Kato - New Releases

[Yavianice]

22 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

I wonder why JR called off their little double decker experiment.

wait times for letting people on and off, as well as additional costs due to weight /maintenance and that the newer generation shinkansens being much more power efficient.

 

Still think it's a dumb idea because 11 car E7's have much less capacity than a double decker E4. 

[EdF]

Its also speed on the rails, not just stations.  Higher center of gravity for double deckers, and they dont play well with active tilting, the upper deck would feel it a lot more.

[JR 500系]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

This one is real? For reals?

 

I’ll order the E2. I actually think the double deckers are a bit ugly, but I want to collect all the Shinkansens, so It’s a must.

 

I wonder why JR called off their little double decker experiment.

Interesting, i hadnt thought about it this way, but i guess it's legit? It's Kato printed all on the poster instead of Sato ....

 

 

[disturbman]

This one is the real one. It was published by Kato, the other was not, on the correct day. Kato always makes its announcements on the last Friday of the month.

[gavino200]

3 minutes ago, disturbman said:

This one is the real one. It was published by Kato, the other was not, on the correct day. Kato always makes its announcements on the last Friday of the month.

 

Interesting. I had been wonder what the day was. I need to make a calendar of release dates. But I could have sworn the last Kato Poster wasn't that long ago. 

 

[disturbman]

It was last week. But it was for a very specific, and I think, much anticipated model. Not the full month announcement.

 

edit: now I noticed that we are not the last Friday of the month. Am I misremembering my release schedules? Is Kato on the first Friday of the month? I had listed them a few months back. Kato and Tomix have specific days in the month.

Edited April 2, 2021 by disturbman

[disturbman]

Quoting my self:

"Tomix is second Thursday of the month. Kato is on the first Friday of the month, though July 2020 was on the 31st. I'm not sure MA has a fixed day, I have seen it varies between very early in the month until very late. Greenmax can have two announcements per month."

Edited April 2, 2021 by disturbman

[gavino200]

10 minutes ago, disturbman said:

Quoting my self:

"Tomix is second Thursday of the month. Kato is on the first Friday of the month, though July 2020 was on the 31st. I'm not sure MA has a fixed day, I have seen it varies between very early in the month until very late. Greenmax can have two announcements per month."

 

These important dates are now added to my calendar! I'm guessing there's no set days for special releases. They just surprise us out of the blue?

[KateM]

In case you missed the special announcement poster yesterday, just like I did, you can find it here after the original tweet got deleted. 

Edited April 2, 2021 by katem

[roadstar_na6]

1 hour ago, disturbman said:

Kato always makes its announcements on the last Friday of the month.

*on the first Friday (except the 29/30/31 is a Friday).

 

To add more info, they publish it at 11am JST.

Edited April 2, 2021 by roadstar_na6

[gavino200]

2 minutes ago, roadstar_na6 said:

*on the first Friday (except the 29/30/31 is a Friday).

 

So I guess it's the Friday of the week in which the new month begins?

[disturbman]

Then the next should be on April 30.

[gavino200]

Yes! The anticipation begins!

[roadstar_na6]

42 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

 

So I guess it's the Friday of the week in which the new month begins?

That might work, let's see for 2020/21:

01/20: 06.09 - wrong (unless your weeks starts on Sunday)

02/20: 04.10. - correct

03/20: 08.11. - wrong

04/20: 29.11. - correct

05/20: 27.12. - wrong (Christmas?)

06/20: 31.01. - correct

07/20: 06.03. - wrong (unless your weeks starts on Sunday)

08/20: 03.04. - correct

09/20: 01.05. - correct

10/20: 05.06. - correct

11/20: 03.07. - correct

12/20: 31.07. - correct

01/21: 04.09 - correct

02/21: 02.10. - correct

03/21: 30.10. - correct

04/21: 27.11. - wrong

05/21: 25.12. - wrong (Christmas?)

06/21: 29.01. - wrong

07/21: 05.03. - correct

08/21: 02.04. - correct

 

It seems to be mostly correct with some exceptions.

[gavino200]

Perhaps Kato's week starts on Sunday. And for the others maybe the intern didn't get the file to the printer on time. 

 

I do remember when I was a kid, some teachers at different times claiming that "properly speaking" the week begins on Sunday. I always thought that was dumb. I'll back up my dismissal by quoting Wittgenstein on language - "meaning is use".  😜

[disturbman]

It does if you live in a Muslim country.

 

@roadstar_na6listing the release month before the date the poster is announced is an unnecessary detail. Makes the list more confusing, harder to read 🙂 

Edited April 2, 2021 by disturbman

[gavino200]

5 minutes ago, disturbman said:

It does if you live in a Muslim country.

 

How's that? Wouldn't it be a Saturday? I wonder if my teachers insistence on Sunday as Day 1 was a Catholic thing? But I'm guessing what you're saying is that the day after special worship day - the day we get back to work is Day 1. Or on the other hand Day 1 could be 'special worship day' itself. It could go either way.

 

Do muslim countries consider Sunday the beginning of the week? And is Christmas in any way significant in Japan? 

Edited April 2, 2021 by gavino200

[disturbman]

I don't know if they do officially, I never looked into it, but working week is Sunday-Thursday. Friday and Saturday are often off, most important prayer is Friday midday.

Edited April 2, 2021 by disturbman

[gavino200]

Just now, disturbman said:

I don't know if they do officially, but working week is Sunday-Thursday. Friday and Saturday are often off, most important prayer is Friday midday.

 

I bet they all consider Sunday to be the first day. I'd bet also there are muslim kids sitting in classrooms right now baffled by their teachers insistence that Friday is the real and proper first day of the week. They'll just have to wait a few decades to finally discuss it on a model railway forum!

[disturbman]

From a quick search, Saturday is the first day of the week for Muslims and in some Muslim countries (not all), though the Arabic name for Sunday comes from the word that means "one" and might have been the first day originally.

 

Btw, the first day of the week is Sunday in Japan.

Edited April 2, 2021 by disturbman

[gavino200]

Strong work, Disturbman!

 

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by gavino200

[maihama eki]

A departure from the regularly scheduled theme, but I had to preorder the DB Type ET425 Electric Car `DB Regio` Four Car Set.

 

I've spent a lot of time on local trains like this in Germany. The last time I was in Germany, I asked a model train shop guy in Munich if he had ever seen an n-scale version of an S-Bahn type train. My German is a little weak, but I'm pretty sure his answer was something like "there's no market for it".

 

 

[disturbman]

Reworking Jan's list. Some exceptions are likely due to holidays at Kato offices. Both late December announcements would have fallen during New Year holidays if they had been made on the usual day. Don't know how to explain the offset in November 2019, November 2020, and January 21.

06.09.19 - correct

04.10.19 - correct

08.11.19 - wrong (instead of November 1)

29.11.19 - correct

27.12.19 - wrong (instead of January 3 - due to New Year holidays)

31.01.20 - correct

06.03.20 - correct

03.04.20 - correct

01.05.20 - correct

05.06.20 - correct

03.07.20 - correct

31.07.20 - correct

04.09.20 - correct

02.10.20 - correct

30.10.20 - correct

27.11.20 - wrong (instead of December 4)

25.12.20 - wrong (instead of January 1 - due to New Year holidays)

29.01.21 - wrong (instead of February 5)

05.03.21 - correct

02.04.21 - correct

[roadstar_na6]

46 minutes ago, maihama eki said:

[...]
I've spent a lot of time on local trains like this in Germany. The last time I was in Germany, I asked a model train shop guy in Munich if he had ever seen an n-scale version of an S-Bahn type train. My German is a little weak, but I'm pretty sure his answer was something like "there's no market for it".

There are like 10 different versions of this exact model already available 😄 

 

The first versions of the ET425 were released in 2012.

[maihama eki]

Just now, roadstar_na6 said:

There are like 10 different versions of this exact model already available 😄 

 

The first versions of the ET425 were released in 2012.

 

Maybe he said there was no market for it in his shop?

 

Who makes the other 10? Google shows me a Kato/Lemke version from 2011.