How did you improve your rolling stock?

[tripel7]

Oh hi, it's my from reddit 😂

[lighthouse]

Hi,
Unfortunately, I don't know when I last received a train set where the factory-fitted parts fell off just by looking at them... After I was able to do a small part, like the snow plow, at a meeting with friends, I sat down last night to do the final steps. The following work was done:

 

- new loose parts were fixed with wood glue
- vehicle numbers rubbed on
- green decorative stripe rubbed on the "Green Car"
- hose imitations inserted and color-matched (Revell Aqua Color 09 Anthracite)

 

What still needs to be done in the near future:

 

- highlight contours with diluted black paint
- weather the roof section
- install interior lighting with power pack
- color-match the interior

- find decal set for the car number and car signs... 

 

So there's still enough work to do for the 6-car "Karikatsu" train. Another KiHa 56-0 railcar is to follow next week to complete a 7-car train named "2601D" from 1965.

 

Cheers!

[Nozomi329]

A bit of stickers, jumper cables, and painted ceramic insulators

[Kamome]

Gotta love those 581/583s.

Had a picture of one of these in a deck of Super Top Trumps (Super Trains) as a kid. Still my favourite JNR era multiple unit. Using blue for a sleeper instead of the usual red/cream livery just looked smart. I’m sure these were actually pretty horrible to sleep on. Beds were 3 births high and probably with an aroma of body odor, alcohol and stale tobacco. 

[lighthouse]

On 11/17/2024 at 8:06 AM, Steve said:

Modified the KATO Set 10-1893 (JR West Event Train) and turned it into Mid Showa-Era JNR Rolling Stock.

 

 

What exactly did you modify to bring it into the Mid-Showa era?

[Kamome]

Had a bit of hobby time, well time to set up the airbrush and extractor booth and finally got around to painting up the Aru 9 DE601 kit I bought at Jam2024. 

 

The relief details on the etch were pretty good although I wanted to create a sort of custom diesel unit for a little limestone facility I’ve been toying with, based around a Walthers coal mine loader kit. The body side etches do contain drill holes on the inside for the grab rails but don’t have these in the kit. I used 0.3mm brass wire but my bending consistency isn’t up to much. 

The kit goes together quite well. The biggest issue was actually getting the chassis set up as there’s a few fiddly parts. This needed a separate chassis kit for very little money and uses a Kato B train chassis which also need some plastic removing. 

I went for a simple industrial/private freight line blue (Rinkai Railway) with yellow ends. The blue was actually mixed from 2 Mr Color shades, one dark blue which I liked and a lighter grey blue which I think was from a Gundam range. My initial intention was to paint wasp stripes but this seems incredibly fiddly at this scale. The last headache was getting the side handrails into the positioning holes. These fitted easily before painting but had a few bend issues on the last few pillars. My last expectation was to add a white stripe, reminiscent of the actual loco in Hokkaido but I decided against this. I may still create a fictional mining company waterside decal on some printable paper and apply at a later date. 

The roof etch has a fan modelled but this is covered by a large roof panel. I decided to omit this and add a fine mesh panel I found, actual intended for a 1/48 tank model.

The mesh is very fine so sort of works. I also added Microtrains couplers to the chassis and bent some 0.3mm wire into a speedometer cable from one of the wheel axles.

I also made an asymmetrical cab section with an engineer sat sideways. This is glued to the chassis and sits on the right side, thanks to photos of the real thing.

This does mean there’s a slight technique to putting the body shell on. The real loco was American made so I assume that’s why drivers seat is on the right. 

 

Glazing was just some clear acetate applied with tamiya clear glaze cement to avoid any frosting. I also found the best way to paint the number boards was to paint with silver acrylic, then once dry, add thinned red/orange enamel paint, of which the excess can be cleaned up once dry to expose the silver numbers and edging. 

 

Total cost - ¥5060 inc tax

 

Aru 9 Body kit ¥2680

Aru 9 Chassis Modification Kit ¥880 (required due to narrow body, 2 supplied in kit)

Kato chassis ¥1500

 

Edited Thursday at 11:24 PM by Kamome

[Tony Galiani]

In a rare move for me, I actually worked on my Tomytec Railway Collection Tosaden Kotsu tram less than a week after returning to the US after having ridden the real thing, albeit a differently numbered unit, when we went back to Kochi from Ino Town.

 

I had motorized Tomytec static models before though it has been a while so I struggled a little bit.  And, after rueing my lack of near vision which made this harder than necessary, I finally remembered to put on the prescription reading glasses I had made for just this purpose.  Even though I keep them by my modeling desk, I never remember to put them on at the start of a project!

 

Anyway, the work was relatively simple - disassemble the static model, save the front guards for reuse, set the chassis to the correct wheelbase length (the power unit has three options), install the end caps and extra weigh (included with the power unit), install the correct bogie covers (three options for this as well), and reassemble the kit.  Before that I did paint the wheels of the power unit bogies dark grey to hid the shiny chrome and painted the bogie sideframes and the guards grimy black.  I thought about adding a driver but didn't have any with a white shirt to match what I saw in Kochi so left that out for now.  Still need to touch up the paint on the bogies in one or two spots as well.

 

I purchased another of these trams in the other livery offered by Tomytec so need to do that next.  I am also trying to find plans for a suitable small layout so I can display and run these.   Harder than you would think but my mind goes blank when faced with a blank layout board!

 

Ciao,

Tony

 

 

[cteno4]

Welcome to the dark side of tomytec trains tony! 

 

Don’t slide your closeup glasses up on top of your head or you will spend a half an hour trying to find them [dont ask how i know].

 

jeff

[Kingmeow]

DCC?  🤣

[Kamome]

Not so much improving but building. I’m not really sure why Kato decided on making a kit for the “toroko” wagons for the Toro-Q rather than just manufacturing them. Possibly as it was a Kyushu Mini Diorama exhibition release, although it seemed to be readily available across all domestic outlets. 

 

The kit comes with 3 identical sprues of body sides, roof and internal seat and tables, 3 generic chassis (not actually prototypical) and 2 replacement coupler housings to add rapido couplers to the Kiha 58/65 of the Toro-Q. It would have been far better to include knuckles here as those wanting to build and paint this kit will most likely not be enamoured with Rapido couplers. I replaced the wagon chassis with short couplers and changed out the replacement Kiha ones with short loco knuckles. This does make the distance between cars much more realistic.

The parts need to be snipped and sanded like most other model kit and do go together easily enough with plastic cement x3.  Kato recommend Mr Color  124 Mitsubishi green and suggest a suitable brown for the seating. 

 

Upon completing the kits, there is a slight gape in the sides of the bodies which does mean the body doesn’t fit as securely to the chassis as one would like. The inner seating  could be glued to help pull in the sides but then would be unable to add passengers at a later date. I think glueing is eventually inevitable otherwise the body will constantly pop off. 

Once painted and clear coated I added the water slide decals. These are of good quality and go on very easily. A final clear coat and everything is sealed in. The instructions do need to be checked as the 2 logos need to go on in slightly different places depending on which side is being detailed. Their description in Japanese is similar. (トロQロゴ/トロッコロゴ)

 Additional safety bars were added with 0.3mm brass wire (5.75cm lengths) I added these before the priming and painting phases and sprayed the whole thing green picking out the bars with silver enamel paint. 

 

The kit was bought for ¥6070 which is a lot for what’s here considering what you’d pay for more detailed individual wagons. This is a good ¥1000 less than the SRP which I would say is way overpriced. Perhaps it’s a limited run, for those who purchased the Toro-Q diesel cars. It’s an easy kit but required some spare and added parts to bring it up to a better standard. The artistic license of pre-existing, non-accurate chassis and the ill-fitting body mean I wouldn’t recommend it unless you really want the toroko wagons for your Toro-Q.