We often have them on the rooftop. Why don't you put that little tomytec shrine on your Phil Collins apartment
I hadn't considered a rooftop Torii but will see if I can fit one in somewhere haha PCM is too small, but I mean I am making a city of tall buildings so lots of opportunity. Am actually considering doing both now - really like the idea of both scenes, and if I already have both kits, then...? My biggest hang-up was connecting the festival to the shrine and the new kit will, but nothing says I can't have two shrines. Pretty sure Japan has almost 100k of them so 2 on the same layout wouldn't be a stretch
Know why tile contractors get paid so much? Because TILING SUCKS, and there's always some chucklehead out there that says 'know what would look great here? Let's mix textured 6x6 hexagon tile with 4x4 square tile'! lol When I moved in here, there was dirty, ugly, old red brick tiles for a hearth on the fireplace in the living room. I capped the chimney but did not want to tear out the fireplace so figured I'd just take up the old tile and put down new. SILLY RABBIT. Whoever built this place framed the joists out away from the chimney (which makes sense, wood burns) so what did they do? Took a piece of wavy sheet metal and framed it in across the bottom of the joists in the basement then POURED IT FULL OF CONCRETE. Yes, you read that correctly. Then, to add injury to insult, just placed the tiles in the wet cement. When I scheduled to have the floors refinished, I smashed up all the tile beforehand - the thumb photos are of the 4 days of demo/bleeding/swearing/throwing things it took me to get it all cleaned out. Floors have been done for almost a year, just got around to dealing with this mess. Just for fun, count the number of tiles that DIDN'T need cut! I have to wait for the grout to set before sweeping the last of the grit and putting the new doors up, and by October I might be able to stand up straight again, but got a major project done this morning. Now I have time for train stuff again!
all this talk about what buildings for my layout, turns out I could have a really great train getup if I just started drinking more!
just got these in the mail today, I ordered two sets of the WS Just Plug goosenecks, thinking they would be perfect for the spotlights on my Japanese city buildings. Most of them have advertisements or logos at the top with dozens of lights like these to light them up - was just planning to paint the green parts gunmetal and that would be that. The problem is, these are TIIIIINY little lights. I mean, holy frick are these things tiny! I might be able to find a house or industry office to put these on, but would look very silly on my tall buildings, regardless of how bright they are. Looks like I need to get some HO instead.
We're not going to talk about what this is supposed to be just yet - mainly because I don't know how many tries it's going to take if I do manage to pull this build off at all - but I am pretty sure that "doing a jig on a Saturday night" is supposed to mean something very different. ps - before anybody loses their Skittles on me about how none of those tops seem to match, I used a rough-cut saber saw to do the radii then clamped them all together and took a palm sander with 80-grit across it until all the contours matched. It looks janky as frick with all those random marks but is all square, and is all very even. Am sure the finished product won't be but this step is as right as it's getting.
Looks like it's going to be interesting. Only because you mentioned it, I'm setting them loose on you!
Well, here's what's going to make it interesting - I need to cut windows in the top of that curvature. Am going to try to shape it with wood sheets first and use acetate behind it, but am a little concerned about cutting into the wood after shaping it, that it might split out. In fact, am going to be very surprised if it doesn't, that's a pretty tight curve. If it does, next attempt will be heating and bending plexiglass, but then I'd have to use cardstock for the outside of the building (just painting it would look too awkward imo, it needs dimension), and getting THAT to go around the curve without misshaping would be fun, as well. If neither of those work, I have a couple other ideas, but as a "last resort" kind of thing. So, yeah - just have to see how it works out. That whole thing is legit just to make a curved roof, am only planning on using it as part a of the structure if I can't do it any other way. This is the start of 1 of 2 buildings I knew I wanted to do ever since I got the hairbrained idea to recreate real Japanese structures for my layout, and was always going to be the trickiest of the ground-up scratch projects. It's one of the centerpieces of my city in my head, it's just amusing to me that even though I've been thinking about it for probably 7+yrs, I am still not 100% sure how to pull it all off just yet! This one is going to take me a while, am sure.
Depending on your window's shape, maybe you could use that "Granny grate' stuff they sell for needlepoint backing. It's flexible, easy to cut and glue. If not, post some pics here anyway of the building you are reproducing. Maybe someone will have an idea.
dangnabbit. All the stuff I ordered from Shapeways came and I apparently forgot to buy the escalator I need. It's not a huge problem, I can't fix the escalator until I know where the sidewalks will be, but it also means I am more or less out of excuses to not get something else done on my station. I guess I'm building a Starbucks this afternoon now.
The station am building mine after has one, so.... Interesting bit of trivia for you - USA is roughly 3.7M sq mi and operates 15,444 Starbucks locations. Japan is just under 378k sq mi and has 1,392 locations. If you do the math, Japan has far more Starbucks per square mile than we do. Is well documented how much the Japanese love Starbucks. I like the Folgers I make on my kitchen counter better, personally. Am making it so the whole thing slides it in and out of the structure itself for ease of wiring. Am mostly done, just waiting for the primer to dry on all the tiny chairs and tables so I can paint them and get them glued down. Once again, I find I'm doing way more work than anyone will ever see without picking the whole thing up off the layout - which would be bad, since there's a track running THROUGH the middle of it - but I like doing this stuff, so I'm making it that way. I'LL know it's there lol Can't finish the station as a whole until I get those sitting down figures, but should have my Starbucks finished either in the morning or tomorrow night after work. Will post a couple photos when I do.
Got up this morning and finished my coffee shop. Wasn't nearly the pain I was expecting it to be, only one tiny chair that absolutely refused to cooperate lol I didn't go to pick up my printer yesterday, I wanted to enjoy my one day off this week (*grumble grumble*) but when I get it next week I can make a storefront sign for it and a door on the plexi. Made the sides out of 1/8 balsa square dowel, most that I see have that planked dark wood look. Used Minwax ebony stain on an old t-shirt and am pretty happy with the result. Was a little concerned about using waterslides inside since some bonehead bought crazy bright LEDs for this building that likely would fade them, so I picked up these hat/lapel pins off that one auction site instead. A dremel to grind the pins off and they glued right up. Interior pieces all came from Shapeways and were easier to paint than I was expecting. Rather than try to reach down inside to place everything, I left the floor unattached so I could just set the walls it over it. I'll likely glue it in place to the rest of the walls when it gets "installed" for good, but for now just have it set on top (it looks like the floor is super uneven in the photos, but that's just because I just set it on there to take a few pics). I left room to drop a piece of plexi in for the front. I think the end result is pretty good, am happy with it. Going to have to get some people to put in there, but I dig it. Fun build.
That really looks sharp, can't wait to see it with people inside. One thing I am doing on the layout Im starting is making sure to have signs of life on it. People, cars, dogs & cats, etc. It adds so much to a scene.
