r/nscalemodeltrains

Good morning from hot and humid Tokyo. It's actually not as bad as I thought it would be which is a relief but the sun is strong. I can see clouds rolling in so I hope they stick around for a bit! Heading off to the JAM convention soon! Will post again about it later.

TLDR: I already have way too many trains to bring home, bought random stuff, excited to get to the JAM convention

As you can see in the photo, the pre-convention haul is pretty massive. Sorry it’s only one photo, taking photos of the individual trains is too much to do in my room this time. Side note: JR Metropolitan Oimachi Tracks is phenomenal for rail fans. As I type this I'm looking out the window and watching the E235's wake up for the day and head on out. If you choose to stay here choose a "Tracks-view" room. I went with one with a balcony, costs extra but so worth it, so I sat out there last night and had a beer while enjoying the view.

Alright, here is the list of everything I got so far:

Random train swag including stickers, keychains, gachapon stuff, IC Cards, and PlayStation laptop sleeve.

A very nice book called Naoyuki Hirota Railway Photography. (In the cardboard box)

HOGARAKADOU:

Lots of fun little containers here!

C1216 - Paloma UR19A type, red, with Eco-Rail mark.

C1407 - UR18A Container JOT Green Fresh Fish Transport

C1413 - 12ft container UR18A Kitami Transport (CBK) JA Kitamirai

FA3103 - UF43A-38000 Tuna Design

FA3303 - 31ft container UF45A-38000, Higashi Sapporo Nippon Express

KATO:

Lots of new releases and cleared a few off my bucket list.

3061 - A - EF65 1000 Late Model (JR Specification, Gray H-rubber)

3090-3 - EF66 0 series late model Blue Train locomotive

6041-3 - Kiha52 General color (M)

6041-4 - Kiha 52 Metropolitan Area Livery (M)

6041-5 - Kiha 52 651 (M) Yamata no Orochi livery

6042-3 - Kiha52 General color (T)

6042-4 - Kiha 52 Metropolitan Area Livery (T)

7011-4 - DE10 JR Kyushu specification

7118 - EF64 0 series (Unit 37, brown)

10-1377 - Tora 90000 (8 cars)

10-1983 - KOKI 105 "Toyota Long Pass Express" (Ecoliner) 10 cars

10-1994 - E233 series 6000 series - Yokohama Line, 8 cars

10-2028 - E231 series Joban Line/Ueno-Tokyo Line Basic 6-car set

10-2029 - E231 series Joban Line/Ueno-Tokyo Line, 4-car additional set

10-2039 - 165 series <345M Ogaki Night Train> Basic 8-car set

10-2040 - 165 series <345M Ogaki Night Train> 4-car auxiliary car

10-2048 - 813 series 2200 series, 3-car additional set.

10-2070 - Hoki 2000 (8 cars, manufactured by Yabashi Kogyo)

10-2159 - 883 series "Sonic" 30th anniversary (wrapping) 7 cars

10-2168 - "Seven Stars in Kyushu" consists of eight carriages.

10-2183 - Aomori Railway Aomori 703 series

10-2219 - 24 Series 25 Type [Seto/Asakaze] Basic 7-car set

10-2220 - 24 Series 25 Type [Seto/Asakaze] Additional 6 Cars

20-046 - Track stop A 62mm

NEKOMATA:

Do it yourself containers, have yet to try my other ones but wanted to complete the collection!

Japanese National Railways refrigerated container, R10 type

POPONDETTA:

Spoiled myself here, such nice trains and the containers are amazing

6042 - Nagoya Municipal Subway N1000 Series (Early Model) - 6 Cars

6086 - Toei 5500 series Asakusa Line later model with antenna, 8 cars

8540 - 20ft Tank Container UT20A Type MCLC Blue and White Color

TOMIX:

Lots of new releases and cleared a few off my bucket list.

0397 - Automatic TN Coupler, Gray

0398 - Automatic Coupling Type TN Coupler CC Black

2265 - DD51-1000 diesel locomotive (JR West spec, air-conditioned)

3115 - UT1 Tank, Cream Color

3184 - Privately owned UC7 type container (Seino Transportation, old paint scheme, 3 pieces)

8622 - Noto Railway NT200 series (POKEMON with YOU Train)

97240 - Five KiHa 400 series trains (Rishiri)

97978 - Two KiHa 100 series trains (KiHa 100 series retro color scheme)

98814 - Taki 1000/43000 (8 cars from Nippon Oil Transportation)

98867 - Taki 1900 cement terminal (10 cars)

April this year I pre-order TINYHK first nscale product and they nailed it! Wish it had an option to add interior light but pretty on level with the Japanese, it actually made with Bachmann interestingly

Decided to try my hand at miniature photography in my room with 3 of my 6 Micro Trains NPR Mechanical Reefers.

I set a few Kato Unitrack down on a raised sheet of wood, set up in front of my TV, serving as a digital background. Im not sure how much I like the look, but I think Ill be putting my effort towards a diorama to fill out the foreground first. I attempted to do a color change of the ply in photoshop but I never got it to look good. So, creating a mini diorama is now even more of a priority for me! Definitely not as easy as I thought, but this finally inspired me to start using my camera again.

If your're curious of camera settings and such ;

Canon R8 with adapted Canon EF 24 - 105 f/4 L

I used two lights on stands, placed 45 degrees from my table. On these stands, I then angled the lights downwards at around 45 degrees. I tried my best to match the lighting of the background I used, so I made the light coming from the right more intense.

On the left, I used an Amaran 200x S with a 32 inch diameter octagonal softbox with a diffusion filter and a honeycomb grid both on the softbox. On the right, I used an Amaran 60x S with the included hyper reflector with the included diffusion sock for said reflector.

Edit; Forgot to mention, HUGE STEP, focus stacking. The process of placing your camera in fixed place, and taking multiple pictures with the images focused shifted either forwards or backwards. Then, these multiple photos are taken into a photo editing software and then are digitally layered on top of each other, erasing the "non focused" areas, leaving you with a highly detailed photograph!

I hope this inspires some people! I love showing up to my local clubs and seeing everyone taking pictures of the trains running. Taking pictures of things is a treat, if you think you might like it, give it a go!

By day, the “Kontrol Module” is just a normal 125x400mm track module with a turnout and a siding.

Note that the corners are rounded and open on both. This keeps them from getting dinged and chipped, and also allows for easy passing of cables back and forth.

The 2nd picture shows that the ubiquitous Bachmann controllers also fit really well.

The 3rd picture shows a 125x200mm module for when less is still enough. And still plenty of room below for a battery pack. (The track module in 3rd pic is 200x400 and can accommodate 2 turnouts.)

Users bcentsale and 382Whistles expressed interest in New Have Railroad style catenary towers in the comments for https://old.reddit.com/r/nscalemodeltrains/comments/1vr4qk6/a_detail_i_am_proud_of_that_i_forgot_to_post/. I was a bit frustrated with my latest structure model's progress, so I decided to model the New Have style catenary towers in N Scale. The STL file is available.

No.1986 is N Scale and the 4448 is HO

There has been some recent debate regarding the accuracy of Micro Ace’s 719 series and TOMIX’s 9600-type steam locomotive models. For the 719 series, the resting position of the windshield wipers differs between the 5000, 0, and 700 series variants, yet the models depict them all the same way; meanwhile, the 9600-type model is marketed as the "Hokkaido specification" but lacks the vertical piping on the cab that is characteristic of that version. In the past, TOMIX also faced criticism because the mounting position of the train radio antenna on their EF66-27 model was slightly off.

Borrowed a ScaleSync from the club to do some speed matching on a test track. Based on my previous loop post I knew the locos were way to fast but I didn’t think a stock Kato and Digitrax decoder would run 212 mph scale. Slowed them down to run between 0-100 based on the throttle.

(Ok, not really Kaos, but I’m amused by alliteration … )

I wanted to be able to mount my controller to a wooden module, along with a bunch of switches and possibly a second controller as well.

I couldn’t find that anyone else had done this, so this is what I came up with:

- I popped open the controller (the screws are under the rubber feet) and CA’ed 3x 8-32 blind nuts to the bottom (I had already marked and drilled the holes.

You don’t need to use blind nuts but they are nice because they have a deep thread, lots of surface area, and the barbs help lock it in place 100%.

- I have a lot of 12V Eflite power supplies, so I swapped the Kato connector to one that fits the Eflite. I put the old one in a little baggie and tucked it away inside the controller in case I ever want to switch back.

- I like blinking lights, so I added some blinking lights.

Still to do:

- Lock down the switches securely.

- Install a second controller.

- Make and install a battery pack.

- I want to be able to use this on layouts with modular configuration that might change from time to time. I think I will mount a strip of white 1/4” dry-erase board behind the switches to note what any of them are switching on that particular day.

Anyway, this is it for now. I will use it as is for a few days before I decide what to do next.

Thought y’all might appreciate my small switching layout I just finished up building. It’s roughly 60 inches long by 12 inches deep, and is modeled in the Piedmont Region of North Carolina. The lone industry is a loading dock for auto parts and other palleted freight. Included are some old WIP pics as well. This is my first N scale layout I’ve made in about 15 years. Built on Atlas Code 55, the entire build took about a month.

Hi all. I lurk here daily & thought I would post video of my biggest/favorite consist. 2x BLI challengers escorting passengers around my 26 year old atlas-gulf summit (N18) layout.
N scale, digitrax DCC. Still using 1998 Digitrax booster as well as a new DSC210+.

Quit working on old layout in 2001 as life got in the way. Got it out in January to get it ready to sell….hooked again!!

Using extra 11’x 11’ bedroom for new train room, moved old layout in place & started building a 2nd layout 4/15/26, long ways to go but thats the whole point!! 😎

Will post some more images of new layout/train room soon!

Enjoy this run!
Apologies for the mess on the layout and poor camera work.

So I've been trying to think of a fitting caboose for this wartime (or post war, maybe they're all coming home) army train I've been pieceing together out of cars and custom made 3d printed Sherman's.

Well I think I finally came up with an idea for a fitting end of train.

Modifying a static display model of a railway gun was probably not my smartest idea. But for 5 hours work and 30 bucks parts plus a little paint, we have our best chance to stop the Penn Central merger.

Planning an expansion of my layout from just a rectangle.

The space can’t become longer but could become slightly wider if needed

The left image is the track plan, the right side (right of the black line in the middle) is all at the same level, on the left side at the top there is a viaduct island station, where the outer layer stays at the same level , and the inner layer dips down to the ground.

On the right side I’ll be putting a switching yard but I haven’t put that it because I know it fits

I’m not sure how I feel about the inner layer on the left side I’m not sure whether it should dip down or not given I need it to be a reasonably shallow grave.

Am I using this space effectively, I am also planning an underground layout with pretty much the same layout.

Any thoughts or ideas with this space?

This album is progress on my N-Track module. I hope to show the module at a Nov. train show.

• 48"x30"
• Lauan Plywood construction (everything cut from a single 4'x8' sheet. - Soft pine dimensional lumber is used for C-clamp placement and as a base for screwing/mounting the legs.
• All structures, bridges, abutments, railings, fences, etc. are original 3D models printed on a Bambu A1 with PLA 0.4mm nozzle and 0.2mm layer heights. Apart from the Kato track and raw materials, there are no commercial kits or components.
• Rocks are hand carved plaster over foam board insulation.
• The three required community tracks run through the module below grade. The scenery including rocks and structures lifts out easily to access the community tracks.
• The rocky side is the front. The module is setup to be an annex to my regular layout as well as a display unit. The rocks align with scenery on my main layout.
• The track plan is inspired from David K. Smith's Jersey City Industrial