Moe's N Scale Japan Railroad Layout

[moegreen]

I just got started on a N scale japan railroad layout. Most of you might wonder why i chose this isntead of HO freights. I dont really intend this setup to be my graffiti train display. I am buying seperate HO cars that i will use as rolling stock canvas to be displayed on shelves.

I chose N scale to run my actual model train setup on, because it is very space permitting and the selection of Japanese trains and parts is huge.

So here are my first pics. I only used half the track in my set and it still barely fits, i have to get a new larger board to run the layout on. None of the trains are running yet i havent hooked up the power packs yet.


just got my first Kato N scale, EVER. it all begins here, picture with my cat.

bought a few upper class houses, and a pack of cars.

did a little 'custom' painting on the cars. The train is a Tokyo commuter line Series e531. It has an expansion kit that includes a double decker 'green car'.

[moegreen]

it barely fits, the actual setup is 3x this big. until i can find a bigger table this will have to do.


Japan locomotive DF200 "red bear" with 8 tankers. the tankers have different couplings so im
going to have to custom fab something to connect them. ANY IDEAS??!?!?!

:green cross: medical marijuana dispensary!

thats all for now. will update as i progress.

[moegreen]

i will be adding some graffiti to the set. i intend to do micro tags with a fine point silver on some of the tankers. i also think that the buildings are dying for some ADEK and GUSTO hollows in fine point black.

[Moe Green]

So i guess the black freight cars have Rapido couplings, while my locomotive has knuckle couplers.

So im going to try and take one of the freight cars and convert it to knuckle on one end, so i can connect the train. i will put some graffiti on this car to easily identify it as the knuckle car.

any idea how to do this? what kind of tools do i need??

[Moe green]

some close ups of the couplers




and my first attempt at graffiti on a tiny ass N scale train. the marker is a super fine point metalic ball point pen.

[Kozma Minin]

not bad. That is tiny writing. The "S" and "T" on the signature would have been much more flared out if he was hangin from the ladder...
you can actually do this using a fine tip brush with a small amount of alcohol in the bristles.

The couplers
Since you have identified the car that will have that coupler, remove the one from the front of the engine that will not be pushing. Trade it with the coupler from the tank car that needs it.

[Kozma Minin]

I just want to illustrate the scale difference between HO and N scales with these below images.

[moe greene]

yea i have a bunch of HO cars that i got off EBAY for cheap coming in the mail. im going to paint these up along with a few of my boys, im not going to run them just display them somewhere probably.


i got N scale because i ahve always wanted a model train setup, i visited tokyo as a kid and went to the train museum and it left a lasting impression on me. Japanese trains have always been cool to me. I dont have alot of room so N scale will work. I realize that the graffiti wont look too realistic and that the cars are extremely hard to paint on, but its all gravy.

my graffiti cars will be the HO displays, this is going to be my running layout/ full scale city project. i want to have at least 4 lines running with 2 stations. There will be a big city district station in the downtown surrounded by many tall buildings. the loop will complete at the other end in the suburban area with a outdoor station. i also want to have a nice yard abuot 5 tracks deep to park trains in.

[moe greene]

i dont think im going to touch the locomotive couplers, im just going to convert 2 tankers and use those to connect to other cars. im also going to make sure that any cars i buy in the future do not have rapidos. all my Katos have the new couplers. the tankers are microace so they have old school couplers.

[Kozma Minin]

alright, cool with that.
I forgot to comment on your N scale set up in general. Very nice collection; commuter, freight, buildings and a giant cat! Looks like ours, "Mr. Mohinga".

N scale is a space saver for sure. This was my intent with mine as well, however, I haven't bought a loco or track yet. Can I use one of my HO transformers to power this? I also don't intend to set up an HO scale layout but am considering an N scale layout sometime in the future.

[Cole Only]

hey there mo. thanks for sharing the fliks. truth is i havent checked this board in a while. love the flik with the cat. Man looks like ur off to a great start. yeah i wouldnt put any graffiti on those subway cars. they look dangerously close to NYCTA trains, 4 sets of doors, blue stripe. But certainly there are obvious differences. is the table you have set up on already going to house your final layout? that may be a dumb question since part of the track is hanging off edgfe of the table. If you intend to have 4 lines running you can fit this in a relatively small space but i would definitely suggest DCC for power.

KO, thanks for the scale differences pic. i was looking everywhere for a flik like that about a week ago. What is the 1/131 scale. i didnt know there was anything between Ho & N?

[moegreen]

yea i was hoping i could use the table but turns out it is WAY to small, i dont even know where im going to be able to run a bigger setup. i might have to postpone the ultimate setup and for now just stockpile structures and trains to run on this small loop.

im going to use another table thats a little bigger, and probably run a big loop with train yard, with at least one station for now. i have a house and an extra room*edited*!!

i also got the trains up and runnin with the new kato power pack. surprising easy to set up, trains run fantastic, they even have little lights in the front. i took some videos the other night.

[moegreen]

i got some cool things coming in the mail, including some n scale cars- camaro, gmc trucks, and a chevelle!

also got this cool car trasport thing for the freight line, probably gotta do more coupler swaps with this.


the rest are pictures of things i intend to add in the future




blue locomotive that will pull these sleeper cars, these are long distance over night expresses that are filled with beds and breakfast resutrants, etc. real luxurious!





pissed off! just missed one of these on ebay for less than $40

also looking at these tokyo city trams





hikari express



tripppy

oldschool golden bullet train



if you guys dont know too much about japanese trains i suggest lookin into them! trains are HUUUGE over there, they have more trains than the entire united states packed into an area the size of CA. Kato and Tomix all have huge selections, not to mention their city scapes are top notch too.

[moegreen]

heres the green car set im adding to my current commuter train. with this set i will be able to make two 7-8 car trains each with a 'green car' to give my layout a uniform look.
www.1999.co.jp/dbimages/user/hobby/itbig/10053478.jpg[img/]

[moegreen]

woops heres that picture...


here are some layouts that inspire me, hopefully it will look like this someday.





and i DEFINATELY want a bridge.