Monorail

16th International Model Train Convention monorail

Convention site - http://www.att-japan.net/en/event/guide?code=EE000059

 I'm trying to find out more information about this - I just stumbled across it on YouTube and it looks like a lot of fun! However, it seems like there may be some issues with it.

From the YouTube posting:

It is a monorail of the model that was taken in the " 16th International Model Train Convention " . 

Terrible is , I work at the point is properly electric .  

Also of the room model railroad blog iron N gauge of your own layout , railway facilities , state of the diorama exhibition such as

I'm trying to get more details now.

More Factory progress and additions

I've tossed in a few more additions here and there. I finally have some three wheelers on my layout! :)

The Tomytec offerings are fantastic in general. The car sets are a great deal. They have the classics in Japanese auto styles - a drag seeing as I have to order them all from Japan to get them. Worth it, however.

I've also added to my extension items. (Again, ordered from Japan) I finally got my tanker cars and tanker trucks along with that final piece of my factory - a Greenmax Factory that should play nicely with my current pieces. 

The Greenmax kits are grand and require a good amount of painting and detailing, but they go together really well. The molding is fab. I'm looking forward to completing it so I can get my factory space set in place.  

I got a few other items as well to go with the factory area as well. Tanker trucks, tanker cars and a fe other items for the scene. 

Things are looking pretty good - the kind of thing that I was aiming for, which is grand. Of course, this also means that I have a lot....a lot of work to do. :)  It's going to be fun. I'm looking forward to it. The tunnel entrance is going to be a bit of a challenge. The size was a bit smaller than I expected. I need to adjust a bit, but it will work out.

I love the way the tanker trucks look in the factory setting.

The Tankers are looking good in the factory area as well.

 And...of course...there are strange goings on at the factory as well. It seem the army makes regular appearances there and spend a lot of time taking soil and water samples. Hmmmm.....

Memory Lane - HO and N scale factory

I made a trip over to my parents house and snagged a few boxes of HO scale model rail stuff she had under the house. My Father built me a layout when I was 10, it was up for a while then it got taken down when we moved.

I have no idea what the "value" of all this is if anything, but they mean so much to me. I see this stuff and think, "Wow...my Dad built a lot of this stuff. Bought a lot of it. Set it all up." I loved going through the boxes and remembering.

Sadly, some of the engines need a lot of work. They've been sitting in boxes for over 30 years! The trucks fell off when I lifted them out of the boxes. I might take them into a shop for repairs. 

And...a lot of track. :)

The original plan was to build a shelf layout - maybe a switcher. However, I'm finding that I'm starting to fill in my office / layout room space. I'm not sure where it will go. So, I'm sitting with it all a while and we'll see what will happen in the future. I'm going to focus on cleaning things up and selling more of my random toy crap to make more room.

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More shots from Soyokaze and Shizuka

SOYOKAZE RIVER VILLAGE
 

SHIZUKA
 

SOYOKAZE HARBOR

SOYOKAZE TOWNSHIP

SOYOKAZE VILLAGE

SOYOKAZE TEMPLE

Kaiju Addicts - N scale buildings and monsters

Ok...this is a fun-tastic use of N scale buildings! :)   Love it.

I've taken a few photos of GUNDAMs on my layout - the 1/144 scale toys going well with my scenes and structures, but seeing some of these greats stomping through city scenes makes me happy. heh

Visit their site!
http://www.kaijuaddicts.com/building-city-environments-x-plus-vinyls-n-scale-buildings/

Plotting and Planning - August 2015

More plotting and planning in Soyokaze, Shizuka and the yet to be named Factory City.


FACTORY
I'm still looking at exactly where the factory will live. I have a few ideas on the subject and I've been sitting with them to see if something gels.



The first image shows the factory on the right. This is desirable because it can have it's own entrance area towards the front of the layout area. The access road for it could be completely out and on it's own in the scheme of things. Kinda works well. However, i have more factory bits coming and I was concerned that - while it would create a lot of visual interest - it may be "in the way" and blocking some of the other visual elements I have planned for this section. This is really only an issue for shots of the bridge towards the back and the hillside towards the right side of the photo which will have trees and other scenery that will be nice to take photos of. So...what about popping it all over on the left side of the tracks?

Well, this does work as well, but it's also going to block a bit of the road I have planned that will run along the waterfront area under the bridge. Hmmmmm...interesting issue. And, one that I have tabled until I get my other pieces in. Once I have all the major parts, I'll be able to plan a bit better. I think the ideal would be a new track arrangement with the factory area wedged off and out to the far left side of the layout space.

It might make more sense to toss the factory over here.

HA! I love what this guy did with the factory and some Photoshop! :)  Some great photos in their page!  http://www.kaijuaddicts.com/building-city-environments-x-plus-vinyls-n-scale-buildings/

LIGHTING
I totally forgot about my lighting. I got caught up in all the extension planning. heheh
I currently have these large boxes over the layout space. They are working well and giving me some nice light. However, I left two sockets open for orange and blue lights which I have yet to pick up.

Once I have these orange and blue lights, I'll be able to play around with more color sculpting of light to get different times of day represented. Each light has it's one switch, so I'll be able to add and subtract to get different looks to the scenes below. I may play with double bulbs as well, adding two blues to one box and two oranges to the other to see if it gives me a "setting sun" look.

NICE CITY. WHERE IS EVERYONE? :)

I'm still shuffling people and cars and trying to flesh out some of the city areas. The area below with bare track in the middle of the uniplate will be a workman scene - folks doing some work on the track and surrounding street space.  I'm going to start adding more cars and people soon, but I'm also looking into that blank figure purchase so I have more hobby time I can take on up in the main part of the house. Painting a hundred or more people at night seems like it might take a while. :)

I also need to keep trying to make my modern building (left side of photo) work. It needs a lot of help.

I also pre-ordered a few more buildings from HOBBY SEARCH. Because...they come out in December (...which means I don't have to pay for them until then) and I liked the looks. These may end up replacing my modern building effort if it doesn't work out. hehehe

While the dust settles from the extension, I'm going to do more little scenes on the layout. I also plan to address the height changes I want to have in the village area by adding some foam core and/or styrene in certain areas to get more height variation in the area.

Little scenes like this are what I really love. What are these folks chatting about?

An engineer without and engine. He stayed here and his engine went to the extension.

TROUBLE BREWING

The military is still patrolling Soyokaze. :::grin:::   I was giving some thought to the purchase of the RELIC monster, but I think I'm going to go for it and make my own creature, leaning more towards the HOST creature design. Before you ask - nope! I've never taken on this sort of project before! hehehe  It should be interesting. I'll build an armature, then will work with clay to get the creature going. Many....many drawings to come. 

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