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Small Japanese Shinkansen Display Layout

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9 replies
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  • Member since
    March 2004
  • From: San Diego
  • 954 posts
Posted by stokesda on Friday, April 21, 2017 2:18 PM

Thanks for all the compliments, I'm glad you've enjoyed it so far!

I just published a new post on the blog - how I made the foreground buildings out of foam core shells with printed building images glued to them. Follow the blog link in my signature block to read more and to get the full back story of the layout.

Here is a progress photo of the foreground buildings:

 

Dan Stokes

My other car is a tunnel motor

  • Member since
    May 2012
  • 1,855 posts
Posted by angelob6660 on Sunday, April 16, 2017 1:51 PM

That's a very good layout. I loved simplicity of the style.

Modeling the G.N.O. Railway, The Diamond Route.

Amtrak America, 1971-Present.

  • Member since
    March 2004
  • From: San Diego
  • 954 posts
Posted by stokesda on Sunday, April 16, 2017 1:37 PM

Happy Easter, everyone! I just added another post to my blog explaining how I made the city streets and sidewalks on the Tokyo side of the layout. Here is a progress photo:

The streets are made from gray sheets of spongy craft foam, and the sidewalks are made from strips of a styrene "yard sale" sign. Click on the blog link in my signature block below to read more.

Dan Stokes

My other car is a tunnel motor

  • Member since
    January 2002
  • From: Loudonville, NY
  • 776 posts
Posted by Benjamin Maggi on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 2:41 PM

That is a really neat idea. I showed it to my wife, who loves all things Japanese.

Modeling the D&H in 1984: http://dandhcoloniemain.blogspot.com/

  • Member since
    January 2015
  • From: Southern California
  • 1,682 posts
Posted by Lone Wolf and Santa Fe on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 12:53 PM

Your layout is really cool. That really is making the most of a small space. The backdrop makes it seem so much larger and one side being city and the other being mountains adds to that. Nice job.

Modeling a fictional version of California set in the 1990s Lone Wolf and Santa Fe Railroad
  • Member since
    March 2004
  • From: San Diego
  • 954 posts
Posted by stokesda on Tuesday, April 11, 2017 8:48 AM

Thanks for the positive comments, glad to share it with the community! It was a fun build, but took a couple weeks of long hours at night down the stretch to get it finished on time. Like I told my wife, the build process itself was enjoyable, I just wish I had another month or so to get it done!

@ graymatter - The city backdrop is a panoramic photo from the Internet. To provide some visual depth, there are two rows of individual building photos glued to foam core backing in front of that. If you look closely, you'll see the white foam board edge around the buildings. More details on the background buildings are in my blog (link in my signature block). The row of buildings in the very front are 3-D models I built using cores of foam board with printouts glued to them (similar concept to what Lance Mindheim does). I'll go over how I made them in a future blog post.

Dan Stokes

My other car is a tunnel motor

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, April 10, 2017 6:06 PM

Simpe, yet effective, but foremost - neat!

I love small, creative layouts!

  • Member since
    February 2017
  • 189 posts
Posted by Deane Johnson on Monday, April 10, 2017 3:34 PM

Wow!  Beautuiful.  That had to be a real attention getter.  Thanks for sharing it with us.

  • Member since
    April 2017
  • 128 posts
Posted by graymatter on Monday, April 10, 2017 3:26 PM

I just have two questions;

How did you make the buildings?

Did she give you an 'A'?

 

  • Member since
    March 2004
  • From: San Diego
  • 954 posts
Small Japanese Shinkansen Display Layout
Posted by stokesda on Monday, April 10, 2017 3:16 PM

Hey, everyone,

A couple of months ago, my wife commissioned me to build a small N-scale display layout from scratch for an event at our kids' school. I only had about a month to get it finished and had limited access to supplies, but overall I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Here's a couple of photos of the finished product on display:

 

 

I started a blog on Blogspot about how I built the layout - the link is in my signature line below. The blog is a work in progress and I have several more posts to go to finish the story.

Dan Stokes

My other car is a tunnel motor

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