Aoshima 1/50 EF65/60 & EF18 Loco Kits - Research

[dmir.steve]

Hello.  I am a newcomer to Japanese railway subjects so forgive me if these are basic questions. 

 

I am the new owner of the 1/50 Aoshima EF65/60 and EF18 plastic kits.  I'm coming back into the model railroad hobby after a 15 year hiatus, and since then I've travelled to countless global locations on work assignments, so while I am based in the USA, my focus is foreign subjects, though I find myself focusing on Japanese trains.  

 

What research material - websites, books, etc - do you recommend for these locomotives?  I would like to super detail these kits to be as accurate as possible, but obviously research is required to get to this level.  Since I typically model HO and N scales, this is a large project for me, where details matter.

 

Thank you for any suggestions or recommendations.

[Doddy]

Amazon Japan have 100 page technical manuals listed for the EF65 which detail how they were built and the variations between batches, including technical 'dimensioned'  drawings.

[Kamome]

国鉄時代 - JNR era (Kokutetsu Jidai) magazine is a pretty good place for photos of older locomotives and rolling stock. You may be able to get old editions on Amazon Japan. Think the digital versions too. Pretty sure this or another publication did an EF65 edition recently. 

 

Rail Magazine is the other good one for photos but tends to focus on modern stuff, a lot of loco hauled freight etc.. 

 

These kind of magazines are quite expensive by overseas standards but are printed on thick glossy paper and have a large collection of photographs.