galaxy express 999 A never ending journey to the stars

[AMoonRabbit]

Hi all, it's been a while since I've been here. No layout yet, but the rolling stock keeps on coming. One of my latest acquisitions was quite lucky, especially after a first attempt at securing one on the Japanese forums but that was probably for the best as I am now in possession of a near mint MicroAce Galaxy Express 999 TV version set. The box is in excellent condition, and I believe everything is accounted for in the set. It looks amazing, and I'm blown away by the size of the mini figures too.

 

I've yet to give the loco a run to see what running state it's in. It was bought new from the shop by the previous owner, and kept as a collector's item so I doubt it has had many runs if any at all. I am also scared to run it somewhat, but I must see it in action and when I do eventually get around to building a layout, it will grace it.

 

I plan to test the engine this Saturday, so will probably take photos of it all on the track. I am interested in the reason why MicroAce decided to provide all 4 guns for the gun car, but I have had the idea of suspending the complete train, or having it on clear perspex to get a shot down the train with the guns posed as some sort of diorama shot.

[cteno4]

The galaxy express 999 is a really neat train. Only issue is if you want to run the gun car you need very wide and tall clearances! 
 

i expect the engine will run well, sounds like no real run time. May just need a little fine oil on some of the rod joints or medium oil on the gears. Sometimes (especially steamers) can get a little stiff after sitting in their boxes for a long time. When you run it let it run at medium speed for like 5-10 min and check the temp on the motor (feel around the sides or use a laser temp gauge if you have it) to make sure not overheating (sign that may need some lubing and cleaning if any gunk in there). If it doesn’t get really hot let it run for a half hour and usually things will start running smoothly.

 

 Cheers,

 

jeff

[AMoonRabbit]

Interesting, I remember seeing your post when you received yours and note that yours doesn't have blue stripes on the turrets, do you know if there was a re-issue?

I gave the loco a run in either direction 5 minutes each, and no over heating as such, however at low speeds it does limp, so will service it at some point.

 

Cleared my table and setup the oval. Ran the loco light as per the photos below to run it in and see if there were any issues with it being sat for god knows how long in the box, and then got the rest out the box. I will note that the foam in the box is a very snug fit on my set.

 

 

 

Left: The MicroAce C62 I bought second-hand when in Japan.

 

Some videos of the set in action:

https://peertube.co.uk/videos/watch/d3412c03-3fd1-4863-97ad-28d2b7bcbbdd

https://peertube.co.uk/videos/watch/9d0aa528-eac6-41a8-9c86-300a97d56e8a

https://peertube.co.uk/videos/watch/52698aa0-0d14-41f8-b4db-8ae7fe10006a

[cteno4]

Yes there was a reissue and I think two versions as well, tv and movie.

 

looks like it’s running well! 

 

jeff

[disturbman]

10 hours ago, AMoonRabbit said:

I will note that the foam in the box is a very snug fit on my set.

I love their foam as it doesn’t bend of sag, but some are too tightly cut. It’s a “feature” of some MA sets. I usually just pull one side of the insert when taking a car out when the foam is too snug. It can be a problem for trains that have details on the end of the cars like the series 783.

[cteno4]

Yeah they do some a bit too snug. A couple I’ve found I have to pull out the whole insert while pressing the cars thru that were a bit wedged in to pry out from the top.

 

jeff

[jappomania]

like Jeff told, MA GE999 has been release 2 times in 2000 and 2009

 

http://microace-arii.co.jp/poster/2000.html (scroll down)

http://microace-arii.co.jp/poster/img/08_09.jpg

 

the first time just a single box 5 - cars + gun car in 2 versions

movie http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G0999M_p.jpg

and TV http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G0999T_p.jpg

 

the second time in base+add-on, again in

movie (without gun car)

http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G2999M_p.jpg

http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G3999M_p.jpg

and TV

http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G2999T_p.jpg

http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/img/G3999T_p.jpg

 

but I don't put my hand in the fire if the number and type of total cars really match the movie version, surely the TV version change too many time and I found too many version on magazines and manga.... the first "short"relese is enough for me (the Harlock minifig is amazing 🤗 )

 

....

scroll down till the end, also a PDF pamphlet can be downloaded

http://microace-arii.co.jp/products/itemlist/pc.html

 

ciao!

Massimo

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by jappomania

[AMoonRabbit]

@jappomania thanks for sharing that information, it's interesting to see the colours getting tweaked between the releases of the TV version alone. 

 

And what do you know, one of the 2nd TV version sets have appeared on Yahoo auctions. The C62, from the photos in the listing, is very white metal looking, at first I thought it was a white metal kit... suppose they really wanted to match the colours in the TV version.

マイクロエース(G2999-T)銀河鉄道９９９TV版・改良品 基本７両セット　現状渡し破損箇所有り

 

Edited January 1, 2022 by AMoonRabbit

[jappomania]

Hi!

here you find better photos of TV..

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10077517

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10077518

and Movie..

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10077514

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10077515

(when possible, I prefer catalog or shops photos of the new items, also because the train composition can be mixed in the second hand boxes)

 

the C62 color is near to graphite gray instead to the typical black, but not so shiny like appear in some photos (too much flash light I suppose...)

anyway the origin is a manga/anime, so is not a reproduction of a real train, I think that MA or Bandai etc... tried to find something similar, doesn't exist a pantone code for the GE train colors, and maybe a dark black loco in a deep (and dark) space is hard to see 😋

 

"somebody" would try to make the 111 to 888 trains? 😉

 

ciao!

Massimo

 

 

 

[cteno4]

They do make the 222 and 777 as n scale plastic models that could be motorized with some effort.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10044556

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10044555

 

i pikced these up of ebay a number of years back so they are still floating around and assume yahoo japan auctions.

 

jeff

[roadstar_na6]

I've seen various pictures of the 222 and 777 on twitter running together with the 999

[jappomania]

I agree at 99%..😋

I already started my plan to do from myself the rest of GE roster and in the meantime I already bought all the Bandai plastic kits and the Poppy die cast models (all the head cars and a couple of intermediate cars till now...)

none has been "correctly" reproduced in N scale and is better to explain

obviously is all based on manga/anime, so doesn't exist a blueprint like the real train, is all based on mecha design (and for a so old manga it was not everything so accurate and changing during the developement)

I think is necessary that all the trains have a similar dimension like in the real life (gabarit, gauge, cars lenght etc.. like UIC rules)

so the Bandai and poppy cars dimension are too different, some are too small or too big or too short etc... and I think it was not a so good idea to use it "as is" if you wanna ride all on the same layout

(I took inspiration from this guy... http://efgf.blog.fc2.com/blog-category-32.html and http://efgf.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-345.html )

the Bandai 2 cars and 6 cars kits are similar, 222 is too small and 777 is too short or to big, depend wich kit you have... the same for Poppy

http://moritakusan.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-239.html

http://moritakusan.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-5.html

 

obvious that then everyone does as they like, this is just my opinion ☺️

 

ciao!

Massimo