Are the first two pics N

Are the first two pics N scale? They look great!

Yep that's N-scale

Hi Denny,

yes that's my 3M switching layout in N-scale. I have been thinking for a name for a long time but one day I found it , the layout is 3 metres long by 40 cm wide, so 3M it was,lol

Trackwork is peco code 55

The first picture was taking when it was standing in my living room, since then it moved upstairs in a spare bedroom which is also my workplace now when I am doing my model building for the bigger HO scale switching yard I am currently building.

Here are some other pictures of the layout, the last 2 are from my N-scale inglenook called "Harlee Valley" cause of my other hobby, Harley's, lol, they didn't load in my intro, hope you enjoy.....

Jappe (Harley's and trains,yéééééééhaw!!!)

Very Impressive !!!

Jappe, I gotta tell ya that I'm very impressed with your modeling. It must be difficult to model an American railroad from Belgium?? Gotta, Love those Harleys as well. Hope to see some photos of your HO scale project.

Hi Spartan

Thanks for the nice comment.

Well I have to admit when I started in N-scale it was a pain in the ....., yes. I knew that such and this existed, but when I asked the local modelshop owner, he looked at me as if I was from another plannet, Very frustrating on times, I can tell you that. But like I said before, with the comming of internet it's getting easier and hobby shops overhere, are seeing the demand for American modelrailroading and are willing to order. It's not the cavern of Ali-Baba yet, but I'm sure in time we'll have our choice. It's more a demand and economical problem for the hobby shops overhere and with the new "low" stock fashion we have overhere, not much owners are taking risks. But then again, if you realy want some thing the more pleasure you have when it's hard to get and you finally get it. (wow I typed this in one breath,lol) For now, the major ordering I am doing is with Germann online shops. In Germanny for instance, American modelrailroading is wayyyy further then in Belgium. Of course, you have to order through a picture, but before I order,  I read, read and read some more on a model, wanted and for 99%, when the reviews are ok, the model is to. (forums come in handy here).

As for the Harley's, lol, yep ya gotta love them since I don't know anny other brand, lol, and I have been riding them since 24 years now. (sorry if I stepped on some toes here, lol, I was j/k on the other brands) At the moment I own a 2000 evo Fat Boy and a 1997 evo Electra Glide Ultra Classic. And they are going to be keepers.

This as a side note reflection,

In modeling you have to bare in mind one rule, if it's pleasing to you, you are on the rite track. Every one has his own perseption, don't try to duplicate what you like on a contest, magazine etc etc etc. Instead, study what you like and try to give your perseption. If, at that moment your skills don't reach those of the modeler which models you like, don't worry, one day you'll be there or even further. We all started one day with the bigg ?????'s, lol, : " how the h..... does he do that " or " geeezzzz I'd better go fishing, I'll never am going to have that ". Don't dispare, just continue...and one day (just like I did) you'll be running downstairs showing off your model to the mrs and be proud like you just did a home run, lol. One thing I learned is, that when you are satisfied, go a little further and here is when a model stands out. I could go on for hours on this, but, hey, I have a modelrailroad to build, lol.

The pictures of the HO-scale switching yard will follow asap, but in time, I learned to model without deadlines, so, like I said "asap" .

Ok, that's it for now.....

Jappe (Harley's and trains, yéééééééhaw!!!)

Real nice modeling & Super nice bikes

Jappe, It's still a real pain for me even modeling a US Prototype, as I have to order just about everything I want or need, from a picture. The "local" hobby shop is a hour travel either north to Kansas City or south to Joplin and even then they don't always have what I want. I usually order from Walthers but they don't always have what you want either, so I do the next best thing, I order something close and then modify it to work or look correct. I'll be building a new layout very soon, as soon as I get all the wife's summer projects finished, hopefully within the next two weeks or so I'll be able to get the materials to convert an out building for a space for my new Frisco Railroad, set in Kansas between August and October 1929. I have to insulate, wire, sheetrock and all the other things involved with remodeling as suitable space for a layout. It won't be as big as I would like but I'm happy to get the space, as now I'm limited to building diorama's and such to keep my skills from back stepping. Also, have been working on my fleet of rolling stock as well.

I have to tell you that your bikes are really nice, I like the Ultra Classic the best. Someone other than Harley makes bikes, thats news to me.Must be a real eye catcher riding a Harley in Belgium. Are there many Harleys over there?? What about parts? Is there a dealership close to you??

Anxious to see your photos of your HO switching layout soon, no deadline. lol

Regards,

Pictures of the H's&T's

Yo,

ok, promissed some pictures so here they come..........the first ones are from a couple a months ago, laying down track and testing...........

As for now I'm working on the first section, still basic, but comming along..........scratchbuild warehouse, kitbashed Walthers warehouse, a Rix warehouse cut-up.......when I think about it, still a long way to go, lol, om......., these pics where taken a few minutes ago, sorry for the quality ......

and finally, a weathered o-8-0 just for fun............

Hope you enjoy.........

To bad I aint closer to you Spartan, I'd be glad to help out a hand on getting you started.......

But be warned, when your tracks are down, test run them for some weeks and then put those lokomotivs back in the box, cause once ya start riding.............well, ya keep riding.........and forget about the rest, lol.

When the ground cover on the first section will be down, I am going to start on the painting of the warehouses and fuel unloading dock, still waiting on BLMA's fence wire kit and some details. The only deadline I set myself for this section is the end of this year, so I can start fresh on the second section. Not forgetting I have to scratchbuild my palmtrees ...it's a "a la " lance Mindheim east rail district..........,here is a picture of a try-out, unpainted

...and with all that, fine tuning my roster on the sound side (loksound and tsunami).......So you see, still alot of work, but that's the fun in our hobby, you always have some thing to do....................

As for the Harley's;

The Ultra is my "go to rally" bike, easy on the packing, the Fat Boy is my (like a States brother likes to call it )  " hillbillchromeposer " bike, lol.  And yes, there is more and more people riding Harley's overhere, but it still remains an eye catcher, with those samson open pipes on the Fat Boy it's even an ear catcher, lmao.  And yes we have dealers overhere, thing is, they think H-D stands for HIGH DOLLAR and I am staying away from them as long as I can, doing most of maintenance myself with the help of some biker bro's.......here and yourways.

Ok that's it for me........and today not going to work on the layout anny more but going to watch AVP requiem,...did I already tell, that I'm a huuuuuuuge sci-fi fan too, Predator, Alien, Aliens, Star Wars, Star Trek..., collecting movie figurines........Spartan, you beeing a Halo fan, you should check out Kotobukiya, they have some thing for you there.

Jappe (Harley's and trains , yéééééééééééhaw!!!)

Science Fiction, Model Railroading, etc.

Jappe, Thanks for posting your photos, very nice. Your layout seems to coming along very nicely. I Love the pict of the 0-8-0 very nice job with the weathering. I assume you did it yourself ? You should check out http://www.modeltrainsweathered.com I have been a member for awhile now. I think you would like it, I do. Yeah, I could sure use the help getting my building all set up. This will be my 12th layout, I won't have the space to do some of the things I would like to do but some concessions must be made for the available space. I learned lots on my last layout, mistakes I won't make again. I will use a better and heavier grade of plywood for my sub-roadbed. I came across some 3/4" 10 ply smooth finish plywood for a very decent price, so this is what I will be using. I'm planning to model the area that I live in, Fort Scott, KS was a railroad town back in the day with seven railroads running through the town. The yard could hold 1000 plus cars, plus round house and car barn. This was only the Frisco railroad. The Missouri Pacific and the MKT had very big presences here as well. As far as my roster goes I have been working on it for awhile now, I have all of my cars fine tuned for coupler height, weight etc. Now I have to get everthing weathered. I have 5 steam engines as of now, 2 bachman spectrum 4-8-2's, 1 bachman spectrum 4-6-0, a bachman 0-6-0 and a very old bachman 2-8-0 and have plans for more 4-8-2's and 2-10-2's plus an 0-8-0 or two as well. I have collected bunches of freight cars and passenger cars as well, I have about 60 freight cars and 20 or so passenger cars now.

I also am a very big SF fan. I grew up on Star Wars and Star Trek (all of them). Haven't seen AVP requiem yet. Was it good?? Can't wait for the new Star Trek movie next year and the new Star Wars movie next year also. I am a big fan of Lord of the Rings as well and am waiting impatiently for the new LTR movie, The Hobbit. WHat is Kotobukiya?? Never heard of it. I admit that I have a weakness for the Halo Universe. Wish they would get their heads out and make the Halo movie. BTW you can e-mail me at kingofhalo2k4@yahoo.com I guess that I have rambled on long enough, hope to hear from ya soon.

Model Trains, Harleys and Halo, Yeehaw!!!!

Pictures of your HO switching layout

Hi Jappe:

I have been enjoying reading your blog and the pictures of your n scale layout but for some reason the space for your HO pictures are blank. I was hoping to view your track plan as it looks very interesting and realistic.I have worked on several short lines and your modeling certainly captures what they look like.

Thanks, for sharing.

Barry

Hi Jappe from Belgium...

I'm also an Nscaler from Belgium Brussels and very happy to meet you here.

It's funny to find a Begian US modeler so far on a US site which models US TRains.

We never meet in person but congratulation for your work, look great, but I can't resist to post You some pictures of my Nscale models.

Hope to see you later.

Hey...

...Marc,

good to have you here buddy. You'll see why I ended up here once you got around on MRH.

All great people here and finest modelers.

Myself I started out with N scale but moved on to H0, getting tired of the frustration of not being able to get the N-scale goodies I wanted at the time being. That of course was before the internet....

Looking at your pictures you are doing a great job, so keep up the great work. Who knows maybe one day we can meet up at a trainshow....​

Hope to meet you

Hello again,

Yes would be nice to meet you, I'm ready to go like every year to Rail and two weeks after to Ontraks both at Utrecht, may be the best trainshow I know whith a level of quality which never go down but really up!

And for the fun, I just open a blog here about scratchbuilding a high lift rotary coal dumper...in Nscale.

See You later.

Marc