Kato - New Releases

[railsquid]

DIY version:

 

 

AFAIK only MicroAce has ever made prototype Shinkansens, and only the original pre-0-series ones.

[Kamome]

5 hours ago, drt7uk said:

Hi folks - what do we think the reason is that neither Kato nor Tomix seem to be producing a model of the Alfa-X? Do you think licensing issues might be the problem? 

I would think Kato missed the boat on it or decided there wasn’t enough interest.

Had they released it this time last year it probably would have sold out but I wouldn’t have imagined they would have done more than a single run.

I don’t see there being much demand for it now.

Tomix/Takara Tomy had a license from JR East as they produced a Pura-rail version and a Shinkalion. They obviously didn’t think a model in N was worth the tooling investment either. A safer investment producing trains going into service like the N700S. We’ll just have to wait for whatever design the Alfa-X testing develops. And E8s to replace the E3s eventually.

[drt7uk]

9 hours ago, Kamome said:

I would think Kato missed the boat on it or decided there wasn’t enough interest.

Had they released it this time last year it probably would have sold out but I wouldn’t have imagined they would have done more than a single run.

I don’t see there being much demand for it now.

Tomix/Takara Tomy had a license from JR East as they produced a Pura-rail version and a Shinkalion. They obviously didn’t think a model in N was worth the tooling investment either. A safer investment producing trains going into service like the N700S. We’ll just have to wait for whatever design the Alfa-X testing develops. And E8s to replace the E3s eventually.

 

If that's true (re their perception of demand) then that's a shame, it's a pretty iconic design to my eyes, and a great livery.

[gavino200]

55 minutes ago, drt7uk said:

 

If that's true (re their perception of demand) then that's a shame, it's a pretty iconic design to my eyes, and a great livery.

I agree. I’d buy one in a heartbeat.

[drt7uk]

14 hours ago, railsquid said:

DIY version:

 

 

AFAIK only MicroAce has ever made prototype Shinkansens, and only the original pre-0-series ones.

They did a terrific job with this, hats off to them 

[Kamome]

11 hours ago, drt7uk said:

 

If that's true (re their perception of demand) then that's a shame, it's a pretty iconic design to my eyes, and a great livery.

Yes, I agree and i’d have probably bought one too. You never know. They could still do it but with the whole pandemic this year, most releases have been safe bets or things that took longer than expected to develop. The only new tooling was on Shikoku stock, as well as a couple of Tobus, the 789 and the 8620. The rest has been updates on previously released stock.

[JR 500系]

New releases from Kato:

 

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/kato-model/poster/pdf/202012241720275fe44f4b98914/2021-5a.pdf

 

https://s3-ap-northeast-1.amazonaws.com/kato-model/poster/pdf/202012241721155fe44f7b4ae28/2021-5b.pdf

[railsquid]

Oooh, another EF64-0 variant 👍

[Kiha66]

Darn, was really hoping for a rerun of the HO 12 or 20 series coaches.  I don't yet have an EF64, so I might as well add one to round out my EL collection.  The 151 might also be fun if I have the spare hobby money, although I should probably stop at 5 sets of bonnet EMUs.

[roadstar_na6]

Hm, nothing for me this time. Good 😄

[Das Steinkopf]

2 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Hm, nothing for me this time. Good 😄

 

Same here, I already have plenty of trains coming in February and March that will make my wallet cry.

[roadstar_na6]

11 minutes ago, Das Steinkopf said:

[...]

The only things I have left on pre-order are the ED19 for January and the C62-2 for March. Luckily. My wallet can rest in February and from April to at least May 😄

(unless something from my wishlist pops up on YAJ)

[Kamome]

On 12/25/2020 at 4:36 PM, Kiha66 said:

Darn, was really hoping for a rerun of the HO 12 or 20 series coaches.  I don't yet have an EF64, so I might as well add one to round out my EL collection.  The 151 might also be fun if I have the spare hobby money, although I should probably stop at 5 sets of bonnet EMUs.

There is still some 12 series stock around the hobby shops in Northern Kyushu and plenty in the used market. I’m sure the 20s are coming. They’ve re-run or announced every other coaching stock they’ve produced in the past. I hope they’ll do the EF58 or D51 in HO again. 

 

Some nice additions in May. I like the cement trains so the Hoki 5700s will be nice not to have duplicate numbers from the Iida line freight set. 

 

The 151 Kodama/ Tsubame is nice and as a Tokyo-Osaka train it would have large appeal. I would have liked the 489 Hakusan in JNR for something else for my EF63s. If Kato are planning any more JNR Emu releases this year, the 157 is crying out for another run. Especially the Royal train version (10-456)

[Kamome]

If you take a look at the Hobby centre pages, you will see that that Kato are also producing their pocket line electric loco with British Railways early crest black. 

Could this be the start of more British stock from Kato?

 

http://www.katomodels.com/hobbycenter/blog/medias/uploads/チビ凸英国鉄道.pdf

Edited December 26, 2020 by Kamome

[roadstar_na6]

6 minutes ago, Kamome said:

Could this be the start of more British stock from Kato?

Considering they iirc launched a Kato UK branch office to get to the European market without Noch & Lemke, yes.

[Kamome]

That’s going to shake up the British manufacturers. Kato quality mechanisms, trains that don’t need “running in” 

[disturbman]

11 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Considering they iirc launched a Kato UK branch office to get to the European market without Noch & Lemke, yes.

I know Japan is far away, but nobody told them about Brexit? 😅

 

I would have thought that the biggest European market was Germany. Düsseldorf is very Japanified.

Edited December 27, 2020 by disturbman

[Welshbloke]

If they can get the pocket line range in shops for around £40-£50 it'll scare the life out of the established players. Less than half the price of the competition and it actually works reliably!

 

Just seen what appeared to be a page from a dealer catalogue showing another batch of the Unesco Ge 4/4 IIIs (just the loco) and at last a luggage van in their RhB range. No mention of dates, it just said "planned" at the top. Presumably sometime after May as they've published posters for models that far ahead now.