Catalogs - Kato vs Tomix

[The_Ghan]

I've recently taken delivery of the 2011 Tomix and Kato catalogs.  I looked through my Kato one first ... most of my roster is Kato ... to see what's new.  I then started on the Tomix catalog.  I think the Tomix catalog is superior, irrespective of what product is on offer.  It got me thinking, "What makes a good catalog?"  Here's my two cents worth (that's all I've got to spare - I'm saving for my Series 0, E5 and ... in a couple of years ... E6)!

 

I'm looking at this from an international perspective.  I went to high school in Japan, but left the country in 1985.  I've not really written or read any Japanese since.  I struggle with the catalogs.  Model railroading is a global hobby.  There's a pretty strong following of Japanese model railroading in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia.  I've also seen Kato and Tomix product for sale in Thailand, Hong Kong and mainland China.  So you would think, might think, might be lead to believe, that there is some merit in making the catalog suitable to be understood at a basic level by international customers.  I think Kato really fails here.  At least the Tomix catalog has the products identified in English.

 

Things I like about the Kato catalog: 

• Clear indication of which models are DCC Friendly
  
• Diagram to indicate organisation of formation and direction of travel
  
• Easy to understand how add-on sets are used to make larger formations
  
• Easy to understand which lighting kit to use
  
• Map to indicate where different shinkansens run on page 5
  
• Timeline to show when different shinkansen series operated
  

 

Things I don't like about the Kato catalog:

• No English product titles
  
• No English product descriptions
  
• Doesn't easily identify the period when the formation was in service
  
• Doesn't easily indicate where the formation operated
  
• Some symbols are not intuitive
  
• Doesn't identify motor type (3-pole or 5-pole)
  

 

Things I like about the Tomix catalog:

• English description of product titles
  
• Diagram to indicate organisation of formation and direction of travel
  
• Easy to understand how add-on sets are used to make larger formations
  
• Maps indicate where many of the formations operated
  
• Clearly identified High Grade sets
  

 

Things I don't like about the Tomix catalog:

• No English product descriptions - a brief paragraph would be nice
  
• Doesn't easily identify the period when the formation was in service
  
• Doesn't easily indicate where the formation operated on some models only (not all have maps)
  
• Some symbols are not intuitive
  
• Doesn't identify motor type (3-pole or 5-pole)
  
• Doesn't identify which products have the old spring drive, such as the 8800 series
  
• Not easy to understand if a lighting kit can be fitted, or which product might be used
  
• Difficult for me to work out how to extend a slab-rail shinkansen station
  

 

This is just my opinion, so please don't go taking me to task.  Japanese rolling stock is captivating.  But not many people know much about where and when different formations run.  Perhaps if the catalogs were easier to understand more model railroaders around the world might take more interest in Japanese product.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Martijn Meerts]

I don't know anything about the Kato catalog, since I don't have one. I do however have the 2007-2008 Tomix catalog, and delivered today should be the 2010-2011 Tomix catalog (and 2010-2011 Tomix spare parts catalog)

 

I really like the Tomix catalog, but I've never really tried to read up on all the details. I usually have little to no problem finding what spare/additional parts go with the trains.

 

I'm curious what the spare parts catalog is like, supposedly it includes pictures of all spare parts they've done in the (recent?) past.

 

 

After I just got the 2007-2008 catalog, I was quite confused at to why there were so many items in the catalog when they weren't in production. I didn't really know about the re-runs and production schedules etc. ;)

[The_Ghan]

I have the Tomix 2009-2010 Spare Parts catalog.  No English and difficult for me to understand ... unless I want the spring for the old spring drive motors ... that's easy to find!!!

 

I can't really use the catalog.  I rely on Hobby Search tech support.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[westfalen]

It has always puzzled me a little why Tomix has the product titles in English since Kato is the one with more overseas presence. Other than that I don't think we'll see more English in either catalog any more than we would see Japanese in the Walthers catalog, as many of us as there are on this forum the overseas market for Kato and Tomix is miniscule compared to the home market. Kato used to have a few pages in the catalog devoted to their foreign models but for the last few years this has been absent. Despite the language barrier I buy the Kato and Tomix catalogs every year while in the last twenty I've bought maybe two Walthers catalogs, like Japanese model railway and railfan magazines, if you can't get the gist of the text it's nice to look at the pictures.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the Tomix catalog seems to be getting thicker while Kato's is getting thinner, maybe it's Kato's practice of not cataloging items that are out of production.

[KenS]

I recently bought both catalogs with a HS order. I think you've summarized them well.  I prefer the Tomix catalog (I can't read Japanese at all).  The names and location information are particularly good.  The Kato one I use mostly as a summary of what they have (the first time I picked one up, I found a number of items I'd had no idea they made).  And both have nice photos to help me decide what looks interesting (and not just trains, but track and buildings as well).

 

One thing I particularly like about both is that they give the footprint dimensions for buildings, although Kato undercuts this by not giving dimensions for the building spaces on the Unitram plates (which are on their website) or the DioTown road plates.

 

Both could do more.  There are numerous tutorial parts which have graphics but no English captions.  Sometimes you can figure out what they're explaining, but sometimes it's maddeningly vague.  As Westfalen says, we're a miniscule part of their market, so they don't have a lot of reason to cater to us.

 

And Kato actually has less reason: they already have overseas outlets with localized product descriptions (Kato USA and material on authorized dealer websites in other places).  That allows them to target thier marketing "message" to those regions. And while that doesn't help us for things that are only available from Japan, it makes the "English-speaking but not served" market even smaller for them than for Tomix.

[Guest ___]

Donned on me, but is there a MicroAce catalog? I cant recall having ever seen one.

[Kamiyacho]

is there a MicroAce catalog

 

Yes, I have seen them on their website.

[brill27mcb]

I've recently taken delivery of the 2011 Tomix and Kato catalogs...

...

Things I don't like about the Tomix catalog:

• No English product descriptions - a brief paragraph would be nice
  
• Doesn't easily identify the period when the formation was in service
  
• Doesn't easily indicate where the formation operated on some models only (not all have maps)
  
• Some symbols are not intuitive  -- See Item 1 below
  
• Doesn't identify motor type (3-pole or 5-pole) -- See Item 2 below
  
• Doesn't identify which products have the old spring drive, such as the 8800 series -- See Item 3 below
  
• Not easy to understand if a lighting kit can be fitted, or which product might be used -- See Item 4 below
  
• Difficult for me to work out how to extend a slab-rail shinkansen station
  

 

This is just my opinion, so please don't go taking me to task.  Japanese rolling stock is captivating.  But not many people know much about where and when different formations run.  Perhaps if the catalogs were easier to understand more model railroaders around the world might take more interest in Japanese product.

 

Your thoughts?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

 

1. The symbols are explained with photos just ahead of the rolling stock listings, on page 56 of the 2010-2011 Tomix Guide.

 

The Tomix catalogs used to have a list in an appendix that showed the product numbers of the major parts for each powered loco or car. The "catalogs" (recently retitled "guides") now contain a small chart on the page for each powered loco or car which shows the major part numbers right there. This tells you:

 

2. The motor type. Motors have an 06xx product number, which translates on page 396 to an "M"-series name. It would be nice if the catalogs contained a list of which motors have how many poles (and skewed or not). If people in this forum pooled the information contained within their collections,  such a list could easily be created.

 

3. The same parts charts also show drive springs or shafts in the JWxx series. Any JW number of JW53 or lower is a spring worm, the higher ones are shaft/universal based. There are actually very few Spring Worm units still in the catalog. In the 2010-2011 Tomix Guide, seven electric locomotive classes and four diesel locomotive classes with Spring Worm drive were either updated or retired, so that no locos now have them. In fact, a single EMU (the old 2-car Class 193/192) and six Private Railway trains (including the 8800-series you mention) are the only Spring Worm units still offered, out of the whole product line.

 

4. The same parts charts also show what lighting unit(s) to use. They are in the 07xx product number series, and are shown back on pages 392, 395 and 396 in the parts section.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Rich K.

[The_Ghan]

It has always puzzled me a little why Tomix has the product titles in English since Kato is the one with more overseas presence. Other than that I don't think we'll see more English in either catalog any more than we would see Japanese in the Walthers catalog, as many of us as there are on this forum the overseas market for Kato and Tomix is miniscule compared to the home market. Kato used to have a few pages in the catalog devoted to their foreign models but for the last few years this has been absent. Despite the language barrier I buy the Kato and Tomix catalogs every year while in the last twenty I've bought maybe two Walthers catalogs, like Japanese model railway and railfan magazines, if you can't get the gist of the text it's nice to look at the pictures.

 

One thing I've noticed is that the Tomix catalog seems to be getting thicker while Kato's is getting thinner, maybe it's Kato's practice of not cataloging items that are out of production.

 

I've got to disagree Westfalen.  Japanese rail enjoys unrivalled fame for punctuality, reliability and, of course, the bullet train.  Since the 1960's rail fans around the world have been in awe of Japanese rolling stock.  A trip to Japan to ride the rails is something many fans dream of.  The whole country is on rails!  The only comparison I can make is the days of British steam (as a teenager I was a sucker for OO guage Hornby steam).  I'm not ruling out great rail journeys around the world here, for there are many.  What I'm saying here is that there is no country so reliant on the railways and there is no country that produces anywhere near the amount of interesting and diverse rolling stock.  Because of this, modellers around the world take an interest in Japanese rail.

 

Before getting into N guage last year I spent a couple of months deciding whether to go European, British or Japanese.  My wife and I had just returned from two months in Europe, where he had taken several pretty amazing rail journeys (especially in Switzerland!  Check out this link and tell me that the Bernina Express doesn't scream "model me!!!"! http://www.spec2000.net/rr_site_pages/RReurope3.htm).  I was going to model Swiss rail ... until my Kato catalog arrived and I saw the amazing variety of beautiful Japanese rail.

 

I don't think I'm alone here.  I watch the crowds at the model railway shows.  The Japanese layout is always very popular.  I'm willing to bet that, if the Japanese model railways companies generally increased the amount of English in their catalogs and made it easy to understand what region and what period products belonged to, there would be a marked increase in sales worldwide.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[The_Ghan]

Rich,

 

Thanks for the tips ... I'm going to study up tonight.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[bill937ca]

is there a MicroAce catalog

 

Yes, I have seen them on their website.

 

But a new one hasn't been issued for years. [EDIT] Actually it looks like Micro Ace issues a catalog every 3 years.

 

Dec 2008

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10080934

 

Oct 2005

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10045455

 

Nov 2002

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10028874

[bikkuri bahn]

Re. catalog size/elaborateness.  One thing to remember is Tomix is part of the Takara/Tomy corporation, a big toy maker with the resources/wherewithal/distribution networks to publish an (expensive to produce) print catalog.  Kato of course is just a model rr supplier, and micro-ace even smaller (i.e. not a general model rr supplier but basically a rolling stock maker).  It's so much more economical to have a web catalog only when resources are tight.  I would rather they spend that money on developing new rolling stock than glossy catalogs that are out of date in 12 months.

 

As far as catering to the foreign markets (well, the N.A. one), my take is, and this is based on my American background, the market is just not there, at least for now.  I don't know the current demographics of the US model rr market, but I assume it's trending older every year- this group is conservative, their likes are pretty much set in stone (steam/diesel transition era, or massive diesels pulling doublestacks, et al), they are not going to be inclined to take a look at foreign stuff, even less something from Asia.  Americans, face it, are parochial- what exists outside the borders or across the seas are pretty much out of mind.  However, I see a possiblity in drawing in a new group (the over 40's are hopeless IMO), and that is youth ("netgenners", "generation y", what have you)- web savvy, open to stuff outside of their immediate experience- these people haven't formed biases and set-in-stone interests yet.  Just the number of people interested in manga and anime presents an opportunity to promote Japanese model rr's- this group already knows that Japan has a lot of cool stuff, and they are familiar with the culture and norms, so Japan is not really "foreign" to them- heck, maybe Tomix can collaborate with a manga publisher to produce a manga series promoting Japanese model railways...Another thing- Japanese railways are just so different in atmosphere and operating philosophy from NA practice- it may be a turn-off for the average fan in NA reared on train order operation, clunky passenger trains, and greasy indifferently maintained right of way. But with the growing number of transit lines and, hopefully HSR, being built to international standards (which are closer to Japanese practice than ye olde north am rr practice), you will have more people wanting to operate models of said operations- this will be a chance for the Japanese makers to fill in the gap with their product.

[kmcsjr]

So, why aren't the catalogs online? google translate could get us close enough and they would sell more....

[KenS]

So, why aren't the catalogs online? google translate could get us close enough and they would sell more....

 

Well, Kato and Tomix both have a lot of info online, although it can be hard to find and some of it is on JPEGs or graphic-only PDFs which can't be translated. Even Micro Ace has info online. In fact, all three put PDFs of their monthly sales flyers online. But not the catalogs themselves.

 

It would be easy enough to put PDFs of it online, and include text attachments so they could be searched and translated.  I presume they don't because it would undercut sales of the paper catalog, meaning that they'd need to charge more to break even on a smaller print run.

 

To BB's point: I agree that most N.A. railfans are an incredibly conservative group who seem firmly wedded to either an earlier era, or modern mainline intermodal (which, to be fair, is about all you find if you go looking for full-size trains most places).  But there are segments that model European outline (a recent hobby show I attended had multiple dealers for continental European trains, and one Europe-oriented club, but not so much British, and zero Japanese). And one of the guys at the LHS says he's seen a lot of younger newcomers to the hobby lately looking for contemporary trains.  Japanese models might appeal to them, and that may be why MB Klein started stocking some of the Kato Japanese trains beyond just the iconic Shinkansen and the Unitrams. There's hope we'll be less of a niche in the future.

[Guest ___]

is there a MicroAce catalog

 

Yes, I have seen them on their website.

 

But a new one hasn't been issued for years. [EDIT] Actually it looks like Micro Ace issues a catalog every 3 years.

 

Dec 2008

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10080934

 

Oct 2005

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10045455

 

Nov 2002

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10028874

 

Good links. I placed an order tonight at HS and made a point to hit the books on HS just  to see if they had anything interesting. Guess that this fall Micro Ace will release a new catalog.

[clem24]

Donned on me, but is there a MicroAce catalog? I cant recall having ever seen one.

 

Microace catalogs are awesome... They're HUGE (double the size of Kato) and packed FULL OF TRAINS because really, aside from one rail set (Georail), 4 types of couplers, and a couple of lighting units, they make only trains! No spare parts, no upgrade parts, no structures, nothing LOL.

 

Greenmax catalogs are also really nice too. Lots of shots of models in dioramas and even scratchbuilt or rare ones. My super old Greenmax catalog (probably 2000?) had a picture of an N Scale Skyliner AE101.. And this was 10 years before the Microace model came out. I don't think they've printed a recent catalog though...

[westfalen]

Regarding foreign markets there is a lot of 'That's not what I'm interested in, so I'm not interested.' attitude out there. The day I returned from my last trip to Japan I went to my club's regular monthly meeting where I put on my video I had taken the day before of the Omiya railway museum and other things of interest around Tokyo. The reception, apart from one member who watched it with me, ranged from 'Oh, it's just Japanese stuff' and walking off to complete indifference, on the other hand the same people will stand around three deep watching the same DVD on British preserved railways that seems to get played each meeting. There are a few N scale members getting interested in Japanese trains but it's not the trains themselves that gets their first attention, it's the fact that you can get a Japanese loco for half the price of an equivalent U.S. one or a full 16 car shinkansen for less than a 3 or 4 car ICE train.

 

But it's not just Japanese trains either. My main interest is the Santa Fe and at shows when I've been running my Kato Super Chief or El Capitan I've had otherwise very accomplished modellers, who could tell you how many rivets on a NSWGR C38 tender or the size and style lettering used by the LNER in May 1937, give me astonished, 'wow I didn't know that', looks when I tell them the Santa Fe hadn't run a passenger train for 40 years and hasn't even existed since 1996.

 

A lot of us on this forum seem to part of that unusual breed of model railroaders and railfans who find anything on flanged wheels interesting, my experience is that most are not as enlightened as us and look at the world's railways with a pair of blinkers on, but I keep on trying to convert them, I have one club member seriously looking at the Trainaway Tours trip to Japan later this year.

[bikkuri bahn]

Westfalen, what you described seems quite similar to what fellow forumer DickH has experienced in U.S. railway hobby shows.  Of course there's nothing wrong with having a narrow hobby focus, it's just a pasttime after all.  I think alot of the hobby preferences arise from first hand experience with the subject matter- especially growing up with it.  In my early childhood I rode the SP commute services on the SF peninsula with its grey gallery cars and arch roof harriman coaches, pulled by FM trainmasters or EMD geeps, with all the odors and sounds of North American rr's.  The station I would use, California Ave., had a team track back then, often a 40' box car would be parked there, with lots of debris such as old rr spikes scattered about, and the rr hardware on the boxcar which fascinated me as a youngster.  Then visits to relations in Japan would expose me to JNR 113 series units, or Tokyu Line trains, sleek in stainless steel, running on headways that the SP commutes could only dream of. Anyway, ending the wallowing in nostalgia, I think some people would get some interest in Japanese railways by taking a trip to Japan.  I  never held any strong interest in British railways until a visit in my college days- it was a revelation- expecting something close to North American practice, it seemed so much closer to Japanese railways, and as such more familiar-feeling to me (having rode thousands more km on Japanese trains than American ones- I lived in car crazy California after all).  Now I take an interest in UK railways (less so with privitisation tho- BR fan through and through), as well as European prototype.  If only Americans travelled more outside their borders....

[lordwinslow2]

So it is hopless for me and my OO Scale Hornby and N Scale Kato and Tomix trains...  

 

Ah well, just means I have to plan some trips back to Japan and England for more research and purchases...

 

Yeah that will work...

 

Winslow

[Martijn Meerts]

Regarding foreign markets there is a lot of 'That's not what I'm interested in, so I'm not interested.' attitude out there. The day I returned from my last trip to Japan I went to my club's regular monthly meeting where I put on my video I had taken the day before of the Omiya railway museum and other things of interest around Tokyo. The reception, apart from one member who watched it with me, ranged from 'Oh, it's just Japanese stuff' and walking off to complete indifference

 

That's exactly how the clubs here think, and why there's really no point in me joining any of them. Getting them to do some N-scale is difficult enough, getting them to do Japanese would be impossible. I'm pretty certain even Japanese H0 scale wouldn't get any running time on their H0 layout(s)...

[harukablue]

The selling point of Japanese N is price and quality,,,you would be amazed how many UK N gauge modellers buy Green Max and Tomix units just for the chassis to repower old poor quality UK outline.

 

I dont know anyone other than myself and Claude who have any Japanese HO 1/80 here in UK,,,there is a guy with a brass DF200 in Northern Ireland i know that as it was mine lol. I am building my depot layout ready for showing in November we shall see if i get any invites to shows lol.

[marknewton]

I've got to disagree Westfalen.  Japanese rail enjoys unrivalled fame for punctuality, reliability and, of course, the bullet train.  Since the 1960's rail fans around the world have been in awe of Japanese rolling stock.  A trip to Japan to ride the rails is something many fans dream of.  The whole country is on rails!...What I'm saying here is that there is no country so reliant on the railways and there is no country that produces anywhere near the amount of interesting and diverse rolling stock.  Because of this, modellers around the world take an interest in Japanese rail.

 

And here is where I disagree with you. My experience is that most modellers, regardless of where they come from, are intensely parochial, and have no interest in any railway other than the one that goes past their front door. Most of the blokes I know who are active modellers take no interest in Japanese railways or models. When I turn up at the club with my Japanese stuff the typical reaction is polite disinterest, at best. The members of this forum are the exception, not the rule. Our numbers are miniscule - we'll never be a significant market for Japanese models.

 

I don't think I'm alone here.  I watch the crowds at the model railway shows.  The Japanese layout is always very popular.

 

I assume you're referring to Doug Coster's layouts, Setagaya and Enoshima? Yes, they are popular, but I'll make two observations. One is that the bulk of those crowds aren't modellers or railfans. They're families having a day out, looking to be entertained. And from that follows my second observation - Doug's layouts are popular not simply because they are Japanese, but also because they are the complete antithesis of the typical cliched Australian exhibition layout, which really only appeals to modellers and railfans. If he had built an American, European or even Australian layout in the same theatrical style, they would be equally popular.

 

All the best,

 

Mark.

[The_Ghan]

Oh Mark!  Just when I thought I was fitting in somewhere ....

 

Perhaps I'm a bit of an odd-ball in that I take a much wider interest in rail, model making, and hobbies generally.  There is so much great rail modelling to be appreciated, regardless of scale, theme and period.  I spent 5 hours out at Liverpool in October just talking to club members and modellers about what they are doing and how they do it, as well as watching the reaction of visitors.  I take your point and refer to the "Deadtree Junction" layout.  Deadtree is one of the finest pieces of modelling I've seen recently, yet it was generally overlooked by the public.  But we are digressing here, again. 

 

This thread was about the Kato and Tomix catalogs and how they might be more easily appreciated by international customers.  In that regard I stand by my original ascertion that both would benefit from English captioning.  At least the Tomix catalog has English subtitles to the headings.

 

There seems to be a strong ascertion that people are just not interested in Japanese rail.  Perhaps if the catalogs were published with more consern for the international customer then international customers might take more interestin Japanese model rail which, in a nutshell, is what I'm trying to say.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[Hobby Dreamer]

Q) Does the current Tomix Catalog show the tram track that is now available or any forthcoming such as the crossover? When are these catalogs released/ how current is the Tomix one?

 

Comment)

Its hard to get catalogs for anything these days, so I can live with one's that depict product but may require a bit of internet search to get more info.

 

I have about 40+ model train catalogs that I went through over the years, many German and an older Kato one. They are not perfect for English speakers but often better than a non-English internet site (sometimes translations don't work out too well).

 

I love the photos that depict a diorama or vignette. They give a lot of ideas. Most show a model train in a proper setting but also with structures etc. These give one a lot of ideas. Although one can find a lot on the internet, a paper catalog is great reading before going to sleep. You can build an empire in your mind!

 

I can look at a US layout, a German one, a British one, or a Japanese one and know instantly what country they depict; but I would have a tough time creating a layout for these countries without a reference such as the photos in the catalogs.

 

Personally, I would rather have the catalogs without English than not have them.

 

Thanks for the review of these catalogs!!

 

Cheers

Rick

[Krackel Hopper]

Q) Does the current Tomix Catalog show the tram track that is now available or any forthcoming such as the crossover? When are these catalogs released/ how current is the Tomix one?

 

The Tomix catalog shows all the wide tram that is currently available.  There does not appear to be anything about "future products" of crossovers or turnouts, etc.

 

The catalog is relatively current.  It was released in December.  The main feature is the retooled DE10s.  The catalog lists the N700 Sakura with product numbers and prices (but only a stock photo of the prototype) and has a page of "Planned Production" page consisting of the E259 NEX, Kiha 40 Hokkaido and a few others. 

 

That should give you a rough idea of the cutoff for products making it into the catalog.

 

btw - on a side note, the catalog shows a photo of U18A Coca-Cola "Keep Japan Beautiful" containers.  Hobby Search blog mentioned these (without photo) as being a summer 2011 release.  I am so getting some of these