Kato - New Releases

[Fenway Park]

According to the Kato web site, some of the Joban Line C62s were transferred to the Kure Line.

 

I have one of the Sanyo versions, although they never ran in Kyushu.

[JR 500系]

1 hour ago, railsquid said:

 

According to the poster, it's running from August 1 - August 15th.

 

15 hours ago, chadbag said:

 

Looking at it, the 10-1227 is obviously an older style green livery on Yamanote line.   So from an older RIlakumma promotion that must have run on the Yamanote line some time ago.   Is or was RIlakumma newly on the Yamanote line?  They tend to mirror the real life implementations of these liveries.

 

Yes there tends to be a load of Liveries for the Yamanote lines, and they often only runs for a short period of time, like the Green Livery which was used to commemorate the classic Yamanote line trains that were fully coloured in Midori Green... There was also a full Midori Green with no graphics, and also a Suica Penguin livery set, that was only 4-cars long... 

 

Then of course there is the Red Brick Yamanote line set for the 100th anniversary of Tokyo station... 

 

16 hours ago, changkh said:

 

How come there is no Hello Kitty 500 Shinkansen...

 

There is, just not from Kato... Besides, I doubt the Kato one will be prototypically correct, since for the EVA 500 they just used 8-cars from the Nozomi set.... So probably they just re-paint the EVA set for the Kitty set if they did... 

[changkh]

On 8/4/2018 at 3:13 PM, JR 500系 said:

There is, just not from Kato... Besides, I doubt the Kato one will be prototypically correct, since for the EVA 500 they just used 8-cars from the Nozomi set.... So probably they just re-paint the EVA set for the Kitty set if they did... 

 

Ya, I know Tomix is releasing them but I only buy KATO trains.

By the way, KATO seems to be releasing a railway related app. Was revealed in the Model Rail Contest held early this month.

https://tetsudo-ch.com/126162.html

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, changkh said:

By the way, KATO seems to be releasing a railway related app. Was revealed in the Model Rail Contest held early this month.

https://tetsudo-ch.com/126162.html

 

It appears to be an app for managing your (Kato?) model railway collection, by scanning in the bar code, also combined with other functionality like managing photos/recordings of trains.

[katoftw]

At what size does a collection have to be that a app is required to manage said collection?

[Kiha66]

46 minutes ago, katoftw said:

At what size does a collection have to be that a app is required to manage said collection?

 

Have you not seen the purchasing habits of most of our members?  😁

[katoftw]

Too many to count of Tomytec buses causing one side of a island to sink doesn't work. 😂

 

App is only for Kato.

Edited August 8, 2018 by katoftw

[Kiha66]

Hm, I may then try to put together an excell lookup table, were people could put in just their product numbers and it would automatically generate an inventory with product details.  Might be more useful than this as other manufactures could be added.

[bill937ca]

I've always kept an Excel file. It's got my trains, my Kato trains, my Tomix, my trams, some  track files, some building files.  

[cteno4]

It’s not the data base system that’s the big thing it’s just taking the time to do the inventory itself! Always boils down to the content being the thing that really takes the work, especially good quality content. 

 

Simple spreadsheet is great as you can get the basics done quick and easy and the if you want to migrate later into a fancier dB system you can usually easily convert it to import into a newer dB. 

 

Important thing Is to get the content down and not wait. Good to have to not mistakenly double buy as well as for insurance if a disaster were to happen. Also the longer you wait the larger the content compilation will be and the more daunting the task. I can’t tell you the number of profesional photographers and institutions I’ve seen fall into this spiral trap trying to do decentent cataloging of their images.

 

ive just starred using pages mainly on my iPad to do basic inventorying of train stuff. After I do the column of model numbers with the pile of stuff I can cut and paste in pictures, full titles, descriptions, etc from websites while im watching tv to flesh it out. But just having the model numbers in a list covers my butt. I’m still way behind on this though!

 

jeff

[gavino200]

2 hours ago, cteno4 said:

ive just starred using pages mainly on my iPad to do basic inventorying of train stuff. After I do the column of model numbers with the pile of stuff I can cut and paste in pictures, full titles, descriptions, etc from websites while im watching tv to flesh it out. But just having the model numbers in a list covers my butt. I’m still way behind on this though!

 

 

For insurance? Not a bad idea. I should probably start doing a bit of that. I've always just considered this stuff an entertainment expense, like going to the movies or buying a Starbucks. I need to become wiser!

[cteno4]

You may scare yourself when you start seeing the investment...

 

jeff

[JR 500系]

Yeah ~ you know, I did have a spreadsheet roster for my trains too, and not to forget, buses... But no spreadsheet for diorama and building stuff so sometimes I buy items which I already have... 

 

The buses one is very difficult... Hence I need to use Pictures and codes to have remember which ones I have, and how many copies of them... 

[nah00]

On 8/7/2018 at 6:40 PM, katoftw said:

At what size does a collection have to be that a app is required to manage said collection?

For my North American rolling stock I had to start keeping a spreadsheet since there's enough variety that I can avoid duplicate numbers. I have my Japanese trains cataloged for insurance purposes though, have a picture of each train in the bookcase and a list of the purchase price of each one. And no, I've never had the courage to add up the total price. Plus some things (like the GuP KRT diesel cars) are worth way more than the purchase price.

 

Now that I think about it I should probably add the containers I have to that list but I don't think I even want to have an inkling of an idea of how much I've spent on them. 

Edited August 9, 2018 by nah00

[kvp]

Imho this app is more useful for finding the datasheet for a Kato made train than cataloging. Just scan the barcode and it gives you the data page of said train. However this does not include any modifications, combined base and extension sets and so forth. Everything else has to be manually entered.

 

Personally i still try to remember all my trains and stuff, but considering my bookcase sets actually fit into a single ikea shelf (and a bit below that for the single shinkansen set i have) and the rest into 2 shelfs for european and 2 shelfs for Tomytec and 1 for jewelcase japanese. That's a total of 6 shelfs of trains and even the misc loose tracks box and other extra stuff fits. The Tomytecs are custom builds of various upgrades (from rolling to motorized to TN couplers and other stuff), while even some of the older Tomix and Kato stock have been upgraded in some form. Base sets are combined with extension sets, often not into the full consist, but into a 5 to 7 cars shorter set. Imho this is completly unmanagable with barcode scanning only. And my japanese stuff is fairly standard, the european stock is mostly custom or kit built and never had a product number or a complete price tag. (especially with parts sourced from all over the world)

 

Still if you have a lot of custom stuff, then a good database program is a nice thing. It was mentioned that many people would like to see desktop integration, but that's not something Kato is supporting right now. It would probably open the door to custom add ons and compatible 3rd party programs and would need a standardized database format. (and a data compatibility nightmare for Kato) Excel sheets are going to get pretty out of control once you start entering other info than the commercial product id (manufactuer and product number).

[gavino200]

On 8/8/2018 at 1:53 AM, JR 500系 said:

.. Hence I need to use Pictures and codes to have remember which ones I have, and how many copies of them... 

 

That's too funny!

[gavino200]

4 hours ago, nah00 said:

 And no, I've never had the courage to add up the total price.

 

Agree. That's information that I'm probably better off not knowing.

[cteno4]

Spread sheets work great for this sort of inventory only a few columns needed for the basics to get started and simple and very universal. very easy for anyone to start and expand and prey flexible w.o having to learn much at all. You can always get any data you have captured exported/imported into most data base systems out there. Ive learned over the years using excel for simple datasets is so much better than using a data base system if you just have simple matrices. I’m always scoffed at on projects about this, but then folks are amazed how fast, easy and flexible it is to using a database or programming one into the application down the road... and everyone knows how to edit an excel sheet.

 

If you want to get fancy then yes a nice data base is wonderful but that can be a whole nother rabbit hole to go down! Better to get the basic info down for insurance and duplicating and see if you go further with it rather than investing Time, learning, and money into a database system you don’t end up using. Or worse, the setup prevents you from moving forward and at least getting the basic info down. I have seen this happen soooo many times with folks cataloging collections of all sorts. I’ve helped friends and clients spend a lot of time and money for a big nasty database they insist they needed and they end up never really using as it ends up being too much to deal with (can’t say I told you so at that point...)

 

these days its more about the app than the content.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

I keep everything in a spreadsheet, which is kind of ironic as I develop database server software for a living... I do store it in a version control system for stability though.

 

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

. I have seen this happen soooo many times with folks cataloging collections of all sorts. I’ve helped friends and clients spend a lot of time and money for a big nasty database they insist they needed

 

Do please encourage them to keep doing this, it pays for my trains 😉

[cteno4]

43 minutes ago, railsquid said:

I keep everything in a spreadsheet, which is kind of ironic as I develop database server software for a living... I do store it in a version control system for stability though.

 

 

Do please encourage them to keep doing this, it pays for my trains 😉

 

Lol! for little and medium stuff without relational data the are so handy!

 

I wont drive you out of business, i promise! its usually folks that have their eyes on bells and whistles and wants only and not what they really need to get done! my approach is always what do you need to say or do first then we figure out the best way to say or do that, but these days its the reverse out there. usually they want stuff they dont need at all, but its the cool thing and they loose sight of what they really NEED to get done and the amount of resources they have to do that. Wants end up sucking up so much of the resources there is little left if any to get anything they need to get done. its a frustrating loop these days as no one seems to want to talk needs first, its all wants. also makes the projects hell to work on as you are always trying to cram the needs in on the back end and they never fit well when you design that direction. 

 

sorry enough on all that. its just a loop ive gotten increasingly stuck in so much in the last decade.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[scotspensioner]

On 8/8/2018 at 6:13 AM, gavino200 said:

 

For insurance? Not a bad idea. I should probably start doing a bit of that. I've always just considered this stuff an entertainment expense, like going to the movies or buying a Starbucks. I need to become wiser!

I don't smoke drink or run a car and since I'm married,women are out of bounds so I've got to have something to keep me amused.

If I've got my trains at least I've got something to show where my money went and maybe someday I'll get some of it back!

[chadbag]

21 hours ago, nah00 said:

 

Now that I think about it I should probably add the containers I have to that list but I don't think I even want to have an inkling of an idea of how much I've spent on them. 

 

Amen!  AMEN!

 

[chadbag]

KATO is readjusting some of their production schedules...

 

 

 

[cteno4]

 

On 8/9/2018 at 1:45 PM, nah00 said:

 

Now that I think about it I should probably add the containers I have to that list but I don't think I even want to have an inkling of an idea of how much I've spent on them. 

 

Yes i have little plastic boxes (like 3”x6”x1”] that hold 30 or so containers and at shows I have to remember each box is upwards of $100.

 

what is more shocking are vehicles, especially cars as one of those little boxes can hold 50-60 which could mean $200-400 to replace as most are older Tomytec collections long oop and thus would be really expensive and hard to replace.

 

a small box I take to shows with 8 or so of these little boxes can be over a couple of thousand bucks in them! The smallest box in the whole pile of layout stuff is the most expensive! Like remodeling a bathroom.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[katoftw]

8 hours ago, chadbag said:

KATO is readjusting some of their production schedules...

 

 

 

Oh dear.  Now I have both Twilight Express and Seven Stars in the same month.  When the wife sees that transaction on the credit card bill, I'll be sleeping in the car for a week.