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Painted or Wrapped Trains in Special Liveries


Krackel Hopper

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Krackel Hopper

One of the many things I find fascinating about Japanese trains is the art.  Train design/architecture aside (which are also bland in the USA), about the only "painting" you see on trains in the states is graffiti.  When I stumbled across the KIHA 40 fox/crab/squid set, I was hooked!  Since then I've been trying to track down some of these unique painted trains/locomotives.

 

Does anyone know if someone has made an N-scale KIHA 40 "Wrapping Train" (I believe that's the name anyway)..

http://www.actv.zaq.ne.jp/odori-ko/jissya_kiha40haba4.jpg

 

 

I've started to compile a list, I was hoping that others might be able to add to..

 

Brand        Model # Type              Name

Tomix   92931 KIHA 130      Hidaka Pony Train

Kato        10-919 201 Series      Sikisai 4 Seasons (new color)

Kato        10-912 201 Series      Sikisai 4 Seasons (old color)

Kato        10-238 165 Series      Mount Fuji Express

Micro Ace A5915 KIHA 40/48      Fox

Micro Ace A5916 KIHA 40/48      Crab

Micro Ace A5917 KIHA 40/48      Squid

Micro Ace A8715 DE10              Dolphin

Micro Ace A0424 103 Series      Train Has Eyes

Micro Ace A0317 781 Series      Doraemon

Micro Ace A8625 KIHA 40      Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro

Micro Ace A8626 KIHA 40      Kitaro

Micro Ace A8627 KIHA 40      Medama Oyaji

Micro Ace A8628 KIHA 40      Neko Musume

Micro Ace A8629 KIHA 40      Nezumi Otoko

Micro Ace A0364 KIHA 185      Island Express

Micro Ace A1852 12 Series      Origami

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Arrgggg, this is killing me, i remember seeing something on these somewhere, but i cant put my finger on it now! they are fantastic! i am wondering if it was a body made by someone else that you drop on a tomix kiha. translation says platts + tomix, so could be a platz body, would figure as they like to do the more colorful containers. maybe a japan only thing where it is only in the smaller specialty places. its irritating me though as i know i have seen this before!

 

Found this, I don't know the item number:

 

http://page9.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/k116102170

 

its a bit sad to say  that i have just about all of the trains listed below... these trains royally hooked me early on and i have been collecting everyone i can get my hands on. also at least a dozen painted trams as well.

 

Also must add one of the grand-daddies of painted trains, Doraemon!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10054250a/20/1

 

hey i had missed the Clannad E231 series, good find! may have to break down and order ems from hobbysearch on this one... tempting to put the decals on a real n train, but the sobu line E231 are not in circulation... guess i could cheat with another line! it is tempting!

 

it would be really great to get decal kits to do up regular trains into painted trains. would take some licensing i bet and might be most of the cost/work for the manufacturer with some of these franchises. one of the JRM members is looking into getting some of the images at higher resolution for the anime shinkansens. while matthew was in japan some of the club members in our sister club in Iwate had made their own, but the resolution of the artwork they got was pretty rough even at N scale size.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Krackel Hopper

Thanks guys!

 

This is just the kinda stuff I was looking for.  While the revival colors are unique, and do deserve to be noted, I was thinking more along the lines of the "themed" painted trains..

 

Of course, now that you've shown me this.. I have been told by the lady of the house that we NEED to get the NHK train.  A few months ago, when I started getting into this hobby, she made a comment about "if there is a Domo train..." and now I see that yes, there is a Domo train.

 

Thanks to this forum, I now have a "how-to" on using the yahoo.jp auctions.. which I will be needing to get the NHK train!  Ever since I have found this hobby, my wallet has been sorely disappointed with me.. heh 

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Krackel,

 

also lurk ebay as well as that is where i got mine about a year back. came from someone's collection that was getting out of trains and got it at a very good price. takes some pertinence, i thought it would never come up, but it did!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps still waiting to find the space world version (A0643)! one of the few i have not tracked down and may end up as a yahoo auction search!

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Anybody know what the story is with the train painted with boars and trees? From one of Kitayama's pictures that I just saw, I think it's on the Eizan Electric Railway.

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Martijn Meerts

That sure is colorful, and quite expensive considering there's no motor in it (according to the description...)

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There is no motor in the steam engine as its prototypical! the prototype is just a reconstruction that has to be pulled around by another loco. the POMPA train was a sort of mobile trade show for the public on i think electronic technology mainly by i think Hitachi. if someone would like to try and do some translation i could post a scan on the insert, i think it has some info on the prototype.

 

anyhow i got this when it came out as we were having a debate on the jrm layout as to if we would run thomas trains on the layout at shows to engage kids. then i saw this and it was a good compromise as its sort of thomas like, but real and has an interesting story with it with the non functional show engine (having good talking points with public displays is always really great as you can engage them so much more!). in the end we have found that kids, even little ones get totally wowed by the japanese trains w/o having to revert to thomas! even the really little ones seem to recognized there is something cooler going on with the japanese trains.

 

of course then we have goji as well so that helps grab both the little and the big (read adult) kids and he of course is prototypical...

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Talking about painted trains; Tomytec are going to release the two Shikisai (四季彩) versions of the 201 Series from the Umeda-line in April! The price will be around 5,000 Yen, so a quite nice price for some unique trains. Note that there is an old and new colour and that the sides have different window arrangements! A good alternative for the long sold out Kato Roundhouse versions.

 

http://ngi.blog.eonet.jp/photos/20110204_tomytec/001.html

 

shikisai-L.jpg

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anyhow i got this when it came out as we were having a debate on the jrm layout as to if we would run thomas trains on the layout at shows to engage kids. then i saw this and it was a good compromise as its sort of thomas like, but real and has an interesting story with it with the non functional show engine (having good talking points with public displays is always really great as you can engage them so much more!). in the end we have found that kids, even little ones get totally wowed by the japanese trains w/o having to revert to thomas! even the really little ones seem to recognized there is something cooler going on with the japanese trains.

 

Why not run this (after installing a power unit) then. It's prototypical Thomas!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112516

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Fujikyu-5000.jpg

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Why not run this (after installing a power unit) then. It's prototypical Thomas!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112516

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Fujikyu-5000.jpg

 

yep got it (actually i picked up two, dont tell), but have not yet powered it, but hope to do so soon! only problem is the thomas stuff on it is so small its hard to see from a few feet, but still great fun. fun talking point that there is a thomas land in japan as well!

 

Doreamon always has to be out as he is such a big hit with the kids. that train is great as it is very bright and all the characters large so they can be seen well from a distance and enough kids have seen the series to recognize it or at least that its a cartoon character and i think they really like the fact that cartoons and trains are coming together (frankly the same here for the 6' 4" 8yr old)!

 

i forgot to bring to the last show the Meitetsu series 1000 with the kids art for the local area and attractions! only could fit 2 crates of trains into the car going to the show so forgot to dig this one out to show off to the kids! its now one of my favorite and i think the kids will appreciate the use of kids art.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10061891

 

theres also a second thread for some reason on painted trains here

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,2324.0.html

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Talking about painted trains; Tomytec are going to release the two Shikisai (四季彩) versions of the 201 Series from the Umeda-line in April! The price will be around 5,000 Yen, so a quite nice price for some unique trains. Note that there is an old and new colour and that the sides have different window arrangements! A good alternative for the long sold out Kato Roundhouse versions.

 

http://ngi.blog.eonet.jp/photos/20110204_tomytec/001.html

 

tony,

 

oooohhhh thanks for spotting this. i have the old roundhouse set but the new scheme will be nice to have as well!!!

 

its nice tomytec is getting into the painted trains more and more as usually its microace and hard on the wallet! also nice as pretty cheap to grab the train then power later to spread out the hurt! also kind of fun doing a little building doing the upgrade. heres to more tomytec painted trains!!!

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/photos/_trains/pages/page_41.html

 

yes im jeff and im a painted train adict...

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Krackel Hopper

Here's a different painted train, I wouldn't have believed it except there is a photo of the real thing on the box. Anyone for this one?

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10037238

 

I've been considering getting this train.. but the price tag is rather steep for a set with no motor!  Even prototypical!

 

Talking about painted trains; Tomytec are going to release the two Shikisai (四季彩) versions of the 201 Series

 

That is great!  RapitBunny got me the old color roundhouse set for our anniversary!  At the Tomytec price - I may get a 2nd "old color" to go with the new color!

 

I am impressed by Tomytec going after painted trains!

 

Hi Jeff!  My name is Jon, and I am a painted train addict too.

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LOL i expect the two of us should never get together or way too much mutual enabling might go on...

 

I got the Pompa when it first came out and the exchange was better, but even then it was almost $200 so it was one of the most expensive trains  have, but really do love it. very colorful and also playful engine but still prototypical!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Krackel Hopper

LOL i expect the two of us should never get together or way too much mutual enabling might go on...

 

I got the Pompa when it first came out and the exchange was better, but even then it was almost $200 so it was one of the most expensive trains  have, but really do love it. very colorful and also playful engine but still prototypical!

 

Out of curiosity, what do you tow the Pompa train with?  HS mentions EF58, C58 & C57.  Does the paperwork give any better specifics?  Like was it a brown or blue EF58?

 

Also, do you know how the train was towed?  Was the running engine coupled to the C11?  Or coupled to the last passenger car and the C11 on the trailing end?

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i would just use whatever we had around at the show to pull it (sometimes stealing the engine thats hauling containers). you have to haul it from the rear as it has a dummy knuckle coupler on the front of the c11

 

the only other specific info in japanese is on the HS page

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/itbig03/10037238k.jpg

 

it might be the text that they have translated. ill post the link on the translation page and see if anyone has some thoughts.

 

cheers

 

jeff

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Krackel Hopper

While this thread has some attention again..

 

Any thoughts on when MicroAce will finally do the Asahiyama Zoo Train?

 

240px-JRH-kiha183_Asahiyama_Zoo_Train.jpg

(bigger picture here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asahiyama_Zoo)

 

I wonder if it's a licensing issue?

 

I want it.. I've decided, outside of painted trains and MoW equipment.. of which I'm collecting anything fun.. the area I intend to focus on is Hokkaido.

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id whip out the cc for one!

 

may be or they may have a long list of painted trains to do! they seem to be in re-release mode right now and fewer new ones...

 

my dream is to create a wall display case that i can store all the painted trains in on display!

 

cheers

 

jeff

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that looks nice

got the thomas 2 car set from tomix last summer (still need the power chasis - this november)

 

DSCF1249-1.jpg

 

DSCF1250-1.jpg

 

DSCF1251-1.jpg

 

one of few that i have (own some japanese and some us commuter trains)

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