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I was recently updating my "Currently Available N Trolleys and Trams" list (http://www.trainweb.org/n-trolleys/available.htm) and discovered that Interurban Models (Volkmar of Paris, France, who makes models of U.S. prototype trolleys) is now offering a color-printed trolley shell. He once had a Shapeways shop, but when that went away he started doing his own 3D printing in-house and set up a Shopify sales outlet: https://interurban-models.myshopify.com/ If you look under "Streetcars Interurban [1:160 N]" on his sales site, the last item listed is "Interurban Wooden Coach Trailer #160-1681 - Painted." By "painted" he means that he prints them in color-calibrated resin. He can do multi-color prints, as long as the color breaks are horizontal. Apparently his 3D printer will alert him at certain points in the process and he changes the resin to the next color and proceeds from there. The pictures show the same car shell printed in a number of different color schemes. He prices them about the same as his other models, even though these have the color printing, floor, interior, trucks (without wheelsets - use Micro-Trains) and dummy radial knuckle couplers. It's really something to see this technology progressing! Rich K.

Living on the German side of the Swiss-German border highlights that monetary difference in some interesting ways, I can tell you that much 😅 Supermarkets near the border get a lot of traffic from Swiss people since not only are groceries a tad cheaper, but also because any VAT charged in Germany can be reclaimed at the border (Switzerland isn't an EU-Memberstate afterall). That has the somewhat annoying effect of clogging our streets here with shoppers on Fridays and Saturdays (both German and Swiss ofc), but oh well... Working cross-border (i.e. living in one country and working in another) is also a bit of a quirk here many people enjoy the benefits of, though it's primarily done by Germans working in Switzerland. It has the obvious benefit of getting a (higher) Swiss paycheck while still living in Germany, where the cost of living is lower. So basically you get the best of both countries...

Yes, the "E" series offers that flexibility, if that's what you want to do. If I could start all over from scratch I would use the "E" track pieces (by which I mean the ones that actually have rails in them). My ideal would be to use them with the decorated street pieces (the ones without rails: traffic lanes/sidewalks/city blocks) but without the directional lane arrow markings and the intersection "stop bar" cross-lines so that they look right for both left-side and right-side traffic flow. You're in the U.S.? If so, please let us know in the Tariffs Etc. topic what you experience with your coming shipment in terms of tariffs, duty or related fees. The regular (non "E") Unitram pieces have just been pushed back by Hobby Search Japan from "May" to "late May" so my small order will be coming after yours. Rich K.

Jeff, I actually removed the powered part from the surrounding frame that it sits in. I also had to carefully shave down the rather thick side clips and rounded ring shape on the sides of the powered part in order to fit it into the carbody without bowing the sides outward. It still sticks up pretty high into the double-deck body, interfering with leaving the top deck interior piece in. Other options now are the N Goya/Aru Model and Tsugawa/TGW tiny power units, which come in several wheelbases, but have small low-voltage motors. They and the Tomytecs are all speedsters! Rich K.

"The game is afoot, Watson!" (Sherlock Holmes) Good luck with the sleuthing. Rich K.

Small update of the diorama. The backdrop of one half of the building is nearly done. Only the curtains and lighting are missing. I looked up what manga/anime was popular around Ogaki and chose "A Silent Voice", "Adachi and Shimamura", and "Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl" for the bookstore's big advertisement posters. They all have scenes around Ogaki so I thought it was a nice touch to have something close to the region being advertised. I hope that I get the street markings done in the next days too... so I can glue down the station platform and start with adding the blast. (The original reason for the diorama 😅)

We have an entire section dedicated to suppliers, https://jnsforum.com/community/forum/51-suppliers/. I recommend checking there. All our favourites are listed there and each has its own (pinned) subject. People usually buy from Ami Ami, Hobby Search, Plaza Japan or Rail Gallery Rokko. There are a few other sources, but they are less used and/or more specialized, like Mandarake.

As I started making logs for the diorama, I wanted to redo the logs for the logging cars. I previously used chewing sticks for small pets (which is one of the methods Japanese modelers use) but it doesn't match the scene. The logs are made from balsa dowels using the same method as I did with the cedar trees. I like the look of these logs better.

You can check amazon jp. Not sure about the shipping fee though

Got the 009 Large England Welsh Pony!!! Got the current surviving England Engines in my fleet!!!

@disturbman Thanks for the tip. I probably will stick with taobao for the near future, it seems to be overall the best deal due including caniano shipping costs. Also seems fastest shipping. The HO Scale freight locomotives caught my attention too. More to keep my eye on.

Hi guys. Just designing track and looking at buying kato and tomix direct from Japan. I am looking at buying from Banzai models and Japan plaza. Exchange rate is better for me direct to Canada than buying from Kato USA. Do you have any other sources you use from Japan. Thanks.

For those who might search for a train/railway from an anime in the future, I just found these two sites with maps for anime locations: https://animenavi.org/main-map https://anime-tourism.jp/

Hey all! First of all, thanks for the kind words, it's appreciated. I've done a little more research in the cause of the slow downs, and while I know why the forum slows done, I'm still not sure what the underlying cause of it is. We're running the forum on AWS. We have 1 server for the database and 1 server for the website. The database has been doing fine, but the webserver has been seeing several CPU spikes over the past weeks. Basically, in order to keep cost down, we're using AWS's general purpose instance types. These are relatively cheap for still very decent performance. The way they keep it cheap, is that you build up "CPU credits" when you're not taxing the CPU very much. This is usually the case most of time on a webserver with not a great deal of traffic. When the CPU load goes above a certain threshold, CPU credits will get used for that additional load. Once the CPU credits are used up, the server basically gets limited CPU power. And that's exactly what's been happening the past few weeks. So, the question is, what is causing those CPU spikes? I've noticed that the spikes coincide with a large increase in network traffic. So there is a fair chance some new bots/spiders/scrapers have been introduced which we aren't blocking yet. Another possibility is that the forum is running some background tasks, but while that can cause CPU spikes, it shouldn't cause additional (external) network traffic. So, what I want to do somewhere in the coming days/weeks(/months?) is: Check / update our bots/spiders/scrapers blacklist, and update it if needed Look into some possibilities on the server side to improve performance / decrease network traffic Regardless of whether or not that fixes anything, set up a new server instance with an up-to-date OS, and migrate everything to that instance Update the forum software to the latest 4.x version Should that prove insufficient, look into spreading the load over multiple server instances, if the forum software supports that. This would mean increased cost. Worst case scenario, look into the cloud hosting that Invision Community offers. This would also mean increased cost, but also less flexibility

The item sold out in minutes. Though i wasn’t that keen on it. I will wait for HXD1D or 3D plus whenever FXN3C/5C (no rush there).

Ahhh thanks. Wasn't sure if they were part of a big company or anything. Couldn't find any mention about it. Such a shame it looked great in quality and steady. They said it was through wifi I believe

Appears to be a custom build by these guys who build layouts.

According to a recent report of Keisei Railway's mid-term business plan ("D2 Plan"), to address the surging number of foreign visitors, a new limited express service will be introduced by FY 2028, from Narita Airport to the city, utilizing the Keisei Oshiage Line, with direct access to the Toei Asakusa Line. Rolling stock image is merely conjectural: https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/173de06d062ba8b837c67e803d8909ecea9f761c *run through translator for details Keisei corporate source: https://contents.xj-storage.jp/xcontents/AS01810/ee7af440/4014/40b9/b2dc/93cb1a4cced2/140120250520559506.pdf

Which shop did you purchase from? Where in Kyushu are you at? I hope you get a good replacement and that they have taken steps to remedy the issues. 20 point checklist? Can I see?

I have been going back and forth a little with the retailer but they have been pretty responsive. They were a bit apprehensive at first as they're a general store rather than a model or railway specific shop and it would be fair to say their returns department don't possess lots of model railway knowledge. I didn't want to put too much pressure on them as the issue is from manufacture rather than their storage or shipping etc.. but they have been pretty helpful so far. They have now heard back from Kato and have agreed to replace the item once they can get hold of stock. The subject of the detail parts added is still slightly contested but that was my error for not checking over the product fully so I will take the hit on a new parts set if absolutely necessary. Best case they will replace that too. Worst case I'll have to get another one if they can procure a replacement loco for me. Thankfully I didn't add the crew yet. Anyway you live and learn and once you get your fingers burnt, I have to now implement a new 20 point railway model quality check procedure before I continue doing anything to the model. Translated by Google We have confirmed with the manufacturer that this is a defect common in this item. Please pack the items as near as possible to its original state in their original packaging while we request the marketing department to secure a replacement.

That's because HK vendors don't stock, or only very small amounts which are quickly sold out. But you can usually find stock at Tekkon and J-scale. At least, once we will receive our allocation. We are always on a delay due to distance.

Jeff I have been studying hard and have two drawings for you to look at for me, they are the general concept of the wiring just so i know i have the wiring concept correct, then i can play with cutting the control panel into two one for either side of the layout, i was also a little confused as to how to put the terminal block between the cabs and the DPDT switches i have drawn that as well separate from the first diagram. i hope they make sense to you. Thank you again i hope i have done you proud it seems to make sense, i can obviously if this is correct move things around and divide up, im still looking at how best to divide up into Blocks. As you can see i have crossed scribbled some wires out i couldn't face drawing it all up again lol, the first diagram hasn't got the terminal block at the bottom but will have if ive wired it up correctly Cheers Jeff Ive just realized iv mist the wires connecting the bottom of the DPDT switches together i the bottom photo, i thought i was doing so well, i was in a hurry to show you, at least i did realize that they should be there or should they ah ok i think they are actually connected together via the terminal block, Tony

I think that's a one-way thing: Wafus (as far as I've gathered) didn't show up on mainline trains, but Yos definitely showed up on the Aizu Line - even a Yo 5000 painted in green for the Takara container express visited the Aizu Line sometime in the early 1970s.

Could be Microace as they are talking about them right before and then showing some of their products i believe

I heard that kato has a facebook page. has anyone provided feedback there? Seems like it is more active, actually the only direct route for interaction.