Month: September 2013

German Railways, Product Review2 Comments

ICE/IC: Spot the Differences

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ICE (InterCity Express) and its sister IC (InterCity) would make regular appearances on my future layout. A common sight in Germany, it takes keen sight to spot the differences in various ICE classses (Baureihe in Deutsch); between ICE 1 and 2, variations in ICE 3 and even rarer sight of ICE (MET). Hope these drawings help you. ICE 1 ICE 2 ICE 3 Series 1 ICE 3 Series 2 ICE 3(M) ICE T ICE TD IC ICE (formerly MET (Metropolitan)) In 2014 we will see the new IC double-level coaches from Bombardier. Brawa will offer this model in H0- and … Continue reading ICE/IC: Spot the Differences

German Railways, Layout PlanningLeave a comment

3 Goldie-Loks(chuppen)

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3 engine sheds (Lokschuppen in Deutsch) at one location? Yes, Würzburg has 3; at least 2 are still in working condition. I guess it must be an important stop point during the steam days. There is an inland river port west of this station along the Main river. Würzburg is located in the midpoint between Frankfurt and Nürnberg (Nuremberg). 3 ICE long distance lines stop at this station – Munich-Würzburg-Hamburg, Vienna-Würzburg-Dortmund and Munich-Würzburg-Essen. The German ICE world speed record started from this Würzburg-Hamburg stretch on 1 May 1988. And who says you can’t have (open-air) engine shed for electric locos. Continue reading 3 Goldie-Loks(chuppen)

Benchwork, Layout Planning, Planning Book1 Comment

Tilt Table Layouts in Action

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It is good to know that there are people who have tilt table layouts. In Nscale.net and Nscale.org, the forumers referred me to their fellow members who have tilt-table layout – Gene (aka epumph in Nscale.net) and the late Suzan (aka steamedup in Nscale.org). With Gene’s permission and in loving memory of Suzan, who passed away sometime ago, I would like to share with you their construction of a tilt-table layout and how you could adopt them for yours. Gene (aka epumph) Gene from New Jersey, USA models a fictional Turtle Creek Industrial RR in N-scale on a 4ft 4in x 8ft 6in … Continue reading Tilt Table Layouts in Action

Layout VisitsLeave a comment

Yuki Kazeful’s N-gauge Layout

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For a short pause from my regular bla-bla-bla, I would like to introduce to you Yuki Kazeful’s 2.7m x 1.5m N-gauge (1:150 on 9mm track) layout. I viewed his Youtube videos regularly and am amazing by the details and precision (was that an understatement for a Japanese?) on that small layout. His rural setting with modern and steam trains transversing the layout is simply WOW. Take a look at this layout plan. He has visually made the layout look like there are 3 different scenes, all blended seamlessly. Yuki Kazeful’s layout plan 3 scenes taken from Yuki Kazeful’s Youtube videos. … Continue reading Yuki Kazeful’s N-gauge Layout

Benchwork, Layout Planning, Planning BookLeave a comment

Visualising My Layout – Peeling the Onion

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In my previous blog, I have showed how the prototype benchwork will look once it has been constructed. While waiting for comments and the quotation, I will explain how the layout will be built on top of the base frame. Remember that I am adopting and adapting Oliver Bachmeier’s Neustadt H0-scale layout in N-scale. Oliver’s original layout is 3.3m x 1.5m. My original intention was to scale that to 70%, to fit to the IKEA IVAR frames which when combined, will be 2.3m x 1.0m. If I follow truly to the scaling from HO- to N-scale, the same 3.3m x … Continue reading Visualising My Layout – Peeling the Onion

Benchwork, Layout Planning, Planning BookLeave a comment

Visualising My Layout – The Benchwork

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Call me crazy or mad but I believe in conceptualisation and visualisation. During my high-school days, we were taught a subject called “Industrial Arts (IA)”. In this subject, over a period of 3 years, we were taught metal works, wood works, electrical and mechanical works. I must thank my IA teachers for imparting to me the knowledge of drafting. So, instead of creating a physical prototype, I put them on papers. Here is how I envisioned my layout, starting with the benchwork. As I mentioned earlier, real estate space is a premium to me. I measured the space I could … Continue reading Visualising My Layout – The Benchwork

Introduction, Layout PlanningLeave a comment

All Aboard!

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Finally, I got the green signal to proceed, just like the engineer on this Deltic diesel loco. Well, I won’t be charging ahead at full throttle but at least I could pick up some speed – something to do over the autumn and winter seasons and to get my mind off work during the weekends. The drawings for my tilt-table layout, which has been gathering dust for the last few months, are now out of my file and are being fine-tuned. Oliver Bachmeier’s Neustadt layout – at least with some modifications – will come alive in N-scale on a 2.5m x 1.2m 2-level layout. I have a couple … Continue reading All Aboard!