MicroAce - New Releases

[katoftw]

I think models announced after mid 2014 probably will be alright.  It's those announced before the Mar/Apr 2014 that seem to have big issues.

 

I'd be happy if MA was honest and said we are scraping that release list and starting again.  Maybe they are looking at getting onto the list sometime in the future.  But whatever happened behind the scenes has made them stop or reset on those pre Mar/Apr 2014 models.

 

I'm glad I purchased the 2 car Isaburo-Shinpei end of 2014.  I actually had it out this morning to play with.  They have been going up in price on yahoo also.  I got mine for 8,000yen.  But now they are going for 10,000-11,000yen.  If the delays continue, then selling price will get higher and higher.

Edited June 22, 2015 by katoftw

[Robert46]

I'd be happy if MA was honest and said we are scraping that release list and starting again.  Maybe they are looking at getting onto the list sometime in the future.  But whatever happened behind the scenes has made them stop or reset on those pre Mar/Apr 2014 models.

 

I'm glad I purchased the 2 car Isaburo-Shinpei end of 2014.  I actually had it out this morning to play with.  They have been going up in price on yahoo also.  I got mine for 8,000yen.  But now they are going for 10,000-11,000yen.  If the delays continue, then selling price will get higher and higher.

 

Hi Katoftw,

 

Interesting analysis.. IMO, maybe this is the game played by MicroAce. But what's the point they are doing that? I mean although they hold the release of a product and get the higher profit by doing it, but numbers of products released on that year shouldn't really be significant since they hold some products on some quartals or months..  On the other hand, it may caused some customers being disappointed with this uncertain schedule..

[Densha]

Maybe they're afraid that if they cancel products Kato or Tomix may start producing them and it will never again be profitable for them to produce that model?

[JR 500系]

MA just announced (or rather HS just placed on their website):

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1698/0/1

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338378

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338379

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338380

 

Return of the fishes!

 

Oh yah which reminds me I could enter this in the 'Ugliest train' section...

 

And these are from Greenmax, just parking them here:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338494

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338495

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338496

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338497

 

Kintetsu 22600 series

 

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338537

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10338538

 

Kintetsu 16600 series

 

 

Actually the Kintetsu is pretty nice!  :)

[katoftw]

・Series Kiro59-29 `Fureai SUN-IN` Renewal (3-Car Set) Micro Ace (Arii)

・Series Kiro59-29 `Honobono SUN-IN` Renewal (2-Car Set) Micro Ace (Arii)

・Series Kiro59-29 `Elegance Acky` New Paint (3-Car Set) Micro Ace (Arii)

・DD50 First Edition Double Heading Set without Snowplough Micro Ace (Arii)

・DD50 First Edition Double Heading Set Micro Ace (Arii)

・EF67-2 Micro Ace (Arii)

・EF67-101 Time of Debut PS17 Micro Ace (Arii)

 

MA has already done alot of different version Kiha/Kiro59s before.  These most like will be just a ugly 90s as the others.

Edited July 22, 2015 by katoftw

[Densha]

And these are from Greenmax, just parking them here:

We have a dedicated Greenmax topic for that: http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/3807-green-max-new-releases/ ;)

[katoftw]

[JR 500系]

Haha ~ Yeh I was wondering why no fishes!  :)

[Guest keio6000]

 

 

at least the wallet gets a rest.

[miyakoji]

at least the wallet gets a rest.

Not if you're a fan of DMUs or Chugoku region freight :)

[HantuBlauLOL]

That DD50's price rocket'd to Pluto compared to its last run..

[VJM]

That DD50's price rocket'd to Pluto compared to its last run..

 

Not exactly.  They are being sold as 2 loco sets.

[Fenway Park]

Have to agree the price has rocketed.

The first release was as a pair but with one loco powered while the second release had both locos powered.

The current price of 27,000 yen equates to roughly £144 at the existing exchange rate where the yen has weakened.

 

Micro Ace are pricing themselves out of the market.

[Guest keio6000]

It could also be that they're going after an 'aggressive discounting' model.  That is, they raise their prices heavily and a few people will buy at RRP until they figure out that retailers will be heavily discounting the stuff later on.   They will get about 2 years of highi profits on this until others catch on.  It also gives them a hedge if interest rates go up.

 

But yes, I'm limiting my purchases of MA though i just did pre-order the Toei-Shinjuku 10-000.  I've been not happy with them ever since they cancelled the Keio 8000 (based in western tokyo: population several million middle class and upper middle class consumers) but keep plowing forward with derivative nonsense from middle of nowheresville.  Still, i guess if they see a business case for it it's their prerogative. 

 

It's cold and i have the heat on here now.  What I wouldn't give to be in tokyo now - I love the heat.

[kvp]

There is no point on setting high retail prices, since at really high prices, nobody would stock their items, so no chanches for the consumers to buy them. The result is that there will be no stock to discount, only in their warehouse. This is means their money will just stand in the stock. The only time a high retail price is feasible when the number of items in the factory warehouse is very limited, so those few items can be sold at a high price. Usually this is strategy employed by businesses that are running out of funds to produce new stock and try to sell what little they have at a higher price. Also, middle of nowhere trains with new liveries in small quntities and no high volume products are usually the result of problems with new forms and trying to sell the already manufactured or easy to manufacture items with the help of new paints, that are cheaper to apply than making new forms. The classic examples are the maerklin bierwagen variants, made only for collectors who don't care about the prototype or pretty much anything.

 

Let's just hope MicroAce could recover from their chinese problems...

[HantuBlauLOL]

Even tomix's EH500 is only 10k yen.. If they installed one more motor it would only raise its price by 2-5k yen. That means less than 20k yen for a much better mech.

[railsquid]

MicroAce's Toei Oedo and Shinjuku line trains, seen today:

(sorry about the pictures, taken from my mobile)

Edited July 31, 2015 by railsquid

[miyakoji]

A8970 looks cool too

[Guest keio6000]

MicroAce's Toei Oedo and Shinjuku line trains, seen today:

microace-toei-oedo-train.jpg

microace-toei-shinjuku-train.jpg

(sorry about the pictures, taken from my mobile)

 

Thanks for the photos!  Don't quite get why the little antenna thingies appear to be blue.

 

The 10-300R is the middle train there.   To create it, MicroAce simply took the middle wagons of the 10-000 set and mated it to the end cars of their previous 10-300 set.  However, there is one notable difference in that the stripe on the 10-300 end cars is blue/green its whole length while on the 10-300R I guess the blue only goes part way.  At current MA prices, that's not a compelling enough reason for me to get the 10-300R as I have the 10-300 and have pre-ordered the 10-000.  If i want to pretend I have a 10-300R I'll just combine the sets and ignore the extra half blue stripe.

 

The Oedo train im sure is right but it looks odd from that angle.

[railsquid]

The Oedo train im sure is right but it looks odd from that angle.

 

Probably because you never normally see them exposed like that. WIth the platform doors on that line now they probably could have gotten away with modelling just the top third ;).

[Guest keio6000]

Probably because you never normally see them exposed like that. WIth the platform doors on that line now they probably could have gotten away with modelling just the top third ;).

 

indeed. i just wonder who the target market for this train is. i guess it's guys like me who both mostly collect rather than run and who like the tokyo subway system.  I mean, platform doors and running underground has got to be an interest killer combination!

[kvp]

They did cheat with the door and platform height. These trains have a much lower platform height and a slightly different cross section, so if the model would be 100% scale correct, then it would be unable to use any off the shelf layouts and stations. On the other hand i do assume it's mostly for collectors or special modellers, as some people like to run their trains and there is even a platform door underground station kit on the market, that comes with a transparent roof. This means there will be a few people who modell everything correctly and some people would just run the among the other more standard metro stock.

[EF65 1100]

The EF67s are tempting... 

[Densha]

Pics of new MicroAce stuff: http://www.jp-ngauge.info/ngi/2015/08/micro-ace372015-b8a9.html

[Guest keio6000]

still no clue why the antenna on the 10-000 and 10-300R is blue or why for that matter MA insists on being tight bastards and packaging their expensive trains with couplers that nobody wants.

 

also i hope this is a custom manufacturing prototype since it looks messy.

 

Edited August 3, 2015 by keio6000