N Scale Mini Diorama Modules

Over the past couple of weeks, I discovered a new type of N scale module. These were originated by Kato and marketed as school classroom projects, but their appeal has extended into the model rail hobby. Here's an example of a finished module by Australian modeler Maureen Kathage from a post on the Mini Diorama Model Railroading Facebook group (her photo).

Although they're quite a bit smaller than T-TRAK modules, they're very similar in principle, since they're meant to be set up on tables and are dimensioned to use Kato N Unitrack, with Kato Unijoiners forming both the mechanical and electrical connection between modules.

At this point, these are sold as kits for straight or curved modules. The straights are meant for Kato 20-020 4-7/8" straight sections, while the curves are meant for Kato 20-172 7" curve sections. These are sharp -- the equivalent of less than 15" in HO -- but N scale GP style locos and 50-foot boxcars will run on them.

Module kits are available on eBay from US and Japan sources, as well as from Amazon, and apparently from a Kato US web site. However, they can be pretty expensive from some sources. The least expensive are US-made clones from Klawndyke's. I've found that these are robust, high-quality products, and he fills orders promptly.

Kato USA has a video on assembling their module kit:

And another one on adding scenery to a completed module kit:

There are other videos like this one that show how to use relatively inexpensive scenery materials from Michaels or Hobby Lobby to finish a basic module kit.

The use of materials like modeling clay makes these modules a somewhat "arty" project. Another is the shape of the modules, which encourages the artistic quality of asymmetry.

There's also the similarity of the N scale mini diorama modules to the bonsai hobby, in which a plant is kept in a dwarf form and pruned into an artistic shape. In modules as small as these, there's a need to evoke the sense of something larger with artistic techniques.

This strrikes me as a fascinating recent development in the hobby, which I want to follow up.