What Japanese Railroad Magazines would you recommend?

[NXCALE]

Hi all. I wanted to make this thread to know about what (railway model) magazines you would recommend to others and why, perhaps the ones that have interesting pictures or topics.

 

These magazines are in Japanese and the websites, that sell them, usually do not provide much information/pictures. So, I believe there is some mystery and surprise when a person gets one of these.

 

In that sense, this thread could help to other people when deciding to find/get a copy of a determine magazine if there is the chance.

 

As a beginner with few magazines to choose from, my list is the below one:

 

Place Number #3 - Tomix Diorama World (Tomix 7401): 160 full color pages (~95% pictures and ~5% text)

This is a quite obvious choice. This magazine has 160 pages of eye-popping pictures (layouts/dioramas). If a beginner feels down and needs a boost of inspiration, this is the one to check on those rainy days.

 

Place Number #2 - Tomix Diorama World Special Issue (Tomix 7402): 80 full color pages (~90% pictures and ~10% text)

Now you can tell I am beginner (i.e. I go again for the Tomix ones). This magazine has only 80 pages but is it in the second place of my list? Yes… because this magazine shows pictures (some of these from different perspectives) of only one layout, a massive 25m x 8m layout. The pictures taken from different angles will provide good ideas and clarify queries of any beginner.

 

Also, I understand (actually I am guessing) that this layout was made to record imagines for a videogame (an old one called “Gatan Goton”). Check this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEHc0muj7xo (I could not find the right link again so I put this one that is quite similar, sorry about that…)

 

Place Number #1 – N Gauge Big Layout Taguchi Hiromi No Togashi Railway (Kigei Publishing): 144 pages (~60% pictures and ~40% text) (~50% b/w and ~50% color)

 

This magazine is about modular layouts that can be combined and storage in a very clever way.

I have to admit that this first place is a very personal choice. This magazine helped me to understand how I could keep a layout “fresh” with new ideas and how to tackle limitations of space.

 

I still have temporary layouts as these allowed me to quickly try/test new stuff. I would like to try having a permanent one in the future although I believe this would probably be a modular layout like the ones of this magazine.  

 

Other magazines that were left outside of my top three:

 

Tomix Model Railway System Guidebook (Tomix 7313 and Tomix 7315): 42 color pages (~50% pictures and ~ 50% texts)

 

These two magazines provide clear information about Tomix control system and Tomix track geometry. I need to say that all that information can be also found online and for free. However, these two magazines will save much more time to any beginner as he/she will not need to collect the information from websites/forums like a puzzle (with the risk of missing some of this info). Just until some months ago, these two magazines were in the third place of my list (instead of Tomix 7401).

 

Super Real Tetsudo Jokei N Gage Layout Vol.2 (Neko Publishing): 114 color pages (~50% pictures and ~50% text)

 

This magazine looks like for hardcore modelers. I don’t read Japanese but the pictures are very impressive. If possible, I would try to get other numbers of this magazine. Check the attachments.

 

p.s. I understand that some people could be “paper allergic” when it comes to magazines. So, please spare the non allergic ones.

Edited September 5, 2016 by nxcale

[Robert46]

Besides Tomix Diorama World, Kato & Tomix catalogs.. you can try RM Models Hobby Magazine. Almost similar with Kato or Tomix catalog perhaps 80% pictures and 20% texts, but good point is  it contains other train models from Micro Ace and GreenMax... i think it's recommended..

[Guest keio6000]

i dont think any of these are worthwhile unless you happen to be in japan and can pick them up yourself and browse through.

 

if you dont read japanese well then the text is useless and if you do, for the books mentioned it tends not to be that great.

 

with a bit of google searching using very basic japanese terms, you can find great pictures, howtos, and more.  much more than what you will get from magazines if you don't understand the language.

 

and the websites and youtube are free. the magazines are a hassle to get and environmentally unfriendly to send.

 

if you must have printed matter, there are a number of books to get.  the best thing to do is when you are in japan to pick them up at the shosen book tower's wonderful train book section.  and then, if you still need them, there are magazines there too.

 

meanwhile, if you want to read something in english, sign up for the uk-based japan rail society's samizdat.

[cteno4]

Yeah i tend to agree that i dont tend to get a whole lot ot most of my magazines and books even though i have quite a pile from over the years. its fun to have some to thumb thru, but w/o reading japanese its down to pictures only. you really can get a whole lot more on the web these days as Keio noted with a little fiddling with searching with japanese terms and then even get a cursory level understanding of the text using one of the translation systems.

 

i usually dont recommend folks getting them unless really into it due ot the language and the very high cost of shipping.

 

ive been meaning to try the phone translate option of translating from pictures to see if that will help some on books and magazines, although i fear between the ocr and translation it may be a little dicy...

 

of course the tomix diorama world books are a wonderful one just to keep you thinking of layouts! have not seen the teguchi book, sounds interesting and tempting, but again i try not to blow too much money on them anymore!

 

I have a huge trove of old japanese modeling and prototype magazines (60s-80s) here that was donated to the club that i have yet to really dive into! some of them have wonderful pull out long plan sheets and such. Much of the old days when a lot was done via scratch building.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

I browse through the various magazines when they come out but don't usually buy unless there's something interesting, mainly some kind of tutorial. I've also bought a couple of "how to build a layout" "bookazines" or "mooks" as they demonstrate use tools and materials easily available here.

[nah00]

I've bought a few copies of Shinkansen Explorer, mainly for detail pictures (one on Doctor Yellow and another on the Type 0) but also because a free calendar is nice. 

 

The Diorama World book is great for inspiration, my only complaint is the binding on mine isn't really great. I'll have to look for the other one too.

[HantuBlauLOL]

RM models is great! In Japanese only however..

[NXCALE]

Hi. I agreed with the comments above so I have to say that I also would not recommend getting magazines.
I like them and that is the reason I got some of them but I believe these eventually will be replaced by online content.
 

I've bought a few copies of Shinkansen Explorer, mainly for detail pictures (one on Doctor Yellow and another on the Type 0) but also because a free calendar is nice.

The Diorama World book is great for inspiration, my only complaint is the binding on mine isn't really great. I'll have to look for the other one too.

It is interesting that my Diorama World book has the same problem about the binding... sometimes I feel the temptation of pulling some pages off so I can put them on my wall... By the way, does anyone know a website where more or less good or ok quality pictures of model layouts can be found? I would like to print some to see how these look on a frame.

RM models is great! In Japanese only however..

I like RM models as well... but the language as well...

It would be great just walking in a bookstore browsing some magazines and getting the one/s you like most.
Nevertheless, if someone find an interesting magazine/book, please share it with the ones without that chance.

p.s. attached pictures of an interesting one: Model Train Layout Diorama Manual (Neko Publishing) 112 full colour pages (90% pictures and 10% text) about how to build small layout modules (4 modules in this issue).

Edited September 5, 2016 by nxcale

[cteno4]

The one new trick that helps a little now with the Japanese magazines is the google translate app is very good with translating from taking a snap of a page. Since you have to drag over each line you want to translate it's not for translating a whole article, but many times I find its the photo captions I want a translation of or just some call out. Works pretty well on instructions as well.

 

Cheers

 

Jeff

[NXCALE]

Thank you for the information, I haven’t tried that app yet.

I will be investigating this and other options, hopefully I will find something. Cheers.

[dabsan]

I very much like N. magazine which features a lot of step by step modeling projects as well as reviews and articles about all the latest new N Gauge trains and accessories. 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10342649

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NXCALE]

Thanks for the pictures; it looks a quite interesting magazine.

 I haven’t got one of the N magazines yet, hopefully I could order one soon.

[NXCALE]

Hi all. I just wanted to add additional pictures of the magazine: ” Model Train Layout Diorama Manual (Neko Publishing)” (see post #8). This because I was thinking what was the point of mentioning that this magazine features four modules (actually these are six but two are very small and briefly presented modules, the “bridge” ones ) if there are not pictures of these modules in the post. So, pictures here below:

 

I decided to take two pages (from the RM Models 242) that show a small but impressive diorama. The thing is that I just bought this magazine because I wanted to see these pictures better. By the way, the magazine itself is quite good (as most of the RM models ones).

.

The software ABBYY was used to recognized text. Then, the text was translated by online websites. Overall, I think the quality is not the best but it is a good starting point. So, let's enjoy a good read (of broken English). Cheers.

 

p.s. did you see the robots in the diorama...? kinda cool...

Edited September 5, 2016 by nxcale

[NXCALE]

For the people who are curious (as I was) about this magazine, here some pics.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10414369

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,