TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 22, 2017 Author Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) More obsessive behaviour today ... or why this layout is taking so long ... I went to upgrade another tenement (#3) by replacing the original 4mm paving stones with some HO ones ..... only to discover that the pavemnet here was some 3mm narrower than the others. It was my fault because on #3 I had glued the pavement strip under the walls of the building whereas on # 1 & # 2 I had butted the pavement up to the sides of the building. So # 3 also sits 80 thou taller than # 1 & #2 ! So in order to make the pavements similar I decided to add a strip of 3mm wide plasticard to the front ..... DSC_0213.JPG Just realised that I didn't completely explain the 'obsessive' bit ...... The 3mm wide strips I had in stock were only 60 thou thick.... I needed 80 thou So I found a10 sheet of plasticard and stuck the 60 thou strips to it ..... waited until it was all dry ..... then cut out the 3mm strips which were now 70 thou thick .... then glued THEM to the 10 thou plasticard..... then waited ..... the cut the (now) 80 thou strips off the plasticard sheet ... Obsessive?????? Edited February 23, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 (edited) This next photo shows real progress ..... no really...... it does.............. Edited February 26, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted February 26, 2017 Author Share Posted February 26, 2017 This next photo shows real progress ..... no really...... it does.............. DSC_0216.JPG 'Where's the progress?' I hear you ask. 'We've seen all of this before!' I hear you complain. 'Well not so!' I retort! This photo shows the very first building (tenement # 1) glued pemanently to the baseboard - scenery has begun! Buildings #2 & #3 are complete and ready to be planted......... but if permanently fixed down they would make working on the roads and groundwork in front of building # 1 more difficult ...... so for the moment buildings # 2 and # 3 are removeable. 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 1, 2017 Author Share Posted March 1, 2017 Another day off and more progress ..... Tenement # 4 is now very nearly finished - just the pavement edging to do. This shows it sitting in position on scenic board # 2. One big difference in the last week is that all four tenements are now being lit from the layout 12v power circuit - all previous photos of illuminated interiors have been lash ups using batteries of an old controller I use for testing. One problem I have is that most HO figures look very Germanic or very American. So I have to make the best of it. Here are two very Germanic women serving at a beer festival...... One is now a bit more 21st century Chinese .... just need to make her a bit shorter! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
milkman matt Posted March 5, 2017 Share Posted March 5, 2017 One is now a bit more 21st century Chinese .... just need to make her a bit shorter! DSC_0225.JPG Just chop her ankles off! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 (edited) I have spent the last week agonising about the roads between buildings 1&2 and 2&3 and 3&4.... let's call them roads A, B & C My first mock-up had pavements on all roads .... this is road A between buildings 1&2 The result was that the main access road C was pushed over the baseboard join onto board #2 I have now removed the pavements from roads A & B and narrowed them, to make them more like alleys This now means that the main road C can now move back onto board #1 avoiding a nasty baseboard join across the road. BTW the grey thing behind the caboose is a mock-up of the station platform and there will be a pedestrian precinct between the platform and the shops behind. Edited March 6, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 11, 2017 Author Share Posted March 11, 2017 (edited) Answer # 12 to the question : 'Why is your layout two years behind schedule Paul?' Having been shocked by the current drawer of the 12v GOW bulbs used for lighting the buildings, I have started replacing the 60 odd bulbs so far used and replacing them with 12v LEDs.' I should have known better!!!! Edited March 12, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 13, 2017 Author Share Posted March 13, 2017 I am somewhat ashamed of the quality of of my wiring inside the buildings ........... for example, this is the modern supermaket and I've been adding more lights to brighten up some dark corners and it's a mess. So answer # 13 is spending time tidying up messes like this ..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 14, 2017 Author Share Posted March 14, 2017 In the shed at 6.30am this morning and now it looks like this ..................... 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 15, 2017 Author Share Posted March 15, 2017 Another day of (slow) progress.................. Am working on a new interior .............. a garage ................. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 17, 2017 Author Share Posted March 17, 2017 (edited) Have revisited one of the 'finished' buildings to add a few more lights (in the ground floor hallways) and was somewhat taken aback by the mess - had forgotten to go back and tidy this one! Even though no-one will probably ever see this mess it annoys me and, what's more, most of them are GOW bulbs (the all black wires) and some of them will need to be changed to LEDs (yellow & black wires) to reduce the current draw. So it looks like we all know what I'll be doing on Sunday! Edited March 17, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold trw1089 Posted March 18, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 18, 2017 You are definitely doing some great work and as someone who has been to China frequently in the last few years, you have definitely captured the look and feel perfectly. I'm certainly inspired to do something with my Bachmann SY and associated rollingstock now. Cheers Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 19, 2017 Author Share Posted March 19, 2017 (edited) Another day off and another day working on the layout. This is board # 1 Almost all wiring issues are now sorted What's really new is positioning the (nearly) finishe 1980's apartment block at the front of the layout. The idea is that these apartments will help hide the tracks entering the scene and yet the layout will be able to be seen between them Things didn't quite work out in practice exactly as it did in theory. And so, as you can see in this lat photo, I have had to move the l'h apartment block 20mm into the layout and reduce the gap between blocks from 180mm to 170mm. I will need to fill that gap tomorrow. Tomorrow I will start work on my latest 'gimmick'. Edited March 19, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 OK ... been working since 7am ................. here's an unfunished mock-up trial of may latest gimmick ... Can you guess what it's going to be? 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Can you guess what it's going to be? I'll try to upload a short video later, but basically................ There's a lot of Western gricers in town because in 2004 this is now the steamiest place in China, in fact the steamiest place on earth. There's no steam to be seen at the moment and so the gricers are in the local cafe taking a rest...... here is a typical street scene.... Suddenly someone shouts 'STEAM!' ............ and all the gricers are out and in position.............. Steam goes by and the gricers go back to the cafe............... 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dullsteamer Posted March 20, 2017 Share Posted March 20, 2017 Cool idea! Cheers, Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted March 20, 2017 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 20, 2017 I'll try to upload a short video later, but basically................ There's a lot of Western gricers in town because in 2004 this is now the steamiest place in China, in fact the steamiest place on earth. There's no steam to be seen at the moment and so the gricers are in the local cafe taking a rest...... here is a typical street scene.... DSC_0185.JPG Suddenly someone shouts 'STEAM!' ............ and all the gricers are out and in position.............. DSC_0186.JPG Steam goes by and the gricers go back to the cafe............... DSC_0185.JPG I remember seeing something like this on a layout that featured a funeral scene. Every time a train went by the corpse popped up for a look. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 20, 2017 Author Share Posted March 20, 2017 Cool idea! Cheers, Mark. My next idea is to have a busy station before the passenger train arrives and an empty one after it's gone. I am obsessed in making any gimmick 'invisible' - by that I mean that realism is not sacrificed in order to produce the gimmick. So the man with the video camera has to appear behind the car so that the car hides the 'works'. So with the passengers I'm thinking they will have to be inside the depot just by the large windows so that the station walls hide the 'works'. Will start thinking about the depot in a month or so. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 Mixed day today - mostly good. Have been experimenting with road textures and colours. Colour is a big issue and this is my first efforts - I'm using Tamiya texture paints for the first time. They're very expensive and somewhat different to what I'm used to but I think the results are encouraging. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim R-T-C Posted March 23, 2017 Share Posted March 23, 2017 Just want to say how much I love the apartment block. Looks so realistic, that shot could easily pass as a real photo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 23, 2017 Author Share Posted March 23, 2017 There's a lot of Western gricers in town because in 2004 this is now the steamiest place in China, in fact the steamiest place on earth. There's no steam to be seen at the moment and so the gricers are in the local cafe taking a rest...... here is a typical street scene.... DSC_0185.JPG Suddenly someone shouts 'STEAM!' ............ and all the gricers are out and in position.............. DSC_0186.JPG Steam goes by and the gricers go back to the cafe............... DSC_0185.JPG Still a work in progress but I'm getting there................ 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 26, 2017 Author Share Posted March 26, 2017 (edited) Yesterday had a brainstorming session with team members (Al and Bob) at Aly Paly. Today was a very busy/active day on the layout - although very little actual modelling - trying to action some of the ideas. All boards are have been (up to now) stored on their sides. That's OK for the fiddle yard boards but the scenic boards will have difficulties once they go from flats (no scenery) to fully sceniced with buildings and backscene. So the plan was to put in a shelf so that any two of the four scenic boards could store horizontally under neath my workbench whilst the other two are being worked on on my workbench. Today I've built that shelf - only about 6 hours work! Very awkward an uncomfortable working under the workbench. In the last hour before dinner I experimented with an idea (thanks Al) to protect/secure stock on the outside track of the fiddle yard by adding a low plywood wall.. It's not quite as simple as it seems as there are consequences with regards storage but I think we can overcome them. Edited March 26, 2017 by TEAMYAKIMA 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 28, 2017 Author Share Posted March 28, 2017 With my big 'work day' coming up next week when I'm hiring a church hall to test the layout, I have today been working on two resin kits which I've had for a while... A workmans' cabin, restroom, canteen And a signal box ... both just mocked up for these photos 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 Have had a half day today and took advantage of some dry weather to work outside in the garden. Am experimenting with other ways to protect the stock on the outside track of the fiddle yard ... not 100% successfully, soon after this photo was taken I managed to break this plywood 'wall' off the baseboard............. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted March 31, 2017 Author Share Posted March 31, 2017 One of the real big issues we hope to deal with next week is the fitting of Al's motorway bridge which fits at the extreme r/h end of the scenic section hiding the the fiddle yard entry....... Al has been working on it............... here is his latest photo 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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