November 18th 2006 - Making a layout #8 :Coloring
Approx surfaces have been made up but they look kinda ugly lol....... Who has made them? I thought I had to put something where there's some big rooms under the tracks and around. Put shredder dust foam polystyrene, and covered them with some gauze to coat them with some plaster.

I wonder I didn't need to buy expensive plaster sheets if I knew this rearrangement were required. But there's always something you never know how you can do till you try.

Finally I started coloring my layout - around tracks. Coat some water bond to glue some color powder. Some books recommend that we can spray bond water where we want to color, but that way does not work to my layout because it's not like a flat big one. Rails are here and there, I have to mask all of them by tape in advance. So, I "paint" some water bond with a brush then put some color powder on. Water bond tends to dry quick, so I have to do that very quick. That is very hard to do for a slowman.

November 14th 2006 - Making a layout #7 : The first corner.
The first corner where Japanese trains pass through soon after they leave station.

I know moutain houses had better be located at moutains but I may put it here because the details around this house are worth showing to everyone. If I put this one farther deep in the layout, probably people can not see them. You can see some green powder at the middle of this pic above. I put some for trial.

I filmed 2 windows at my house to shut sun lights because I don't want to explose my layout in the sun lights. Does this look misterious?

November 12th 2006 - Making a layout #5 : crosscountry skiing trail.
As we are located close to the Snowharp the 1998 Nagano winter olympic cross country skiing trails, I am making a crosscountry skiing hill in the layout.

It is located around the 3rd corner for the outside track which is for Japanese model trains.

Crosscountry skiing players are ready! Though one got upside down before the start... lol

November 8th 2006 - Making a layout #4 :up/downhill
Finally time to try making some up/down hills. As some books say, put some newspaper and tape them for some plaster sheets.

Kind of annoying if I didn't replace the rails to do this work as they are not enough tall from the layout platform.

Books say it easy but it's not!!! Have to learn how much paper you need to put beforehand etc. Sometimes need to spray some water to make the plaster sheets better.

November 8th 2006 - Making a layout #4 :Brick walls.

This above is a part on the way of an uphill. In my first plan, this place was still on the ground but I needed to make the uphill calmer because locomotives had hard time to go that uphill (27/1000) so the uphill had to start earlier to make it calmer to 21/1000. After all, platforms would not be flat at this end lol.....

Walls look like this, but this looks too boring.......

Glued some design paper of brics and pinch them by clothpins.

Done! Does this look cool?

Tried to take a pic of what we call "Nagashi-dori" that means to take a picture by focusing something that is moving.

October 27th 2006 - Midgetlamps arrived.
Lamps for layout which I ordered to a shop in Fukui prefecture has arrived today.

Internet is great stuff, I used to drive around to get what I need whenever not available nearby but nowadays I just need to google it with keywords to find shops sell them then I order some to them. I get them in a couple of days. Maybe it's not a perfect way because I can't check things before I purchase them, but very convenient especially when I need to save time as I can get them staying home.

A midgetlamp and its stand (right), small midgetlamp with vinyl wire. Midgetlapms are for inside of structures to light them up, small ones are probably for streets, platforms. They are just 3 mms in diameter!

How to make difference to locate them above?

Tried to check how it looks by connecting one at a pair of AC10V plugs at the backside of a powerpack. It's not a strong light, just a calm one to light things around up like freight cargs behind. Seldom find this kind of lamps in Japan but found often in Europe in early '80s when I traveled around there e.g. in Venezia and Amsterdam. They were not enough bright to see my feet though!!

I have to know how to find lamps which don't work when i have them in a series connection. If even one didn't work there, all the lamps there won't work.

October 26th 2006 - mountain restaurant Vol.2
As I have not been able to have time to complete a Faller mountain restaurant for a while, I took some time for it today. But somehow it didn't go good to glue some parts. I tried to pinch them by cramps until tomorrow morning.

Sometimes time solves the problem.

It's getting more and more how it should be. The black stuff at this end is my glasses case for my far sighted eyes :(
Flags just needed to be glued good that's why I put my glasses case there to help it. This kit needs me a lot patience.

October 7th 2006
As I have made a Kibri mountain house and a handful Kibri station house structures, this time I tried Faller public house to see the difference. It looks like a police office? Could be Hakuba Hayaokidori railway company main office? Looks something like "public" building.

I needed 4 hours to complete this one last night. A bit sleepy now But anyway this one also need me to glue 4 tiny pieces of parts less than 1 square cm to make a timny as well as Kibri one. I hear Faller is also a German maker, so perhaps this kind of complicated work is what German people really like and that's why Kibri and Faller are popular among them.

October 3rd 2006 Making a layout #2
Glued guards one after another.

But the height of each and every guard is not the same when you look at them carefully! Not a big deal but it'll be a hassle if I need to improve them later, so I decided to do it now.

1mm thick "board". Actually more like wood skin rather than "board". Have to cut them into 5mms wide.

This above is how I am adjusting the guard walls' height, pinching the guards by 2 thin wood skin from both sides.

This is better looking, I took this pic above not using a flash.

When I check it from the side, it looks okay. The opposite guards still looks something uneasy. I put a clothpin at each and every piece of the guard to fix them better tonight. Hopefully they'll be okay by tomorrow morning.

September 28th 2006
Making a layout #1. Making guardwalls for an overhead railway in my model train layout. Cut parts off by a saw and rounded the edges by a belt sander. Even only that work needed much time.

Putting some bond by a banboo skewer.

Making walls one after another. The problem is the overhead railway is a curved one, so I needed to devide the wall for a curve track ( 30 angles ) into 12 pieces to make them fit. If it's for a straignt track, I don't need to do that stuff though.

Locate them at the overhead railway. Those 12 pieces are for 1 curve track which is just for 30 angles.

When T.E.E Gottard passes, bogies are hidden.

A lot of rooms to spare, so no need to worry about crashing.

Upgrading trees, they look as if they were scrub brushes.

Going to coat this powder, it's like some small sponge made in U.S.A.

Pour some water in some bond and coat some inbetween leaves. Then put some powder.

Hum...... Looks as if an art that an elementary school kid did!

That powder is a bit bigget than expected, don't get in the space good. I got some Tomix color powder today, tried to use them instead.

The left 2 are by American powder, the right 2 are by Tomix powder. I think Tomix powder might go good with this work. Closing for today

September 23th 2006
I thought I wouldn't try to make any structures for a while yesterday because the station house needed me much time to complete, but I remember I got another house together with the station house. I have to try.....

Praying it's easier than the station house.

Enclosed parts and stuff. Unlike Japanese kits, they are not wrapped by plastic bags.

This is an explanation sheet. Just pictures, no descriptions at all. Anyway if it's German, it doesn't work at all to me because I don't speak German

For example, in this group some window frames, doors and equipments for farm works get together. Each part has its own number to specify themselves, same parts are shown e.g. parts # x numbers. Annoying thing is there's no rule how they are put, clockwise or up and down. So sometimes it's really hassle to find parts you look for.

Writing down which parts group has what color to make it easier to find them.

Look, how tiny they are!! A pair of glasses for far sighted eye and a magnifying glass are necessary.

Pinching a 1mm x 2mms part by a pair of tweezers. Have to be careful not to lose it. It's a hook to hang a pole to fix window shutters.

Looks like the one at the upper right.

Done for today, it took 3 hours and a half.

September 22th 2006
Station house almost completed - It has taken so much time for me to complete this station house but now it's finally almost completed. Why "almost" ? Because I have lost some tiny parts when I cut them out lol...... can't find them any more, that's why.

This is maybe a warehouse. This kit includes even drainpipes.....

As there is a handwash stand close to the door, I made it a toilet beyond the door. A telephone box is also along the sidewall. I needed to glue 3 gray tiny boards with clear boards to make the box as usual with this kit, arrggghhhhhh !!!!!!

Platform side of the warehouse. A seal full of posters, pictures is included in this kit, so you can cut anything you like out to put them there. Easy and looks good.

Warehouse side of the main station house. Yellow and white train schedule. In Germany, arrival train schedule and departure train schedule were painted differently, can't remember which was which though.......

Maybe a luggage office house connected to the main station house. Perhaps it looks interesting if I put some cow dolls at the right which looks like a jail !

Front view of the "jail". This could be also a toilet.

Main station house opposite side of the tracks. A restaurant symbol is at the post. I put a restaurant at the first floor (Ground floor in English way) and accommodation at the upstairs.

Entire view. Yay! finally done, sigh.......... Reconsideration : #1 You had better try to make it at a stroke not having some break e.g. 1 week or so. #2 If you already have far sighted eyes due to your age, you'd better make this kind of stuff somewhere with a 1 strong color carpet, not a carpet with embroidery. If you make this kind of stuff on a carpet with embroidery, you never find what you drop off there lol........

September 21th 2006
After a long interval, I started making a station house for my model train layout again after a long interval. Haven't tried it for a couple of months because it causes sore shoulder lol......

Just putting a pair of handrails at a stairs for a bar at the 1st floor ( Ground floor in British way) of this station house. Handrails are really thin and tiny, I need to be really careful not to break them. The left entrance reach the platform.

This Kibri kit really needs me to do very tiny and complicated work . I have to glue 3 tiny board to make this one!!! I prefer them to enclose a completed one instead of 3 tiny boards for it. If I tried to make this one by an adhesive, it's more like hell rather than it needs much time, so I decided to use something else.

A quick drying glue. As you know, it's hard for us to get stuff apart once they are glued by this. Probably risky for me but anyway I have been frustrated a bit with this kit so I would take the risk if I failed to glue something bad with this quick drying glue because I thought I can not stay with usual adhesive any more for this Kibri kit.

A cart for passengers to carry their heavy baggages. What a detail ! But you don't need to be impressed, once you try to make this one, you will be bothered a lot because when you try to glue one, something else gets apart lol..... Really annoying!

Look at the inside of the red circles above. Do you see a tiny edge in each circle? You need to cut each and every part off from the kit to glue them good. Otherwise those tiny edges cause bad connection. It's a micro world of less than 1mm!

This garbage cart is a rare case with this Kibri kit. Just a box and a cover, I like that way!!!!!! Not complicated, just need to cut them out from others. Wish I could ask Kibri to provide everything that way in German lol... (Kibri is a German maker)

It often happens when I want to use something after a long interval which is really disappointed. I tried another sander below, but it doesn't work as good as the one above. It's totally different stuff for different purpose.

I took the broken one above to a DIY center neaby, fortunately I met a sales guy of the maker happened to be there, but he told me that one was enough old, parts might not be found any more. He explained a new one but it looks like a bit bulkier and heavier, not convenient to me. I just have to pray parts are still available.

June 8th 2006
Still playing to make this station house! Never reach the goal. Perhaps long, long distances to there.

I think maybe someday I will be happy to complete it ( I hope.)

Guidence sheets. For example, Japanese kits usually enclose those U642, U624, U565, U556, U564 in a plastic bag, so easier to find them all. But with this Kibri, you need find each and every part in some blocks like the upper picture.