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Kato - New Releases


Darren Jeffries

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Fenway Park

Hi

 

The most interesting item on the poster is the completely new D51 to match the C62 and Tomix C57. These are to or close to 1/150 and not the older 1/140 compromise.

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Nothing shocking. The new items where already seen at JAM, just without a release date. DE10 warm and cold reruns in N scale. I might want those wood chip carriers, they're cheap for a pair.

 

Does anyone know what the green text says/means? The same message is beside the ED79 and the 24 series sleepers.

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Claude_Dreyfus

Warning...another dumb question alert!

 

Are those four-wheeled wagons wood chip carriers then? Is that a generic term and they are more general purpose, or are they really specialist vehicles seen on that type of traffic?

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Warning...another dumb question alert!

 

Are those four-wheeled wagons wood chip carriers then? Is that a generic term and they are more general purpose, or are they really specialist vehicles seen on that type of traffic?

The purple ones are woodchip wagons, I've seen them in Hokkaido but I don't know if they are used anywhere else. The blue ones are standard boxcars I think mainly used for newsprint these days, someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I got some video of a solid train of 17 of them heading east on the Tokkaido Line along Lake Hamanako this afternoon.

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Yes, the WAMU 48000 was specificly designed for carrying wood chips and is fitted with a roof hatch. To the best of my knowledge they where made for carrying wood chips in Hokkaido from 1998 to 2008 to supply the Nippon Paper Factory.

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CaptOblivious

By the ED79, the green text, first line reads: "Cassiopeia" (ED79's are used to haul, among other things, blue trains through the Seikan Tunnel). The second line is undoubtedly another blue train name I don't recognize—whichever one is pictured just above it :D

 

The Cassiopeia re-release is interesting to me. One: It includes a loco, something Kato didn't use to do very often with their PC kits, and two: It reads "new", next to the loco and the cars, which makes me wonder if this is a new tooling of the E26 series PC models? Very exciting if it is!

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Claude_Dreyfus

Warning...another dumb question alert!

 

Are those four-wheeled wagons wood chip carriers then? Is that a generic term and they are more general purpose, or are they really specialist vehicles seen on that type of traffic?

The purple ones are woodchip wagons, I've seen them in Hokkaido but I don't know if they are used anywhere else. The blue ones are standard boxcars I think mainly used for newsprint these days, someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I got some video of a solid train of 17 of them heading east on the Tokkaido Line along Lake Hamanako this afternoon.

 

Thanks for the explanations guys... :grin

 

Pretty bad news seeing them on the Tokaido line...may be tempted to get a couple of these!

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Yes, the WAMU 48000 was specificly designed for carrying wood chips and is fitted with a roof hatch. To the best of my knowledge they where made for carrying wood chips in Hokkaido from 1998 to 2008 to supply the Nippon Paper Factory.

 

Somene please correct me, but AFAIK these wagons were converted from older box wagons.

 

 

Cheers NB

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Sorry, I didn't mean to imply they where made from scratch. I just meant that the "48000" form was specifically put together for carrying wood chips and wasn't a general use car like the 38000. I agree that they where converted from older stock (Wamu 28000?)

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Warning...another dumb question alert!

 

Are those four-wheeled wagons wood chip carriers then? Is that a generic term and they are more general purpose, or are they really specialist vehicles seen on that type of traffic?

The purple ones are woodchip wagons, I've seen them in Hokkaido but I don't know if they are used anywhere else. The blue ones are standard boxcars I think mainly used for newsprint these days, someone will correct me if I'm wrong. I got some video of a solid train of 17 of them heading east on the Tokkaido Line along Lake Hamanako this afternoon.

Here's my video.

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Ok, new releases are...huh? Is it just me, or does this not look new?

 

113-2000. Ok, the paint scheme is new, but I suspect this is the same tooling as before.

 

E217, in "new" Yokosuka/Subo color. Which looks surprising like the old colors (I'm not familiar with the prototype, maybe there is an important livery change, I just can't see any change in the photo).

 

The the only definite change to the E259 (which was already "new" in 2010) is that it's now in a Tomix style Basic 3 + Addon 3 set configuration instead of all 6 cars. It might have a different number then the first release.

 

Oh and look, another E64 in standard blue+cream livery. Didn't Kato release 2 or 3 of these as "new" in 2010 already? Isn't it Microace's job to release the same model in every tiny variation that ever existed (and that would be because Microace actually models all the details, where as apart from the number and a board there is probably no difference at all from other releases from Kato).

 

 

So January is basically re-releases posing as new products month.

post-219-1356992622841_thumb.jpg

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E217, in "new" Yokosuka/Subo color. Which looks surprising like the old colors (I'm not familiar with the prototype, maybe there is an important livery change, I just can't see any change in the photo).

 

I don't know what's different either, but even if this is just a re-release with a trivial change I'm glad to see it. The E217 has been one of the holes in my collection.  HS has this up for reservations (10-843/844/845/846), and the description says:

 

"Currently vehicles are operated in common with the car not updated update can also be found in the different bands of color combinations and accessories organized and basic organization.

- KATO becoming increasingly common, including skirts and reproduced in the E217 and enhanced devices as well as an updated floor band new color changing colors of the system. Similar to the operation of the vehicle, please enjoy a combination of existing products!

 

- In addition to changes in vehicle design and color of the belt, Moha Reinforced skirt and top of the car's floor E217/216 created a new instrument."

 

According to wikipedia there was a 2006 change to 10+5 sets. Kato's old 10-495/496/497 set was of an 11+4 arrangement, and the more recent 10-574/575/576 set appears to be the same.

 

So I'd guess as well as the recent Kato practice of making smaller starting sets, there are differences in the under-car detail, and the stripe on the side, and perhaps the full train is now a 10+5 arrangement although whether that's more than just a different order of coupling the same cars is unclear.

 

Update: just realized I misred the wikipedia page and the 10+5 sets are in Orange/Green Shonan colors, which these obviously are not.

 

So January is basically re-releases posing as new products month.

 

I wouldn't argue with that.  I'm excited about the E217, but otherwise it's not exactly earth-shaking.

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Didn't Kato just release the Akebono blue train a couple of months ago? So confused.

 

Well, that answers my first question ("which train is that EF81 for?")  :grin

 

How about the 113--what livery is that?

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How about the 113--what livery is that?

 

Yokosuka (maybe to pair with the E217). Kato did the 4 car 115-2000 in Shonan colors (green/orange) last month, and given the truck mounted rapido couplers it was either an existing mold, or they reused with minor variations the 113-1500 mold once used.

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CaptOblivious

So, the Akebono part numbers are the very same as the set released in May. Same for the EF81. But the EF64 is new at least…

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First up is the 223-2000 limited express 4-car set for JR West fans. This set looks like a retweak of Kato's other 223-2000 4-car set (there is also an 8 car set). The difference is in makeup (3 motor cars instead of 2). This set is also labeled as cars 1 to 4, while the previous was numbered like an attachment set, 9 to 12.

 

Next is the new imperial train. The picture only really shows the imperial DD54, but there is also a matching new 5 car imperial train (in Showa period design) also being released for it to pull.

 

The last new item is a 201 Keiyo 10-car set, which I think is just a repackaged version of the previously "limited edition" set.

 

In the reissue department there is the C55, and then a bunch of single freight and passenger cars (there is the Mitsubishi Taki 1900, just after I bought a set of the Hitachi - maybe I'll buy them too as I was pleased with them). Nothing in HO.

post-219-13569926391182_thumb.jpg

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CaptOblivious

Kind of a boring month for Kato. You had my hopes up for a moment, reading your commentary, that Kato was releasing the E655系…

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A C55 in HO would make my day (spoke drivers!).  You can only dream...

Looks like the motor in the cab, photo of old model? If it's completely retooled like the C62 and D51 I might consider it.

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