Video - Bits and Bobs

Just some progress shots and a video.

I put another Greenmax kit together - still love them. This particular kit comes with two buildings and parts so you can make variants. Between the variant parts and different paint schemes, I think they look different enough to play well on my layout.

I still don't have an airbrush, but I like the grain the brushes put into the paint.

I still need to put people in these. Make them look alive with life inside.

I'm pretty happy with the results.

And, in place....

As a horror fan, I needed to have another horror scene on the layout. :)

I'm going to cut the plexi base back on the scene below to make it look a bit more organic. Curve the edges. Ditch the straight edges. I think it will help take away the distracting plastic there.

Thanks for watching!

Wide Tunnel

So, now I have another thing to name - the wide tunnel. I also need to name the city that is in the extension.

So, here is the deal. The tunnel I purchased didn't fit with the space between tracks that I had going. It's a tricky spot and it was easier to make a larger tunnel than to fix the track spacing. So...what to do? Make a larger tunnel!

IT was a somewhat simple process - chop one side of, then pop the two tunnel parts together.

I blocked the seam with some additional pieces.

Then, I filled in the sides a bit to give a little more thickness to build around. I wanted to use more plaster gauze for the hillsides around the tunnel entrance.

Waste not, want not. I used the pieces I chopped for additional side elements. :)

Sprayed it all up to blend the additions and presto.

In place somewhere around here....

I built the hill over the tunnel portion with cardboard for structure, but ended up taking it back out so I could work on the track leading up to it first. I also need to address the wire feeds at the top of the tunnel - make them look a bit more prototypical if I can. There are four of them, but only two tracks. :)

I'll go back to this after getting the track 100%.



IN OTHER NEWS: 

I've started the little roadwork scene in Shizuka. It's a work in progress, but it should be interesting. Some debris and cables and rock will be added later.

I'm also still making an effort to get James Gore a few paragraphs on Japanese paper structures to be included in his book on card stock modeling, but I've been stopped a few times with parent duties and my Mother's trip to the ER recently. (She's fine - a diverticulitis flare up. Horrid stuff!)   I'm aiming to get something composed sometime this week.

GO GO GO, Modelers! :)

Hobby Day

I got a little hobby time in this past Labor Day weekend and it was a lot of fun. While I could have EASILY worked on hobby projects the whole time, I mixed in a little cleaning and the like to make sure the house was in order. :::grin:: My wife took the kids up to see her sister in Sacramento and I got to work on my ever growing list of hobby items I want to tackle.

The first thing I did was play around with the track arrangement yet again. What I had was fine for the spur off to the right, but it wasn't 100% what I was looking for.

This is how things started out:

Then, after tearing things apart a few times and making various passes at the arrangement, I came up with something that was almost the same with a few tweaks.

Essentially, I just made a little more room for the factory area and gave it a dedicated line that ran out to it. There will be some other type of mico-industry on the other side - TBD. Things will be tight, but that's what will sell this, I believe. After looking over some Japanese factory shots, I think a tight area would be leaning more towards what the protype looks like.


After a while, I moved away from track work and started in on adding some more people to Soyokaze and Shizuka. I did a mix of "floating scene people" mounted on plastic and "locked down people" that were glued directly in place in their scene location. The floating people allow me to move folks around if I'm trying to shoot a particular area and want more people there.

I like this worker in the truck. :)

Harbor workers talking about fish prices.

I wanted to get a little Sika deer look going in the Soyokaze Temple area like the deer in Nara Park.

image from - http://www.infoshareddaily.com/oh-deer-this-japanese-town-is-overrun-by-a-bunch-of-bambis/

I need to get a few more packs of deer and have them wandering around Soyokaze Village as well!

I've been doing more bike riding as well, so I needed to start adding my riders in, too.

I have another round of Shizuka building planning to do. I have three additional buildings coming and they'll need room.  I took a pass at a little rearrange while I'm waiting - I like the results.

The buildings I purchased from "mdaveb" on eBay worked well with my existing items. I was really happy with the purchase and his service. He did a great job kitbashing the buildings. He even included photos of the buildings they were based on. Very cool of him.

The building on the right was one of the purchases from mdaveb

I made a few purchases for the extension. I can't wait until they come in! I've tweaked the track a bit there so I might make that NEX train purchase in the near future! Whoo hoo!

My other purchases - all but $10 paid for by selling some old toys! I tell you, that's some great motivation to continue to go through my old junk for more eBay selling! I even managed to get a few more people packs so I can avoid doing all the painting I need to do on my basic, cheap figures in order to make them look right. hehehe

Kato 7012-1 DD13 Early Production (Model Train) N Scale|1/150 Diesel Locomotive

So now....more playing around with the factory area, naming the extension, and working on another NRAIL video update! Stay tuned!

More and more

I got to work on my factory additions a few weeks back. (I'm behind in my posts for sure)

The Greenmax kits are super clean and go together well. There are various options you can apply (open doors / closed doors) and they are great if you're into kitbashing or modifications. I've been comparing plastic kits with the paper ones and, while paper kits offer many interesting, detailed designs with a good price point, I still think I prefer plastic kits. They can take a little more pressure without compression. :::grin:::

I tried to dirty things up a bit without going too grungy.


The Greenmax kit plays nicely with the TOMYTEC Factory parts.

Things are starting to look busy in Shizuka and Soyokaze.

I snagged another Tomytec car set and some additional buses. Bus transportation plays a big part in the world I created for Soyokaze and Shizuka. And...I like buses. :)