Oden

Very yummy especially when it's cold.

Basically we don't provide Japanese meals because some people don't like some particular stuff. As I am now on my diet, I eat some Kon-nyaku ( the grey one you see at the right )mostly. lol....

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B-tender is running the layout

A small steam locomotive B-tender runs around the layout pulling 2 small freight boggies. Click this picture below to see the clip.

Now it takes just 2 hours and a half from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka by a Nozomi bullet train, so that movie clip looks very old fashioned and too slow but at the same time I feel it kinda pieceful. Am I alone there?

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Making a layout #28 Painting platforms and roofs

Painted platforms in grey, roofs in blue.



Also painted the roads at to the opposite side of the railroads.

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Cold air

Finally it's getting colder and snow is falling as weather forcast said after a long interval though it has been too warm at this time of the year than usual.

8 a.m. Some tiny snow has already stayed at the front of the cars.


Snow stays even at some thin branches of larch trees. Enaga, which is 14cms length small bird often look for something to eat along the ground side of branches.


Looks like a scenery over a lace curtain. Surely cold, brrrrr but there's something we can see only when it's cold.

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S.B.B

The other day someone from Switzerland shouted it out
"S.B.B!" in German way of pronounciation when he found some Swiss coarches in my model train layout.

A 1st class passenger car of S.B.B (Schweizerische BundesBahnen = Swiss National Railway)


A 2nd class passenger car of S.B.B


A 2nd class passenger car with a control room and a luggage room of S.B.B
Seldom find this kind of passenger cars with control rooms in Japan.


A Swiss private railway B.L.S 2nd class passenger car.


Another B.L.S 2nd class passenger car.


A B.L.S 1st class passenger car.

I happen to have some Japanese, European and American model train cars. And our guests are from all over the world with many nationalities, so when they find some train cars of their home country, they react so much lol....

Why do you have this one here?!?!?

I have never stolen any! lol....
I guess perhaps people never expect a Japanese inn master has these international model train cars.


They state it's a Swiss national railway passenger car by SBB(Schweizerische BundesBahnen:German) CFF(Chemins de Fer Fédéraux suisses :French) FFS(Ferrovie Federali Svizzere:Italian).


They do it with German and French, this way was alredy the old way when I travelled around Europe in 1984. They changed the way little by little to the new one (upper one)

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A lid of a fuel tank

Weather forcast says it might be snowy and stormy at the end of January and the begining of February , so I checked my snowblower and filled the fuel tank. But I didn't find the lid of the fuel tank, so I went to the factory I always ask the snowblower maintainance to get one.

2400 yen! I expected some hundreds yen for that, quite different. A lot often special stuff of special equipments cost much more than expected. Especially if it's a snowblower, it goes like that. Snowblowers are not for everyone for daily use like usual cars. By the way, snowblowers are not something you can buy anytime. They are in some exibitions in autumn (before winter people need them!) and they try to sell them out before the winter starts. So even new ones are not available in winter. If your snowblower were broken or out of order and you need to buy new one, you can't!!!! This really bothered me too much some years back. Check out "Buddy da antique snowblower" tribute in our old Earlybird express.



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Making a layout #27 Realistic water going ahead!

Finnaly a bottle of water effect and 3 of realistic water arrived!


Have to prepare for it.


Brush some water bond along the edge of the lake to spread some balasts. I noticed that rivers and lakes that look blue usually have stone bottom. Those look green usually have sand bottom. No idea there's any rules or whatever though.


Put some small stones to show some big rocks in an incoming river to the lake.


They say realistic water needs to be left for 24 hours to get dried and fixed after being poured. We didn't have "ANY" guest at that night, so it's time for it! Should have not missed the chance. As I needed to put a plastic bag to cover the lake, I put some supporters for it to check they were long enough or not.


Pouring some realistic water at the incoming river. This small one is in a kit for making a fall.


Pouring some realistic water at the lake. I surrounded the lake with 4mms tall boards all around and put some 9mms tall foam polystyrenes because some regular poster to our Japanese blog have adviced to be careful because sometimes the realistic water goes where we never expect if the ground were not horizontal. There's always something unexpected happening!!


Spreading realistic water by a spatula. They say I have to make it 3mms depth or thinner.


An outgoing river from the lake was filled with realistic water.


The lake was also filled with realistic water.


Have to be patient for 24 hours from now on. Some music phrase popped up from me with humming which is one sung long ago, it proves my age!

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