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How did you improve your rolling stock?


Densha

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22 minutes ago, JR 500系 said:

Yes I just realised I made a terrible mistake...

 

What was that?

 

Quote

Each car took around 20-30 mins to cut and paste all the decals... extensive for a 11-car, but I feel it is well worth the effort, especially more so if the trains have interior lights in them to let these details shine out more!

 

Nice, fortunately I max out at 6 cars. Anyway I need to make a start (or continue the start, see above) fitting out the various models I've acquired, plenty to do :)

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On 9/30/2018 at 2:22 PM, JR 500系 said:

Each car took around 20-30 mins to cut and paste all the decals... extensive for a 11-car, but I feel it is well worth the effort, especially more so if the trains have interior lights in them to let these details shine out more!

 That is definitively worth it, great improvement!

Do you mind sharing where you bought those? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but nothing I search brings up anything for hayashi model / ハザシモデル

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29 minutes ago, Gryphr said:

 That is definitively worth it, great improvement!

Do you mind sharing where you bought those? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but nothing I search brings up anything for hayashi model / ハザシモデル

 

Z and Y the wrong way round? 😉


Try "ハヤシモデル"?

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1 hour ago, railsquid said:

 

Z and Y the wrong way round? 😉


Try "ハヤシモデル"?

 

Ah thanks, I forgot that the IME keyboard switches Y and Z  😄.

 

Still cannot find anything about it though, not even mentions on blogs.

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On ‎9‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 8:47 PM, railsquid said:

 

What was that?

 

 

The Yamanote line has grey seat cushions and green backrest... Silly me got it the other way round... 

 

On ‎9‎/‎30‎/‎2018 at 8:47 PM, railsquid said:

 

Nice, fortunately I max out at 6 cars. Anyway I need to make a start (or continue the start, see above) fitting out the various models I've acquired, plenty to do 🙂

 

Indeed! Although my layout only caters for max 8 cars in the station, I still love to collect some of them in their full consists, and the Yamanote is way too iconic not to... 

 

20 hours ago, Gryphr said:

 That is definitively worth it, great improvement!

Do you mind sharing where you bought those? Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but nothing I search brings up anything for hayashi model / ハザシモデル

 

Yes it is done by Hayashi model, a China guy made them. There are several others, but through trial and error it seems this is by far the best looking one! It's only sold from China though, although I did hear news of them importing over to Japan for sale, which then might be more accessible to overseas customers worldwide... 

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Switching some ugly rapido couplers to the cheaper alternative to TN couplers, the Kato couplers for Rapidos… 

 

Effect is pretty good, doesn't help much in reducing the gap though, but fairly increases the overall look of the couplers, and best of all, it's cheap!

 

 

20181028_150212.jpg

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I, sort of, finished another project today. I painted the black rubber door edges and detailed the roofs of my Tomix 103. I also slightly weathered the undercarriages.

 

large.DSC_0086.jpg.426d7ef0088ebf349823ea97b5127ee4.jpg

This is how the train looked before.

 

large.IMG_2090.JPG.2f55d4be396c92803157f3a6d7d30f01.JPG

That's actually the final result.

 

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Roofs. I painted and weathered the aircon units. They don't look so plasticky anymore.

 

large.IMG_2087.JPG.eefc1e8b7dab5af372e509f6fff9b653.JPG

I used the Tamiya white make-up powder to achieve a matte look. The lower carriage is the "before" and the upper the "after".

 

The real thing:

 

 

  • Like 6
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Old MicroAce 101 series (2001 production), acquired for next to nothing because old and with various defects, though exterior condition is fine.

 

32845956378_e3e0f39dac_z.jpg

MicroAce Chuo Sobu Line 101 series by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Somewhat newer MicroAce 101 series cars, acquired for next to nothing because genuine junk, generally poor dirty exterior condition (photos hide full extent), but looked very useful as a source of spare parts.

 

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MicroAce "Kansai Livery" 101 series by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Including the bogies, which have the newer axle pinpoint pickup system and darkened wheels, but first they need a little bit of work as the previous owner presumably liked to keep them in the lint trap of his/her tumble dryer:

 

45996236714_ea492b305c_z.jpg[/url

microace-101-axle-fluff_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

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microace-101-axle-fluff_02 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

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microace-101-axle-cleaning_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Old (left) vs new (right):

 

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microace-101-axle-old_new_pickups_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

I also acquired a better motorized chassis from a newer MicroAce production run, with flywheels and axle pinpoint pickups, which should have run nice and smoothly but didn't really, showing a distinct wobble at lower speeds and was prone to stalling and derailing. It turned out the axle back-to-backs needed adjusting (outwards) as presumably that meant a) the axle pinpoints were not always making contact with the pickups, and b) there was too much lateral "play" causing the wobbling. Fixing that made it much harder to reassemble the bogies but once done it now runs nice and smoothly.

 

Next step for this model will be visual improvement, including destination blinds (thankfully the 101 series does not have destination blinds on the sides) and better interior colours.

Edited by railsquid
  • Like 4
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It's amazing how much of a difference a soak in warm soapy water can make to grubby train parts. Some of the bodywork and indeed chassis from those Panorama Express Alps cars I picked up recently appeared to have been soaked in oil, but were fine underneath.

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A parcel from Hobbysearch included gangway bellows. Not entirely sure I ordered the right shape:

 

 

I've fitted them to the 415 Series with Glue n Glaze, given they'll be within the eight car set when running the shape shouldn't matter too much. The description said they were for JNR EMUs, but I suspect they meant earlier units like KuMoHa 42s? I have enough left to equip my Minobu Line 115 Series but I'll leave it if they're not quite right.

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Aha, I must investigate those. See, I also have most of a Panorama Express Alps set which is missing most of its gangways. The KiHa 40 parts may be the same.

 

Edit, checked the two surviving gangways on the Panorama set against a Kato KiHa 47 and they are identical. Will preorder some from Hobbysearch when I next order something in a couple of weeks time, they should be released in March.

Edited by Welshbloke
See above!
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On 1/23/2019 at 12:53 PM, Welshbloke said:

A parcel from Hobbysearch included gangway bellows. Not entirely sure I ordered the right shape:

 

I've fitted them to the 415 Series with Glue n Glaze, given they'll be within the eight car set when running the shape shouldn't matter too much. The description said they were for JNR EMUs, but I suspect they meant earlier units like KuMoHa 42s? I have enough left to equip my Minobu Line 115 Series but I'll leave it if they're not quite right.

Even if it's not perfect, it still looks pretty good! 

I've always been very hesitant to install mine, not sure why... But seeing how well you did gives me more confidence!

Edited by Densha
Staff Comment - Shortened Quote
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Makes a big difference, here's an old Tomix 103 series:

 

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Tomix 103 series original couplings by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

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Tomix 103 series Chuo-Sobu line: destination blinds by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Only problem is with glue is that it's fairly easy to knock them off by accident; I am considering whether it's feasible to open up holes with a pin vise to attach them with the lugs, as per current models.

  • Like 1
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The E257 on the left:

45968122675_b4b61f5409_z.jpg

plarail-e257_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

has a design flaw, namely that the battery needs to be fitted like this:

 

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plarail-e257_02 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

and even with moderate usage, comes loose every 5 minutes or so, then it's "Daddy put new battery?".

 

Hopefully some additional internal packing will solve that:

 

45968122815_5e467113e5_z.jpg

plarail-e257_03 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

We'll see how it fares tomorrow.

  • Like 4
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Certainly my handful of JDM Plarails take C cells. The Thomas range sold in the UK take either AA or AAAs, need a screwdriver to change the batteries, and also have the somewhat bizarre problem of running aground on Plarail track joints.

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Aha, that's what's "単1形" (tan-ichi) in Japan... Some child-induced brain-fade there, all the other Plarail trains in the collection take tan-3 (AA?).

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Wait waitwait Metal pantographs? So... if I wanted to replace the single arm plastic thing that comes with the Kato EF510, I could use those as replacements?

How much work is involved?

That's quite a tempting upgrade.

Edited by Sheffie
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