, now, and where I’m going to built my first (rather large) N gauge Layout: Abidjan is the capital of Ivory Coast: it’s a 7.5 million inhabitants city leaving behind himself, from two years, a devastating war hat involved the whole country. This city is blessed by an awful climate: humid and hot (see first pic, temperature read personally!) and it’s moreover ugly, dirty and highly polluted.

 

Most of things considered “normal” in Europe (but not only in the old world) here doesn’t even exists, i.e. a toy shop as usually intended: you’ll only, and hardly, find some Chinese ugly, cheapo stuff … like I or leave it. Many items arrivin from outside the country pay a a 42% custom fee … Yes life in Abidjan IS expensive!

 

Enough is enough, stated, eventually, that this situation will affect also on the construction of my layout les proceed to it …

 

TO BEGNIN WITH: we had had the need (end of August 2013) to organize our departure to Africa in two months (end of October) with a forecasted stay here ranging from three to four/five years: it’s been quite a rush and everything has been done in a hurry!

 

 

Francesco

 

 

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

Model Trains now: I collected stuff I had and things I was able to buy (even if sometimes I’ve paid them too much): e-Bay, shops, used articles on forum.

 

Then, from this odd starting point and again considering where I am, I decided to keep things as simple as possible (may be, in the end, I’ve been even too conservative): the backbone of my layout is a Kato V11 set slightly enlarged with two more straight rails (see drawing).

 

Eventually I decided to add, in the middle, a “Y” shaped tramline (it’s running on Fleischmann rails and is marked in red in the drawing), just before leaving Rome I put an handful of Fleishmann tracks - and ONE switch!!! - in the luggages: you never know ... ;).

 

And here comes the first difficulty: the drawn "?" means - I decided to add the tram line once arrived here - I miss the "power unit" to run them, at least for now. The two main lines (yellow path), on their own, are fed bt two Marklin (Z gauge - output 8V) transformer: power supply is good and smooth but, perhaps, a bit to week and trains won't run at full speed.

 

My idea was, in the beginning, to have my Shinkansen running around (even if in a rather NOT prototypical environment: ground level rails) but, with passing time, things have greatly changed and the going is now rather different!

 

More to come ASAP.

 

Francesco

[Martijn Meerts]

50.2 degrees? Ouch ;)

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

I told You the going, here, is tough!!! Today has been - a bit - better: 44.2° C. ;)

 

Francesco

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

This is the "playground". It bulky and heavy - I know - but sooner or later (to get back in Rome) it will have to stand - beyond the rest - something like 5.000 marine miles, at least, on a cargo ship.

 

Size (actual available space for layout) is cm 270x 90: it's a  sort of huge box (height is 25 cm) that when in need will be closed with a cover shaped like a sort of "reverse L"; and may God bless everything in it!!!

 

Francesco

[FastFranz]

^Ciao,

 

^{Step by step ahead I go! The main station (the tall white building on the back will be used elsewhere) has been built from scratch in Rome and arrived in excellent shape, thanks to the great job our international forwarder did, untill here.}

 

^{Below the white pedestrian railbridge is (well, more or less ...) in sight a billboard advertising the "Suzuka Eight Hours" which is, probably, the most important motorcycle race held in Japan: I ride motorcycle (also here!!!) form when I was fourteen y.o., so ...}

 

^{If You look at it a bit more careful (well not too much otherwise all my mistakes will be utterly clear) the first clue my layout won't be a "Shinkansen Racetrack" begins to be in sight ... ;)}

 

^Francesco

Edited February 12, 2015 by FastFranz

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

Back at work on the tunnel: It's almost finished - pic A, while a detail is available in pic B -  but I have to mention another, further, problem I encountered! I only managed to get "acrylic paint" in spray cans (peintures acryliques, since this is a french speaking country) that once sprayed melted a remarkable part of the styrofoam I put in place ... THAT'S GREAT!!!

 

All the same learnt the lesson I managed to to finish it and part of the melted styrofoam (pic C) turned in a sort of waterfall. I realized the flowing water painting the area in pale blue/white, putting on it a thin layer of silicone allowing it to "drip" a bit and, eventually, smoothing the " water surface" rubbing it with alcohol.

 

The long, white, ugly - supposed to be - retaining wall will be modified later on  ...

 

Kato Unitrack (from the V11 kit) have been layed and are clearly in sight ... SO FAR SO GOOD! ;)

 

Francesco

[Mudkip Orange]

Comic sans, bro? Seriously?

[HantuBlauLOL]

That station looks cool..

[FastFranz]

Ciao

 

Since rails were in place I tryied to age them a bit :having seen the way local paint worked on the tunnel I voided them but - al the same - had to do something since Kato rails "as is" are, to me at least, too shiny. Once again I dediced to go the simplest, possible, way: having at hand ONE little can of Tamiya acrilic paint (matt black) I diluted a bit ot that paint into water then passed this extremely loose paint, with a brush, all along my rails.

 

Once dry they were - at least - not glittering as when they were brand new: not a top class coating but, I think, is acceptable! BTW: electical caption has remained at usual Kato - high - standard.

 

Further step - I like them a lot - has been (againg scratch built) realizing a small Shinto Shrine whose red paint will result ina nice patch of colour against the "luscious" green of the mountais.

 

I went like this: scratch built (as said), roughly downsized (computer), printed on a ink jet printer, cutted with a scissor, and eventually glued (paper dedicate glue), here we go (2nd image)!

 

Francesco

Edited February 13, 2015 by FastFranz

[cteno4]

Francesco,

 

Fantastic job on the torii! Really nice from paper craft. Did you start with that canon PDF? How big is it?

 

Track looks great. Good you are making that one asset go a long way! One warning when weathering track in place like this is the paint can seep into the unijoiners and eventually cause some contact issues. If you do later find any issues you can try pinching the metal connected some with a pair of small pliers in on the rail as well as pushing the connector back and forth a little along the rail with a small screwdriver tip to try to break up any little bit of paint in the joint and make better contact.

 

You can also use marker pens to help weather the track a bit and get the shine off (actually a set sold for jut this purpose).

 

Will look forward to seeing the torii in place!

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

Rails, as said, are in place and track has been tested: SO FAR SO GOOD!

 

Time to go on:

 

101: along the rear wall a rather long bridge will have place but no trains here ... this will be the "tarmac bridge" of an highly crammed road: pillar(s) are in styrofoam. grey portals (too long will be partially hidden) are in cardboard and same is for the road - to be! - footprint.

 

102: a rough idea of how Mangarahara's surroundings will be begins to appear: in background is the tunnel then - counterclockwise - the waterfall, only partially in sight, and the road bridge. The two gangways are too in place.

 

Francesco

 

 

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

The Shinto Shrine has gone in place (I DO agree that the two sakura are debatable, more trees will grow soon) and the first industrial plant arose (the tram line, running on Fleishmann rails, and its depart station are in sight in the background).

 

In the end the story goes on ... ;)

 

Francesco

[cteno4]

Francesco,

 

Great work! Looking very nice!

 

Jeff

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

I like sharing my progress with forum's members, then ... HERE WE GO!!!

 

22: The second industrial plant is on the go (Kato main building, two Tomix small warehouse, the white "stain" will be a park area),

23: The "technical area" of the, yet seen, main industrial plant (Greenmax) is - now - fully operative.

24: Mangarahara City (well ... at least its roots): building Kato, Tomis and more. The taller one is a, full,  "paper builing" downloaded somewhere on the net while the one close to it (with the blue edges) has been scratch built (from leftovers).

 

The two industrial plant - located on opposite edges of the layout - will be connected by the tram line (on its way ...)

 

More to come

Francesco

Edited February 16, 2015 by FastFranz

[cteno4]

Francesco,

 

Which paper craft model did you use to do the torii? The canon one? Really came out nice!

 

Jeff

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

I found it somewhere on the net, see: http://tektonten.blogspot.com/2010/04/japanese-torii-papercraft.html

 

If I did something wrong feel free to remove the link; OK?

 

Francesco

Edited February 17, 2015 by FastFranz

[katoftw]

I'm quite surprized the Tomytec dont do Torii Gates. They do everything else. You can only get them in large temple/shrine sets, but not sperately or in various sizes.

[cteno4]

Francesco,

 

Thanks, I've seen that site but missed the torii! Fine to post links here to stuff like this! Amazing how well it came out shrunk down

 

Kato,

 

Yeah it has been surprising that tomytec or greenmax has not done them in a set of various sizes, given how ubiquitous they are! Some small Japanese company did make a set, but was not available thru export sources. Pro hobby made a cast metal one.

 

To make a few is actually easy with some balsa wood and small doweling (ie wooden swab or toothpicks or small nails and keep the pointy ends on to pole into scenery base). I made one to replace on my tomytec shrine when I removed it for another small shrine setup on the nyc layout and then was misplaced! Came out looking like the original once painted! Of course I found the missing torii shortly after this!

 

But the rub is if you want to do one of the torii paths and have dozens of them! Not horrible, just tedious. Easily could make a jig to build them easier. Wouldn't be too costly I guess to 3d print a batch of smaller ones.

 

http://gotokyo.org/en/agent/citypromotion/rep/images/sf_2014_03.jpg

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

The city of Mangarahara now has paved road and the tram line is ready (will run the Tomytec Portam and, alternatively, the Kato "Hannover-Hiroshima) and the tram stop at plant number one is in sight (PA.jpg).

 

The electric supply is provided by the local electric substation (Tomix). The facility is reachable either by train (there's a dedicated rural train stop) or by car. The huge, ugly, yellow Caterpillar will be removed soon (PB.jpg)

 

A snapshot of Mangarahara shows (PC,jpg, along with first image) a lot of different building: paper building, scratch-built, Kato, Tomix, Greenmax (never again!) and Volmer (the one with the large "Vertical Water" billboard).

 

Francesco

Edited February 19, 2015 by FastFranz

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

I also gave a try to two small (downloaded - for free - somewhere on the net) paper builidng. The result puzzles me a bit (your opinion?) hence I will, probably, use the in the background.

 

Francesco

Edited February 22, 2015 by FastFranz

[kvp]

You can get much better results if you print two copies, glue one set to thicker (0.5-1mm) cardboard, cut out the windows then add the windows from the other set behind the cardboard. It gives a more 3D look. It's also possible to add a layer of clear packaging plastic between the two layers. The result is a stronger and somewhat less flat building.

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

Good to know, THX!!! ;)

 

I'd only add I printed on HP photo-paper considering it strong enough (it looks like I was wrong). All the same I think both - in the background - should do their job.

 

Francesco

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

More details of steadily growing Mangarahara:

 

BUM_1: The downtown of Magarahara (pictured al a level closer to the one of the "average n-gauge men"),

BUM_2: The electric plant is at work, electric supply has to be distributed.

BUM_3:  Main buliding of the second industrial site around Mangarahara.

BUM_4: Looking from a long distance.

BUM_5: Park area for trick trailer (cardboard trailers, including the one pulled across the bridge).

BUM_6: Slowly going to the suburb and the country (the house on the right, close to the tree is a "paper house",

BUM_7: Slowly going to the suburb and the country (the small shop, behind the small Yellow truck is,a lso, a "paper house".

 

Inhabitants, of Mangarahara, will appear soon ... ;)

 

Francesco

Edited February 22, 2015 by FastFranz

[FastFranz]

Ciao,

 

I'm, almost, done. Something's gonna change or gonna be added but - more or less - this wil be ... ... ... "the soup" ... LLLOOOLLL!!!

 

Some pics show all details added so far some other not (where taken with works in progress), more will follow ...

 

PAP_1: industrial plant number two, all pictured trailers are "paper models. The "free-lance" line loco shed is also a "paper model",

PAP_2: Gas Station by Petromina: it's,a ctually, one of the biggest gas industries ... IN INDONESIA!!!

PAP_3: Main station under construction (the building is Vollmer, all the rest is scratch-built).Still uncomplete and perhaps NOT that prototypical but, all the same, I like it!

PAP_4: at the cross-road there's been a car failure: repairs are on the go ...

PAP_5: at the mechanic works is going on ...

PAP_6: more datailed pics of trailer's park area. The truck at right is Tomytec

PAP_7: traffic along Mangarahara main road

PAP_8: the fat shopkeeper wait for her clients

PAP_9: trains, AT LAST!!! From left to right: Portram (violet) in the background running along the free-lance line, a two units EMU (is leaving the main station while - unexpected - Doctor Yellow pops out. It's rather "unreal" to meet a Shinkansen out of their dedicated high speed line but this is a "transfer" from a Shinkansen facility to another; so ...

 

 

IN REAL this is my only layout (at least so far) hence if I want to see my "bullet trains" running ... LIKE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!

 

 

Feel free, of course, to dislike my effort! ;-)

 

Francesco