ICE: Kato or something else?

[gavino200]

37 minutes ago, jappomania said:

 

🤨

sure? take care because you bought the original ICE 1 livery set and if I remember correctly the rest of cars has been sold each one separately (7441 to 7449)

the models release in set with 2 and 3 intermediate cars are the renewed version with single red stripe instead the red/purple (eg the last version DCC with sound - 4 cars base + 2 x 2 cars add-on + 1 x 3 cars add-on still on sale at 600-620€)

 

Ah, thanks Jappomania. You're dead right. I totally missed that. I was looking at the pictures above today thinking, "wow, I didn't notice the pink line before. I like it". It looks much better. I think that must have been what I remember seeing In Munich in the early 90s because I remember it just blew me away. I haven't felt that since on seeing ICE trains. I always put that down to a first impression phenomenon. But maybe it was the actual paint design. Seeing my picture above gave me the same feeling.

 

I guess I'll cancel my 3 car order and start searching for the original cars. It'll be a fun hunt and will probably take years.🙂

[gavino200]

39 minutes ago, Yavianice said:

Yes I know it’s a bit more involved, and that it is actually 2 ICE2 power heads. But from a distance you don’t really see it.

 

i actually transformed my ICE1 and ICE1 cars with ICES livery and I think it looks cool.

 

Pics please Ya. I'd love to see. 

[roadstar_na6]

38 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

start searching for the original cars

or take the shortcut 😄

[gavino200]

2 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

or take the shortcut 😄

 

You are the devil, roadstar!!!

[gavino200]

So dumb of me. I didn't even think of ebay Germany. There are lots of "from germany" items that show up on the local ebay. I just assumed they all did. There are lots of great offers on German ebay. 

 

The postage kills me though. I may ask a friend if I can send stuff to them and then have a bunch of stuff sent in one load. It'll still be expensive I think but probably better than paying transatlantic mail each time. I'm not a big postal penny pincher but mail from Germany to the US seems much higher than mail from Japan. Am I wrong about this?

 

Anyone know of a "mailing agent" that would consolidate and send items from Germany to the US?

Edited August 15, 2020 by gavino200

[Yavianice]

Unfortunately DHL only offers DHL Premium shipping to the U.S. at the time because of COVID. The cheapest method of shipping available now is a 5KG package + premium, which is around 53 euro.

 

And can't your friend be the mailing agent?

 

 

[jappomania]

Hi Gavin
Roadstar "solution" is the best, price is a little bit over, but at the end you pay a single shipping and probably you don't risk the box/car number mixed (typical from seller that put on sale more cars separated, excluding the restaurant it's easy to put all the other on the wrong box)
ask better photos of the items, the concept of "used in good condition" or "like new" is hard to evaluate (sorry, but in over than 20 years I saw and heard too many bullshit), for items old like these (20-30 years) is better to verify all, because the "second hand" owner, maybe is the third, fourth....  (sold all togheter but maybe bought separated), at the end to obtain a correct "complete" 9 set, I had to buy 14 cars

 

to verify the correspondance of car number/item code on the box here we find the list of what has been released
(I can't verify if Fleischmann reproduced a partially exact car formation because I never found a yearly list of the real consistence of DB ICE like for Shinkansen)

https://www.spur-n-datenbank.de/cb_ergebnis.php?s_katid=392&s_hersteller=Fleischmann

(p.s. 9 cars weight is around 850-900gr. so if the seller agree, he can send it like insured "packchen" (2kg small packet)
https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/pakete-versenden/weltweit-versenden/paeckchen.html )

 

ciao!

Massimo

[Yavianice]

1 hour ago, jappomania said:

(P.s. 9 cars weight is around 850-900gr. so if the seller agree, he can send it like insured "packchen" (2kg small packet)
https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/pakete-versenden/weltweit-versenden/paeckchen.html )

As mentioned above DHL Premium is the only shipping method that can be used due to COVID. All other shipping methods by DHL UPU are suspended including Päckchen.

[gavino200]

15 hours ago, Yavianice said:

 

And can't your friend be the mailing agent?

 

 

Yes, that was my first thought. I have some friends who I'm sure would do this for me. But it's a decent bit of inconvenience to ask someone to go to. So if there's a way to take care of it myself as a cost, I'd prefer to do that. 

 

Besides, I'll probably do this again and again over the years, and I don't want to ask a friend to act as a service. 

[gavino200]

8 hours ago, jappomania said:

Hi Gavin
Roadstar "solution" is the best, price is a little bit over, but at the end you pay a single shipping and probably you don't risk the box/car number mixed (typical from seller that put on sale more cars separated, excluding the restaurant it's easy to put all the other on the wrong box)
ask better photos of the items, the concept of "used in good condition" or "like new" is hard to evaluate (sorry, but in over than 20 years I saw and heard too many bullshit), for items old like these (20-30 years) is better to verify all, because the "second hand" owner, maybe is the third, fourth....  (sold all togheter but maybe bought separated), at the end to obtain a correct "complete" 9 set, I had to buy 14 cars

 

to verify the correspondance of car number/item code on the box here we find the list of what has been released
(I can't verify if Fleischmann reproduced a partially exact car formation because I never found a yearly list of the real consistence of DB ICE like for Shinkansen)

https://www.spur-n-datenbank.de/cb_ergebnis.php?s_katid=392&s_hersteller=Fleischmann

(p.s. 9 cars weight is around 850-900gr. so if the seller agree, he can send it like insured "packchen" (2kg small packet)
https://www.dhl.de/en/privatkunden/pakete-versenden/weltweit-versenden/paeckchen.html )

 

ciao!

Massimo

 

Thanks Massimo. That's great information. Much appreciated!!

[roadstar_na6]

Once shipping resumes to the US I could forward any stuff you buy in Germany to you, if it‘s not a parcel a day 😄

It also is a convenient way to avoid getting faulty stuff and going through the hassle of dealing with returns and stuff.

[gavino200]

3 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Once shipping resumes to the US I could forward any stuff you buy in Germany to you, if it‘s not a parcel a day 😄

It also is a convenient way to avoid getting faulty stuff and going through the hassle of dealing with returns and stuff.

 

I appreciate the offer. I'll try hard to NOT take you up on it. I'm always making offers like this for people. Somehow when it's time to head out in the rain with a box under your arm, enthusiasm tends to wane a little. 🤣

 

[roadstar_na6]

It‘s really no big deal, there is a few post offices and a 24h parcel-station next to where I am 🙂

[Yavianice]

On 8/14/2020 at 11:26 PM, gavino200 said:

 

Pics please Ya. I'd love to see. 

Sorry for the delay.

 

disclaimer: yes I know about the incorrect motorcars. Didn’t want to spend money on 2 sets of the ICE2. Pretend this is an excursion to Switzerland or something.

 

Edited August 26, 2020 by Yavianice
Added picture

[gavino200]

11 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Sorry for the delay.

 

disclaimer: yes I know about the incorrect motorcars. Didn’t want to spend money on 2 sets of the ICE2. Pretend this is an excursion to Switzerland or something.

 

 

Wow! I love it! Did you have someone make custom decals for you? Or did you make them yourself? Would you mind spilling the beans?

[Yavianice]

58 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

Would you mind spilling the beans?

Beans

[gavino200]

A question regarding the Fleischmann ICE 2: Apart from the cab car, steuerwagen, and restaurant car, is there any noticable difference between the regular first and second class cars for and ICE 1 and an ICE 2?

 

If say I bought a four car ICE 2 set, could I just build up the rest of the train with ICE 1 cars or is there anything that would look off?

 

https://www.ebay.de/itm/Fleischmann-ICE2-9381-Spur-N-Super-Zustand-wie-NEU-4-Teilig/193704680760?hash=item2d19b2dd38:g:hDkAAOSwDk1fgfDU

[Yavianice]

The differences are mostly small; from a distance (and if you are not a rivet counter) you might not notice. The most notable differences besides the cab, motor, restaurant and service/crew car (the latter is not part of the ICE 2): the undercarriage is also slightly different, as is the window composition (which you might not notice). The biggest reason not to get the ICE 2 in the starter package with ICE 1 cars is the color difference, however, and the difference in "Taufname" which, depending on your particular ICE model, you might or might not have anyway.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Yavianice

[gavino200]

5 hours ago, Yavianice said:

The differences are mostly small; from a distance (and if you are not a rivet counter) you might not notice. The most notable differences besides the cab, motor, restaurant and service/crew car (the latter is not part of the ICE 2): the undercarriage is also slightly different, as is the window composition (which you might not notice). The biggest reason not to get the ICE 2 in the starter package with ICE 1 cars is the color difference, however, and the difference in "Taufname" which, depending on your particular ICE model, you might or might not have anyway.

 

Thanks. My model ICE1 is an original with pink line and old (biscuit, keks??) logo. I'm think the ICE 2 has no pink line and the DB AG logo. So I'd buy a whole new set of cars. I'd want to park and run them together from time to time anyway.

 

 

[Yavianice]

The old ICE 2 also has a pink line. But to my knowledge none have a DB keks logo.

[gavino200]

On 1/1/2020 at 9:12 PM, Yavianice said:

Arnold’s ICE 3 is now available for sale. It’s identical to the previous version and includes their stupid nailbreaking couplers. Only the box and the T-Mobile ads are added. 
 

The ICE 3M (NS) version it not available yet so I’m still not sure if they have the correct pantograph assembly. The AVE version is also not yet released. 

 

Did you ever buy the Arnold ICE 3? I'm curious how it compares with the previous Arnold version. I'm actually thinking of getting a previous version as I don't want sound and generally install my own decoders. 

 

Is the new motor any better? How about the couplers?

[Yavianice]

@gavino200 The new Arnold ICE 3 version is almost exactly the same as the old ICE 3. The only changes are:

• The ICE 3M (NS version) is indeed incorrect. They did not bother re-releasing it even though they produced it before
• The couplers are no longer conducting couplers (I'm not sure why they needed to be conducting, but they were). Otherwise they are exactly the same

The motor is just as bad as I remember. But, apparently this is a "hit or miss" thing since some people did not have complaints. Mine barely moves.

 

Overall I would not recommend the train because it's too expensive for what you get. I only got it because nobody else produces an ICE 3 nowadays (Minitrix hasn't re-released it and that's a toy train, not a model train, so I recommend that one even less).

Edited October 24, 2020 by Yavianice

[serotta1972]

Hobby Search has been having more foreign trains it seems like - I'd rather not see these because I will be tempted and have poor impulse control when it comes to something new and different. 😁

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10759831

[chadbag]

I would recommend that if you are suffering from lack of self control and want to buy this or others, try looking at a European store as you will probably pay less overall.  The one above for example comes in at about $320 at Modellbahn Shop Lippe vs $351 at HS (rough estimates).

 

[serotta1972]

16 hours ago, chadbag said:

I would recommend that if you are suffering from lack of self control and want to buy this or others, try looking at a European store as you will probably pay less overall.  The one above for example comes in at about $320 at Modellbahn Shop Lippe vs $351 at HS (rough estimates).

 

 

Thank you for the tip, appreciate it.