Bandai B-Train Shorty

[roadstar_na6]

Fitting a 4-axle motor chassis to the locos is possible, but it involves heavy cutting of the inner shell to make room for the motor and it‘s cover.

[bill937ca]

Kato 11-109 is a better choice than the terminated 11-103.      https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10646049

[Mannick]

Many thanks for all your replies Gentlemen. Very helpful and very interesting. Much appreciated.  

[Cat]

I'll put these photos in this thread rather than the what did you do today one.  While we've been collecting the Shorties for a number of years now, we're just starting to assemble  and detail them now.

 

This is my first time working with the Bandai stickers, and in some aspects they are easier to work with than water slide decals.  Decals are easier to slide into position, and with Solvaset they flow nicely over bumps and divots.  However, I really like how tough the Bandai sticker material is: you can cut it super close to the images and cut tight inside corners without risk of tearing the image.

 

It does take intense concentration to get them cut tightly and then lined up in place.  Cutting out the silver numbers for the ED75 and ED75-700 took a lot of careful squinting.  It really helps that I'm super near-sighted and was working with good sunlight coming through the window over my shoulder.  Not so near-sighted people may want to work with a magnifying lamp.

 

Our fleet of Kokis are all numbered now.  The numbers for the Koki 104s fit in a very tight space, so it was really helpful cutting the inside corners tight around the コキ lettering above the number.  The film is strong enough that I could burnish the 104 numbers in place over the rib of the side frame using an XActo knife to press it in tight.

For the containers themselves, we're only numbering and using the ones shown — these models came with separate side and top pieces.  We'll use other brands' containers instead of the other Bandai style with a split all across the top and ends; they all use the same clip-on joints.

 

[.Montfort]

I ordered this very cute B train Shorty but I failed miserably. For unknown reasons, my order has been canceled by HobbySearch and my IP address is on some sort of blacklist. As if I had been banned from this website. Plus, I sent several emails to HobbySearch but I never got any answer...

[defor]

Ah wierd.. where are you located? Might be able to work with another member to get it ordered?

 

also very nice.

love the Iiyama livery, although I like it better on a Kiha 100 series (and wish there were b-train 100 series 😁)

[Cat]

Hmm, that is weird.  Hobby Search is quick to ban folks who reserve an item and don't pay when it comes in, but haven't heard of other types of problem cases.  Hope you can sort it out.

Hobby Link Japan also has that one, and a decent assortment available.  HLJ works much better for getting backordered items because of their Private Warehouse system of holding purchased items until you're ready to ship them.
https://www.hlj.com/jnr-kiha-52-series-iiyama-color-niigata-color-ban986919

[.Montfort]

Thanks a lot for your help. I really appreciate that. I sent an email to HLJ just to find out if they are responding slowly or very quickly.

[.Montfort]

23 hours ago, Cat said:

https://www.hlj.com/jnr-kiha-52-series-iiyama-color-niigata-color-ban986919

Unfortunately this very cute little train is "out of stock"

[Cat]

Good afternoon Montfort,
 

The full status is: "This item is not in stock, but can be ordered. A restocking date is currently unknown."  At HLJ, you can order the item and they will not charge you until it comes in.  Sometimes they come in quickly, sometimes they come in a few months later, sometimes you get a notice that it is unavailable.  You can cancel the order at any time by going to your orders page, editing the order and deleting unwanted items.

Since Hobby Search just got a restock of this item, it is likely that HLJ can get it too, unless HS happend to have just bought the final stock from Bandai.

Oh, and there's no need to post the same conversation in two different threads, traffic is light and your questions won't disappear.
 

Whee,

Cat

[.Montfort]

7 minutes ago, Cat said:

Oh, and there's no need to post the same conversation in two different threads, traffic is light and your questions won't disappear.

You're absolutely right. My bad. I stop it right now.  😕

[Mattawa]

Hello,
I plan to buy and build this little train: Bandai Tokyu Electric Railway 5080 Series Meguro Line
I have two questions:
-Is it easy to build for a newbie ?
-Is it equipped with real or fake bogies ?
Many thanks in advance for your help.

Edited June 21, 2020 by Mattawa

[roadstar_na6]

A 3 y/o can build those 😄

 

Bogies are fake, at least they were on my ED79

[Mattawa]

18 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

A 3 y/o can build those 😄

I'm younger than that in my mind.  😆

[Mattawa]

What kind of Kato bogies

33 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Bogies are fake, at least they were on my ED79

How can I replace them ?

Edited June 21, 2020 by Mattawa

[cteno4]

Welcome Mattawa,

 

the shorties are very easy build, they pressure fit together. The bogies are really plastic non running ones and you can either use the bandai or Kato metal wheel bogies to replace them. They require just a bit of fiddling now and then to get things running well, but are pretty good as built.

 

this article has some info on them.

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/modelingjapan/btrainshorty-pt1.html

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Cat]

7 hours ago, Mattawa said:

How can I replace them ?

That's a bit of a trick question. 

 

Earlier production models have one-piece floors and you can just snap the Kato bogies in nice and simple.  Later production ones, including some re-packaging of earliers ones, have two-piece floors that don't take normal bogies.  Bandai wanted folks to buy their T-Kai bogie frames instead of Kato bogies.  But grr, the T-Kai frames aren't in production any more and they fetch a steep price at auction, grr.

In our collection: the first two paired sets of Girls und Panzer wrapping cars have the one-piece floors, the third set has two-piece floors.  We are motorising two units anyway, so that one wasn't a big problem; but it would have been nice to have the 2 extra floors to use in other models that need them.  For our Cassiopeia set, the big box with two engines and five cars came with one-piece floors; but all the two-car boxes came with two-piece floors, grr.  We'll be scrounging floors for the rest of the Cassiopeia out of Kiha 52s that are getting motorised and hunting for junk parts on auction.

Running Shorties is a little bit of a hobbyist's hobby; but not nearly as much as running brass trains.
: 3

Edited June 21, 2020 by Cat

[Cat]

On 6/17/2020 at 4:22 PM, Cat said:

This is my first time working with the Bandai stickers, and in some aspects they are easier to work with than water slide decals.  Decals are easier to slide into position, and with Solvaset they flow nicely over bumps and divots.  However, I really like how tough the Bandai sticker material is: you can cut it super close to the images and cut tight inside corners without risk of tearing the image.

 

It does take intense concentration to get them cut tightly and then lined up in place.  Cutting out the silver numbers for the ED75 and ED75-700 took a lot of careful squinting.  It really helps that I'm super near-sighted and was working with good sunlight coming through the window over my shoulder.  Not so near-sighted people may want to work with a magnifying lamp.

 

Our fleet of Kokis are all numbered now.  The numbers for the Koki 104s fit in a very tight space, so it was really helpful cutting the inside corners tight around the コキ lettering above the number.  The film is strong enough that I could burnish the 104 numbers in place over the rib of the side frame using an XActo knife to press it in tight.

 

Sticker update:
 
As we were weathering the kokis, we noticed that a few of the stickers that had been pressed down over ridges had lifted up a bit.  I just tacked those back down by applying a drop of CA glue with a pin, and then re-pressing the sticker around the ridge with the flat of an XActo.  Those aren't going anywhere now!

Also discovered that the material is tough enough that it is easy to lightly scrape excess weathering off with the knife blade.

Now to go spray Dullcote on the lot.

[cteno4]

That’s the issue with many stickers, they go on well and looks tight and slowly can let go, especially when small. I’ve had this issue with some of the Tomytec building stickers, some stick super well on the tiny bits for like 10 years + and others pop off within a month and a trip to a show jostling around a little in the boxes of buildings. I usually do a quick isopropanol swab at the attachment site of little ones as one small blob of finger grease can muck things up, so not sure if it’s something like that or just some of the sheets are not as tacky. I also always use very sharp tweezers to manipulate them so as to not muck up the psa layer.

 

jeff

[Cat]

I figure the Dullcote layer should help hold them all pretty well too.

[cteno4]

Yep that’s what I’ve figured, although if bending over something I could see a lacquer based dullcoat potentially loosening the edges on one going over rough terrain, but your ca will keep them down.

 

jeff

[Dawson]

Hello fellow members,
Thanks for adding me as a new member. I have just discovered the fabulous world of Bandai B-Train Shorty. I have a few questions to ask. This is the first one: Can I run the Kato 11-105 on very tight curves like Kato 20-176 (117mm) or Tomix 1111 (103mm) without any issue ? Many thanks in advance for all your replies.

 

[tossedman]

Here's mine from 6 years ago.

 

 

[Dawson]

Great layout. What are the radii of the curves?

[tossedman]

The narrow end are Kato R117mm and the big end are Kato R183mm I believe.