A "Yokohama Meister" craftsman with outstanding skills selected by Yokohama City. Inami-san makes all-in-one orders for steam and electric locomotives and other railway models (mainly made of brass) from design to completion. Taking advantage of the size of OJ gauge [1/45 size, rail width 24.0mm] and O gauge [1/45 size, rail width 32.0mm], which are much larger than the general railway model N gauge [mainly 1/150 size, rail width 9mm], he responds to various requests from customers who want to reproduce the same structure as the real thing. Based on accurate machining such as lathe, milling, pressing, shearing, and drilling, he assembles the products by soldering and screwing, etc., and proposes new ways of expression for each product while getting hints for processing methods from other industries such as medical equipment manufacturing and optical equipment manufacturing. (Photo taken in August 2023) “Yokohama Meisters” are high-skilled handworkers chosen by the City of Yokohama. Yukio Inami makes models of steam/electric locomotives and other rail vehicles primarily using brass. He builds each model to order, overseeing the entire process from design to completion. He works in the OJ scale (1:45 with 24-mm gauge) and O scale (1:45 with 32-mm gauge), which are much larger than the common N scale (typically 1:150 with 9-mm gauge). Capitalizing on the larger size, he responds to the diverse requirements of customers to faithfully recreate the models' real-life counterparts. After precisely crafting parts with machining processes such as turning, milling, pressing, shearing, and drilling, he assembles them using solder, screws, or other fasteners. He incorporates new techniques of expression in each product, taking inspiration from other industries, including medical and optical device manufacturing.(Recorded in August 2 023) ---------------------- 0:29 Lathe machining of 19.0mm spoke wheels0:56 Pressing in 27.5mm spoke working wheels for electric locomotives1:27 C622 Actual running of a steam locomotive (O gauge)2:22 Press bending of L-shaped mounting material in electric locomotive cab2:39 Shearing (brass plate cutting)2:50 Milling of axle box for working wheels for steam locomotives3:18 Drilling axle holes for axle boxes for electric locomotives3:34 Assembly of bearing springs3:57 Soldering of bearing springs4:01 Crimping of equalizers and suspension links4:21 Soldering of vehicles4:42 Scraping5:08 Actual running of an EF504 electric locomotive (OJ gauge)5:43 C622 Actual running of a steam locomotive (O gauge)6:13 C622 Actual running of a steam locomotive (O gauge) ---------------------------------- Yokohama City Economic Affairs Bureau, Employment and Labor Division Link for "Yokohama Meister" https://www.city.yokohama.lg.jp/busin... Yokohama City Economic Affairs Bureau