Kato - New Releases

[katoftw]

True. But my point is, as mentioned before, if you set the price that high that people are scared off to buy them, how are you ever going to expand your market? If they would want to create a larger market the only solution is lowering prices. But I think that is a risk they just don't want to take.

sounds like any business

[kvp]

As I said there is an equation: product_gain=(retail_price-per_unit_production_cost)*number_sold-base_production_cost

 

The product_gain is the money they gain by selling the product.

The retail_price is the price they are selling it.

The per_unit_production_cost is the costs of making one without design, tooling, marketing.

The base_production_cost is cost of design, tooling, marketing.

The number_sold is the number of products that can be sold at a certain retail_price and is a function of the retail_price.

 

So we get: product_gain=(retail_price-(per_unit_production_cost+base_production_cost*F(retail_price)))*F(retail_price)

and they have to solve this for MAX(product_gain). Since the F() is not a scientifically established function, but more like a function based on previous statistical value, most companies don't really want to experiment and use the same prices as everyone else, since they don't know if they cut the prices in half, they will get double sales or only 5% more. The latter would make production uneconomical, since the base_production_cost is more or less constant at the same quality level.

[Darklighter]

New poster: http://www.katomodels.com/product/poster/files/2014_7.jpg

[Densha]

Recent pics of upcoming Kato stuff:

https://picasaweb.google.com/ngauge.information/2014032112KATO?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbqkp3htPOsJw

https://picasaweb.google.com/ngauge.information/20140319KATOVol1?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGJ8piZk7DtvgE

https://picasaweb.google.com/ngauge.information/20140319KATOVol2?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ6NsOWd8sW7ywE

Edited April 8, 2014 by Densha

[katoftw]

50th 0-2000 series looks interesting.  Already on HS for pre-order.

[kvp]

First link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/ngauge.information/2014032112KATO?authkey=Gv1sRgCLbqkp3htPOsJw

[IST]

Do I understand well, that in case of 100 series Shinkansen, the headlights are LED?

[Guest keio6000]

50th 0-2000 series looks interesting.  Already on HS for pre-order.

 

any news is this a retool on the inter-car gaps?  if yes, it's on my list.  If no, then, umm. no.  i'm guessing no as 10-454 setill has the same ID?  so in other wrods, same set as before, just more expensive and in a crappier case?

Edited April 7, 2014 by keio6000

[westfalen]

The new C57 looks nice.

 

It's a pity they never show pictures of the locos with the body shells removed so we can see the mechanisms to see what level of difficulty DCC installation will be.

[Mr_Alex]

If Maerklin is also made in Hungary, then they should be cheaper.  Hungary/Poland/Czech all have cheap labour forces.  Main reasons you see alot of automobile factories in these places.

 

I dont think the labour or size of market can come into it.  Europe has a huge market for model trains.  And labour is dirt cheap depending on which country you wanna manufacture in.

 

Just comes down to market expectations.  Germans are used to paying $300 for a comparible $150 Japan train.  So the market sets the price/bar at that point.

 

Australia for example has a very small market (of any product)(only 23 million people).  So price are higher that across the globe.  And up until the last decade or so, we have been at the mercy of the retailers/suppliers, as they were the only way to get goods.  It's been known as the 'Australian Tax'.  Best desription of it is we pay 20% than the rest of the world cos we live on a island in the middle of nowhere.

I play with Marklin, quality is good but the big thing is cost, I ordered a Class 45 last year and it sets me back $1,000, the Insider club can be expensive

Edited April 23, 2014 by Mr_Alex

[kvp]

 

the Insider club can be expensive

If they are letting you in at all. I would really like to buy the new Z scale BR64, but it's only for insider members and that's not available everywhere, so i'll have to find someone who is allowed to buy one, did buy one, but would like to sell it. Sometimes i just don't get their sales strategy...

[nartak]

any news is this a retool on the inter-car gaps?  if yes, it's on my list.  If no, then, umm. no.  i'm guessing no as 10-454 setill has the same ID?  so in other wrods, same set as before, just more expensive and in a crappier case?

 

Dear keio6000,

 

According to Kato, there will be no change in specification of train from 10-453.  They just split 8 car set of 10-453 into 2 separate 4 car set and put only basic set into specially designed package.  The price is actually same.  Retail price of 10-453 is 16,300 yen and sum of 10-1132/1133 is same.

[nartak]

Do I understand well, that in case of 100 series Shinkansen, the headlights are LED?

 

Dear IST,

 

They are having LED headlight.  Previous lot also had LED light but this lot will have brighter LED with warm color as looks like the actual train.  I thought Kato will also release this light PCB as assy parts, so the owner of previous 100 series can change the light.

[E6系]

Hello Mr keoi6000,

 

Mr nartak is correct about Kato 10-453 10-1132/33.

 

You can read about that here:  http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/0kei2000.shtml

[Densha]

Don't know if this has been posted yet, but here's a video on the Kato turntable:

 

[cteno4]

wow pretty cool that its flat like that! indexing looks very nice. wonder if it will hold an 25m car?

 

jeff

[westfalen]

The only thing I don't really care for about the turntable is the way the approach tracks are raised above the ground, there might be turntables like that somewhere but to me it just doesn't look right.

[cteno4]

looks like its meant to have the approach tracks and the turntable sunk a few mm into the bench so that its at unitrak height.

 

guess that was the tradeoff to get things into such a slim package! must have been the portram model engineer!

 

jeff

Edited April 26, 2014 by cteno4

[Densha]

You'd think Kato could easily make it fit considering the already enormous height of the Unitrack trackbed and their expertise in very small electronics.

 

But like all turntables you probably need to put it a bit lower in your layout as Jeff already said. It's not really convenient that those transition tracks and depot also have to be lower though...

[cteno4]

Actually when you figure they got the indexing, motors, power routing, and the pit all w/in that thickness is pretty remarkable. Getting it any thinner would probably drive the cost way up and make things easier to break and a lot harder to repair. I've scratch built two turntables and one kit built and they take some engineering to get all the features in and not stepping on each other.

 

The unitram mech is a wonder, but close to impossible to fix or work on. and even though they made a reasonably priced spare part to just replace a truck mech it's never in stock!

 

Jeff

[kvp]

 

Actually when you figure they got the indexing, motors, power routing, and the pit all w/in that thickness is pretty remarkable. Getting it any thinner would probably drive the cost way up and make things easier to break and a lot harder to repair. I've scratch built two turntables and one kit built and they take some engineering to get all the features in and not stepping on each other.

It's a rather simple mechanism, just a single mechanical touch switch for the indexing and 3 wires for the motor (common, fast, indexing slow). The motor is in the small cabin with a 90 degrees drive to the cogs. The central axle needs slip contact rings for 7 wires, that can be done with 7 wipers on a flat pcb (3 for the drive motor 2 for the track and 2 outputs for indexing). Considering that each approach track has power feeders going to them, it might be that there is no indexing at all, which simplifies the system even more and allows easy ddc conversion. It's a very elegant and compact system.

[Martijn Meerts]

It's designed for temporary/floor layouts really, pretty much like the Tomix turntable.

 

I prefer the Tomix turntable looks-wise though, looks a little less plastic, but I wouldn't use either in a static layout to be honest.

[katoftw]

It's spot dead look-a-like for the Hitoyoshi Station turn table.  As above, it looks plastic.  But then does all Kato/Tomix tracks.  Nothing some smartly glue down ballast cannot fix.

[westfalen]

It and the Tomix one are also close in appearance to some Santa Fe turntables.

[katoftw]

It and the Tomix one are also close in appearance to some Santa Fe turntables.

Doesn't surprize me.  Some of the Kyushu bridges were built in New York.  So the turntable could very well have come from the USA also.