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

[GDorsett]

Am I wrong for wanting a brown one and slapping a PRR Keystone on the side as a joke? It seems like something they'd run if it was available here

[Kiha66]

13 minutes ago, GDorsett said:

Am I wrong for wanting a brown one and slapping a PRR Keystone on the side as a joke? It seems like something they'd run if it was available here

 

 My local store had one in brass in rough condition that was really badly painted for conrail.  They also wanted $500 for it... 😁

[railsquid]

I think this counts as "Other Gauges and Scales"

 

 

Not for me of course, but for the Squidlet. Mrs. Railsquid came up with the idea of a fancy-schmancy Plarail controller thing for Christmas, which I vetoed on the grounds of general gimmickery which will be annoying for the limited amount of use it will get, but the little blighter will be over the moon to be able to expand his 3 car Chuo-Line set.

[Kamome]

For the sake of this forum, should it be referred to as kind of HO, B train shorty?

 

Hats off to Takara Tomy though.  Pura-rail is such a great product and I'm sometimes a little jealous of the play features compared to my models. They are always the first to release new liveries and new train models.  They have just released the JR Kyushu 36+3.

 

I did find a YT video whereby a chap replaced the standard motor with a Tamiya torque tuned one for the Tamiya racers. Certainly gave the shinkansens a speed boost.

[GDorsett]

You joke, but I want to get some to see if I can turn them into HO shorties

[Kamome]

Last HO purchase of 2021. Bagsied this beauty at Volks in Tenjin, thankfully still in stock although she’s still sleeping in her wrapper at present. Seems to be about a million tiny painted wire handrails to fit but can’t wait to get her detailed and pulling some freight. 

[marknewton]

Good score, Kamome! 👍 Sure, there's lots of detail parts to apply, but the finished model looks great. And they perform beautifully too. I've had mine running on the club layout hauling 40 or so freight cars smoothly and silently. They're an excellent model. Cool looking, too! 😍

 

All the best for 2022,

 

Mark.

[Kamome]

Cheers Mark,

Happy New Year as you’ll be celebrating a couple of hours before me. 

It seems a bit growly at present but could possibly be as it’s been sat on a shelf for some time. Probably fine after a run in or some new grease. Any clue how to take the body off? Lots of screws underneath but not sure if it’s a screw or an unclip job.  I want to add a driver and possibly paint some of that lovely can detail but yes, she looks very nice indeed. Could even be tempted to get a 6th version (blue train type) Wasn’t expecting a working cab light as well as head and tail lights. 

I was slightly concerned it was out of scale due to the cab being so high.

 

Then I found this image.

http://shonan1953.sakura.ne.jp/newpage5020.html

 

Update:

 

Managed to find how to dismantle it although it doesn’t state in the instructions despite explaining where the decoder fits. Plenty of images from Japanese blogs show the 4 screw holes between the driving bogies and the fuel tanks. Unscrew these and the shell can then be unclipped. I’m pretty impressed with the design and the price point for this level of detail. I’ll take my time adding the detail parts and post the progress in my “Adventures in HO” thread.  One thing not included is the ward depot plate stickers that Tomix include with their locos but I think I have some spare for Yonago or Fukuchiyama. 

Edited January 1, 2022 by Kamome

[Martijn Meerts]

Since there have been some minor hints of my motivation to work on things returning, I went ahead and place an order at RG-Rokko.

• An IMON Kiwa90 kit. This doesn't technically fit with my initial idea of using only steam, but it does fit in with the approximate era I'm aiming for, and my revised plan already included either the branch line being in the process of being double tracked and catenary added, so a diesel wouldn't be out of place. Also, it's just in incredibly cute train 🙂
• 5 IMON Wamu 50000 plastic kits. This will bring my total up to 8, none of the kits have been built yet ...
• 5 IMON Tora 6000 plastic kits. This will being my total for these up to 9, also none built o.O
• 34 replacement wheels for Wamu50000 and Tora6000 cars. The kits come with wheels, but they're not spoked wheel, nor do they fit after my modifications
• Some sheets of decals for both kits

 

I also asked them to check with Westerwiese about some passenger coaches I've been looking at for a while now. If those are still manufactured / enough are in stock, I'll probably pick some of those up in the coming few months.

 

[cteno4]

Bad bad bad boy…

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Well... Look at it.. It was all sad and really wanted a new home.. Who am I to deny it? 

 

 

 

[railsquid]

I don't think this is quite N scale:

 

e231-yamanote-line by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

It should burn well, though.

 

Edited February 6, 2022 by railsquid

[JR 500系]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

It should burn well, though.

 

Funny it fits so nicely onto the tracks! Do you bear to burn it though.... it's so cute!

[cteno4]

4 alarm fire in the engine house! Wait no someone just lit the stupid candle…

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

N-scale doesn't hold a candle compared to this thing.

 

[cteno4]

Come on baby light my fire! Sorry just had to get that out…

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

Well, all confirmations are in, stuff mostly been paid for and packages should be shipping soon.. I really need to slow down a bit after this 😄

 

From RG-Rokko:

• IMON Kiwa90 kit
• 5x IMON Tora 6000 plastic kit
• 5x IMON Wamu 50000 plastic kit
• 34x IMON wheel set replacement for Tora and Wamu kits (including for the 7 kits I already have)
• 2x decal sheet for Tora 6000
• 2x decal sheet for Wamu 50000

 

From Zenmarket:

• IMON C11 tertiary kit

 

[Martijn Meerts]

Some rolling stock kits came in...

 

 

 

As well as a couple of wheels...

 

 

 

Interestingly, the Kiwa90 looks to have actually been made by World Kougei for IMON. The box, the instructions, and the way it's assembled are very typical for World Kougei kits. Not really an issue, I have a bunch of experience with World Kougei kits, so it should go together relatively easy. 

 

 

 

[Martijn Meerts]

And the C11 arrived as well now 🙂

 

Outer box, looks in rather good shape for being something like 13 years old 🙂

 

 

Various part bags. These look like they've never been opened. There are no fingerprints or markings on the brass, and everything looks complete. This kit has probably sat on a shelf for all those years without really having been looked at much. Even though it was quite expensive in the end, I do think I also got rather lucky on this kit.

 

Also, the instructions are great for this kit, they actually show how to build the thing 😄

 

 

[marknewton]

As I may have mentioned previously, a Tenshodo D51 "slug" I bought late last year went "missing" in the mail after it arrived in Australia. To their credit, Japan Auction Centre gave me a full refund without any dramas, so I took a chance and bought another D51. It arrived today, along with an N scale Kato C55 4-6-2. I'm going to spend the evening applying numbers and detail parts. I've now got ten D51s in my fleet, so I suppose I can stop buying them now? 🤔 The C55 will donate it's mechanism to a HOn30 loco for the BC project.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

[Martijn Meerts]

You can never have enough steam locomotives, so there's no such thing as 'stop buying' 😄

 

It looks good though, I like the look of the slugs. It looks both right and wrong at the same time ...

 

[cteno4]

9 hours ago, marknewton said:

so I suppose I can stop buying them now?

Yeah right! Are pigs overhead these days?

 

8 hours ago, Martijn Meerts said:

I like the look of the slugs. It looks both right and wrong at the same time ...

Ny sentiments exactly!

 

jeff

[Kamome]

14 hours ago, marknewton said:

It arrived today, along with an N scale Kato C55 4-6-2.

For a moment, I thought you were jumping down another rabbit hole.  😂

 

Another lovely slug for your collection. I do like this standard type very much. 

[marknewton]

Attached the 1928-style number plates yesterday. 5132 was built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, so I have to find some suitable builders plates in my stash to attach to the cab. After all the dramas involved in getting a second "slug", I'm happy that I can doublehead them, I think they look great together.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

 

[Kamome]

My latest HO acquisition is more of a mini project. (I won’t have to build or paint) Tenshodo T-Evolution KuMoRu 145 + KuRu 144 and accompanying wheels and motor truck. I decided on the JR West one, as I’ve seen one in the flesh in the sidings coming out of Osaka. I’m not sure if I’ll later regret that I didn’t get the JNR version as the majority of my other stock is JNR. 

 

Anyway, I finally have a use for some Bona Fide motor axle white metal kits I bought about 18 months ago. 

 

Didn’t manage to purchase pantographs at the same time but I believe my other independent model shop has some. The plastic ones look horrible. Perhaps painting them for a stationary display would work for those not intending to motorise. 

 

I assume i’ll need some couplings too either from Imon or perhaps Tomix?

 

I’d also like to add directional light to this in the future (non DCC) and it looks like the pick-ups would allow this. Wondering if there was an easy fix. Solder relevant LEDs onto a replacement lighting board or something. Be nice if a 3rd party produce a kit.

 

Update: The performance of the motor truck is ok, not terrible, but not amazing either. I have seen other modellers on various Japanese modelling blogs have decided to use the pickups on the dummy bogie as well to help with current collection and possible stalls. Some deciding to run the wires under the chassis due to the very limited space under the flat bed section. I will probably do the same, ideally running the wires inside the body if possible. The documentation states not to expect the level of control that you’d get from a flywheel fitted RTR model but so far, in my experience anyway, I’ve had similar to better performance from the Tomytec motor units. I hope the second set of pickups help improve this. 

 

I decided to paint the roof equipment as these are moulded in light grey plastic that look very much like plastic. GPS antenna, lightning arrester, fuse box and distress flare parts are all easily pulled out of the respective locations. 

 

I have also discovered that a company called Cedar Models produce various head/tail light unit kits. These are relatively inexpensive, and from what I can see, just need to be soldered to the pickups. Great for people like me with limited knowledge or expertise in electronics. They seem to produce a variety of options for the needs of most train models. This has opened up further possibilities for me as the Plum Kiha 20 now looks very attractive.

 

I have ordered some pantographs but the final sticking point is couplers. Ideally, I’d like to add the double couplers at the cab ends as the real thing has. Tomix HO-C22 couplers for their EF64 would be ideal but haven’t been produced since 2017 and I haven’t yet found an alternative option. Imon seem to produce a variety of knuckles and shibata style couplers but nothing with both. For the other end, again it seems like Tomix shibata style will fit without modification. These can’t be used on motor ends due to space however. 

 

The yellow ends are removable from the body. It does leave a slight recess in the sides which is a tad strange but doesn’t draw the eye too much. This does allow the part to be removed, modified and repainted with ease. I’m not a huge of the moulded lugs to represent the hand holds so I may add brass wire and repaint at a later stage. 

 

Thoughts

So far I like the model, but I would say, if you didn’t want to mess about too much, avoid these models. I am not a fan of the bogie design. As a static model, the bogie side details are actually pegged to the side of the chassis, so the bogie will not rotate like a Tomytec model. The pegs have to be cut off and then the soft plastic sides, screwed into a slightly flimsy plastic central bolster. I had a few issues getting the screws to secure properly so there was minimal play in the bogie to hold the wheels in.  The wheel axels fit into beautifully machined brass cups and there is a real sense of quality in places integrated with cheap short cuts in different areas of the model. I would have said a better option would be to produce a working bogie with plastic wheels for display, and then sell an update set with metal wheels and pick up parts. 

 

Edited July 8, 2022 by Kamome