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Bandai B-Train Shorty

Welshbloke

By Welshbloke
in Rolling Stock

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SwallowAngel

SwallowAngel

Posted
Posted (edited)

I was wondering how many shorty cars the Kato motorized chassis can (comfortably) pull, did anyone experiment around with these? I am planning to expand my Shorty Shinkansen 0 to 8 cars and was wondering whether or not I should also get a second motor car

Edited by SwallowAngel
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kami_illy

kami_illy

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 7/10/2023 at 10:24 PM, SwallowAngel said:

I was wondering how many shorty cars the Kato motorized chassis can (comfortably) pull, did anyone experiment around with these? I am planning to expand my Shorty Shinkansen 0 to 8 cars and was wondering whether or not I should also get a second motor car

I'd say get another motor. Have no experience with Kato chassis though since I use Bandai motors and running gear for all my b-trains. 

The 8 car Shinkansen feels pretty comfy with 2 motors. To minimize wobbling due to small inconsistencies in the engines I would put them next to each other in the middle of the train.  

I run my 7 car sleepers with just one motorized loco and they struggle from time to time. Especially in inclines or tight curves. 

Edited by kami_illy
typos
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tossedman

tossedman

Posted
Posted

Not sure about the Kato motorized chassis but we have two Bandai power units in our 16 car Shinkansen and it works great. 

 

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cteno4

cteno4

Posted
Posted

It’s been my experience that 8 car trains ran much better with 2 motor cars even with bandai chassises. Helps reduce stutters at track joints or pickup loss that can start the slinky effect in the rapido couplers and coupler springs that are annoying and can cause decoupling of rapidos. Kato chassis don’t quite have the umph of the older bandai chassises.

 

jeff

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SwallowAngel

SwallowAngel

Posted
Posted

Not sure if I'm just repeating information at this point, but as I've been crawling my way through this thread to satisfy my Shorty-Itch, I've stumbled across a paper craft section on the Tokkou B Team Website.Might be of interest to some, as DIY-ing our beloved Shorties seems to be the way forward.

 

On that note I was wondering if anyone has tried 3D-printing a complete shorty shell here. I've wanting to try 3D-printing a Series 300 Shorty, though I first need to learn how to use "proper" CAD-Software and get a 3D-printer that does as I say, not do whatever it feels like.

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mags_minibuilds

mags_minibuilds

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have a couple of Shorty trams that asks for the 11-104 chassis. I understand it’s discontinued and replaced with the 11-110. Are these two chassis identical? If there’s a chance to still purchase the 11-104, would it be better or worse than the 11-110?

IMG_8466.jpeg

Edited by ZandT
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Beaver

Beaver

Posted
Posted

The motor housing on the new coreless motor chassis is longer and narrower than on the old open frame motor version. You may need to open out the ends of the black box inside the tram body to let the ends of the housing through. You will probably also need to find another way to attach chassis to body as it won't clip in place as designed. All other dimensions are identical.

 

The old version is an absolutely dreadful runner compared to the new version. New version is however less robust so be careful how much traction weight, if any, you add.

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kami_illy

kami_illy

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 7/21/2023 at 5:18 PM, SwallowAngel said:

Not sure if I'm just repeating information at this point, but as I've been crawling my way through this thread to satisfy my Shorty-Itch, I've stumbled across a paper craft section on the Tokkou B Team Website.Might be of interest to some, as DIY-ing our beloved Shorties seems to be the way forward.

 

On that note I was wondering if anyone has tried 3D-printing a complete shorty shell here. I've wanting to try 3D-printing a Series 300 Shorty, though I first need to learn how to use "proper" CAD-Software and get a 3D-printer that does as I say, not do whatever it feels like.

On Yahoo auctions / Buyee there are some offers of 3D printed shorties. I saw the Kiha110/111, E-353, Shiki-Shima or Kintetsu Hinotori... they are unpainted and kinda pricey... but hey its new Shorties!! 

Thinking about printing shorty shells as well, since I don't think there will be new ones any time soon. Didn't get around to really go into that yet.

Like you said, in the meantime some paper ones will have to do. 

Edited by kami_illy
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Cat

Cat

Posted
Posted (edited)
On 7/26/2023 at 11:52 AM, kami_illy said:

On Yahoo auctions / Buyee there are some offers of 3D printed shorties. I saw the Kiha110/111, E-353, Shiki-Shima or Kintetsu Hinotori... they are unpainted and kinda pricey... but hey its new Shorties!! 

Thinking about printing shorty shells as well, since I don't think there will be new ones any time soon. Didn't get around to really go into that yet.

Like you said, in the meantime some paper ones will have to do. 


Ooh, thanks for the tip @kami_illy!

 

Just went and did some poking.  Once I found one of them, that unlocked the magic keyword.  Under the B-Train Shorty listings, I searched for Ｂトレサイズ (B-Train Sized), and that brought up a handful of listings.  Pricing doesn't look bad.
 
Also found another one under the N Scale listings.  That one was pricey.
 
I've saved both searches on Buyee for notifications to keep an eye on what might come around.
 
The seller with the most listings up links to a nice blog:
https://takethebtrain.hatenablog.jp/#キットの情報

Edited by Cat
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Andrew G

Andrew G

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hello Folks, after a 5 year wait I amnow able to move on in my quest to make B-TRAIN shorty look-a-likes of Melbourne's now retired Hitachi emus out of GreenMax Economy kits of Tokyo 7000 series emus. I purchased the GM kit from katoftw back in 2018 and have been checking  Ebay and other sources for the very scarce Bandai B Train Shorty kits of the Tokyo 7290 class for guidance on how best to cut them up. I recently found the 7200 shorty kit on Ebay. After paying a bit more  than I would like and a not to long wait I now have 'gubbins' to get going. All progress will be reported on this B-train Shorty thread. 🙂 🙂 🙂

For more information on the Melbourne Hitachi sets visit:

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c266m.htm

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c123m.htm

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c116m.htm

 

20230805_101212.jpg

20230805_101236.jpg

20230805_101308.jpg

2023-08-05_10-17-09.jpg

Edited by Andrew G
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Dinosbacsi

Dinosbacsi

Posted
Posted

Custom Shorties are always really cool! Looking forward to your progress, my man.

 

Speaking of Shorty inspired trains, Cosmic is releasing these Old Style Electric Locomotives Kit, which all seem to be using Pocket Line power units, perfectly fitting the Shorty feel. Thought the two EC40s and the ED40 might be regular length, but the ED17 is definitely shorter than the real thing.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/itbig101/11010944a.jpg

 

They are really cute, I would like to get one, but I don't see how they would fit my Chuo-Sobu collection, lol.

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railsquid

railsquid

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, Dinosbacsi said:

https://www.1999.co.jp/itbig101/11010944a.jpg

 

They are really cute, I would like to get one, but I don't see how they would fit my Chuo-Sobu collection, lol.

 

If it helps, some ED17s were based at Hachioji and I have photographic evidence of them on the Chuo Line between Nakano and Ogikubo and I imagine they would have run freight workIngs to Iidabashi.

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Dinosbacsi

Dinosbacsi

Posted
Posted (edited)

Hmm. Maybe it could look plausable alongside a 101 series or whichever type was before it? 72 series I assume? I don't have either yet, but I could start a historic Chuo Sobu collection, lol.

Edited by disturbman
answering above post
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Andrew G

Andrew G

Posted
Posted

It looks like independent 3D printers are really responding to the B Train Shorty shortage:

 

https://www.jchere.com/yauction/zh-cn/item/p1094829907

 

Thanks to Cat for the search with: Ｂトレサイズ . It is turning up heaps of stuff.

 

On 7/28/2023 at 1:04 AM, Cat said:


Ooh, thanks for the tip @kami_illy!

 

Just went and did some poking.  Once I found one of them, that unlocked the magic keyword.  Under the B-Train Shorty listings, I searched for  (B-Train Sized), and that brought up a handful of listings.  Pricing doesn't look bad.
 
Also found another one under the N Scale listings.  That one was pricey.
 
I've saved both searches on Buyee for notifications to keep an eye on what might come around.
 
The seller with the most listings up links to a nice blog:
https://takethebtrain.hatenablog.jp/#キットの情報

  • Like 2
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Andrew G

Andrew G

Posted
Posted
On 8/5/2023 at 10:45 AM, Andrew G said:

Hello Folks, after a 5 year wait I amnow able to move on in my quest to make B-TRAIN shorty look-a-likes of Melbourne's now retired Hitachi emus out of GreenMax Economy kits of Tokyo 7000 series emus. I purchased the GM kit from katoftw back in 2018 and have been checking  Ebay and other sources for the very scarce Bandai B Train Shorty kits of the Tokyo 7290 class for guidance on how best to cut them up. I recently found the 7200 shorty kit on Ebay. After paying a bit more  than I would like and a not to long wait I now have 'gubbins' to get going. All progress will be reported on this B-train Shorty thread. 🙂 🙂 🙂

For more information on the Melbourne Hitachi sets visit:

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c266m.htm

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c123m.htm

https://www.pjv101.net/cd/pages/c116m.htm

 

20230805_101212.jpg

20230805_101236.jpg

20230805_101308.jpg

2023-08-05_10-17-09.jpg

Well I finally girded my loins and got the intestinal fortitude into gear. As the first GreenMax to B Train Shorty type conversion I chose to make the Victorian Railways Hitachi trailer unit designed to fit between two driver units. It worked!!! Still got some gap filling of a poor joumt on the opposite side to do plus pain and glazing. Fortunately the Kato bogies fitted in to the shortened GM chassis with out a problem, perfect fit!!

20230904_2301382.thumb.jpg.c68662b9d9c9c02108b132b023b10a3b.jpg

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Andrew G

Andrew G

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Nice work Andrew! Any picts of how you sliced and diced?

 

jeff

Hopefully I'll be able to do some more over the next week or so. Now that I have the method worked out I will take photos and make up a post.

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