Bandai B-Train Shorty

[tossedman]

I just give mine to the local eight year old.

[cteno4]

Wow, that was nice of you! Bet that brought out a big smile!

 

Jeff

Edited March 22, 2015 by cteno4

[tossedman]

Oh yeah, he loves to build them. Like the cat he doesn't need instructions anymore.

[cteno4]

Oh I get ya to build them I thought you gave him all your btrains!

 

Jeff

[tossedman]

Ah, what's mine is his it seems. He plays with all of them.

[cteno4]

A kid is an excuse to keep buying toys!

 

Jeff

 

Ps my wife figures I'm a 10 year old so it's ok I keep buying toys for myself!

Edited March 23, 2015 by cteno4

[chinbeard]

Like I said, commissioned models seem to be the only interesting releases lately...  Thank god for Peach!

 

Is Peach a custom painter ?

 

Just got my K-ON 600, bargain at 1200 yen, luvly paint very crisp, are they 'tampo' printed ?

[stevenh]

Is Peach a custom painter ?

 

Peach Airlines, they commissioned the livery on the real-life Nankai Rapi:t.

Edited March 25, 2015 by stevenh

[tossedman]

I've got some Chuo line B Train Shorties on the way. Need to populate my Ochanomizu Station layout that I'm building in my imagination much more quickly than I'm building in my basement.

 

Cheers eh,

 

Todd

[Keikyu]

Peach Airlines, they commissioned the livery on the real-life Nankai Rapi:t.

 

I thought they just decided the fruit was pretty cool and painted the train to reflect that.

[nickhp]

Finally a product announcement that got me to place a preorder! The Series 683 snow rabbit is nice, had to go for that and a couple of the Kiha 40's too. Already have the thunderbird set so none of those needed.

[chinbeard]

I ordered those as well Nick, will I need multiple packs of the Snow Rabbit or will Bandai issue intermediate cars separately ?

[nickhp]

You will need multiple packs, if I read the description right you need 3 packs to make the full train.

[Welshbloke]

Well, seven years on I've finally ordered some!

 

I have the twin pack of EF64 1000s, a pair of Taki 43000s in Japan Oil green/grey, and the required power units/bogies to make them work on order from various Amazon Marketplace sellers, along with a Kato CV1 track pack (want to investigate micro-layouts) Might order some more tankers later to use the spare pairs of bogies, or a pair of container flats.

[Mark]

 

I saw these Type 305 articulated trams on Hobby Search and sort of fell in love. I was wondering if anyone has tried to motorize these articulated trams using the available Bandai or Kato motors and trucks? I can't tell if the spacing for the trucks on this tram would be compatible with the motor unit or not.

[splifdfx]

 

I saw these Type 305 articulated trams on Hobby Search and sort of fell in love. I was wondering if anyone has tried to motorize these articulated trams using the available Bandai or Kato motors and trucks? I can't tell if the spacing for the trucks on this tram would be compatible with the motor unit or not.

 

I was also perplex at wether or not you can motorize this cute train and found this video :

You'll see an unboxing + construction + motor fitting (bandai b train shorty type 3 motor (for EMUs)) + roll-test of the train.

The model is indeed cleverly built to fit the double bogie motor truck !

 

I'm still tempted to get one myself !  :)

Edited May 5, 2015 by splifdfx

[kvp]

Yes, they are really cute. I have one of this type and it runs nicely on Tomix track too. You'll also need one modified trailer bogie as shown in the video.

 

BTW: Does anyone know where can i find a shorty DE10 in classic JNR colors?

[chinbeard]

Now have 3 different Enoden units, still considering best option for motorising, the Bandai unit is quick and easy but looks really short, found these

 

http://www.geocities.jp/b_train_shorty/enoden/index.html

 

http://nonaka.nnwork.net/railway/enoden/b-train_1500.htm

 

but then the tram chassis looks too long and the moded Kato would be better with the Bandai unit coupling.

[cteno4]

Hey that is a really great kitbashing!

 

Jeff

[Welshbloke]

If you go to Bandai's own website for the B-Train Shorty range it'll tell you which powered chassis you need for a particular model. Just click on the years and scroll down until you find your model, click on the photo, then look for the icons at the base of the listing for the individual model.

 

As well as the powered chassis they make a three pack of trailer chassis (for coaches or unpowered multiple unit vehicles) named "T" and also trucks/bogies for passenger or freight stock. It looks as though the passenger ones have pickups judging by the little copper tabs, so they may be planning interior lighting kits for the future.

 

My EF64s are here, but the motors are still somewhere in transit as they were ordered from a different seller. They look good, and I was quite impressed to see that the EF64 0 came with alternate roof and end panels to allow you to build an early or late production version.

 

Edit: Today's post brought the bogies for the tankers, and nothing else. So I have the bodywork for the locos and the running gear for the tankers. Oh well, see what turns up tomorrow!

Edited May 7, 2015 by Welshbloke

[splifdfx]

Found these videos of a small city-themed layout.

Operations :

Details :

 

Very cute and inspiring.

[cteno4]

Very nice urban scene! I've wanted to do this kind of little Btrain presentation layout since seeing nick yee's little layout. The tight single viaducts work well with the btrains to do shinkansens as well.

 

Jeff

Edited May 16, 2015 by cteno4

[katoftw]

I'm not a fan of B-Shorties.  But I commend the builder on what he has done in a small 45cm by 90cm space. Wow.

[Welshbloke]

That's just making me want one of the Kato elevated stations even more than I did before. Although I'm intrigued how he made the viaduct sections for the tight radius curves. Wonder if Kato will expand the CV series of track packs?

 

My motors arrived last week and have been tested along with the first two TaKis, so a brief review:

 

On arrival they ran terribly. One lurched along while the other growled as though grinding coffee. After some investigation it transpired that Bandai don't bother to put any grease on the gears. Given these are a brass worm driving a plastic axle gear I thought it might be an idea to add some, along with a drop of oil on each motor bearing. After that I have one loco which runs slightly better in one direction than the other (but no longer lurches quite as much at low speed) and another which still growls, but runs pretty well. I'm just going to keep leaving them running for a few hours and let them bed in.

 

The tankers are proving just a bit too light for their own good, as they frequently derail on points and can often be seen with one wheelset not quite on the rails. I did consider adding some ballast inside the barrel but was worried that the locos wouldn't be able to cope with the extra weight, they only have four wheels and no traction tyres after all! Get them on the track properly and run the loco at a speed it's happy with, and they'll rattle around for hours.

 

I have an 05 power unit on order along with a DD51/EF64 Euroliner pack and a couple of packs of the matching coaches, so will report on how the four axle chassis run when they arrive. Nobody seems to have the black version of the 01 Power Unit so the EF64 will be static for a while, but I'll probably order some trailer chassis for the coaches before long.

[kvp]

The trick is to put a 4 axle power unit into one of the coaches and add trailer bogies to the loco. The result is a proper 4 axle loco with a working train.