Kato - New Releases

[Yavianice]

@Welshbloke Micro Ace has already postponed upcoming releases due to COVID-19. I'm sure that KATO is waiting and seeing what happens with production facilities in China. In the meantime, take the opportunity to play with the trains you have. After all, being home and playing with your trains, contributes to social distancing, and is the safest way to wait out this virus.

[cteno4]

And share the playing here! 
 

good time to dive into a particular project and post your progress to entertain and encourage others! Luckily the forum is free of pathogen transmission and a good way for all of us to keep ours and each others’ spirits up!

 

jeff

[railsquid]

 

2 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

Is there a hiatus in new releases? The Kato website hasn't shown anything being released since the third of March, and the page hasn't been updated since the 6th.

 

The last updates I see are from the 10th:

 

 

I am sure if Kato has some concrete information about potential delays, they will say so.

 

1 hour ago, Yavianice said:

@Welshbloke Micro Ace has already postponed upcoming releases due to COVID-19. I'm sure that KATO is waiting and seeing what happens with production facilities in China.

 

AFAIK Kato's models are all made in their Japanese factories, though it's entirely possible they have some dependencies for certain parts (motors?) and materials from China.

Edited March 17, 2020 by railsquid

[Yavianice]

@railsquid Yup, japanese factories. But parts are made in China, and perhaps their raw materials are also sourced from there (alloys, plastics etc.). They could also just wait and see what the japanese government does. If they will eventually close the country Italian/France/Spanish style, that will also affect their production. Anyway, we will never know for certain, only speculate. 

[brill27mcb]

On 3/15/2020 at 4:26 AM, katoftw said:

So they have taken all the one Standard S power packs that thet cannot sell due to the SX being released. So they paints these gold and silver and probavly slap on a huge price tag. Smart cos it will actually sell.

 

I actually prefer the S to the SX, for pure, clean full-wave rectified DC.

 

Rich K.

[TFW]

4 hours ago, brill27mcb said:

 

I actually prefer the S to the SX, for pure, clean full-wave rectified DC.

 

Rich K.

Why do you prefer it? I am considering  a Kato power pack but I am still undecided so any information would be most welcome!

 

Thomas

[Sheffie]

My experience with the S is that there’s a range of throttle settings where my train will be moving but its lights will flicker — and to fix the flicker you need to move the train faster — whereas with the SX there’s a range of settings where the lights will be steady but the train won’t be moving (although you may hear a hum from the motor). 

Edited March 17, 2020 by Sheffie

[Kiha66]

8620 physical prototype already out!  That was fast, it makes me wonder how long kato has been sitting on this project.

 

 

[Fenway Park]

The 8620 looks superb. Something to look forward to later this year.

[railsquid]

Some photos by ModelTrainPlus on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/modeltrainplus/posts/1502377923265448

 

Edited March 19, 2020 by railsquid

[Welshbloke]

Is there more interest in JNR steam than in more recent diesel and electric locos in Japan? Just thinking of the 1950s/60s bias in UK RTR (because that was when the retirees with fat final salary pensions grew up and want to model an idealised version of).

[railsquid]

Compared with the UK scene, coverage of modern stuff is very good. I was surprised, when I started looking for an 8620 last year, that despite being a widespread class with 600+ examples, the only N gauge model available at the time was the MicroAce one which was released about 20 years ago.

[Welshbloke]

Sounds almost as if Japan has the reverse situation. I do notice that there seems to be a lot more logic in production choices, by which I mean that you don't get locos of a particular era with nothing for them to haul or indeed coaches for multiple railways but no matching catering vehicles.

[marknewton]

I think the decision to make an 8620 might be influenced by having a real one running in Kyushu. 
 

Mark.

[marknewton]

 

Of course, it could just be because 8620s are such appealing locos. 😉

 

Cheers,

 

Mark.

 

 

[serotta1972]

I hope they blacken the wheels on the final production.  

[Kamome]

On 3/19/2020 at 10:42 PM, Welshbloke said:

Sounds almost as if Japan has the reverse situation. I do notice that there seems to be a lot more logic in production choices, by which I mean that you don't get locos of a particular era with nothing for them to haul or indeed coaches for multiple railways but no matching catering vehicles.

That is the frustrating thing about a lot of the UK releases. Dapol have announced another round of their terriers in various liveries without thinking about what you can throw behind it.
 

Kato always consider the train rather than just a loco or rolling stock, which must encourage a better return in the set up investment. There is usually a variety of locos that pulled said train which won’t attract everyone but still makes it a more tempting offering.

The 10系 Kamome release for example offered 2 coach packs as is common, a C62, an EF58 and the Hobby centre released a stainless steel EF10 so you could model the train along all or part of its route. I would assume they are confident that most would purchase everything. 
 

 

 

[Yavianice]

Interestingly, the TOBU 50070, which consists of 10 cars, will be sold as a 4+4+2 set. Usually it would be sold in a box containing a total of 6 cars, and a box that can contain 4 cars. Now, they will sell it so it can fit in 1 KATO sleeve with room for 10 cars.

[Kiha66]

I'm glad to hear kato decided to go that route.  I have a few sets that take up multiple boxes when they could fit in one, I wish kato would do this more often!

Edited March 21, 2020 by Kiha66

[roadstar_na6]

I hope I can order the DD54 they announced for March soon, I‘ve been waiting for it since the beginning of the month 😄

 

I hope Corona doesn‘t postpone releases too much..

[Welshbloke]

There was an update a couple of days ago which added releases for the 20th of March. The Hokutosei re-release has been bumped to April along with one or two other items, but if that's the only impact they're coping well.

 

It will be interesting to see the long term impact. I've seen a trader in the UK quoted as expecting to lose £80k in sales due to people staying at home and not going impulse buying. The loss of disposable income for people whose job has essentially disappeared for the duration won't help either.

 

I can see Internet based stores doing well as long as the postal system holds up, I know I've ordered a couple of RhB vans from Germany and a couple of split from set Kato RhB panoramic coaches from Japan (from 10-1219, I now have four of the six coaches). Advice is currently to mail order as it's keeping the retailers alive while store footfall plummets, anything more important will get priority in the post so don't worry about overloading the system with your model orders.

[Das Steinkopf]

14 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

I hope I can order the DD54 they announced for March soon, I‘ve been waiting for it since the beginning of the month 😄

 

I hope Corona doesn‘t postpone releases too much..

 

 

By the looks of it the 26th of March is the release date.

 

https://www.katomodels.com/schedule

[Yavianice]

Seems KATO is swimming in KATO Power Pack S. Kato Shop Kyoto is now also a custom power pack for 6050 yen (just a different color). Furthermore, KATO has announced a limited release E4 head set with TOKI marks for 8000 yen. Still lame they don't just sell a customized basic set so you are left over with two E4 heads. These limited release E4 head set are only available at the Railway Wonderland 2020 in the Yagibashi Department Store in Saitama.

 

Though KATO might sell it online if they have some left over. With a lockdown of Tokyo possibly imminent, this seems like it will happen sooner rather than later.

Edited March 25, 2020 by Yavianice

[Kamome]

22 hours ago, Yavianice said:

Furthermore, KATO has announced a limited release E4 head set with TOKI marks for 8000 yen. Still lame they don't just sell a customized basic set so you are left over with two E4 heads. These limited release E4 head set are only available at the Railway Wonderland 2020 in the Yagibashi Department Store in Saitama.

I hope these become more readily available. I’d really like these to add some variety to my E4s.

[Yavianice]

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10689224/30/1
 

Re-release announcements for August.

 

Of note, the 700 series will include stickers for "Ambitious Japan" and the "Arigatou 700" marks, and will be of higher detail than the previous release with roof decorations.