500 Shinkansen in Hello Kitty livery to be introduced

[cteno4]

That is the problem with this model in that you see the tops of trains the most while looking at the layout most of the time. Always tradeoffs.

 

i fear the pinkness may rule on the layout...

 

we had a club dinner last night and one of the wives (former Girl Scout troop leader for many years) was asking the usual suspects if they would be getting one as if none of us did she was going to get it (she had a few trains she loves) as she really wants it on the layout at shows to attract young girls to the hobby. I’m still on the fence.

 

jeff

[chadbag]

On 7/8/2018 at 10:34 PM, nah00 said:

Can't wait to buy this and name it 'The Pink Nightmare'.

 

 

HS has it up for pre-order - I suspect the usual suspects have or will all have it soon

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10548471

 

[MichiK]

It looks like the Z-friends could win that race: Our pink bullet is announced for november.

I hope it will make it to Europe in time  for Christmas...

[chadbag]

On 7/12/2018 at 8:08 AM, chadbag said:

 

 

HS has it up for pre-order - I suspect the usual suspects have or will all have it soon

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10548471

 

 

AmiAmi has it up for preorder, as does Amazon.co.jp.     (On Amazon.co.jp the shipping price was ridiculous, som 4995yen to the US while the seven stars over Kyushu is like 1800yen -- maybe the DHL eCommerce closure affects them too.)

 

MTP also has it up for pr-order now as well -- https://www.modeltrainplus.net/products/pre-order-tomix-98662-sanyo-shinkansen-series-500-7000-hello-kitty-8-car-set

 

Edited July 13, 2018 by chadbag

[railsquid]

On 7/10/2018 at 4:40 AM, cteno4 said:

That is the problem with this model in that you see the tops of trains the most while looking at the layout most of the time. Always tradeoffs.

 

 

Here at Chez Railsquid I have the luxury of being able to lean back in my "office" chair and the trains (well train, I still haven't wired up more than one controller) is just a little below eye level.

 

Not that this one will be gracing my layout. Though admittedly it looks less hideous than I imagined.

Anyway I just wanted to say on the way home tonight I was in a local supermarket and there was a guy in his 40s (I guess) wearing a leopard-skin patterned Hello Kitty "tracksuit" (for want of a better word, I'd call it a "shellsuit" but not sure how current/widespread that term is). If I go to the convenience store in the other direction I pass I lot full of Hello Kitty rental storage containers. I kid you not. I don't want to add to the pollution.

[cteno4]

Kind of like being eye-wigged (visual alternate to stupid jingles earwigging you). After a while you just have to have you a hello kitty 500...

 

jeff

[chadbag]

I am a sucker for special liveries anyway...

 

My Euro side has a bunch of locomotives with Loc & More or other designed special liveries (2 different fall of wall & German reunification / Vincent Van Gogh / Kaiser Franz Josef, etc).  I'd like to get the Trix Wagner one as well but at the moment I have a moratorium on new trains (excepting Kitty-Chan and a few special pre-orders).

[changkh]

Any news if KATO will release this?

[TimWay4]

I'm hoping so, I don't want to pre-order the Tomix one as I'd have to order it from abroad and as you generally pay for pre-orders when they are shipping, I don't want to get screwed by the conversion rate, where as I know a UK importer for Kato so I would be able to get it through him at hopefully a set price. 

[changkh]

1 hour ago, TimWay4 said:

I'm hoping so, I don't want to pre-order the Tomix one as I'd have to order it from abroad and as you generally pay for pre-orders when they are shipping, I don't want to get screwed by the conversion rate, where as I know a UK importer for Kato so I would be able to get it through him at hopefully a set price. 

 

So in general, your importer sells at a lower price compared to if you were to bring them in yourself from Japan via online shops?

Good for you. I am not even sure if there are any more train model hobby shops in Singapore. Even if there is, it may even be more expensive than getting myself. I have been buying from Amazon Japan.

[TimWay4]

It's not that he sells at a lower price, it's just that if he puts it up for £171 I pay £171, but if I buy it off HobbySearch or someone else I pay 25, 500 yen which today when I pre-order it may be  £171 but when the money comes out 25, 500 yen might actually be £250. So I'm hoping Kato make it so I can get a stable price and not lock into buying something only to find out the price has gone up a load when it comes to them taking the money, if that all makes sense. 

[katoftw]

Here in Australia is is cheaper to run the gauntlet with volatile exchange rates than pay the bigger prices from home shops.

[chadbag]

13 hours ago, TimWay4 said:

It's not that he sells at a lower price, it's just that if he puts it up for £171 I pay £171, but if I buy it off HobbySearch or someone else I pay 25, 500 yen which today when I pre-order it may be  £171 but when the money comes out 25, 500 yen might actually be £250. So I'm hoping Kato make it so I can get a stable price and not lock into buying something only to find out the price has gone up a load when it comes to them taking the money, if that all makes sense. 

 

Except that if he puts it up at 171£ today, you might pay 20000¥ on pre-order, which, even if the Sterling moves a bit before it releases, is most likely to still be less than the 171£ your store put it up for.  But then you probably get socked with import fees etc. which may make it more equal.  

 

But good for you for supporting your local shops.   That is always good.  Unfortunately, most local places don't stock Japanese or Euro trains in the US and the few US places that have them aren't local to me and are terribly expensive.   I do try and give the local guy business for stuff I need that he carries (decoders etc from US shops and Unitrack when I am in a pinch and he has it in stock -- he only carries a small assortment)

[JR 500系]

14 hours ago, changkh said:

 

So in general, your importer sells at a lower price compared to if you were to bring them in yourself from Japan via online shops?

Good for you. I am not even sure if there are any more train model hobby shops in Singapore. Even if there is, it may even be more expensive than getting myself. I have been buying from Amazon Japan.

 

There is ~ All but one in Singapore sells Japanese train models, and his a good friend of mine. If you like I can pm you the contact address. 

 

However, he does not carry Kato... so I still look for online retailers for Kato models. If you looked around the forum, especially on the retailers thread, you can find a mirage of online suppliers that carry extensive amounts of models at very good prices as compared with Amazon Japan ~ 

[TimWay4]

@chadbag yeah, I mean from my end I'm still paying a more stable price, but you are right, even that price still isn't as stable as I might think because the money is still worth a different amount at the other end, A point I hadn't thought about.

 

I support him in an aid to get more Japanese stuff brought into the UK I also recommend him to people in the UK that want to buy Kato stuff (as he deals in that exclusively) because I figure if the demand is shown, he'll order more and others may pick up on it and start stocking it too, I know a few other places stock tiny amounts of it now and Japanese stock does show up at shows, where I will always try to buy something Japanese, again to try and drive demand to order in more stuff, though I only buy reasonably priced stuff. I have seen people try and shift stuff for extortionate prices.