Kato 23-401 Electrical High Tension Towers

[velotrain]

I'm a bit confused over the status of this kit.  I was seeking a source for long insulators, and HS told me "You could substitute the insulators from the kit below, but it's long since the item went out of stock.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10014816

 

However, KatoUSA lists it and it looks like other Japanese sources may have it.

 

 

However, the greater question is this.  In some of their art, Kato shows it painted in a low-flying aircraft safety scheme of alternating red and white.

 

http://www.newhallstation.com/store/popup_image.php/pID/224

 

I'm wondering if the tower comes in so many pieces that this is relatively easy to accomplish, or do you in fact need to do a lot of masking of the tower parts to get it to look like this?

 

Overall, except for the very top (reverse angle) cross-arm, it looks very similar to the Tomytec version - which is very strangely cast in a dark brown plastic.

 

 

 

 

[Kiha66]

It looks like the it comes in long enough pieces that you'd have to mask it, but the tomy tec towers look to be made to come apart in the sections that would make masking unnecessary. 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10166843

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10389843

[cteno4]

They are in long pieces and would need masking. It is molded in a silver gray this looks like metal. It's a bit finer moulding than the tomytec and if memory serves me right, a tad larger. I can measure Tonight.

 

Smallest glass beads migh make ok large insulators.

 

Jeff

[velotrain]

I have the Tomytec version, and the lower base does come in several sections, but the non-tapered thinner area at the top is indeed a single piece. I'm not planning to model an airport, so I don't really need to paint it like that, but have seen some proto towers painted that way in photos, so was curious.

 

No need to measure it Jeff. The Tomytec kit actually comes with two long insulators for each crosspiece tip, so I might harvest some of those if needed. I was curious because I might need additional long insulators for my bashed ROW High Tension towers. I do have some short Sommerfeldt insulators that I could stack for a longer one. I've also noted that for some reason these insulators are often doubled up, with two of them parallel.

 

HS mentioned these - which are currently out of stock. I rather like the poles, which look like soldered etchings, but suspect they're long gone - whoever produced them at some time in the past.

 

Brass Insulator (Double) (10 pieces)

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10176405

Brass Insulator (Quad) (10 pieces)

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10176406

Brass Insulator (For power pole) (10 pieces)

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10176407

Edited April 17, 2017 by cteno4
Fixed link tag

[katoftw]

Kato version is back in stock at HS.