Kamome’s Adventures in HO

[ED75-775]

On 8/2/2023 at 7:32 PM, Kamome said:

Here are some references of just how shabby these formerly shiny locos now look. 

Did somebody mention dirty EF510s?

 

 

Snapped from the roof terrace of the Kyoto Railway Museum, 24/06/23.

 

Alastair

[Martijn Meerts]

It's called patina 😉

 

[Kamome]

So thought it time to update the thread as I’ve been working on some subtle improvements to the plastic looking Kato Kiha 58 series. I’m hugely impressed with these models. The price point is very attractive and there is a good amount of variety between the 28,58, 65 and Kiro 28. 

 

I was never enamoured with the grey plastic despite Kato putting a good level of detail into the moulded parts. Time for a revamp.

 

First job was to take all the coaches apart to enable the painting of all parts. Kato trains are usually a snap fit and apart from the odd screw holding the bogies on, plus one holding the interior together, everything separated quite easily. 

 

 

It was then a case of organising all 4 coaches parts in to colour groups for the base coating. Grey parts and black parts
 

 

 

 

Once the base coat was applied and dry, I set about adding painted details to some of the grills and tanks on the underside of each chassis. Also painted some UK railmatch brake dust to the brake pads.  I found a wealth of images online to help for reference. I used Vallejo acrylic and finished with a matt varnish just to try to avoid chips in the future.

 

 

The engine parts are separate details so were very easy to paint and weather with a mixture of thinned burnt umber acrylic and panel wash to replicate rust, heat scorches and general grime. Interestingly, most images showed a well kept underside, especially around the diesel engine. I assume they got constantly maintained and wiped down. 

 

 

Wheels also got a spray of metal thinner and some nato brown sprayed over them. This gives a good colour for grime and slight rust on working wheels. 

 

 

The prep work required to avoid too much overspray affecting the conductivity of the wheels is definitely worth it. I think it was 2mm masking tape but may have been 1mm. 

 

I really couldn’t get a clean edge for the interior seating with paint so I used washi tape in a mottled blue colour. It replicated the texture of fabric pretty well which was more of a happy accident.

 

 

Bogies painted in a matt black had some highlights added to spring details with a slightly lighter grey.

 

Once all the detail work was completed, I started weathering using the airbrush. I initially added brake dust and subtle grime to the black bogie fascias separate from the bogie assembly and wheels.As the wheels were fully painted in a rusty brown, the minor difference of colour between the wheel and brake pads added some interest. I also aimed the airbrush from the position of the bogies to the under frame while the bogies were off. As mentioned, a lot of the images had minimal crud on the underside and a well kept looking engine in most cases. I added some wheel kick up to some of the tanks and boxes closest to the wheels but kept the rest only lightly dusted.

 

 

I noticed the air filters on the intakes looked a little dusty in many photos so I used some dusty enamel wash from Mig to add a little dirt. 

 

My consist has a 58 on one end and a 65 on the other. As the 58 has no snowplough, I added a fair bit of dirt on the front whereas the 65 had more around the underside and jumpers. I had a slight issue with chipping from the Kato boxes so I had to reapply in some areas, clear coat and use some packing sponge material to protect the paintwork.

 

 

 

 

The final job was to add some diesel soot to the roof. I actually butted 2 of the kiha bodies together in order of the consist so that the exhaust and surrounding dirt of each marries up with the previous and next coach in the consist.

 

 

Once the top of the roof was complete, I added some to the leading edges.

 

 

Here’s the 65 on the trailing end and the 58 on the front on the rental layout in Kokura. 

 

 

 

Edited March 1, 2024 by disturbman
formatting issues with pictures. Added line jumps

[Kamome]

This week I decided to tackle adding the paper kit air conditioner ducts from Kofu model to my Kato EF65-2000. 

 

The kit is relatively inexpensive at ¥600 although consists only of a small thin sheet of card and a thick piece. The kit provides 3 different duct types for use across the JRF 1000 and 2000 variations.
 

 

 

It’s relatively simple although due to the size, a little fiddly. The vents are pre cut grooves into thick card. The mounting plates are thinner but still rigid enough to keep their shape. Essentially glue the vent onto the mounting plate within the laser cut lines. I used a card glue which wasn’t hugely fast at setting to allow some alignment adjustments.
 

 

 

I test fitted the plates and they are suitably sized to fit straight in to the recess of the cab window on the Kato model.

 

I painted with Vallejo medium grey acrylic to seal the card. I always dilute acrylic paint well and have a wet palette to help get a good consistency. I was conscious that I might over do it and berd the card but it was rigid enough to receive 3 thin coats. There’s a ridged seal on the top of the real thing, this is modelled using a cut line and mixed some black to darken the grey to simulate this.(The IJN Grey bottle from Tamiya was used just as a painting surface)

 

 

 

I glued the parts using Tamiya Multipurpose cement Clear which I use for all photo-etched plates. It’s a non permanent adhesive which doesn’t eat into the plastic so I can remove in the future if I so wish. It also dries clear and overspill can be removed without leaving marks or frosting glass. As the part is fixed to the glazing part of the model, this was a the ideal option.

 

 

Here is the finished article. On scrutiny of the paper kit, you can see from the close up image that the cuts for the vents are not exact. This is clearly seen in the photo although at general viewing, it really isn’t noticeable due to the small scale. I might decide to go down the root of 3D printed parts in future but this is a happy compromise for the time being. 

Edited March 2, 2024 by Kamome
formatting issues with pictures. Added line jumps before

[Kamome]

Another weathering procrastination project. With the almost full completion of a Nichinan formation (coaches 1 and 2 need detailing and actually still missing a Naha 10) I wanted to update my “warm region” EF58. The Kato model is a smooth runner but looks way too blue to match any of the images of these things back in JNR era. 

 

Putting off other hobby projects, 3x unfinished RC cars, painting some Marvel Crisis Protocol minis I was gifted, and still not having enough confidence/expertise to complete the EF510 roof and side dirt, I decided to try a simpler weathering project. 

 

Like with all Kato locos, the model came apart reasonably easily once you worked out what need to be removed first. The body was removed and I removed all interior parts and glazing so I could give the whole body a dull coat. Kato models usually have a semi gloss finish which is way too pristine and as the side is express blue, not that interesting. 

 

The bogies can be removed but you need to remove the light board and headlight housings before you can access the top cap of the worm gear  that stops the bogies from falling out. There is a separately fitted brake rigging piece that is removed on the underside of the bogie before you can access the base keeper plate or remove the bogie sidewalls. It’s a little different to other Kato locos due to its unusual wheel arrangement. There is also a spring connecting the bogies to keep alignment which can also be removed once the brake rigging is off. The copper pickups are a single copper piece that runs to all three main wheels. Once the base keeper plate is removed, 3 lugs each side, the front bogie armature can be removed.  

 

The metal driving wheels are push fit on to standard Kato plastic gear axles so can be easily pulled apart to paint. The pony truck wheels are also push fit on to a metal axle. Wheels were sprayed with Mr Hobby Metal Primer before painting. Rims and pick up axles were masked with tape before priming and painting.

 

With all of the parts removed it allowed for much easier painting.

 

I rebuilt the bogies without the wheels to aid weathering so that there were no anomalies in painting once reassembled. Side air tanks were removed from the chassis weight and weathered separately. 

Colours

 

-Bogies and wheels - Tamiya Nato Brown XF-68. This gives a good grime/rust look and to my eye is a good match to the general filth seen on the underside of modern trains here in Kyushu. Wheels sprayed a flat colour with bogies being sprayed from underneath. 

 

Body front and sides

To simulate some of the kick up, I continued with XF-68. My airbrush has a paint flow limiter screw which is good to avoid an unexpected finger spasm and a big brown blob appearing on your loco. I started the paint flow off the model and then lightly brought it over the body where crud gets thrown up. I took this higher around the vents as well as used a thinned wash of the same colour to paint the vents by hand. 

 

Roof

The roof needed a bit of artistic license. Images show quite a light sandy colour on some of these locos. I’m not clear whether that is the old photo colouration or it actually looked like that. 

 

I first started with a light covering of Tamiya Flat Black,  XF-1 to give a sense of general grime. Then I mixed some Nato Brown and black together to lift the colour. I used XF-68 Nato Brown again to simulate the rust found around the pantographs and other panels.

 

The final stage was to use Tamiya XF -52 Flat Earth to lighten the areas less rusty around the cab and loco middle and walkways leaving the pantograph areas. The eagle eyed modellers will notice the tiny chain I added to the air hose on the crewed end. I actually replaced the coupler to a Kadee No. 5 on the rear  as i’ve had some coupler mishaps on rental layouts with the smaller 158s.  

Final step was to bring back some of the detail with some diluted enamel black pin wash.

Edited May 2, 2024 by Kamome

[Kamome]

This week set to work detailing the newly acquired EF66-100 from Tomix.

 

As with most Tomix locos, there are a wealth of parts to fit including:

 

Air hoses - black sprue

Hand rails - white, light blue and mid blue sprues.

Radio antenna, bogie ladders and horns - grey sprue

GPS antenna - off white sprue

Wipers and end marker hooks - Metal etched parts in black and white.

Also decals need applying such as the metal etch numbers and depot ward tag stickers. 

 

The model itself is a nice representation of the loco type with a nice bright factory sheen. This was slightly surprising initially as the N version’s blue looks a little more subdued. Perhaps it’s just at this larger scale, it looks a little too rich considering the state of these things in the real world. I will look into techniques to replicate the sun bleaching and the usual grime and rust found on freight locos at a later date.

 

The radio and GPS antenna require some drilling and a jig is included to ensure correct alignment. This is a slight irritation as all other parts holes are pre-drilled. I assume that due to the larger diameter needed, this is not done in the factory to reduce costs. 

 

When looking into the model on Tomix HO Product page, there have been a few changes to the images presented. Firstly horns which were displayed in blue, are produced in grey here.  Not sure which is more accurate. Secondly the rubber wires emerging from the conduit trunking from the pantographs were picked out in black in the images, the model uses just moulded blue plastic for these so I added this back in with some black Vallejo acrylic. 

 

The parts all apply without too much issue. In the past i have sometimes needed to open up pre-drilled holes but am pleased to say this wasn’t an issue on this model. I particularly liked Tomix had included 3 colours of handrails to match the colour bands. 

Due to the large nature of the windows in more modern locos, I did give the cab detail a little extra attention as well as add a driver from Kato/Noch. The part is produced in a light beige, in keeping with the actual loco, earlier locos have the signature pale green. From images I discovered, the dials are housed in a black casing and the levers are a similar green to older locos so I added these in with paint Did resist adding white spots for dials as you really can’t see this through the windows. The Noch drivers are slightly under scale at 1/87. They also sport JNR blue engineer uniforms so I updated this one with a grey JRF uniform with white cuff details and took away the chin strap of his hat. I did want to get some larger drivers from Plum, none of which I could find in stock in any of my local hobby shops.  Kato seem to have stopped production of their blue train drivers too which also could have been customised. Interestingly the light boards are separately fitted under the cabs rather than centrally mounted LEDs on the chassis.

 

Number application was relatively straight forward. Tomix instruction books are generally pretty comprehensive but I would say the height of the front numbers was a little vague as the image is of a plane sloping away from the viewer. Side numbers are clearly centred in the mid blue banding under the cab window but I had to make a slight “artistic” adjustment for fronts as the indicated positioning puts it too high and would’ve been obscured by the handrail. 

 

I painted the hose hose taps white and grey as seen in photos of the real locos. I also added a #58 coupler painted in burnt umber to reduce the size of the clunky looking #5s. This might annoy me later on as my local rental layout has questionably laid track. In this image you can see a little where the masking was in production. There are some areas where the mid blue has flaked off revealing the light blue underneath but I think this may be a happy accident as it’ll add to the beat up look when weathering. 

After about an hour or so of detailing, the loco is complete. As in true Kamome fashion, it wouldn’t be normal for me to finish without having a whinge about something.  

 

In this case, there are 2 things I didn’t like.

Firstly, there are 2 contact terminals on top of the main motor board. These protrude up through the body shell and are hidden by the lightning arrester parts. Not an issue until you need to put the body shell back on as the holes are small and make alignment difficult with the securing lugs. I assume the chassis is an older design. 

The other gripe was the shunting steps. These are separate pre-installed pieces that clip into the snow plough. One of these pinged off while fitting the air hoses and hides somewhere in my hobby room. I did notice before the loss that one was actually the wrong side fitted upside down so I essentially have one wrong one and one missing. 3 rights and no lefts. Would’ve been nice to have a sprue of spares in the box, just in case. Good times. I will try and get replacements from Tomix at some point. You can see the missing footstep in the coupler image. 

 

Anyway, it’s now ready for service, still not fully decided whether I prefer the earlier version or the later, both have their merits but I think ultimately the square lights and the added blue band just look that little bit nicer. This is also an early 90s JRF loco that’s equally at home behind a modern container train as it is with something from 30 years ago. 

 

For now I’ll keep it looking pristine as I have other things I need/want to do first.

 

 

Coming soon

 

 

The next project on the bill is to weather this pristine looking DE10 1575. The real loco is/was stationed in Okayama and thanks to this EF66, I now have suitable depot plates. The images of the real thing look well sun-bleached and filthy so seems a good loco to try some new techniques on.

 

Wheels have been removed, masking tape installed around the edge to minimise clean up and sprayed with My Hobby Metal Primer. The inspiration for the weathering can be found here.

 

https://teamde10.fem.jp/rireki/de101500/de101575.html

 

Already done some pretesting with oil and enamel paints but still undecided whether to use hand painted or airbrush methods for the sun-bleached panels.

Edited June 11, 2024 by Kamome

[Kamome]

Kindly received some replacement shunting steps for my EF66-100 from Tomix today. 

 

Their usual policy is to receive said locomotive back at their support department to look at and make a ruling whether it is a manufacturing issue or user error. I politely requested that it may be easier and cheaper for them to to dispatch said parts, which weigh less than 1 gram. Loco and box weigh just under 1Kg. I was happy to pay for parts and shipping but they kindly sent my gratis as despite losing one, another was actually a wrongly installed right in a left slot. I now have a few spares just in case. 

 

Awesome support from Tomix. It’s a little roundabout as their usual contact support doesn’t allow replying to emails so you have to resend a query from to make any additional requests. 

 

For those concerned that I may have put personal details on a public forum, thankfully my name is not 

 

 

Mr Butter-finger

 

Nor do I live at 

 

San-Kyu(Thank you) Be more careful. 

Edited June 30, 2024 by Kamome

[cteno4]

10 hours ago, Kamome said:

For those concerned that I may have put personal details on a public forum, thankfully my name is not 

we are going to change your forum ID to “Batafuinga San”

 

jeff

[Kamome]

I think for future assembly projects, I’m at the point where i need a fully enclosed biohazard case that I can access only via arm holes. Said parts often ricochet off furniture and other objects in my hobby space, rarely to be seen again. 

 

Slightly miffed that Tomix didn’t see fit to include some spare steps on a sprue in the box as they are very low cost and only clip in. My last Tomix issue was with the same area, whereby the steps were moulded to the snow plough and a corner had snapped off in transit from retailer. (Either EF71 or ED78, I forget which)

 

Anyway, great aftercare service and the loco is complete again. 

[Kamome]

Haven’t posted for some time on this thread but have been slowly working on a livery update for one, yes one of my HO containers.

 

I purchased a decal kit from JAM this summer and I was extremely impressed with the range that the seller produced to cover a wide range of container liveries that haven’t been covered by the main manufacturers in HO. Model Icon amongst others are doing a great job of trying to rectify this. 

 

Anyway the decal set for the newly updated Nippon Express NX livery took my fancy as I’ve started to see this new painted containers in my neck of the woods. 

 

The decal sheet essentially contained the 4 faces of the container in one layout for each. There were additional plastic vents in the set to updated the Tomix U47A container needed as a base. I set about stripping the paint and tampo printed livery from the side of one of these containers. I bought some used Koki a few years ago that came with the Eco Liner 31 so have quite an abundance of them. Once stripped, I applied the vent parts and then followed the instructions to the letter and used a colour from Mr Color which is a very good match to the real thing. I coated the container with gloss varnish to make decal application even more stress free. 

 

That’s where things really started going down hill. Due to the intricacy of all of the warning notations and livery elements, each of the 4 sides of the container come as a single decal. I was dubious from the outset but felt reassured from the instructions that some decal softener would rectify any issue of putting a flat decal across an extremely corrugated surface. To cut a long story short, it did not.

 

I probably spent 3-4 days per side getting the decal to conform as best I could, using a good portion of my Micro Sol in the process, even trialling Mr Hobby decal softener to see if if would give better results. What I was left with was a passable container, although close inspection would easily see the silvering caused around areas of the corrugated sections. Due to some frustration, the decal split in a few areas while I tried to persuade it into some of the corner on a third of fourth attempt with decal softener along with some bubble popping and yet more softener. 

 

It really wasn’t a pleasant experience and with hindsight I would just cut each item out separately and apply. I’m sure this is what the seller must have done as his trade stand examples were faultless.  As a container to go on a train amongst many others, I’m sure it’s relatively unnoticeable to many, but I know those errors are there. The camera also doesn’t lie and highlights the silvering, especially along the top of each recess. If it continues to bother me, I may try some thinned blue paint to try and filter it out.

Edited October 5, 2024 by Kamome