I think I want to change the design of my layout. Not so much the ideas, just the actual layout design itself. I am thinking that my original design not only doesn't "do" much and that even with plexi sides having almost half of it underground is a boring way to do things, but it's a really awkward use of space. I've been thinking for a long time about doing a 3x3 center piece with two 3x8 wings on a U-shaped layout would be much more efficient and would really split up the scenes more. It's actually a much better use of trains and of floor space. I'm going to toy around with AnyRail for a couple of days and see if I can't come up with a better way to do this. Any recommendations?
So this has been an idea that's been begging me to consider for a while now, and I've almost convinced myself it would be a much more interesting way to go. Same ideas, different set up - more space, more turns, more happening. Passenger trains don't really change tracks or locos nearly as often, they just go point A to point B and back, but the more I do towards my original gameplan, the more boring it is becoming. City stays exactly the same, it will actually drop right in, but this would allow more side-by-side, more realistic of an urban environment. And, the industry would be that much further "out of town", which feels more likely. Still keeping the airport, would just give it more space, which feels more realistic to me, too. (In my HO Coaster plans, I wanted to do a military airbase - I had originally wanted to add a JSDF hangar and a couple of aircraft to my airport with this design but no room, this would allow me to revisit that idea) It also fits the room I want to put it in better, too, so there's that. I keep going back and forth in my mind, but I feel like this would be more entertaining to watch run. Inputs and "hey, dips**t, don't do that!"s welcomed
Pretty happy to have that part done, eesh. Not overly difficult, just tedious. Lots of cuts, then shaving a little more off, then a little too much off, then cut again, then glue not sticking, or glue sticking IMMEDIATELY and the other end isn't in place, you name it. Still, I dig it. Think once I can get it finish sanded and painted it will look pretty good. I'll run a row of lights underneath it when it finds its forever home, too. It's funny how small it is in relation to the trains though - a true 1:160 of the Kobe Ohashi bridge would be twice as big (6ft long!) and quite a bit taller, too. I was also about three rows in before I realized I did all the supports backwards from how they really are but I think even a MiniMe-not-entirely-exact version will be a fun landmark. Next day off I'll try to get all the railings painted and finish it up, but I'm a fan of how it's turned out. Fun project all in alll.
Not exactly what I was planning to do with my whole day, but here we are at 12:15PM and am still in my pj's. Took several coats of primer but the wood finally stopped drinking it. Getting spray into all the little places without it pooling and running proved a challenge, too. I only had flat red, so tried mixing it with some orange to brighten it up, but then it was too orange so added a little dark green to turn it back a little, then it looked weird, so tried to add.... this went on for a little while and I ended up pouring out about a 1/2 cup of what looked like terra cotta clay before going into a kiln and now I have to get dressed and go buy actual red model paint. Apparently this is going to be my day off lol
OK, so this is what I was going for, or at least a kindaversion of... and here's the finished model. I ain't mad The legs will sit down into the foam so it's not going to be that tall (elevated viaduct height plus landscape, etc, but point being it will be lower to the ground and water on the layout). Wanted to see what it was going to look like with the track and the two trains that will be running on it... Pretty happy with the finished product, was able to make it look enough like the real thing that I can pass it off lol On to the next project!
I agree, your model is close enough that anyone familiar with the bridge would recognize it. You certainly have captured the essence of it.
Thanks for all the kind words! Sometimes these projects turn out really well, sometimes they turn out kind of -meh-, and sometimes you don't get to see the photos at all I rarely finish anything the way I set out to in the beginning, too, so a lot of times it takes a hard right instead of that left turn at Albuquerque lol This will be a fun scene, even if one side of it is against a wall now. I made it so that I can run a couple strips of LED lights underneath, as well, so if I can get some soft and dimmable ones, it will look fantastic. I'm having a crew come in to sheet the basement either the end of this coming week or the week after, then once I can get the other side of the basement emptied (everything is crammed into the "storage" side right now haha), I can start getting the new room ready for trains. Nothing too major, just have to get some black/gas pipe and relocate a Dyna-Glo heater, run a couple new outlets over to that side, and cover the joists in an attempt to keep the spiderweb factory at bay, then I can start doing permanent layout stuff, finally! If I can get the actual benchwork and setting out all the track with power to all the trains accomplished within the next 6mos, I will be VERY happy. Just going to keep plugging along building up what I have and getting more "stuff" as I go until then.
after changing my original layout design, no longer had a way to connect the trains to the airport since previous plan was to have the station UNDER the airport. Since the loop with the Shinkansen and the E259 are both on elevated viaduct with new design, it gave me an opportunity to add a kit I've always really liked but had no room for before. The 23-125 station is a beast, thing is just shy of 4 feet (FEET!) long, but will look perfect tied into the airport terminal. Massive project, will be worth it. V15 kit fits it perfectly, just need to add some platforms and lights and it will be perfect. I got a couple of sets of figures taking pictures, too - one night this week I'll try to sit down and get them aboard my cars for Mt Takao. We're getting there, slowly but surely!
If one were to take the Chuo Line east out of Shinjuku for almost an hour, they would come to Takaosan, or Mount Takao. It is a popular tourist destination, with three main ways to get to the temple at the top - there are hiking trails, there is a chair-lift, and there's steepest-operating cable cars in all of Japan. There's two cars that travel on the same rail, with the exception of a very short area where the tracks split and there is a passing. Riders always take photos and wave at the opposite car as they pass, it's just a whole lot of happy. Some time ago, I decided that since this is a train layout that I wanted to include many unique aspects of Japan through that this would be a fun moment to include, and I should find a way to model the scene of the two cars passing and people waving and taking photos. I would like to go back and punch some time ago me in the gob. I would recommend trying to recreate this scene to anyone who: 1. Plans to commit a major theft and does not want fingerprints. Yes, you have to use tweezers, but the tiny figures will stick to everything except what you want them to. This includes every bit of skin you can imagine, and bits you've never imagined something sticking to at all. 2. Has not taken inventory of all the profanity they have accumulated over the years lately. I actually threw out a couple I had taken out of the rotation and forgotten I even knew. 3. Wants to see how many times they can think about quitting something without actually quitting something. ...but in the end, 4. Wants something really unique and fun to Easter egg somewhere on their layout (look for the big hill, btw. Once I build it, meaning). I need to make the decals for the different colored stripes and add pantos, but this part looks just about exactly like I wanted it to look, so mission accomplished
Have seen so many people bashing this one together to make a taller building, I decided to give it a try myself. Plus, the colors match my neighborhood really well already, so win-win. These pictures crack me up, the lighting makes it look crooked and sloped and dorked up, but it is straight. The crazy thing, though, is that I used 3 identical model kits to make it only twice as tall, and one section I had to seriously modify to get it to work - cutting tabs, sanding, gluing... awful lot of work for just two more floors. I'm plenty happy with it as-is, but I have to wonder how much $$$ people blow on the ones I've seen that are 25-30 stories or more. You really only gain the center section per extra kit and every 3 kits gets you the extra window panel for another two floors, but only if you do a LOT of modification to the tabs and are really patient with what you're doing. At usually about $25-30 or more per kit, that's just crazy imo (I bought these a while ago in a Japan order, think they were $14/ea and part of a big order, but would bet that if purchased alone with shipping it would come out to about what US prices are, if not more). This came out to just about the right height for what I needed, though, so am pretty happy with it.
Very nicely done! I was thinking of your thread the other day as ebay made the following suggestion to me: A bit taller and a price to exceed even that lol. Pretty cool though. Reminds me of the twin units in Pearl City HI.
