Hack Bridges ("Hack Brücken")

Quick post on some bridge options that are new to me, and may be something interesting to other folks.   A company called Hack Brueken (Brueken - or Brücken - means 'bridges' in German...Thank you Google Translate!) creates pre-assembled metal bridges in an interesting array of styles and lengths (and in multiple scales).  I came across these bridges on eBay and from the description seemed like a something worth checking out for my overpass on the 'red line'.  I have to say, I am very pleased!

Despite being made of metal, they are very lightweight, and definitely feel more solid than any plastic kit you would purchase and assemble (well, maybe not you, but for me..... yeah, some of these plastic kits require far more dexterity and patience and skill with tweezers than I have, but that's another story....).  While very close inspection does not show a lot of detail (e.g. no rivets), I find the general scale of the girders and beams to look a bit more 'realistic' than the usually much thicker 'plastic varieties'.  I think each has its place, and the idea for me is to have a little bit of diversity on the layout for different lines, so it works for me to have both.  Below is the Kato double-track bridge compared to a Hack single track bridge I'm using on my 'expansion':

I like the arched through-truss bridge so much, I ordered a shorter deck-truss bridge as well, although I'm a little undecided about where it will go. 

Full disclosure is that I know very little about bridge types, so if my 'through-truss' and 'deck truss' descriptions are wrong, I got the explanations from ye olde Wikipedia.

So if you're looking for a bridge that is a bit different than the normally available ones, I'd recommend checking out "Hack"...either on eBay or on their website (I shouldn't have to say this, but I have no relationship with this company, just passing on some neat stuff I found).

Creating Sidewalks

Having (finally) come to a point where I think have 'enough' (is there really ever enough? :-) ) buildings to start putting my city together, the question of how to tie together various buildings- from different manufacturers- needs to finally be answered. Specifically, how to create a city scene with consistent looking sidewalks especially since most manufacturers have various ways of adding (or not) this feature to the structure.

Its very apparent that just using the 'default' sidewalks from various structures, and patching the gaps for those buildings without sidewalks, just won't look right. You also may, as I do, want to add street lights and other features. Additionally, given that every building in my city now has electricity (this is a modern city after all!) that means a LOT of wires need to be managed.

My solution is to create 'city blocks' that will have all the various buildings attached to the 'block' and allow for me to create a consistent sidewalk look. In addition, by unifying multiple buildings on one piece of 'city block', I can more easily manage the various electrical wires and connections.

In order to have 'sidewalks' that sit flat, are sturdy enough to hold multiple buildings, and stand up to the drilling etc... (to allow for the holes for the electrical wires) it has to be thin and rigid. The best choice I found is 1.5mm styrene sheets. According to some online scale calculators I used, where 1.9mm = 1 foot, then my sidewalk height is around 7 inches, which seems to be about right (and visually it looks good, see photo next to car).

As for how to set up my city block, I tried different combinations of buildings; looking for the best combination of height, width, and length, to give the appropriate affect. The photo shows a mock up of what I think will be 'city block #1'. The overall dimensions of this block are 8" x 16", a second block (not shown) is a bit wider at 9" x 16".

After determining the dimensions for my city blocks, I carefully cut the corners using a coin as a guide. I then made very light 'grooves' in the styrene for the sidewalk markings. I made a very small 'outline' for the curb around the entire outside edge, and then added in a grid of small, light grooves with the hobby knife for the main sidewalk part itself.

I used a 'concrete' colored spray paint from the local hobby shop. After that dried, I used some diluted Citadel black and brown ink (the Games Workshop brand, but I think any dilated paint would work just as well) to darken the grooves I made with the knife earlier.

I'll post some photos of the sidewalks and 'city blocks' once I've attached the buildings (the plan is to use hot glue to attach them, but not sure how well that will work) lights, and everything is all wired up!

The Scale Question: 1:150 and 1:160 buildings

Many of my building projects lately have been based on Japanese 1:150 models. I had been noticing these buildings online for quite some time, but the fact that they weren't 1:160 scared me off, until some kind soul on of the N Scale forums told me not to worry too much about it. So I jumped in!

In the spirit of that original, anonymous poster who encouraged me to give the 1:150 buildings a try, I thought I would try and share some 'side by side' comparisons of relatively common buildings found in North America, and put some typical Japanese buildings next to them.

Example 1, below, from left, is the Tomix (actually, Tomytec) Cylindrical Building, and a Kato office building, alongside a (slightly modified) cheap Model Power building. Just by looking at the photo, it does appear that the Kato's doorways are slightly smaller, and the Tomix doorways seem even smaller still. However, comparing the first four stories of the two buildings on the right, it seems like they are pretty close. The Tomix (or Tomytec?) cylindrical building does appear to be slightly smaller than the other two, but how noticeable this would be to a casual observer is hard to know.

Example 2 (again, below), is another comparison between a relatively common N Scale building, the "drive in" (can't recall the official name) compared to the Tomix 7-11 convenience store. Any differences between these two are, for me, very hard to notice, and they look perfectly compatible.

For my 3rd and final example, again, another standard Model Power building compared to a TomyTec 'Town Collection" building. In this case, the doorway on the Tomytec tea is noticeably smaller. For me, this is probably too much, and this building would likely be hidden in a little noticed area of a city (near the back, where the small door way is not noticeable and adds to depth perception?) or it becomes a candidate for some creative kit-bashing.

So what's the final verdict? In most cases, I have found the differences too hard for the casual observer to notice, the exception to this seems to be the Tomytec models (which, for reasons unknown to me, are different than Tomix models) which do appear to be noticeably smaller when placed nearby a standard 1:160 (or even Kato) structures. However, if these sort of details are something you can't live with, I would recommend you avoid the 1:150 structures. If, like me, you find the differences hard to notice if not negligible, then I would suggest you try one like I did and see how you like the results. There's a lot to choose from for under $20 and a whole new world of interesting, MODERN, buildings are yours to be had!

The one thing I find perplexing, and maybe I just have this whole scale thing wrong, but it seems to me that 1:150 should be LARGER than 1:160-not smaller-which is, as shown above, the apparent pattern! Anyone with any ideas on this please leave a comment and fill me and others in!

Modelling tip: Using caulk to fill gaps

This post is sort of a 'cheat' I came up with for plastic models that don't quite come together right in the construction process, and end up with an unsightly gap on the completed model. Yuck! Who wants that! I'll admit, most of these 'gaps' are self-inflicted and could be overcome if I had a bit more patience, the right tools (clamps or other bracing), and so on.... unfortunately, there's too much to do and I don't always want to spend a huge amount of time on one section of one kit! This is probably a more acceptable cheat when you are 'kitbashing' a structure as its often impossible to get just precisely the right cut the first time out.


The solution I found is to use paintable caulk. I am sure most people are familiar with this type of product. I've tried in the past to use some types of modeling putty for this job, buy I've often found them to be quite grainy and difficult to work with. Standard household caulk seems to work really well at filling gaps and cracks. Since I often re-paint most of my buildings to tone down the factory plastic colors, add realism, increase opacity, and so on, its easy for me to repaint over the caulk (which is why its important to use 'paintable' caulk!) which obviously comes in very limited colors that won't match the building!

Application could not be easier. I started by using a q-tip to apply the caulk to the model, but found that just putting a bit on the finger and applying it directly worked better. A damp paper towel cleans up the caulk easily and quickly. In several hours, the caulk is dry and ready for repainting. Note that in the 'after' picture at the top of this post, the caulk had not been painted. Even so, the difference to me is quite incredible.

Playing around with downtown

Here's a photo of the downtown area with some of the newer buildings and structures I've been working on. This is a big part of "Layout Version 3", which will include a much denser downtown, a trolley line, and a 'real' passenger train station/extension to the layout. I expect most of this will be my 'Fall project' on the layout, so for the time being I am just 'thinking' about what to do and collecting materials for the ultimate start or construction!

Travelers taking a photo

Its been a while since I've posted anything here, I've been somewhat distracted now that Summer has finally arrived. Here's a photo taken on the platform below my Kato Overhead Station. This area is lit with some warm white LED's that are wired into the floor of the Station. The figures are from Preiser (or they could be the Kato figures, which are also Preiser).

Product Comments: Brawa pin socket LED lights

When I first came across these novel lighting products from German manufacturer Brawa, I was blown away with what a great idea these were! Brawa has produced N Scale lights that use a small metal pin which is inserted into a socket that you install in your layout, allowing for flexibility and stability that is hard to achieve with other alternatives. Additionally, they are LEDs which means that you get a light that will last much longer than a conventional incandescent bulb, plus low heat, and low power consumption. The 'plug and play' simplicity of the pins and sockets mean that you can change light fixtures as you wish, and if you need to replace a bad bulb (in theory with LED's, a rare occurrence?), changing the bulb/light fixture cannot be easier.

I love this idea and despite the relatively hefty per light price, it seems like a good investment. A Brawa 4000 (single, curved street light) goes for about USD $11-13. Brawa's similar non-Led and traditional wire version is about 30% less at USD $7-8. Of course, you can go with the very cheap Model Power versions, where you can get a pack of 3 for about $6-9. I don't care much for the Model Power versions despite the price (they just look cheap to me). Brawa has a similar 'traditional' model as well (the #4596) but this has the same challenges and limitations as the Model Power lights.



Brawa continues to come out with new light styles, with remarkable quality for N scale, allowing you to change lights or 'upgrade' if you find something that better creates the ambiance you are looking for. Take a look at the picture of the two lanterns near my cathedral.

The only 'down side' with these lights is that they are definitely the 'blue-ish' white type of LED's, and not the more 'warm white' versions that I think most of us prefer. This seems acceptable for street lights, which can often be 'blue or green-ish' (except for the Netherlands, where all the lights are quite orange! I've always wondered what the reason for that is, other than the obvious Orange symbollism...anyway, I digress).

The trick with installation is that you should ensure you have a 5.5mm drill bit (or the closest thing possible) and a power drill to bore the hole for the socket. Don't go too far, otherwise your drill will leave a bit of an impressions on your sidewalk, for example (ugh, also see my sidewalk around the 'socket' in my second-from-top photo)!

Unfortunately, I have to report that my experience has not been great. Of the 18 that I currently have or have had installed on the layout, 9 of them no longer work! The instructions imply that these lights should be used with the Brawa plugs, plate, and cables connected to a 12-16v power supply (the non-LED, non pin socket versions specify 14-16v AC for longest life, but no preference for AC or DC in the LED pin socket instructions is specified).


My connection is to an AC transformer with a max of 18VAC. Its likely that the max voltage was turned up one too many times and some of the LED's were fried (not not all of them, and the ones that went dark seem to do so individually). Additionally, the instructions state not to remove the lights with the power on. Yep, I've done that before. However, I've always noticed the the lights continued to work on those few times when I removed them from the socket with the power on. I've also noticed a curious decrease in the LED's brightness which I now recongize as an early sign that the light will soon fail altogether.

Its a mystery to me why I have a failure rate of 50%, which is clearly not acceptable! Something has to change! The Brawa fixtures look great, although I am adding in some Viessmann lights which look just as good with traditional bulbs. I am going to change my power supply, and because I like simple, clean, and easy to connect type of arrangements for wiring (just like with Unitrack), I will probably order the Brawa plates and plugs (I still have enough 4000, 4020, and others already installed and waiting to be installed to make this salvage effort worth it). If any reader with more electrical knowledge than me (which is near zero) has any suggestions that might help, I'd like to hear from you. Otherwise, at this point, I have to say this esteemed and high quality German manufacturer seems to have a great product concept, but it has been a disappointing experience for me (so far).

Urban Development at 1:160

The project that I have been working on lately revolves around trying to get somewhat typical lighting into my buildings and structures. I've always been interested in this part of the hobby/layout building, and some recent successes with LED lights, which are great given their relatively long life span and low heat output, have made some of my desires- to add more 'realistic' types of lighting effects to buildings -very achievable and very affordable. It also hasn't hurt to give me an opportunity to work on my soldering skills!

I first started using 'pre-assembled' LED lights, particularly the 'universal' kind, in some buildings, which I was purchasing online from ModelTrainSoftware.com. While these work quite well, at around $5 a pop, I figured it would be far more cost effective if I figured out how to do it myself.

There are really only two things to do after I decided to start trying to 'build' my own LED lights. The first is that I am going to have to learn to solder. The second, is to figure out all of those voltage, ma, and resistor calculations. There is no short cut for the former, however, for the later, I've found the LED Center and their "linear1" website which features a foolproof (nearly) calculator for both single LED's and the LED's in series.


From there, its all about figuring out your voltage source, and then getting the right LED's and the right resistors. I've started to get these from eBay given the amazingly cheap prices you pay for quantities of 50 or 100!

The lighting projects I am most interested in are adding some 'back lit' signs to buildings and signs as they seem to be nearly everywhere. Its an area of lighting that I expect to give a lot of 'color' and 'life' to my layout. Other than neon signs, these seem to be the most common method for stores and other commercial entities. You can kind of see the effect I am going for in the above picture, which has a typical 'unlit' sign between two 'backlit' signs (which is clear plastic added in after cutting out the original plastic in those parts of the building).

Its a bit hard to tell from the photos (I could not get the right shutter speed to show it accurately) but what I've done is collected various types of clear, flat or cube-shaped plastic, reduced it to the appropriate size for the sign (which means lots of hand sanding, difficult cutting, or grinding on my belt sander), drilled a small hole for the LED to be glued into on the 'back' side, and applied a white decal to the sign front (I am using the Testors Inkjet, white backed decals, which have not been altogether succesful). You can see one building face in progress, with all of the LED's, wires, and resistors sticking out.

Wallah! Backlit signage! However, I have mixed feelings about the progress so far. The LED's certainly provide enough luminosity to appear like 'backlit signs',but the decals are a weak link, which is not too surprising. I have tried 'transparent' inkjet stickers (the kind you can get at the office supply stores), but my results with those were awful; they just don't 'absorb' enough ink. On the other hand, while the decals absorb enough ink (in fact, I cannot use 'photo-quality' settings with my printer as that puts too much ink on the decal and it melts away in the water, even after sealing with dullcote or the Testors decal bonder sprays) but lose a lot of crispness in the process. I may double up some decals in order to add some 'crispness' and color.

One final comment on LED's is that they have a very 'focused', almost spotlight-like beam. This is great for headlights, but not great for signage. I'm trying a lot of different things to overcome this affect, from sanding the LED to sanding the clear plastic the LED will be mounted in (to diffuse the light beam a bit), but one of the better looking signs is the backlit "Burger Konig" sign in which I did not embed the LED's in the plastic, but rather attached them further behind the sign with a glue gun (glue guns, of course, emitting that clear gooey mess, which works pretty well for 'diffusing' light). This distance back from the sign allows for the narrow light 'funnel' from the LED's (of which I used 3 in this case) to 'spread' rather than maintain a tight circle.

I'll add additional updates and photos on this project, hopefully I will get a 'city block' done soon and can move onto other parts of the layout!

Track down!

With most of the major 'messy' scenery work done, I was able to lay the track and run some trains! I'll go into more detail and post photos as I get some of the remaining lose ends of scenery and track mounting completed, but for now here are a couple of shots of the layout as it stands a few days before Christmas:

Final Stages of Major Scenery Work almost complete!

Well, time to celebrate! Most of the major scenery work is now almost complete...a few more minor things and I am ready to start laying the track and work out the little details (where the track won't be compromised by messy major scenery work!). A few photos to show the progress:

Adding Foliage

In my previous post, I explained how I really enjoyed adding scenery by using a mixture of acrylic paints and ordinary white glue to provide a good base for the ground color (in my case, a grey-ish color) to top off with all the flocking and other sprinkling. In this post, I want to add to that technique with a very cool and very good looking product that I've discovered from our German hobby manufacturing friends at Heki and Noch.

In the below photo, there is some bare scenery to which was applied the 'grey' paint + glue mixture:



Next, I tear a piece of Noch Foliage. This material is similar to the standard flocking material that we have available in the states, except that it comes in a sheet form (without any visible backing) and little pieces can be torn (or whatever size you want) and then placed on the layout:


The foliage material is then simply placed on the wet glue/paint:



And when finished, this very easy, and comparatively 'clean', process yields some very realistic results:



A view of the same 'wall area' with a little more scenery added using the same basic technique:


And an almost final view of the entire area, still, not quite finished, but I think the results are looking good.



What I like most about this process is that it was relatively fast, a lot 'cleaner' than sprinkling powdered flock all over the place (and NO spraying of glue to hold it in place!) and the results turned out quite nice. Below are the main two products I used for the area shown in the photos:





The Heki product, a longer 'wild grass' is similar material on a sheet, but is long grass....a lot easier than some of the electrostatic methods that look way too complicated. The only down side with these products is that they are not the cheapest available, and you'll have to order them as most hobby shops don't stock these items from these companies.

A better way to add scenery

I read about this technique in the Minitrix Guide. Yes, there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of different books and articles on how to add scenery to your layout, but this method I read about in the Minitrix book was new to me, and I decided to try it.

In the past, I have used the traditional ("Woodland Scenics"?) method of applying glue, sprinkling powdered flocking and material, and then spray it with a covering of diluted glue, water, and dish soap.

In this example, what I did is not so different. The big difference, and what I like about this approach, is mixing your white glue (good old every day Elmer's works just fine) with some acrylic paints (get the cheap ones!) to create a sort of greyish ground color.


Why grey? I don't know what it is about grey but for me, and the type of landscaping I like to model (forests, grassland, and mountainous areas), a greyish/brown sort of color is a very good looking representation of soil / ground. Of course, that wouldn't work if I was doing a desert or arid landscaping...

After mixing your glue/pain mixture, apply liberally to the area to be covered. In this photo, I am actually retouching an area on my original layout that needed to be fixed up.


After applying the goop, I went with the standard canisters of Woodland Scenics materials. Wa-lah! The grass is greener! And the great thing is that you don't need 100% solid coverage with the scenery material to make it look good, as those areas where it is more thin, the grey paint shows through for a very realistic ground appearance.


There's another approach using some European made scenery products that unfortunately aren't readily available at your local hobby shop that I think are even better than this (or a nice complement to it), that I will show in a later post.

A rigid sub-base

A material that I became acquainted with through my Dad's use of it for creating indoor signage, is "Sintra", which is 1/8" thick, black plastic sheet material. I get it in large sheets from Tap Plastics, and then cut out the area to be used to fit on top of my styrofoam structures.

You can see the black plastic glued to the top of my styrofoam areas:


Obviously, having a rigid foundation is nice to ensure a nice, level and firm sub-roadbed. The disadvantage of this material is that it does seem to conduct track noise a bit more than other materials, but its something I can live with.

I also use this material to construct some of the custom bridges/overpasses shown below.

Adding Rocks

Having removed the Unitrack from the layout (see previous post), I am now at liberty to make a complete mess of the layout wihtout fear of harming my track!

First up, are some stone molds from Woodland Scenics.



I added some acrylic mars black paint to the Hydrocal batter to give the rocks a pre-formed, dark grey look. Inevitably, these will chip I expect, and rather than a 'bright white' chip, the extra 'insurance' a dark grey plaster will provide is a very easy and worthwhile step!



This was my first attempt at casting and using these rock molds. My dad showed me a thing or two about these a couple of years ago with my O gauge layout, and it looked a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. And I was right! Two important tips: One, get the mix of water to plaster right! My first mold was bit too 'wet' and the casting did not turn out all that well. I learned my mistake, and the mold is still salavabeable, but lesson learned! It is worth it to measure the water and powder! Lesson 2, is that ordinary household 'Pam' (a cooking oil spray usually used for muffins and other househild baking!) is great for spraying into the mold before pouring in the wet plaster. I had no problem removing the hardened molds.



Of course, now that I've completed my rock molds, time to clean up the rubber molds and prepare to sell them on eBay!

A layout process with Unitrack

My planning process for the layout is based one over-riding principle: In order to preserve and create a running environment that is as flaw-free as possible, all scenery and landscaping will be done without the track on the table!

This, to me, is the greatest benefit of Kato's Unitrack. Since it is already ballasted, a lot of the traditional books and processes for landscaping (apply roadbed, apply track, scenery, ballast, clean up) are just not as relevant wiht Unitrack, so is there a better way? I think so.

However, this will mean some loss of detail. As good as the Unitrack is, its not perfectly realistic. I am willing to make that trade off, and I hope that the overall performance of the layout and cleanliness of the track outweigh any tradeoffs in the appearance.



So, after having decided on a final track plan (see below), and then adding in all the 'structural' elements (styrofoam, risers for grades) and the 'terrain smoothing' application with Sculpt-a-mold, I have a very ugly, but very useful layout wherein I layout all my Unitrack and do final checks for clearances and track placement.

I carefully mark the 'clearance' and footprint areas for the track, and then remove it all. Now on to the mess that is known as applying scenery (without the expensive, sensitive, and critical pieces of the track sitting in the line of fire to get ruined or compromised!).

The one thing that my process may not address (and I am admittedly a bit lazy to figure out how to solve for this) is that I don't disconnect all of the track, but keep it in 4 to 5 foot sections for easy replacement once the scenery is in place. This leads to the inevitable 'bowing' of the track as you attempt to manipulate 7 or sections in between the layout and a holding area while doing the scenery. I am concerned that this will loosen the uni-joiners leading to poor contact later. I may have to replace some of the uni-joiners as a result. We shall see.

Making progress on the new layout!

I have set an 'unofficial' deadline to have most landscaping and most track all laid and wired by Christmas. As of today, that's only 18 days away...and there is still a lot to do!

Here's the progress so far. Below you can see the original 'single door' layout (with my kids) and then beyond it, the 'expanded' (and bare) extension:



Here's a shot from the opposite side of the layout (this is late in August):



From the same angle as the above photo, below we jump ahead to the end of November...styrofoam is being laid out and actual track planning is being performed to ensure that the 'computer model' of the layout will work in reality!