disturbman Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Oh yes! The B-trains are magic. :) A very good way to enter the hobby I think or at least N scale. You could upgrade to real N train sets when the boy hits 10 or so (I think that's when I got my own first N scale starter set). You'll have by then quite enough track to play with... and even a small layout. Mind you that they will run better if you had some weight inside. Ginga modells produce some (with underfloor detail) but they are not availabe for us foreigners living outside Japan. Something that might me easy to find in hardware store. You also might want to add pantographs later on. It will make them look even more like real trains. Kato's fit perfectly. Anyhow, check this out. It's a compilation of B Train that I have put together some time before. Link to comment
Bernard Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Krackel - great link to a photo step by step process of how to put together a Shortie. Is there one for how to install the motor? Also the 500 Shortie video was great too. It looks like the regular 500 but in pieces. Turtle - I also like the suggestion of the Shorties for your son....It is an unusal set and I'll make a bet he'll be the "first one on his block" to have one. Link to comment
disturbman Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Krackel - great link to a photo step by step process of how to put together a Shortie. Is there one for how to install the motor? It's easy there is two steps (or one if you didn't build the Shorty before hand). Take off the undercarriage part of the car you want to install the motor in, put the motor in its place. It's totaly straight forward. Link to comment
NozomiFan Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 Hey! I have the V11, and I must say it is the coolest piece of track, I've ever owned. I love Shinkansens. I am quite responsible with them. The Series 500 is quite the machine, and it can go pretty fast around the loop. When your running them, be sure to keep it slow. Link to comment
Bernard Posted October 19, 2010 Share Posted October 19, 2010 Jen - Have you made a decision on the train you want to buy for your son? Link to comment
turtlebaggins Posted November 13, 2010 Author Share Posted November 13, 2010 I bought the A and B shorty set. I'll admit, I'm a little intimidated about putting them together, but I am going to recruit Grandpa to help! I am sure once we do one or two, it will be much easier. After seeing the parts in person, I don't think it is something that a seven year old would have the patience to assemble. He will be more interested in running his new bullet train right away Christmas morning! I did get the Kato starter track set with the siding, so if we are totally unsuccessful, I will order the larger Kato 500 in the ninth hour. I also found him a cute retro bullet train t-shirt and a bullet train book. The book has some great pictures, but is pretty short. If anyone knows of good bullet train or Shinkansen books for kids that have more pictures and detailed information (short of being written for adults), let me know! I'll post again after we get the mini assembled!! Thanks everyone! Jennifer Link to comment
Bernard Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 Jen - The members here I'm sure will be able to direct you to where you can get a child's book on Bullet trains. I took a quick look on Amazon under children's books Bullet trains and here is what I got: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=children%27s+books+bullet+trains&rh=n%3A283155%2Ck%3Achildren%27s+books+bullet+trains&enc=1&ajr=3 and here is Barn's & Noble (plus more than you wanted under the topic): http://productsearch.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.aspx?store=BOOK&WRD=bullet+trains+children But Wow! You've already got your Christmas shopping started....don't tell me you're almost finished? Link to comment
bikkuri bahn Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 The mention of children's books on bullet trains got my notice, as railway book publishing is one of my interests. Not so much as a response to the original poster, but a highly praised trains book for older children (and adults) is Shin Densha Daishugou 1616 ten or the New Electric Trains Cyclopedia-1616 trains [my translation]. The photos are by the doyen of Japanese railway photographers, Naotaka Hirota, and as the book is aimed at a young audience, very colorful and with minimal (Japanese) text. It is very comprehensive, listing most of the major rolling stock running in Japan, and not "dumbed down" by any means, plus when you have Mr. Hirota as the picture taker, you will get quality. Any members visiting Japan can't go wrong purchasing a copy for a young fan of Japanese railways (or themselves). In the Amazon listing, Mr. Hirota, in the short video, mentions that adults will be entertained by browsing this book, and that he himself enjoys looking at it sometimes before going to bed. Amazon Japan listing Link to comment
Guest Closed Account 1 Posted November 13, 2010 Share Posted November 13, 2010 I purchased the Kato 500 Starter set because it was actually cheaper than just buying the standard 500 train set. Getting back into trains and learning about DCC; I had umteen questions about DCC and how to program a layout with my Mac and iPhone4 and realized that I missed the point of the hobby. Joy and fascination! Now I have the Kato 500 series Starter Set with 4 car add-on set, and the Kato 800. Tracks: V11 (20-870) + V7 Double Crossover (20-866) + M1. The Starter set contains the M1 which we can use in a yard or as extra track, One controller, feeder track, Re-railer track. The Double Crossover piece (20-210) in V7 allows you to run one train on the V11 with a little change up to keep an oval interesting. Meanwhile you can physically see how much real estate you need on a table and dream of your first Bullet train layout. Alternatively, you can you a free version of a track planning software to plan at least the perimeter track. I sketched mine on a bar napkin. The Super Elevated Curves are sweet. Only Flex-track can provide larger radii. Link to comment
turtlebaggins Posted November 14, 2010 Author Share Posted November 14, 2010 Thanks Bikkuri! I am going to check out the book! I got the A and B 500 shorty sets assembled. With the Kato trucks, it was quite easy after the first one, and took less than a half hour this morning to assemble the entire B set. Getting the motor in one of the engines proved to be impossible, as far as I could tell, given the bullet nose of the train. I even tried taking the cover off of the motor (not a good idea) and trimming one of the interior body peices (also not a good idea). Luckily, after I was still unsuccessful getting the motor in the bullet-nosed engine piece, I settled for installing it in one of the passenger pieces, without any problems. I was really thankful that I was still able to get the cut piece together, but I don't see how the motor could possible fit in the lead piece. I will have to try to run the whole thing to see how it works, but I tested the motorized unit and it alone seems to run. I also found the directions helpful, but there were a couple variances with the 500, and I could not figure out where these two tiny pieces with two holes went, so in the end I did not even use them. The trains stay together great and by using the Kato trucks, I had lots of other little pieces left over since I did not have to assemble those. The whole thing together is really cute. I think my son is going to love watching it run! And, yes, I am almost completely done with the shopping! Just working on all the assembly stuff at this point! Happy Holidays! Jen Link to comment
David Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 It's probably not supposed to go in the cab car. Most Japanese trains are multi-unit trains, not locomotive pulled. In commuter trains roughly half of the cars in the middle have a motor - the cab cars at the end usually don't have any motors, just controls and brakes. This means the "passenger" cars are really pushing the drivers car, and not the other way around. Japanese model trains follow this idea by having only 1 (and sometimes 2 with the rare Tomix train) car in the middle equipped with a motor. The other "motor" cars in the train are dummies. Shinkansen follow the same idea of mult-unit power, though the prototypes usually have all of the cars powered - so the cab cars do have a motor, but there are 14 other cars that are motorized too. Shinkansen models follow the same design as others - pull the real motor somewhere in the middle, so that the train behaves the same regardless of direction of travel. Link to comment
bill937ca Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 Most Japanese trains are multi-unit trains, not locomotive pulled. The term is multiple unit operation or mu. Link to comment
Bernard Posted November 14, 2010 Share Posted November 14, 2010 Jen - Glad everything worked out and hope your son is happy with his gift. So on "Black Friday" you get to stay home while the rest of us are running around shopping? Link to comment
turtlebaggins Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Yes I'm done! I wish everyone luck with their black Friday shopping! :) I'll be camped-out in front of the Christmas tree with a good book and left-over pumpkin pie! I can't wait to see my son's face when he runs the 500! It's our first N-guage and so much smaller than the HO and G scale stuff we have. He's always wanted one. Thanks to everyone on the forum! Jen Link to comment
Guest Closed Account 1 Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 Is it me or does the Kato 700 series wind up to full speed quicker than the 800 series models? Im breaking in my full set and I think it is my fastest bullet yet. What's difference between the 700 and N700 sets? Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hey Webskipper. Firstly, you don't need to "break-in" your trains. They come out of the factory as good as ever. However, it is a great excuse to run trains for hours and keep the wife out of the room. Secondly, the 700 and N700 are different trains ... physically. You can see the differences here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_Series_Shinkansen and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N700_Series_Shinkansen Other than that both sets have the same loop of track. The 700 set is out of production. The N700 set is available. It has an updated controller. Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Guest Closed Account 1 Posted March 20, 2011 Share Posted March 20, 2011 Hey Webskipper. Firstly, you don't need to "break-in" your trains. They come out of the factory as good as ever. However, it is a great excuse to run trains for hours and keep the wife out of the room. Secondly, the 700 and N700 are different trains ... physically. You can see the differences here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/700_Series_Shinkansen and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N700_Series_Shinkansen Thanks. So I did get the better looking Platypus. Full car set 10276, 10277 and 10398 addons. Very fortunate to even get them at all. They shipped out the day before the quake. Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Hey Webskipper, Since you're bragging, I've got the same set. I've also got an extra 10-276 + 10-277 which I got brand new from ebay for $54. Yes, $54. The set was listed as a 10-277 only and I bid about 20 seconds before the end of the auction. I then ordered the rest of the train from PlazaJapan (10-276 and 10-398). When the 10-277 arrived it came with the 10-276 as well - all brand new and unused. So, with my next HobbySearch order I got another 10-277 so that I've got an 8 car and a 16 car set. Next time the wife yells at me I'm gonna break them in - again .... lol Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Guest Closed Account 1 Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Good for you. Actually I was not bragging. Pretty humble guy. Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted March 21, 2011 Share Posted March 21, 2011 Hey Webskipper, Brag, man! It's a damn fine train!!! Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Samurai_Chris Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Yes, but my Tomix N700-8000 Sakura is even nicer!! Link to comment
The_Ghan Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 ooooooo .....yuh .... it is ..... I guess I'll just have to wait! Wife is taking the magnifying glass to the Amex bills of late. Cheers The_Ghan Link to comment
Samurai_Chris Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 ooooooo .....yuh .... it is ..... I guess I'll just have to wait! Wife is taking the magnifying glass to the Amex bills of late. Cheers The_Ghan She is well worth it.. I just wish I could find a way to put power to "all" wheels on my Kato 800!! Link to comment
keitaro Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 ooooooo .....yuh .... it is ..... I guess I'll just have to wait! Wife is taking the magnifying glass to the Amex bills of late. Cheers The_Ghan She is well worth it.. I just wish I could find a way to put power to "all" wheels on my Kato 800!! i don't think that will be easy. Link to comment
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