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Tenshodo will be doing another run of their plastic ef57 passsenger locomotive due "sometime" this autumn. pre-production sample (retail price TBD): http://www.tenshodo.co.jp/models/product/release/ef57_p/tabid/849/Default.aspx previous run: http://www.tenshodo.co.jp/models/museum/el/ef56_812_tohoku/tabid/598/Default.aspx *35000 yen in 2008, which is reasonable. I really wish Tenshodo (or Tramway) would do an EF15 freight type, much more versatile loco for smaller layouts, but I suppose not glamourous enough for the deep-pocketed collectors. Must be the same reason Kato never re-releases their D51.

HO scale model maker A Class will be releasing plastic body kits for the JNR 80 series "Shonan densha" sometime this spring. Both unpainted and painted body shells will be offered. You will have to purchase bogies, underfloor details and motors separately. A Class suggests Nikko Models bogies and underfloor details for these. So far details are sketchy, here is the info provided by A Class (click on the picture): http://www.dcraft.co.jp/aclass/a_top.html Example of a Nikko bogie that can be used for trailer cars (TR48 type): http://shopping.hobidas.com/shop/rail-hobidas/item/NKM-0036.html

Sometime this year Zoukeimura will release the third edition of their "Super Rail Series" in the form of a plastic model of the EF13 "crocodile" style outline DC locomotive. This type was a wartime design, and first was based out of the Kozu locomotive depot in Kanagawa Pref, hauling freight trains on the Tokaido Line. Later the type was shifted to other depots on the DC network. In the mid-fifties these units were rebuilt with the more conventional box cowling most associate with mid-century JNR DC locomotives. Pricing is 39,900 yen (quite reasonable) for all three types (a wartime era model and two postwar types). Unable to find a good pic of a painted production model, here is the best I could find: http://www.zoukeimura.co.jp/cp-bin/blog_srs/pic/Img19385.jpg prototype pictures: http://rail.hobidas.com/blog/natori09/archives/2009/12/post-1167.html