People’s Republic of China N Scale trains

[katoftw]

The 3 car set would be the basic set.  Same thing???  And as the manufacturer hasn't done an official announcement for the two add on sets release dates, you ain't gonna find those on any website yet.

Edited September 2, 2019 by katoftw

[TSK1000]

The 8 car expansion set announcement will be published later this year, per JAM 2019 and direct chat with Kunter rep. Still no info on when the 5 car add on set will be officially announced.

Edited September 3, 2019 by TSK1000

[cteno4]

Sorry, I was writing that when really, really tired. Yes it’s the basic 3 car set currently released, the addon set will be in 2020 and is not yet on mtp.

 

https://www.modeltrainplus.net/products/kunter-10-301-china-railway-crh380al-hexie-3-car-basic-set?_pos=1&_sid=5bade651f&_ss=r

 

jeff

[Kiha66]

I've been looking on taobao and apparently CMR has done a run of YW22 hard sleepers.  No announcement I saw beforehand, but plenty for sale.  Seem they all come with lights and run about $30 each.  I certainly will be picking up a set when I have some hobby cash handy, they'll go well with the YZ22 coaches from last year.

[Sheffie]

An interesting development: I’ve received an email from Minitown and it looks like they are setting up a web store for direct sales worldwide. 

[Sheffie]

Minitown recently showed off some new models at JAM in Tokyo. It looks like they’re developing a very detailed passenger coach, which is very interesting. 

 

https://www.minitownmodels.com/announcement

[Yavianice]

Kunter CRH 380 AL 8 car expansion set has been announced, with slated release date in January 2020.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10656035

 

No sign yet of the 5 car expansion set yet though. It appears to arrive later in 2020.

 

This 8 car set also contains the second motorcar.

 

I confirmed myself that Kunter CRH-380 sets also fit KATO lights without issue (actually, even better than KATO does in their own trains)

Edited November 14, 2019 by Yavianice
additional info.

[gavino200]

On 11/14/2019 at 7:54 AM, Yavianice said:

Kunter CRH 380 AL 8 car expansion set has been announced, with slated release date in January 2020.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10656035

 

No sign yet of the 5 car expansion set yet though. It appears to arrive later in 2020.

 

This 8 car set also contains the second motorcar.

 

I confirmed myself that Kunter CRH-380 sets also fit KATO lights without issue (actually, even better than KATO does in their own trains)

 

Thanks Ya. I''ll be pre-ordering this. If only I could remember who the Hong Kong seller was that I bought the 3 car set from. I think it was @serotta1972 's tip. 

[serotta1972]

Here it is.  They don't have the 8 car add-on set on there yet.  But will definitely be on the lookout for it.

 

https://cart.eztranscom.com

 

 

[Yavianice]

I had a very nice chat today with the people at Minitown, who were for the first time with a stand abroad in the N scale convention in Stuttgart. They announced a new Chinese High Speed Train for N gauge at the fair, namely the CR400BF-B, to be released early in 2020. The product developer, who spoke perfect English, also told me that they plan to release a total of 4 different varieties of Chinese high speed trains throughout 2020. These trains will also have optional customized interior lighting (so Tomix or Kato are not compatible sadly) and they also mentioned that EZ-Transcom is the main source to buy their trains besides WeChat or TaoBao. They are planning to partner up with Popondetta in Japan also to sell their products for the Japanese market, and are also looking for European distributors (I’m guessing this will be either Menzels or DM).

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by Yavianice
updated with promised release poster!

[gavino200]

This seems like a good price. I may order from here.

 

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.1.3dde12565yMUwg&id=607060326408&ns=1&abbucket=15#detail

[railsquid]

10 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

This seems like a good price. I may order from here.

 

https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm=a230r.1.14.1.3dde12565yMUwg&id=607060326408&ns=1&abbucket=15#detail

 

Just checking - you know that's an add-on set?

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

 

Just checking - you know that's an add-on set?

 

Yes, Thanks squid. I bought the basic set this year. It's pretty sad with just two cabs and a motor car. 

[railsquid]

Righty-ho, just asking as I've seen people tripped up by that before.

[serotta1972]

15 hours ago, Yavianice said:

I had a very nice chat today with the people at Minitown, who were for the first time with a stand abroad in the N scale convention in Stuttgart. They announced a new Chinese High Speed Train for N gauge at the fair, namely the CR400BF-B, to be released early in 2020. The product developer, who spoke perfect English, also told me that they plan to release a total of 4 different varieties of Chinese high speed trains throughout 2020. These trains will also have optional customized interior lighting (so Tomix or Kato are not compatible sadly) and they also mentioned that EZ-Transcom is the main source to buy their trains besides WeChat or TaoBao. They are planning to partner up with Popondetta in Japan also to sell their products for the Japanese market, and are also looking for European distributors (I’m guessing this will be either Menzels or DM).

 

Will add their release poster when I get to a PC.

 

Thanks for the update! Minitown make really great models and the detail on their models are quite amazing for N Scale.  

[gavino200]

Getting ready for tomorrow's mail delivery. @serotta1972 are you ready?

 

 

 

 

 

[serotta1972]

@gavino200 Yes, always ready and looking forward to new trains. Now, I get to run a decent length train - a 3 car HST looks odd.

[Tokyo West]

Hey all! 

 

Another expat in China here. I'm living in Shenzhen, just across the border from Hong Kong living and working as a music teacher for 2 years. I definitely have enjoyed finding some amazing stores in Hong Kong which sell model trains. By far the best is Hobby NaNa Cafe on Tsing Yi (it also has a phenomenonal view of the bay and Lantau island from the nearby lookout). The owner there has the best selection of Japanese rolling stock I've seen outside Japan, and a surprising amount of US outline stuff too. I regularly get stuff from him when I'm in town. 

 

He also is involved with SinoModel, a new Chinese company which just produced an incredible HO model of the Chinese Fuxing Hao (pictures attached!). It has DCC and sound, and truly impressive up close, though it's a little out of my price range and I'd barely have space to run it in my apartment... 

 

The other major hobby store I've found is Khaho in Tsuen Wan. They're much smaller, but still have a pretty great selection of Kato & Tomix rolling stock, track, and specialised lighting for N scale trains. I got a really nice Tomix 700 Shinkansen there back in November.

 

Other than that, Concorde has a few good things, though not many trains compared to planes and military models. Hong Kong is definitely the place to look. 

 

I still haven't managed to get my Taobao to work, so until I do, I make do with what I can bring back from HK, or in my suitcase from Japan. 

 

Lovely to find this online community, and really glad to have others to share tips and tricks with. 

 

All best,

 

Michael

[gavino200]

So the expansion pack arrived today. I'm fairly happy with it. I think it looks great. But there are a few problems with it. I'll write a little summary. I might add to it when I've run it a bit more. Overall I think it's a decent result for Kunther's first attempt at a HST, but my advice would be to wait until they've ironed out the kinks before buying one. 

 

Pros

1. While a little unsmooth, it's very fast. 

 

2. The model looks great. Nice detail. The pantographs are particularly nice. 

 

3. Sound wise it's about he same loudness as most n scale HSTs

 

 

 

Cons

 

1. The couplers are a bit problematic. The couplers on the original 3-car set are without a spring mechanism and are very loose. The add-on set has couplers with a spring mechanism. The old couplers work ok together when you run the original 3 cars together. The new couplers are quite a bit better and smoother. But the two don't work very well together. It's not the link itself, but that they allow different amounts of play and jostling. I found I could only stop the full train from derailing by running it with the original motor unit coupled to one of the cabs. The motor unit from the add-on can be placed anywhere with no problems. 

 

2. The wheels are just much more sensitive than a Kato or Tomix train. They bump and jump a lot. The train just doesn't look smooth. The illusion of realness is a bit spoiled by seeing the cars jump around. 

 

3. The traction tires on the original set motor unit make it particularly bumpy and unstable. I haven't worked out why this is. It seems to be well placed, but I can feel these wheels come to a sharp stop or bump at track joins where a kato train registers no problem at all. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2020 by gavino200

[serotta1972]

Thanks Gavin for ordering the add on set for me, really appreciate it.  I finally got to run my CRH380AL and it's a beautiful train and ran smoothly after about 10 minutes of running.  I also took this opportunity to get my other CNR Trains out to spin their wheels.  I've not been very good at running my trains consistently but will do so more often.  My trains are all Kunter except both for the DF11Z locos and actually didn't play well with the others because of coupler issues.  I was able to install a Rapido coupler on the DF11Z but it's a little stiff and derails the trailing car exiting a curve.  These trains are really nice and are of good quality and comparable to what we're used to with Japanese models and brands.

[gavino200]

On 4/1/2020 at 3:08 PM, gavino200 said:

So the expansion pack arrived today. I'm fairly happy with it. I think it looks great. But there are a few problems with it. I'll write a little summary. I might add to it when I've run it a bit more. Overall I think it's a decent result for Kunther's first attempt at a HST, but my advice would be to wait until they've ironed out the kinks before buying one. 

 

Pros

1. While a little unsmooth, it's very fast. 

 

2. The model looks great. Nice detail. The pantographs are particularly nice. 

 

3. Sound wise it's about he same loudness as most n scale HSTs

 

 

 

Cons

 

1. The couplers are a bit problematic. The couplers on the original 3-car set are without a spring mechanism and are very loose. The add-on set has couplers with a spring mechanism. The old couplers work ok together when you run the original 3 cars together. The new couplers are quite a bit better and smoother. But the two don't work very well together. It's not the link itself, but that they allow different amounts of play and jostling. I found I could only stop the full train from derailing by running it with the original motor unit coupled to one of the cabs. The motor unit from the add-on can be placed anywhere with no problems. 

 

2. The wheels are just much more sensitive than a Kato or Tomix train. They bump and jump a lot. The train just doesn't look smooth. The illusion of realness is a bit spoiled by seeing the cars jump around. 

 

3. The traction tires on the original set motor unit make it particularly bumpy and unstable. I haven't worked out why this is. It seems to be well placed, but I can feel these wheels come to a sharp stop or bump at track joins where a kato train registers no problem at all. 

 

 

 

Update: I made two changes that helped. I had a few segments of improvised double viaduct track. All my japanese trains ran fine over them but the CRH had trouble. Well, I bought new segments of double viaduct track the CRH runs fine now. I also removed the traction tires. They're not necessary at all for level running, and I don't plan to build in any inclines. Not recommending that anyone remove their tires. Just documenting that it runs fine without them. 

[gavino200]

On 4/11/2020 at 9:42 PM, serotta1972 said:

Thanks Gavin for ordering the add on set for me, really appreciate it.  I finally got to run my CRH380AL and it's a beautiful train and ran smoothly after about 10 minutes of running.  I also took this opportunity to get my other CNR Trains out to spin their wheels.  I've not been very good at running my trains consistently but will do so more often.  My trains are all Kunter except both for the DF11Z locos and actually didn't play well with the others because of coupler issues.  I was able to install a Rapido coupler on the DF11Z but it's a little stiff and derails the trailing car exiting a curve.  These trains are really nice and are of good quality and comparable to what we're used to with Japanese models and brands.

 

 

Beautiful collection. I'm looking forward to getting some more of these Kunther trains. I especially like the green one. 

[Yavianice]

Saw this curious twitter post today.

 

Though this post is from 2018, Are these starter sets actually a thing? 

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Saw this curious twitter post today.

 

 

Though this post is from 2018, Are these starter sets actually a thing? 

 

I've never seen it, and it's not listed on TaoBao so I'd bet it was never released.

[Kiha66]

Too bad, that'd be a great way to help grow the hobby in china!  I wonder if the issue was with getting kato on board.