July 13 - Hello, progress.

Getting lots done during lunches and early evening - before heading up to the house -  hobby time.  For us busy schedules folks, you have to fit your time in where you can. I've been making great use of the time I have these days. Mostly out of necessity! I need my hobby time to stay sane! hehehe

This little Sankei kit was fun. A little shop area that made a fine addition to my Soyokaze Village section. As I said in my latest iPhone Video Update, I'm not thrilled with the plastic under he scene, but it allows me to move it around if need be.

Tiny.

Picked up two more buses. I'm addicted to buses.

One of the new TOMYTEC buildings I purchased recently. Not as much hobby time involved in putting these together, but still fun.

Nice little shot.  :)

Freight running past the factory.

Another new Greenmax detail addition.

The new Soyokaze section in back - section 3 of 4.

And the new Soyokaze section 2 of 4. Even got my AstroTurf crops in there! :)

It blends well with the other sections and the main Soyokaze Village area. 
 

 Thanks for reading!

June NRAIL projects

Ha...here we are in July and I am finally getting around to publishing this post. Silly. :)

Just some shots of my projects that I had going at the end of June.


SANKEI KIT BUILDING

Sankei warehouse. Probably the best build I've done to date.

Another Sankei kit. NOT the best build, but a fun one. 

Older build on the right, the new one on the left.

What a WONKY build this was! hehehe  Nothing is working well.

SKIRTS FINALLY IN PLACE
I got the skirts in right before the Australia visitors arrived! Whew. Makes a world of difference.  Everything looks MUCH cleaner and more tidy...even when it's not very tidy. It's nice to have a place to hide boxes.

Tracks all clean and at the ready for visitors. The trains and trams performed well under pressure! :)

A big shout out to our grand visitors - my wife and I loved entertaining! She said, "I've been trying to stay out of your plans, but I can't help it. I love to entertain!"  hehehe  Thanks to Tom Barbalet of MODEL RAIL RADIO and his "Spiritual Advisor" for setting up the visit!

Happy travels to Ros and Jim!

Thanks for reading! 

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Kiwamura Residential: phase two photos

Some shots of my KIWAMURA RESIDENTIAL SECTION process.

Base painting - flat gray

Love the placement of the old bridge here in this area to bridge the two sections!

Plays nicely with the Shizuka vista

Thanks for looking! :)

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July 14th iPhone Overview Video

Another quick iPhone update video. Making some progress.

Soyokaze Building Base Build

I had a little situation with the back pink foam pieces I put in. Due to rushing and not being careful or mechanical with the way I was putting the pieces in, I had some level differences in the foam areas. This wasn't a major issue, but it does make the buildings look like they are on a rather major tilt. So, I used it to my advantage like I used the multiple levels in the Shizuka section - to add some interest.

The area looks like a hillside slope.

So, I thought that building a foundation for the buildings might make it look like they are just buildings built on a hillside. I started with simple styrene and measured the slope, then built out a ramp-like structure as the base.

I tested it out and it looked like it was going to work out rather well, so I went to work on the second one.

I sprayed the bases at the same time I sprayed the pink foam. 

After fitting them into the space, I decided to shift the direction a bit to make more room for the streets and parking.

I went through and did some weathering and detailing on the bases, adding color and weathering to the whole of it, then going in and painting individual blocks on the styrene.  Then, I worked on the accessibility ramp and stairs.

I roughed in the street and parking areas based on the marking I figured out before moving the pink foam section so that the roadways would match up with the roads on the other two sections. I also did another level of detailing on the base.

And then, some flourishes - flowers and other scenic elements.

And some natural light shots...

And in place...

I'm pretty happy with the results so far. It needs another round of scenic elements and detailing, but it's off to a good start. I plan to lay down another layer of scenic elements trackside between the module and rails to blend it in. Then, of course I'll have the street section to drop in as well to connect the streets together. It's a fun little process.

I think the next module I'll work on will be the village section to the left of this section.   However, I need to build out the other houses I should be getting in this week before moving forward on that.