ASO MILL Blog

Buying land in Otohime 乙姫で土地探し

2024-04-27 by David

去年から新しいプロジェクトのためにこの乙姫ペンション村で土地を探していました。

ネットにあっちこっちで探していったが、不動屋ホームページはいろいろありました。勉強したときに以下の地図に売っている土地や家の広さと合計価格、そして一坪の価格も載せました。この辺で土地又は家を探している方のためにブログに載せますね。クリックすると大きいバージョンに飛びます。

I've been searching for a new bit of land nearby, for an interesting new project I'm planning. The obvious choice was to look inside the little "Pension (B&B) Village" here in Otohime, as it's all within walking distance of my house.

After many, many hours spent scouring multiple estate agent sites on the net, I compiled all of the available info onto a large map of the area. I thought it might be of interest to anybody else looking for cheap land in this beautiful green area near Aso, so if you click on the map below it will open up the large-scale version with all of my notes written on it.

▲　線で囲まれている情報が家が付いているという意味です。線なしの情報は土地のみです。乙姫の市場価格は大体一坪1.6万円ですが、ほとんどの土地がコズキ不動屋さんの管理になりますので、ありえない価格になっています。残念ですね。

青い部分の一番上に一坪1.5万円の広い土地はあります。しかし、素敵なホテルっぽいの建物も付いていますので、大きいホテルの営業を考えている方にはお勧めですね！以下のリストに1番目になります。

Each bit of land I could find information on has three pieces of information; the total size of the land, the per-tsubo price (useful for comparative purposes), and the total price for the land. Any text surrounded by a rectangular box also contains a house/building, and those are usually slightly more expensive.

The average land price in Otohime is 16,000yen per tsubo (3.3m²), although since many of the pieces of land for sale are being sold by the local golf course, they are occasionally stupidly overpriced! The stand out property is a massive piece of land at the very top of the map, with an equally massive and modern building in good condition - the overall price is large, but the per-tsubo price is dirt cheap and would make a bargain for any business looking for an easy large-scale hotel property. Anyway, it's the top link in the list below, which are links to the various properties, for those who are interested....

結局、新しいプロジェクトのために安い土地が見つかりましたので、先週自分で購入しました！間もなく情報を教えますね！

Ultimately, after much searching and ringing of random telephone numbers, I found my perfect (i.e. cheap!) land tucked away, and just a few days ago I finally took possession. So my new project can now move ahead, and I'll be revealing more details over the coming weeks!

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Scale model of the Inaba Residence 稲葉家下屋敷の模型

2024-03-29 by David

スタジオの新しい模型が展示しております！大分県臼杵市の「稲葉家下屋敷」の1:56スケール模型ですので、120x120cmになっています！ぜひ見に来てくださいね！

There's a new MASSIVE model display in the studio at the moment! This is a 1:56 scale recreation of the Inaba Residence historical house in Usuki City, Oita Prefecture, and it measures 120x120cm in size. This has been the project I've been designing and printing for the past few months, so please come a take a look if you're in the area?

写真撮影のために大きいテーブルを配置しました。ビデオをご覧ください：

Here's a quick timelapse video of me setting up the display ready for a photo session...

Tags: アトリエ studio

Customer request - Pokemon Ball! ポケモンボール

2024-03-19 by David

ご近所の子供が３Dプリンターを見て、何か作りたかったらしいです！このポケモン用ボールをお願いしましたので、次の日にペイントして、完成品はこんな感じでした：

▲ A couple of neighbourhood kids (10 and 7-ish, I think) popped in at the weekend, and asked if they could see the printers working. They asked if I could make them a quick something, and settled on this Pokemon Masterball. Printed in pieces, and painted the next morning, they seemed quite happy with the finished ball!

Tags: customer お客様作品

Leather book cover 古い本の修理

2023-12-29 by David

古い本が大好きです！古い雰囲気の本も好きだけど、本物の革じゃないからダメになりますね。

A little winter project this year was to re-cover and repair a gigantic olde-world-style book.

▲ この素敵な本を15年ほど前から持ったけど、偽物革がダメになったんです。ということは今回のプロジェクトは本の修理です！カバーを外して、本革で新しいカバーを作ります。まったく経験はゼロですが、YouTubeのビデオを見ながら修理できるかなぁ？

I've had this book for about 15 years (it's a collector's edition of a wargames rulebook), but unfortunately the fake leather used for the covers has aged badly, to the extent that it crumbles off in your fingers when you pick it up.

So I decided to try re-covering it in real leather, bought from the craft section of a local DIY store. A big piece of leather cost 2200 yen, and that's about my only expense for this project, other than time. Right, time to watch some how-to videos on YouTube, as I've never done this before!

▲ まずはカバーを切って外しました。

First job was to carefully cut off the old covers and spine.

▲ 古いカバーのボードも新しく作らないといけないので同じ大きさを図りました。

The old cover was firmly attach to the thick boards, so I had to recreate those too.

▲ 100円ショップで買ったスケッチ用のパッドの裏面ボードを使いました。結構厚いボードですので十分固いと思います。

I found some thick card on the back of big sketchpads from the 100 yen shop, and cut that to the same size as the old versions.

▲ 今回、本の背表紙に文字を入れたいです。３Dプリンターで幅2～3ミリの文字をプリントして、そしてネガティブ文字も作りました。ネガティブ文字は強く押す用のプレートになりますが文字の周りに2ミリほど隙間が必要です。この2ミリ隙間は革の厚みで決まっています。

I also wanted to include some extra decorative touches for this book, in the form of embossed letters along the spine. So I turned once again to my trusty 3D printer, and printed some thin letters on a thin (0.2mm!) backing card. I also printed the negative shapes for those letters, with an extra 2mm of space around each letter to allow for the thickness of the leather. This negative would act as a stamp press to better define the letters.

▲ 文字と四角に木材ボンドをブラッシュしました。

Right time to emboss the leather. I brushed wood glue into all the nooks and crevices of the letter plate, before placing that underneath the leather (on the reverse side).

▲ そして、ボンドを付けた文字を革の裏面に張って、正面にネガティブのプレートを置きます。

The negative shape is then placed on the opposite side of the leather, directly above the letters gluing underneath.

▲ その後、24時間ほどクランプと木材で固く押しました。

Then it's simply a matter of pressing the negative shape down hard onto the surface of the leather, clamping it in place for 24 hours or so and leaving the glue to dry.

▲ クランプを外した時にこんな感じになったんです。なんか嬉しい！

It was quite exciting the next morning to unclamp the leather and remove the negative shape.... to find these embossed letters!! That worked beautifully! Thank you, YouTube!

▲ 次はカバーと裏面用のボードも木材ボンドで張りました。ボードの周りに3センチほど余った皮で切りました。

Okay, now we move onto gluing the large front and back boards onto the underside of the leather. These were clamped down and left to dry. A 3cm border of leather was left around each board, and cut at 45 degrees for the corners (2mm away from the board corners, to account for the thickness of the leather).

▲ その3センチの余った皮に木材ボンドを付けて、ボードに曲がりました。これもひとつづつで強く押しました。

Next I carefully folded each side of the 3cm leather borders over, and glued them onto the underside one by one. Clamps and strong pressure are also useful for this step!

▲ 4つのサイドも同じように曲がった後、こんな感じでした。

With all four sides folded over and glued down, my cover looked like this.

▲ あとちょっとです！100ショップで買った黒い用紙を内側に張りました。

I used 2 large sheets of black paper glued down on the inside of each cover side, to hide the joins a little.

▲ 本の背表紙は最後に木材ボンドとクランプで強く押しました。

The spine of the boox pages was liberally brushed with wood glue and clamped down against the spine cover for 24 hours. Not a fast process, this!

▲ カバーの内側と本の背表紙に隙間が空いていましたので、こっちにも黒い用紙を張りました。

I used another couple of strips of black paper to hide the gaps between the covers and inside covers.

▲ あとは飾りだけでした。古いカバーから外されたレジン性飾りを新しいカバーに付けました。これも木材ボンドで付けた。

With the new cover now glued in place, it was time to prettify the book! I carefully reassembled this gorgeous resin hammer motif which came from the original cover, and glued it in place with more wood glue and clamps.

▲ 最後に、Alibabaから注文した真鍮コーナーパーツを付けました。これで完成！

The last step was to add these brass corner protectors, which I found on AliExpress for a couple of dollars (for a pack of 10!). A great match for the brass-effect hammer on the front.

▲ どうですか？文字と真鍮パーツも好きし、革の匂いも素敵です！

All finished! I'm pretty proud of how well that turned out - it really looks like a quality book. Smells great too!

▲　大成功だ！やった。

Onto the next project.....

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Making small tables 小さいテーブル作成

2023-12-22 by David

今月新しい模型を作っています。ただし、結構大きいですので、スタジオにあるテーブルがちょっと足りないみたいです！

The new 3D printing design I'm currently working on in the studio is the Samurai Lord's House, and it covers a massive 120cm x 120cm area! So it looks like I'll need to build some extra tables to give it enough space to be assembled.

▲ 既に90cmx120cmテーブル2台ありますので、合わせたら大きい180cmx120cmテーブルも利用できますが今回小さい90cmx60cmテーブルを作成します。組み合わせは自由に使いたいです。

1x4パインで2個のフレームを作りました。

I already have a couple of bigger 90cm x 120cm tables already, which can be placed together to make a very large 180cm x 120cm table. But this time I wanted to make two smaller 90cm x 60cm tables, which can be placed separately around the studio as display tables, too!

So I started with some cheap 1x4 pieces of pine, laid on top of the existing larger table to make sure the dimensions matched. This produced 2 tabletop 'frames'.

▲ フレームの中に2x4の太い補強を入れました。

Two thicker 2x4 beams were screwed inside the frames, lifted up enough to fit more 1x4s later.

▲ 次の工事は足ですね。他のテーブルと同じように足を２ｘ４で作りました。

Next it's time to create some simple legs. I decided to make these simple box shapes from 2x4s, so that the tables would match the shape of the existing tables. Perhaps overkill in terms of wood, but never mind!

▲ 四角の足を2x4でつなぎました。

Two leg squares were connected for each table, with a thick 2x4 beam on each side.

▲ フレームを足に付けました。

The tabletop frames were then screwed down onto the leg structure, to make sturdy tables.

▲ 最後には卓上を1x4で切って、フレームに木材ボンドで固定しました。

The last phase of construction was to cut 1x4s to make the table tops. I just glued these down inside the frames, because they won't be taking much weight.

▲ それで完成ですが、デザイン性はもうちょっとレベルアップにしたいです。

And there we have it - two completed mini tables!

.... but now I need your ideas!?

I'd like to make the tables a little fancier by carving a couple of small designs into the table surfaces. Any suggestions?

▲ この写真は過去に作ったテーブルです。ファンタジーのテーマでインテリアを作りましたので、この柄をルータで書きました。今回も同じような方法で何かの柄を入れたいですね。柄はまだわからないんですが。。。

This is a large twin-tailed comet motif I carved into a full-sized gaming table a few years back, when I was making a fantasy-themed gaming room. It looked pretty nice when finished and wood-stained, so that's why I'm keen to try again on these smaller tables.

If you have any suggestions, please drop them in the comments below? Thanks!

▲ 冬のプロジェクトはこれです　－　大きい模型です！大分県臼杵市の稲葉家下屋敷の模型ですので、結構広い！

Last photo for today - this is the Samurai Lord's House project I'm currently working on, based on the Inaba Residence in Usuki City, Oita prefecture. It's a biggie!!

Tags: アトリエ studio