First viaduct setup and trial build on the dining room table

[POLO]

I received my first Kato sets today (picked up from Trainz here in GA) and set the viaduct up for a trail run to understand how Kato trains go together, spacing, power etc. I realized that the kit power cables on fit on the viaduct straights and not the curves. I setup it up on the dining room table, which she is okayyyy with for a few days hahaha.
 

I am coming from G scale (LGB RhB RR), so this is a very new experience for me to understand and work with very small pieces. I dropped the coupler springs too many times figuring out how to put one of the cars back together after adding lightin, but it is in and running! I am looking forward to my 4’x8~12’ layout build that will be coming up in the next few months. 

Something I didn’t plan on was the size of the DX lighting platform didn’t match the viaduct station width very well and I would need a 3/4 to 1/2 length DX platform to fill in the gap. Not sure how I am going to build that out with the layout. I jumped up to the DX seeing the built in lighting, but I don’t know if it will be a good fit.

That is my American Akita in the background very interested on what is going on!

Also, another picture of him because why not!

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by POLO

[cteno4]

Nice doggie! One of our club members has always had American Akitas! They actually took them back to japan for 2.5 years while they were working there and amazed the Japanese as they are so big compared to the current Japanese Akitas. Some of the old folks would be amazed seeing them as they were like 70+ years ago in japan.

 

enjoy exploring n scale here. That’s the first Japanese setup I did like 20+ years ago!

 

jeff

[POLO]

13 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Nice doggie! One of our club members has always had American Akitas! They actually took them back to japan for 2.5 years while they were working there and amazed the Japanese as they are so big compared to the current Japanese Akitas. Some of the old folks would be amazed seeing them as they were like 70+ years ago in japan.

 

enjoy exploring n scale here. That’s the first Japanese setup I did like 20+ years ago!

 

jeff

 

Thanks Jeff!

 

We have loved our American Akitas. The one above is Rumour at only 84 lbs when we rescued two weeks ago from a breeder, but our late last big boy was 118 lbs. and seem to intimidate everyone, but he was actually really gentle and sweet to everyone beside other big male dogs. They both were/are very gentle around little kids. I put my 4 year old niece up on our last big boy back and he just walked around with her on top, haha.

 

It is fun that everyone loves the viaduct setup at the start, and I am looking forward to building the layout, but have a few questions:

1. Can the Kato DX platform work with the viaduct station? It seems I will need a 3/4 or a little less section to get it to work, or do a little more math and figure out the straight track distances and curves to make it fit nicely?

2. Will the dio town plates to work with the unitram plates? My goal is to build a similar layout to someone else that posted recently with a viaduct setup, unitary, and an outside freight line. That is my goal, but can't find the link right now to his build thread. 

3. The first kato office tower I bought doesn't fit the grid of the duo town plates. I am not sure if I need to rethink front station dio plates to tie into the unitary, but really like the scenery detail of that kit.

 

Again, Thanks!

[Kamome]

Hi Polo

 

looks like you’ve made a nice start. Hope this answers your questions.

 

1. You can buy different platform ends from Kato to fit the viaduct station plates. Unfortunately, these are a slightly older design and don’t have the yellow line detailing that are on the new DX pieces.

 

2. The Unitram plates work with the diotown plates no problem.

 

3. The front of station plates won’t fit the larger Kato buildings 112mm x 112mm but there are other higher rises that will fit into the space (81x81mm or 62x81mm). If you are going to use Kato products exclusively, a good tool would be to invest in a catalogue so you can plan out what you’ll need.

[POLO]

On 2/8/2020 at 5:49 PM, Kamome said:

3. The front of station plates won’t fit the larger Kato buildings 112mm x 112mm but there are other higher rises that will fit into the space (81x81mm or 62x81mm). If you are going to use Kato products exclusively, a good tool would be to invest in a catalogue so you can plan out what you’ll need.

 

Thanks Kamome,

I plan on going full Kato building and accessories. 

Does katousa.com have enough information or what does the catalog offer over their structure list?

I am guessing one of these? Kato Japanese 2020 Catalog on Ebay

 

[cteno4]

Polo,

 

lots more for structures than Kato! Tomix, tomytec, greenmax, sankei, etc! Good idea of what is around can be found on the hobbysearch website in the structures list in the left hand nav column

 

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

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Kamome]

2 hours ago, POLO said:

 

Thanks Kamome,

I plan on going full Kato building and accessories. 

Does katousa.com have enough information or what does the catalog offer over their structure list?

I am guessing one of these? Kato Japanese 2020 Catalog on Ebay

 

The catalogue lists the rolling stock that has been released over the past few years (This makes up a large portion of the book) , all current produced track pieces, station buildings, scenery accessories, town plates, Unitram and then their HO offering. I found it useful as I wasn’t fully aware of what Kato produced. With hindsight, I would’ve liked to have been able to look into Tomix track as an option before I invested heavily in Kato but we are where we are. Kato track is very reliable, just limited in terms of pointwork.

Each structure has base dimensions printed if you were planning on using the diotown plates. As @cteno4 mentioned there are other, more extensive ranges from other manufacturers for buildings and scenery items.

 

When I lived in the UK these were not readily available so my first purchases were also Kato products which are a good start. I have seen layouts only using Kato and they do tend to look a little identikit so it depends how closely you wanted to model the real thing. Not to say this is bad, but looks a bit more like a train set instead of a layout. Kato have designed their products with the play and pack away mentality.

 

I found starting out, due to Kato being my only point of reference, they produced enough to create a basic urban scene. As you progress you may find Tomytec options a good consideration but you may have to order directly from Japan for these items.

[Cat]

As mentioned, the Hobby Search website is an amazing resource.  This year we splurged and ordered both the new Kato and Tomix catalogs from them.  That was a hefty shipping charge, the Tomix one is twice as thick as Kato's!  But it has been invaluable having all the info right in front of us at once; that's why we like getting print catalogs about every 10 years or so for the reference bookshelf.