Side view vol.2

Tried to take some movie clip of model train after a long interval. Click this picture below to see it, enjoy!



I took this movie putting my digital camera on a freight boggie called "chi" and EF 60 electric locomotive pushed it.
EF 60 took a break at the station.


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A fine day in winter

Not sure why it looks clearer in winer than in other seasons. But sometimes we can enjoy these nice view here in Hakuba.

Mt.Goryu direction.



Hakuba symbolic 3 mountains and Happo one direction.

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Making a layout #20 Lightening up a castle.

Looks good!?

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Making a layout #19 Platform roof and lights for European trains

Made a roof and fix some lights at one of European trains platform.


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06-07 season first skiing at Hakuba Goryu

Went to Hakuba Goryu ski slope for the first time this season.
Click each picture to see a movie clip.

From restauratn Alps360 to the bottom entrance of Alps first lift.


View from Alps first lift.


Skiing down at the top of Hakuba Goryu to Hakuba 47 side.


View from Line E lift to get back to Goryu side.


It was tough for me to hold a camera in my hand on skiing and speaking English lol..... Can not concentrate on anything above, all miserable.... :(

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Making a layout #18 Platform roof and lights.

Made a roof for the platform for Japanese trains and located some lights there. This took me almost half day!!!



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Making a layout #17 Train platforms

No sketches at all, so just need to measure the sizes to cut the wood out by thinking of the size limit of the rolling stocks. The one at this side is for Japanese trains.
This one is for European trains. lower ( showter in height ) than the one for Japanese.

To make the uphill calmer, the uphill starts from the station. So this platform is located on the way! Damm, this is not easy :( I have to incline this platform to get it along with the uphill.

When you make a layout, you had better make platforms at really flat place!!!

Checking it out if the platform crashed the trains when they pass through.

A slope to get in the underground from the platform to get out of the station. Easier to make than stairs :-)

When the size got sure, they are to pressed by vices. I am not good at making anything and seldom try any , wonder why I have them lol.......

Now slopes are located correct.

Closeing for the day.

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JNR 481 series "Ariake"

Found a 11 passenger cars 481 series "Ariake" limited express train which had stationed around Osaka at Nishi-Kagoshima station when I traveled around Kyushu island after passing the entrance exam to a sinior high.Included 2 green cars ( 1st class passenger cars ) and a restaurant car. When I found them, just thought "Oh you are here now ". But fortunately I didn't forget taking this picture. Nowadays even limited express trains tend to get shorter ( constituted by fewer passenger cars ), so it's hard for me to find limited express trains of this 481/485 series with 11 passenger cars or more. Impossible to find this coloring of the former JNR limited express color with the old shaped air-condition equipments like mashrooms at the roof. Bonus is you can find another one at the deep. Just around 12 years had passed since this 481 series train had started being produced.

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Making some apple jam.

The other day, the apple farmer and his wife whom we have purchased apples from visited us to sell some apples. We bought some and cooked apple jam.

When I cook some apple jam, I just use some apples, squeezed lemon, some sugar and some stick cinnamon. That's all. No additions, preservatives at all. Sometimes people say they add some water to simmer but I don't add any water. I just leave apples and sugar together in a pan for 1-2 hours, then some water come out from the apples, then it's time for me to start simmering the pan for hours until it's done. But anyway, it's not a small amount as you see, it takes entire day from early in the morning throughout late evening.

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Xmas tree tapestry

Soon it will be Xmas, so I hang a tapestry at a wall.

When I was a small kid, I always wished I could meet Santa Clause when he visited me to ask how he could visit me by a sleigh pulled by reindeers. But you know, small kids can not keep awaken so late, I was to fell asleep all the time then found a red boot full of presents beside my pillow next morning.

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Making a layout #16 Coloring the elevated area.

Now starting coloring the elevated area.
I think this looks nice, isn't it?

Fill inbetween tracks with some foam polystyrene to make it lighter.

I wonder if I were someone who easily saves some static electricity because form polystyrene don't get apart from me easily, so I need to wear globes and use a pair of tweezers. In this point of view, winter is a hard time for me because often I get some static electricity shock e.g. when I touch a door knob, when I stick a key in a key hole.

Put some waterbond then color powder. Then again waterbond by a syringe to glue the powder better.

Put some balast to hide the rail edge as it was outstanding than I supposed.

Touch the balast slightly by a brush to make it flatter and calmer by lightening there. Later pour some waterbond there to glue it better. My far sighted eyes hurt!!!

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Right? Left? - Trains in Germany

In Germany, trains run right when the line has 2 tracks like below. Quite opposite from Japan.

This train went uphill after Immedingen or Tuttulingen if I remember correctly for Augsburg. The locomotive was probably DB-111 series electric locomotive. This train ran in the Schwaltzewalt full of Christmas trees. Comfortable joint noise kept going. : March 1984

BUT

Sometimes things go like this. This train was from Lindau for some plural destinations and ran left!! (Picture taken in August 1982) Wondered how it happened? If some trains ran left while others do right, they must crash!!!! I guess perhaps it depends on the province or whatever causes. While this things happen, also wonder how they switch trains and where.

Actually in other countries around Germany, trains always seem to go left as well as in Japan. When I rid on a T.E.E "Rheingold" , it also ran right there. They must have some switching place somewhere to go outside of Germany but don't remember where and how it was managed....

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Making a layout #15 Turning lights on.

Arcade walls are getting completed.


Looks like this when I turn the lights on.

A little bit too dark to see. :(

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Skiers, snowboarders on stage.

Found some hit the ski slope, visible even infront of our place! Damn wanna do it but have to make model train layout.. :(


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Making a layout #14 Soldering some terminals.

Soldered some terminals to destribute electricity from a switching power pack.


If I were good at it, maybe I connect each and every block by bronze line or something but I feel it kinda troublesome so that I soldered them by cut rail.
Electricity will be provided through those terminals to each and every structures with lamps to create night scenery.

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Making a layout #13 Autumn crump foliage

Found some autumn crump foliage at Hobby center KATO website.


All the 4 colors are packed together. :o


Anyway tried to improve the 2nd corner. Some are green, some are red, some are yellow etc. Maybe I had better put only autumn foliages there, but usually many colors of trees get together in moutains, so this is not bad, I guess. What you think?

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When I woke up this morning........

Larch trees around my house were covered with snow.


Woke up by some noise of snow-removing cars for the first time this season. Kinda special noise for winter morning.

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Making a layout #12 Arcade walls

I started making one of structures from Canada - arcade walls.

First of all, I needed to cut some wall for tenants out. But anyway it's plastic, it tends to look white when I cut some off. I needed to file there to make it calmer.



Making a tenant. Very tiny stuff, have to stop breathing lol...


Mirinda!! When I was a kid, mirinda was popular as well as fanta, no idea when it disappeared.


One done. This arcade wall itself is 8cms tall, maybe okay for some unelectrified railroad to go underward but not enough tall for some electrified railroad when some locos, traincars with some pantagraphs go underward. Need to put some more extra height. I have to do 4 more centimeters on it.

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Hakuba Goryu ski slope is getting in business for 06-07 season!

The upper area Alps-daira gerande will be in business from tomorrow ( Dec.3rd 2006)


Snow has been falling a bit harder since this evening, they say it will be colder than usual tomorrow. Be careful not to catch a cold.

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Tadami line diesel car in early ' 80s

Traveled around Tohoku region by myself in the autumn of 1980 or 1981


I don't remember at what station I took this picture. I thought it was no problem even if I wrote it down where at the backside of the pic because I thought I would not forget... I was young lol.. Nowadays I often forget what I just did some moments ago, so it's hard for me to rememeber things of 1/4 century ago.
But I remember it must be in 1980 or 1981 because I escaped lectures of college to travel there. After I got back to the college, self-indroduction speach was going on at the Spanish language class. I didn't know that, I just expected it would be a normal class. I was not ready, everyone else spoke where they lived, what club activities they joined etc , I just spoke about the travel around Tohoku instead which caused a problem.
The Spanish language teacher who was a giant Spanish man suddenly got upset to ask me

"Gamera63, why did you escape the class only for the travel?"

............

Very hard time.

I took his class in 1980 and 1981 which I never forget.

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Hard time....

A CD-ROM which has some backdrops in it. One of the items that arrived from Canada the other day but....

Everything is described in German which I don't understand!!

I even don't get which is the installer in the CD-ROM.
I e-mailed the maker in Germany to ask which is the installer and if they provide an English explanation. Hope they reply in English, not in German!



Tried to paint the leaves in yellow to make an autumn faliage tree. But after I got back from lunch, it just looks like light green. Where the yellow has gone? Perhaps it's impossible to paint the leaves....


I put some leaves at a tree for the 2nd corner to see how it looks.

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The distribution of atmospheric pressure

At this time of the year, a lot often there's a high air pressure at the west, a low air pressure at the east of Japan. That is a typical one in winter which brings tons of snow along the Japan sea. Snow came down lower and lower of the mountains.



They say it'll be very cold around this coming weekends.

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Scenery of Germany

Made one of structures which got here yesterday from Canada. It's a small one, just needed 30 minutes to make.


I saw this kind of towers at some old castles along the Rhein river when I traveled around there in '80s. Now I let the DB103 loco work to pull some T.E.E color coaches to run beside the tower. I plan to make a small river at this side, hopefully could put a rustick rock like the Lorerie there.

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Something from Canada

"Love letter from Canada!" - Long ago, this song was popular all over Japan. Structures I ordered got to my place today, yay!

They pack stuff very carefully more than I expected. The buffer stuff are colorful. They are all white in Japan. This package left there in Canada PST time zone 4 days ago (Nov.24 PST - Nov.25 JST). I think this is quick, isn't it?


This is what I had waited for. A set of arcade walls to set under the elevated railroad. They had one in stock but I need two, so they told me I had to wait for roughly 2 weeks but it took 4 weeks for them to get ones in stock. I've been learning things in model train world goes this slow!
This arcade wall looks very much toyish, I almost shouted out "It's like a toy" but exactly it is. lol... I almost acted a comedy talk by myself. :o


Luigi's pizzeria. I want to locate this kind of thing in my layout which looks really busy with full of people, praying people in Japan recover their spirits again.


Tables anc chairs. Would like to have them at the open space around the station to express how spirited it is.


Coloring layout also goes ahead slowly fron the second corner ( autumn foliage corner ) to the third corner ( cross country skiing trail ). I have to have a gradation from chest nut color to white somewhere on the way. As this track is hidden by a guard, maybe I will do this later.
They say it might be snowy or rainy from tonight, I'm getting less and less time for making layout. Feels as if I were an elementary school kid who doesn't finish his summer break homework at the last day of a summer break.

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