What did you order or the post deliver? (HO and other scales)

[serotta1972]

You need to mount it on the front of your truck. 😀

[Kiha66]

Don't tempt me... Maybe add the JR Kyushu DMU blue stripes too, the body is already white...

[Kamome]

On 7/24/2019 at 3:39 PM, Kiha66 said:

Does 1:1 scale count?

(Huge thanks to Jr for helping out with the purchase, what an amazing community this forum is)

Nice.

 

I assume these are reproductions, but still very nice. The Tokyu Hands in Hakata we’re doing something similar, in metal Sakura or Fuji but were in the ¥300,000 range so a great find.  I will certainly have a look myself at their Buyee page.

 

At a JR Kyushu works open event they were auctioning off an original Tsubame or Kamome SL headmark, but that was bought by a company president for a silly amount of money.

Edited July 25, 2019 by Kamome
Because Apple cannot seem to differentiate between were and we’re

[Yavianice]

3 hours ago, Kamome said:

I assume these are reproductions, but still very nice. The Tokyu Hands in Hakata we’re doing something similar, in metal Sakura or Fuji but were in the ¥300,000 range so a great find.  I will certainly have a look myself at their Buyee page.

There are also some train stores that I visited that sell headboards, train parts, driver costumes etc. 

 

The ones I know are in Hiroshima (not too far from the station) and in Nagoya in the electronics district.

 

They also go for silly prices but it's always fun to see them for sale in a store. And they look original, too.

[EdF]

10 hours ago, GDorsett said:

Can't be any worse than some of my stuff. Got a few heavy things, myself, but nothing like that. Would love to find one, probably for the Nihonkai since I have a full model of it in N.

There is one up at that link.

[Welshbloke]

Ordered the Micro Ace KaNi 24 kit and some Kadees. Plan is to assemble a four coach sleeper train and a DD51 to haul it, although I'm trying to decide whether to buy two OHaNes or one and an ORoNe to go in the middle. Need to find whether the ORoNe in the range is the same type as the one in the Asakaze.

[marknewton]

Earlier this evening I received an email from HS to tell me this was heading my way:

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10514706

 

So looking forward to this! 😍

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

[GDorsett]

Looks nice, but wow, price.

[Welshbloke]

I was eyeballing those too, but how on earth it's more than twice as expensive as a Kato E510 is beyond me!

 

I was quite tempted by an EF510 but the parts to run it on R370 curves appear to be sold out everywhere, and you can't find the matching coach pack for sane money either. Wouldn't mind one of their EF65s if another production run brings the prices back to sanity, but until then I have the DE10 and the cold weather DD51 is on its way.

[GDorsett]

I found an EF510 on Buyee with DCC/Sound. Been abusing that and a little JRF DE10. I've got a pair of EF65s now as well, but they're not converted to DCC and only one has all of it's details put on.

[Welshbloke]

I do have a loop of big curves from the bargain bundle of Unitrack which started this whole Japanese HO detour, but floor running plus three cats shedding fluff everywhere isn't a good combination. R370 will fit on my dining table with a bit of leeway either side, so derailments land on table rather than floor.

 

I am now waiting for a DD51, a third TaKi 43000, the KaNi kit, three packs of Tomix containers and two Tomix KoKi 107s on preorder. And some more straight track so I can extend the yard.

[GDorsett]

Right now I'm not really looking to expand unless I can find more KoKi's for a reasonable. One of these days I'll start stashing again so I can jump on a Hokutosei set when one comes up on Buyee. Seen a couple already that I would have loved to have had...

[Kamome]

I would imagine there’ll be another run of Kato Hokutosei coaches coming soon. They’re releasing the EF81 in Hokutosei livery early 2020 so I’m sure coaches will follow.

[GDorsett]

No, don't tell me an EF81 is coming to HO, you'll make me buy several of them!

With or without the star!

[Kamome]

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/kato-model/poster/pdf/201907301403265d3fcf9ed89fd/2020_1.pdf

 

https://www.katomodels.com/posters

 

jeff

[GDorsett]

Oh no

[GDorsett]

I still need to get the fleet of EF81s in N that I've been wishing for.

[Welshbloke]

Containers arrived:

 

 

The others (and the three 50th anniversary JRF ones in the post) will be spread between the two KoKi 107s when they're delivered. One fully laden and two on the other should look suitably random.

 

I may have to grab an EF510 then, and hope that the R370 conversion kit comes back into stock. Maybe next month if they're still hovering around the £92 mark...

[Kamome]

6 minutes ago, Welshbloke said:

I may have to grab an EF510 then, and hope that the R370 conversion kit comes back into stock. 

They’re definitely a heavy loco with a lot of pulling power. I have seen the conversion kits at Tam Tam on my last couple of visits but certainly not on the usual online retailers. Doesn’t it just replace the front underparts with bogie mounted ones?

 

 I’d also recommend the upgrade kit that Kato released.

http://www.katomodels.com/hobbycenter/product/assy/000763.php

 

It doesn’t quite make it as detailed as the Tomix version, but it includes some of the details that were missed on the basic release. But for a ¥9000 loco, it’s great to have switchable tail/shunting lights and it’s definitely stronger than my Kato EF65s

[marknewton]

18 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

I was eyeballing those too, but how on earth it's more than twice as expensive as a Kato E510 is beyond me!

 

Smaller manufacturer, smaller production run? I don’t know, but it’s still cheaper than a comparable Australian prototype model. Even with the GHT added. 🤬 And based on my experience with their previous electric locos it will be a very high-spec product.

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

[Welshbloke]

2 hours ago, Kamome said:

They’re definitely a heavy loco with a lot of pulling power. I have seen the conversion kits at Tam Tam on my last couple of visits but certainly not on the usual online retailers. Doesn’t it just replace the front underparts with bogie mounted ones?

 

 

Yep, it moves the front skirts and couplers to the bogies instead of the body. The maddening part is that the kit isn't particularly expensive, I just can't find one! I would probably add the other upgrade packs but obviously being able to haul a train is the important part.

 

Japanese HO is now pretty even with British OO prices, but you get a better model for your money IMO. They seem a lot less prone to silly design flaws like NEM pockets which don't meet the standards for location.

[GDorsett]

4 hours ago, Kamome said:

They’re definitely a heavy loco with a lot of pulling power.

 

Can I just say real quick that I pulled 88 American freight cars with my DCC equipped one?

[Welshbloke]

Tomix KoKi 107s are out. Had a dispatch email for my two from Hobbysearch this morning. That completes my HO KoKis, unless Kato re-release theirs and bring prices back to sanity. I can only fit three 10* types and a 200 in my tabletop loop with a DD51 or DE10 anyway!

[Welshbloke]

That was quick, they're out of stock already!

 

I have also just caved in and ordered the EF510. And an ORoHaNe 25 500 to match. Guess who's really hoping Kato re-run the Hokutosei basic set now...

[MichiK]

It came to me as quite a surprise when all of a sudden some of the Real ZJ series 485 popped up on ebay just the other week. At 80€ this was an absolute no-brainer.

 

 

As to be expected, the train is quite Spartan: No lighting, no interior, and (sadly) no couplers that would earn the name. On the other hand details are fine (though sometimes simple - the electrical installations an the roovesare all moulded on), and the finish is almost impeccable. It's a smooth runner, too, though a bit less smooth than e.g. Rokuhan trains. Of course you have to be a bit careful with "nasty" tracks like double slips - the unmotorized cars have a slight tendency for derailment when pushed 8the less than brilliant couplers might well add to that).

 

The biggest drawback is that the bogies are completely out of scale, which is particularily obvious in the vicinity of other Japanese trains (here, Rokuhan's 103):

 

 

Not decided yet, but I'm considering to put the 485 completely on Shorty trucks/chassis, which would leave me with

- a much improved 485 train, and

- a pretty good chassis to fit under a central european EMU/DMU

 

("testbuid" courtesy of Photoshop)