Bandai B-Train Shorty

[kami_illy]

On 4/17/2021 at 9:12 PM, Dinosbacsi said:

Also this is a really beautiful train. And what is the other set you mentioned?

I’ll show when it arrives.

Maybe I’ll do updated line up photos as well. 

[Dinosbacsi]

So the Kato pantographs finally arrived. Such a cute box they are in, I love it!

 

Then of course the difference is night and day, they look so good! Put them on all 3 and it's such a great improvement for a low price.

 

My only problem is that they're a bit difficult to push into the slots properly. You can see the "legs" on the corners still float a bit above the roof as I couldn't push the pantograph in properly, I was afraid of breaking or bending them if I pushed too hard. Any tips regarding this?

 

Also kind of irrevelant, but I just noticed that not all original B Train Shorty pantographs are the same. I didn't make pictures of them, but the original plastic pantograph on the 201 series was much more detailed than the one on the 103, for example.

[disturbman]

Yes, I told you it would dramatically increase their looks. Happy to hear you like them with real pantos.

I never had a problem with the holes being smaller/tighter than the tabs. You could try to press them down with the help of a tool that fits inside the deployed panto. Another solution would be slowly file down the holes. @cteno4had recommended root canal reamers for similar usages. You could also use small drill bits. Do you have a pin vise?

Edit: All these conversations makes me want to keep my last two remaining shorties instead of selling them. Maybe I should remove them from eBay...

Edited April 21, 2021 by disturbman

[Dinosbacsi]

4 minutes ago, disturbman said:

Another solution would be slowly file down the holes.

Yeah, maybe I'll try that sometimes. Though it's not that big of a deal, the gap is barely noticeable.

 

5 minutes ago, disturbman said:

Edit: All these conversations makes me want to keep my last two remaining shorties instead of selling them. Maybe I should remove them from eBay...

Well I say keep them ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) What do you have, by the way, if you don't mind my curiosity?

[disturbman]

A 4-car 223 series and a 6-car 381 series in Super Kuroshio livery. The 223-2000 has Kato trucks and pantos. The 381 is still in its original state, without any add-ons. I sent my 681 to @lukewang01and a couple of motorized sets to @Pauljag900.

[kami_illy]

On 4/19/2021 at 1:17 AM, kami_illy said:

On 4/17/2021 at 9:12 PM, Dinosbacsi said:

Also this is a really beautiful train. And what is the other set you mentioned?

I’ll show when it arrives.

Maybe I’ll do updated line up photos as well. 

 

There it is. It is still growing into a full 7car set and needs to get its decals. So it'll keep me busy for a little while. 

 

[cteno4]

the dental root canal files really do nicely to slowly enlarge holes just a tad at a time and not have to jump to the next sized drill bit. really handy little tools for a buck!

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/273868612362?hash=item3fc3d7630a:g:VOoAAOSwihpc75HV

 

a set of small wire drill bits also useful and little sets like this go at 0.05mm steps. for plastic you dont need super great bits and fine bits like this can break very easily.

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/332123327100?hash=item4d5417ca7c:g:1bYAAOSwn-tZJDt8

 

use in a pin vise

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/303873091464?hash=item46c03f6788:g:pg0AAOSwteRdqS5a

 

pcb bits are a bit sturdier and sharper but only 0.1mm steps in sets

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/233616852625?hash=item3664a64691:g:~48AAOSw6CxdIfbT

 

needs a more adjustable pin vise

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/402146237468?hash=item5da1c89c1c:g:4YAAAOSwf15Z2SfT

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Dinosbacsi]

On 4/22/2021 at 12:38 AM, kami_illy said:

There it is. It is still growing into a full 7car set and needs to get its decals. So it'll keep me busy for a little while.

 

Nice! Yeah, considering building a 4 car 103 series took like 2 hours for me, I imagine 7 cars take a while as well. But looks nice!

 

On 4/21/2021 at 9:20 PM, disturbman said:

A 4-car 223 series and a 6-car 381 series in Super Kuroshio livery. The 223-2000 has Kato trucks and pantos. The 381 is still in its original state, without any add-ons. I sent my 681 to @lukewang01and a couple of motorized sets to @Pauljag900.

Oh, the 223 sounds nice ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Always liked the look of it.

 

By the way the bogey set I ordered last month finally arrived. Interestingly I got the bogey-only set, even though I ordered the one that comes with complete chassis. But this works for me as well, as both the 103 and 201 has the old style chassis where I can replace the bogeys. And this might be even better, as these come with power pickups, if I ever need them I suppose. And they're usually more expensive anyway, lol.

 

The only issue was that there were these small "sticks" sticking out that are there to help keeping the static bogeys in place, I suppose. But they didn't allow the rolling bogeys to rotate freely. I ended up cutting them off at the end, is that what you're supposed to do with them?

 

I also realized that if I were to put the front bogey of the cab car on backwards (as you're supposed to when it has a front skirt), then the coupler box would also hit that rectangle sticking out in the middle between the two bogeys. What are you supposed to do with those?

 

Anyway now I can run both my 205 and my 103! Though I only have one motor unit, but I will buy a second one at some point.

 

[lukewang01]

Look for the difference between 'truck T'(走行台車 T)and 'truck T kai'(走行台車 T 改). The latter one has the chassis. The other difference is the first one have built in current collectors. 

[Dinosbacsi]

Yeah I know, this is why I found it funny that they sent me a "Truck T" set, even though I ordered a "Truck T Kai" set. Funny things is I already ordered from this seller once, that time I really got the one with the cassis. It was even the same listing, I ordered it by the "buy again" button, yet this time they sent a bogey set.

 

As I said, I don't mind though, it's just funny.

[lukewang01]

Ah, I see that's weird. 

[lukewang01]

From the conversation on converting Enodens, I did some test fitting on Enoden 1000 using KATO mech today.

 

The middle bogie is slightly to one side, and power unit requires some cutting. 

 

White shell had to go or it's too wide to fit inside properly, and thus it needed some extra effort on holding down the motor and copper contacts. I also added an extra weight inside the body which helped greatly with jittering. 

[Dinosbacsi]

Nice. Bit of a shame about the middle bogey though. I always found it weird how Kato's bogeys have their pivot point not in the middle.

 

But I've always loved how they made this articulation work with this Shorty. Goes pretty much against the main idea of Shorties being basic with interchangable parts, so it's a pretty unique solution, that mostly still works with the original Shorty mechanisms.

 

So does it run well?

[lukewang01]

It's that KATO's axle distance is shorter than Bandai's so they needed to shift the pivot point.

 

I mainly want to do this so that it gave me a rough idea on how to do conversions on some of the Odakyu Romance cars.

It runs well now with added weight. Contact wasn't great within the power unit without that white shell pushing down the circuit board and copper contacts. 

 

 

 

 

 

[kami_illy]

With the Bandai motors, you'll have the center bogies in the middle. I can post photos of the Enoden and the Odakyu Romance cars later today since i have both of them converted. 

[Dinosbacsi]

16 hours ago, lukewang01 said:

It's that KATO's axle distance is shorter than Bandai's so they needed to shift the pivot point.

Yeah, but I wonder, couldn't have they lengthen the coupler's box instead? So the pivot point remains in the center, while the coupler also remains the same distance from it.

[lukewang01]

That would be nice. I guess they valued the look with the same outer axle distance more than putting the pivot point in the middle. If KATO made bogies with pivot point in the middle, I would have no problem using KATO's on some of the other sets. 

[kami_illy]

On 4/29/2021 at 1:05 PM, kami_illy said:

I can post photos of the Enoden and the Odakyu Romance cars

 

I converted the Enoden a while ago and later swapped the motor for a T-Kai truck bc i needed the motor in another train.. But the appearance stayed the same! 

 

 

in the Odakyu VSE however I have the motor installed in the cab car. The chassis seems a little bit off-center in the joint with the first trailer. That could be bc you need to cut the frame of the motor chassis a little bit as well (to fit into the rounded shape of the wagon joint). Seems like my work there was not clean enough 😅

 

[kami_illy]

Meanwhile the little Tsubasa has been growing to it's full size and will soon start to get its wings (decals) and finally be ready to fly. 

 

[lukewang01]

Nice, I would set off doing the conversion after hunting down some T-kais. How did you get the gaps between the cars so narrow for the Tsubasa? Or did Bandai designed shinkansen shorties that way? I haven't built one yet. 

[kami_illy]

2 minutes ago, lukewang01 said:

How did you get the gaps between the cars so narrow

 

I used the old draw bars that i still had from older sets. They don't have any decorational elements but are shorter than the newer ones. Also I used the old chassis which have the pins for the couplers / draw bars on the bogeys and not on the car bodies (that makes it easier to convert them later). 

[disturbman]

Beautiful little snake. I'm starting to understand Jeff's fascination for 16-car B-train Snakansens.

[lukewang01]

It's tempting me to get a 12-car E7, but I don't want to think about how much do I have to spend to get all the sets and get it running.

[disturbman]

Shush... Don't think, just order.

[Dinosbacsi]

11 hours ago, lukewang01 said:

It's tempting me to get a 12-car E7, but I don't want to think about how much do I have to spend to get all the sets and get it running.

Yeah, especially because Shinkansens tend to go a bit higher in price than most other trains.

 

Talking about tempting auctions, of course the other day I saw a 2-car 105 series set in Wakayama Line color up for sale. The ones I was thinking about getting recently, in cream color, with the 2 different cab styles and with even stickers included. But I just decided the other day to stop ordering new trains for a while, as I just spent a lot for now and I'm out of place for them anyway.

 

One thing that really helps resisting them is the fact that they didn't have front skirts. I'm a big sucker for skirts.

Edited May 1, 2021 by Dinosbacsi