Taking a look back at my layout

While I have a TON of "real world" things to be thankful for this week, I also have some fun, train related items to be very thankful for. To finally have all my various N scale cities in one location is really an amazing thing for me. I was talking about it for ages and now it's a reality.

The start of the whole of it was a simple Kato Unitram set. I still remember when it came in and I got to set it up. I had two drawers in my bedroom and the set fit on top perfectly.

July 3, 2010 - the first time running the Unitram

I ended up going a bit crazy in the purchasing department. Have a bit of a "go for it" ok from my wife was great, but I started purchasing items without planning it out first and ended up running out of space rapidly.

I ended up splitting my set up, taking the Unitram stuff off to work and keeping my older style Soyokaze stuff at home on my dressers. This worked well - I got to have a trail presence at work which helped when the calls got boring. It was great being able to break up the work day by running trams around at work.

The Soyokaze set at home was fun as well.  We lived in San Francisco in a small, two bedroom apartment and space was tight. I used a hard packed white foam for the base and sculpted it by pressing it and compressing it down into roadway ramps and the like - all on a plywood base I could move upstairs and down to work on.

After the buildings were set in place, I was able to drill through the wood and use the Tomytec sand alone lighting pack to light the buildings. Worked like a charm. A few layers of paint and Woodland Scenics scenery materials and things were looking good.

I used the same plywood base trick for my harbor area. This allowed me to move it around easily if I wanted to be downstairs to hang with my wife while I worked.

The two sections went together and provided a rather seamless experience.

The train station area was done in the same way.

KATO UNITRAM WORK LAYOUT

This was the fun little Unitram layout I moved to work. A ton of fun that kept evolving with each passing day. I'd move stuff around from time to time as a break from work. 
 

Feb 9th, 2012 - Work layout

I'd bring buildings home, detail them and people the insides, then I'd bring he completed building back to work and place them on the layout.  It worked well, but there would be times where I'd have time to work on things suddenly, but I wouldn't have the building home to work on.

Shortly after all of this was coming together, I discovered MODEL RAIL RADIO - a fantastic, interactive model railroad podcast. The show runner - Tom Barbalet - was super friendly and made the experience of being on a live recorded podcast a breeze.

Here's the link to the first show I was on. (Around the 2 hour 49 min mark)
http://www.modelrailradio.com/archive.html#44

And now....this....

I've managed to have a lot of fun in this hobby. For that, I'm eternally thankful.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Tomytec Mini Train Operation Set

Ok...this is just cute. :)

For roughly $85 plus shipping (( http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10368166 )), you can have a little train to run your Japanese small scale figures around on! hehehehe  I think it's super cute and, yes, I have figures that I could use this with. ::grin:::

No, I won't be buying this, but I think it warrants a post for the cute factor. 

Though...I may pick up the train car itself as a little stand alone fun thing. :)
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10368167

The little figure is cute too.....hmmmm....

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10328332

Then I really should get the $250 light up train display for her as well....   :)
http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10377958

Yeah...none of that is going to happen. :)

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/

Evengelion Shinkansen

Two articles on the Japanese Evengelion based Shinkansen trains.




Article posted by RIOS TAM.   
http://tetsudo-shimbun.com/headline/entry-432.html

I have to snag one of these if they are making a commemorative version in N scale!  I love the design of it.

((Google Translated))

JR West July 23, "Shinkansen: Evangelion Project" than this autumn has announced it will start.

---

Shinkansen: Evangelion project

---

This Sanyo Shinkansen 40 anniversary from the whole line opened, "Evangelion" is memorial to those that start-up that it is the 20th anniversary from the TV broadcast start.

---

---

Driving during the period, the Sanyo Shinkansen, supervision and supervision of Anno Hideaki who is the of "Evangelion", the 500 Series Shinkansen "500 TYPE EVA" vehicle by going Yamashita is a mechanic designer and Mr. vehicle design.

---

500 Shinkansen "500 TYPE EVA"

---

In the car, and we enjoy content with the world of Evangelion theme during the ride. Also during the project period, and that it is also planned a variety of events such as the sale of commemorative travel products and memorabilia.

---

500 Shinkansen "500 TYPE EVA" side

---

Driving trains "Kodama 730 No." (Hakata 6: 36 → Shin-Osaka 11:14) and "Kodama 741" (Shin-Osaka 11: 32 → Hakata 16:07). Operation date will be announced separately. Travel period is scheduled from 2015 autumn to March 2017.

From: 

http://comicbook.com/2015/07/27/japanese-bullet-train-gets-neon-genesis-evangelion-makeover/

A Shinkansen high-speed train (aka Bullet Train) is getting a Neon Genesis Evangelion facelift.

Japanese train operator JR West is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the popular Japanese anime series as well as the 40th anniversary of completion of the Sanyo Shinkansen line by designing the exterior of the bullet train with features from the Evangelion Unit-01.

The interior will also receive an Evangelion makover and special memorabilia from the franchise will be available for passengers to purchase.

It'll run twice each day from Hakata to Shin-Osaka, starting in the fall and ending in March of 2017.

General layout update - no additional track right now

After doing a little audit of my layout, I've decided to hold off on additional track for the layout - neither on the main line or the subway section. I just have too many areas I'd rather focus my efforts on. Those little details that I've been so interested in taking on are finally coming to a point where I can start in on them. I have a LOT of those details planned, so I am choosing to focus on getting into some of them rather than building more track and dealing with everything that goes along with that process.

More work on the station area:

Getting my track work around the bridge working better and getting buildings more set into the scenes. 

Sorting out my backdrop drama.

I have many little areas that I have not even thought about. This back street area is something I rarely even think about. seeing it from the back really makes the need to address it apparent. :)

Shizuka needs a LOT of attention. Don't even get me started taking about lighting.

The Soyokaze Farm area is coming along, but there are other parts to the area that need to be addressed. Road markings are a must for the whole layout. 

The Village area of the layout is moving forward.

The Town is ALMOST to my liking. I need to take the streets in a bit still - make them smaller. 

I still dig this section. :)   I just need to get some people working in the bus station area.

So, in short, there is so much to do on my layout as it stands, there's no real need to do more track at the moment. Granted, a longer run for my Kato subway train would be nice, but the finances behind getting more track and the like just doesn't make sense at this point. I have options for the future, but I'll deal with that in the future. hehehehe

ONWARD!
<><>

More good times in December

Well, November and December have been pretty lovely times.
My in-laws got me a few cool trains and trams which I love. The Kato 1-421 Hiroshima-Hannover Tramis a cool piece. It has a nice, lean look I like.

This KATO train is something I've been looking into for a LONG time. Years, I think. But, it needs a wide radius, so I had to wait until I had a space to run it. So, it was the prime time for my subway idea.

 I had space under the two tables that make up my current layout, so I thought that a subway would be perfect. Larger radius curves and some additional running area - perfecto. Yes, I still hold knocking through my wall close to heart, but that will happen later. For now, a subway will be perfect. So, I grabbed some wood and started planning.

I'm not a woodworker, but I manage. I have square corners and I can get things working. So, I just started putting stuff together.










I started with the track plan, laying track to work with the wood I purchased. Again, flying by the seat of my pants. :)

My two year old assistant :)

I'm sure there are hundreds of better ways to make this happen. With the power of groove music and thinking about my late Father helping me, I managed to get this wonky idea to work! heheheh  My back is still sore from the lifting. Ask for help? BAH! :)

This KATO train runs like a dream. Now I need to implement the ideas I called out in my last post. I think things will work out.

 In other news....

I love my Modemo. I just wish it was running better. I need to look into recent advice about removing the traction rubber on the tires for better electrical pickup.

 There's going to be a heli-pad in the harbor area. I got some fun copters recently and want to use a helipad to show them off.

LOCATION: Alameda

There's a fun bridge here in the East Bay that I thought people might be interested in. It run along side a auto bridge and isn't in use anymore - least I don't think so. But it's fun. The auto bridge can lift up and out of the way and so can the train section. It's a fun piece and might be an interesting addition to a layout.

It's been nice making time to work on this stuff again. I missed it. It's a great departure from my work - getting away from computers for a while.

I want to do my backdrop and I was playing around with the "HOW" today. I think I'll use the existing brown paper as a base, then measure the space and match things up that way - using the brown paper as the template. It's already there - why not use it as the base for my background project.

I'll measure where things are - harbor, temple, villiage, roadways etc - then draw in what I want.

Next, I'll pull the paper and roll out the canvas I have. I'll sketch in the areas I need, then start paining. The whole thing will be around 15 feet or so. It should be an interesting project and one that will really add to the layout. I have been seeing some coo backdrops being done, so I can't wait to see what a proper, painting backdrop adds to my layout. I just hope I still have my painting chops! 

Lastly, I wish you all a happy holiday filled with things you love. I still count myself lucky to have a space like this to play in and a wife that gives me the space to play within it! :)

Merry Hollowdaze to you! :)