What did you order or the post deliver? (Worldwide Models)

[Claude_Dreyfus]

My Kato 800 series arrived the other day. I have finally managed to set up the test track and give it a little run.

 

As expected, the model is really impressive, my only major observation is the slight difference in shade between the yellow on the doors hiding the coupling (slightly lighter) and the rest of the yellow panel. Performance is very smooth, but the apparent addition of the fly-wheel to the motor doesn't seem to make a huge difference (unlike, say, the Tomix ED62).

 

 

 

My set (obtained from Train Trax) comes with a few lengths of Unitrack for display purposes. A nice touch, but not hugely beneficial for me personally. What it also means is that the book case is much bigger than normal. Not a big deal for many who will purchase this set but it is a bit of a niggle for me as I have a fair few other Kato booksets which live in a couple of book cases in the spare room. I also took the opportunity to run the Wide View Shinano as well! 

 

 

I am very pleased with this set, and look forward to seeing what Kato may have in mind for any future releases. Hopefully it will prove to be a success for them.

 

In terms of the prototype, I have not yet come across the 5-car sets in the wild, but here is one of their big-brothers at Leeds station back in 2019.

 

 

[Kamome]

Very nice!

 

I guess they used the same bookcase as the ICE 4 due to the coach length.

 

I do like the LNER livery and i really had to reign myself in not getting one. I think if they eventually do the 9 car, I might crumble. 

 

There’s a few British expresses like this I’d like to have in N. A blue grey HST and an IC 225 in the original IC Swallow colours. Shame the other 2 aren’t in the same price point.

 

Was the Train Trax one the Gaugemaster Starter set?

[Claude_Dreyfus]

No, this was just a standard set, the track just being three lengths of straight and a buffer stop. I don't believe the starter sets are available just yet.

 

In terms of the others, agree they are a lot higher price...and the class 91 sets currently available in N gauge are a long way short of modern standards (although a company called Cavalex Models are planning an N gauge 225 set.

 

If, and I say a big if, Kato were to venture further into British territory, then I'd wager an HST would be a good possibility. Possibly a 225 or a Pendolino, with the outside chance of a Hitachi Javelin set. All are high-profile trains (the Javelin having the advantage of being from a Japanese manufacturer).

[GCS]

35 minutes ago, Claude_Dreyfus said:

No, this was just a standard set, the track just being three lengths of straight and a buffer stop. I don't believe the starter sets are available just yet.

 

In terms of the others, agree they are a lot higher price...and the class 91 sets currently available in N gauge are a long way short of modern standards (although a company called Cavalex Models are planning an N gauge 225 set.

 

If, and I say a big if, Kato were to venture further into British territory, then I'd wager an HST would be a good possibility. Possibly a 225 or a Pendolino, with the outside chance of a Hitachi Javelin set. All are high-profile trains (the Javelin having the advantage of being from a Japanese manufacturer).

I have no doubt Kato have used the 800 to test the waters in the UK market and they’ll make more UK sets, HST has been done to death by Dapol, and the Pendolino has an amazing model by RevolutioN, 225/Class 91 would be a good shout, and would sell well.

 

I can see them producing the 9 car 800 sets and then the ICE 3 Velaro D / Eurostar E320…just a feeling.

 

Guy

[Claude_Dreyfus]

I agree, but given the bulk of the 800s were for the Japanese market, I suspect any further models will still have that in mind and they will pick something better known to the Japanese market...hence my mention of the HST. The fact Dapol have produced it won't make much difference to Kato. 

 

I'd love to see something more left field from them, but who knows.

[Welshbloke]

Owning a few Dapol MK3s, I think there's a market for a new model.

 

They look great but the close coupling setup is lacking as delivered. Dapol don't seem to understand that they need couplers which lock together as positively as Tomix do and form a rigid drawbar. Plus their apparent inability to grasp that if you follow NEM standards you don't need different lengths of coupler to adjust the gap, the mechanism will do it for you. I have 20+ year old Fleischmann models which sit tight together on straights and then move apart to handle R282 (or even tighter - I can't remember what the minimum is). That's on top of the pricing...

[James-SNMB]

On 6/20/2021 at 3:53 AM, GCS said:

 

I can see them producing the 9 car 800 sets and then the ICE 3 Velaro D / Eurostar E320…just a feeling.

 

I'd also love a Kato ICE 3 (or T). Also crossing my fingers we get an orange TGV sud-est.

 

I'd also take a re-release of the TGV duplex in blue, and a Railjet...

 

Yeah, I'm pretty grateful that Kato is so active in European high speed models and seems to be set to continue. Looking forward to the Thalys PBKA on its way to me right now!

[Sheffie]

I've gone ahead and ordered the LNER 800 Series Azuma.

 

I can't not have a train that runs through Sheffield (where I lived for 15 years) that's made in Japan, on my British/Japanese hybrid layout. It just makes no sense.

[GCS]

7 hours ago, James-SNMB said:

 

I'd also love a Kato ICE 3 (or T). Also crossing my fingers we get an orange TGV sud-est.

 

I'd also take a re-release of the TGV duplex in blue, and a Railjet...

 

Yeah, I'm pretty grateful that Kato is so active in European high speed models and seems to be set to continue. Looking forward to the Thalys PBKA on its way to me right now!

I’m with you on this one, the OG Orange TGV, K10916 Blue TGV Duplex, more ICE (3 and 3 Velaro D), hurry up Kato lol!

 

Still waiting for my 800 series, I’m going to have all mine sent with the new Thalys later next week from Japan, can’t wait to open them all! 😄

 

Guy

[James-SNMB]

7 hours ago, GCS said:

I’m with you on this one, the OG Orange TGV, K10916 Blue TGV Duplex, more ICE (3 and 3 Velaro D), hurry up Kato lol!

 

😄

Hurry up indeed! ... But if its spread out over a couple of years, my wallet would be fine with that...

[Sheffie]

Immaculately packed and delivered in perfect condition. Just as I’ve come to expect from Rail Gallery Rokko. 

Bonus pic: this five car set is almost exactly the same length as the five coaches plus locomotive that I usually park at this station. 
 

These coaches are *long*

 

Edited June 28, 2021 by Sheffie

[gavino200]

I received these fruits of my addiction today by DHL. It's a little beauty, even though I think the red needs to be a bit brighter.  I think I'll probably run it with the PBA, with both going in opposite directions rather than connected. It comes with a weird little chip thingy. Probably to shut off the lights when running the two trains together. I can't wait to run it....maybe sometime in the future when I actually have a working layout. 

 

 

 

 

 

The weird chip thingy. 

 

[chadbag]

@gavino200 I'd try to use one of the camera translate apps to try and translate the included documentation to see if it talks about the "chip thingy".  A lot of Euro locomotives have "chip thingys" that are 6 pin like that, that are used to make a DCC default locomotive run on an analog track.  And I've had a couple Minitrix ones that actually had a couple variants of them that did different things to the lights depending on which one you used.

 

That looks to me, on the surface, like an analog "chip thingy" for a locomotive / train that uses a 6-pin NEM 651 (6 pin) decoder.  Does this use the EM13 style or does it use the NEM 651 or other NEM (other than 6 pin) decoder for DCC?

 

[gavino200]

Thanks. I'll look closer soon and report. I'm super busy with a work task right now. I probably won't open it up yet as I have no real layout and a million trains to convert. 😱

[Kamome]

Looks like they suggest running with the 2 motor cars connected together and this is a replacement PCB for the motor units with lights out. Also information in English, see PDF.

 

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/kato-model/schedule/pdf/2021052716480860af4eb89ea70/TalysPBKA.pdf

 

 

I do like everyone's new Class 800s and I am sure Kato will do the 9 car eventually, in which case I will not be able to resist any longer.  We still need to wait for the Kato/Peco Ffestiniog locomotives which have gone a little quiet. I don't need one but a Double Fairlie would be quite nice. 

Edited June 29, 2021 by Kamome

[disturbman]

13 hours ago, gavino200 said:

Num, num. Nice, very tempting. But I always preferred the old livery.

[gavino200]

I agree. I’ll buy that too if they re-release it. TGV, ICE, and Shinkansen are the three HST families that I’d like to collect in full. Though I do make exceptions like the Chinese Hexie. I’d probably also get a Taiwanese, Korean, or Italian one. Basically, anything pretty and fast, but I’m not trying to Pokémon the whole set.

[cteno4]

OMG, ebay lurking rules. I’ve lurked Der Adler sets for years tried for a number but they either are busted up (even then are not cheap) or go high when in good condition. I just scored one new (well we shall see if really new) for $33 with the wooden collector box! Time to buy a lottery ticket, or maybe Ives used the mojo up or else I’ve used the next year’s parking karma up on this win…

 

jeff

[James-SNMB]

Got my Thalys PBKA a week or two back also, and just got it on the track before the weekend. Another nice Kato runner, and I really like the new couplers on the end cars. Much better than the ones on previous TGV models (so far) that I have.

 

I've now got myself into the situation where I have more trains than tracks to park them... There's a diminishing return with each new train now, which makes me a little sad to think about. And there's still so many Shinkansens to buy!

[gavino200]

On 7/5/2021 at 8:52 PM, cteno4 said:

OMG, ebay lurking rules. I’ve lurked Der Adler sets for years tried for a number but they either are busted up (even then are not cheap) or go high when in good condition. I just scored one new (well we shall see if really new) for $33 with the wooden collector box! Time to buy a lottery ticket, or maybe Ives used the mojo up or else I’ve used the next year’s parking karma up on this win…

 

jeff

 

I got an Adler a few years ago. Great condition and decent price. So, it's possible. But $33???? that's muy muy cheap. Good luck. If it works well, I'll try not to be jealous.

[cteno4]

Yeah I have suspicions but the picture looked very good! Usually sets tend to have a couple of missing figures, this none. Also had the top clear plastic piece for over the top of the trains that I’ve not seen in most of the used ones on ebay and case looks brand new as they usually have some dings, so fingers crossed.

 

jeff

[gavino200]

That sounds promising. Mine also has the plastic and all the figures. I'm tempted to paint them some day. 

[GCS]

Managed to get very lucky and pick up a Kato TGV Duplex, it’s mint and has interior lights fitted! 🤩 can’t complain with this find! 
 

Guy

[marknewton]

As we're in lockdown at the moment I've been spending money online, since I can't go out and spend it. 🤨 This is my third Liliput 2095 for the HOn30 Belgian Congo project. It was sensibly priced, and runs very sweetly. I prefer to have a number of identical locos to give the impression they're part of a larger fleet, rather than a collection of singletons or one-offs.

 

 

On the standard gauge there's a NSWGR 30T class from Wombat Models, and an Austrains Neo HFO suburban car. I've done a bit of work on the real 3090 when it went into preservation, so it's nice to have a model of it. As a schoolboy I travelled every day on trains made up of the end-platform cars like the model. Needless to say I preferred to be on the end-platforms rather than inside.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

 

[cteno4]

Mark I can picture you as a boy on one of those end platforms dreaming of the job you now do! Probably prevented you from any other career!

 

cheers

 

jeff