Hi

[Tim]

Hi,

 

     Newly retired, English, and living abroad, I've been modelling in N (Japanese), HOe and OO for some time. 

 

     I think this may be of interest to N scale modellers- I put this text on an old thread on this site about Kobaru ending production:

 

     (4th November 2022) Sakatsu, a Japanese hobby shop has reissued some of the etched Kobaru N scale accessories- maybe (I haven't looked recently) some of the plastic accessories too. My guess is that Kobaru went bust through over-enthusiasm; at one point they seemed to be issuing new items at a dizzying rate and may have over-reached themselves.

 

I've also noticed that Pro-Hobby, which produced some beautiful N scale etched items similar to those of Kobaru, have given up on their etched products, seemingly focusing instead on 3D printed items, which to my mind are not as good. 

 

[miyakoji]

Hi Tim, welcome to the forum!

[cteno4]

Welcome Tim, glad you found us. 
 

thanks, I forgot to update he kobaru topic with a link over to the topic of Sakatsu taking up the kobaru line. Fixed it.

 

Kobaru went back to doing their original business of custom models (they started the product line out of their details made for custom models), they intimated production and inventory was not fun! Sakatsu has a good bit of the Icom/prohobby line as well as a number of the etched metal items, so they are still making quite a few of them. Their figures are cast pewter, while a bit pudgier they do have some nice items you just won’t find anything else. They also did these at 1/144 so a tad larger. Cutting off the bases helps a lot!

 

keep us posted on your modeling here. Are you currently working on a layout?

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Tim]

Thanks for your welcome message- and the info about Kobaru's reversion to their original business. 

Yes, I'm working on a layout, in the sense that I'm making N scale building kits from a variety of Japanese manufacturers in preparation for it. Photo shows a Flor Verde kit (another manufacturer that seems to have disappeared) with lots of Kobaru accessories 😀

[cteno4]

Very nice work Tim! I’ve got a couple of Flor Verde kits but havnt assembled one yet.

 

jeff