Quick question about Kato add on sets.

[SubwayHypes]

In this case im looking to expand my 5 car E531 Joban set, so i was going to purchase this from hobbysearch.  However i cant tell if this is just 4 more passenger cars, or 2 passenger cars and 2 end cars, so that i can have a two part train with 5 cars and 4 cars.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10074233

 

Can you guys tell me what is in the 4 car set?? 

[SubwayHypes]

 

i want the little four car expansion that is on the left end of this train. 

[SubwayHypes]

And another thing, it is ok to run TWO motor cars?  Say i bought another 5 car basic set instead of add-on, can i run both my motorized chassis cars or should i just run one?

[Martijn Meerts]

Judging from the picture there are a total of 3 sets. an 8-car base set (cars 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 10), a 5-car add-on (the 5 rightmost cars) and a 2-car add on (cars 6 and 9). It seems it's also usual to run only the 8-car base set and the 2-car add-on though.

 

2 motors isn't a problem, they're meant to be run together. Pretty much all of the Tomix shinkansen have 2 motor cars as well. Of course, it gets more expensive when converting to digital with 2 motor cars ;)

[SubwayHypes]

yea i want cars 1 and 10, along with a few passengers.  In order to get the lighted front cars, i have to order a whole new basic set??  ouch, thats gonna hit the wallet.

[stevenh]

So it turns out the picture fibs... the 8-Car set is actually split into two 4-car sets:

E531 Series Joban Line (Basic 4 Cars Set) (Model Train)    9,900 yen

E531 Series Joban Line (Add-On A 4 Cars Set) (Model Train)  7,290 yen

E531 Series Joban Line (Add-On B 2 Cars Set) (Model Train)    2,700 yen

E531 Series JOBAN Line (5 Cars Set) (Car Number Change) (Model Train)    12,780 yen

 

Craziness!  32,760 YEN! :)

[Martijn Meerts]

yea i want cars 1 and 10, along with a few passengers.  In order to get the lighted front cars, i have to order a whole new basic set??  ouch, thats gonna hit the wallet.

 

 

 

Hmm.. If you have the 5 car set, don't you already have the end-cars? Those *should* have lighting in them, but Kato sometimes works in mysterious ways...

[CaptOblivious]

This, along with the E231-500 Yamanote Line and the E231 Tokkaido line are among the sets that Kato is "reshuffling". In an attempt to be more competitive with Tomix's 3-car starter sets, Kato now offers these as 4-car starter sets with a larger number of expansions. Before, the Yamanote Line, for example, was available as a 5-car basic set and a 6-car expansion, in the new system it will have a 4-car basic, a 4-car expansion and a 3-car expansion.

 

So, subwayhypes, if you just want two end cars and a couple of non-end cars, the set you picked out isn't quite the right one. You want this one:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10074232

It's one of the new 4-car starter sets. The one you picked out was the 4-car add-on, which will not have end cars. This one will have cars 1, 3, some other car, and 10. Also, having two motor cars is no problem at all.

[SubwayHypes]

cool, so i gotta grab the 4 car starter instead and just run two motors??

[CaptOblivious]

cool, so i gotta grab the 4 car starter instead and just run two motors??

 

 

 

Yep! Pretty easy. If you absolutely have to, you could always remove the drive shafts from one motor car to disengage one of the motors, but that shouldn't be an issue.

[SubwayHypes]

what about the E217 Yokosuka Line, is there a 4 car set with two end cars for that too?  Is that not being released yet?

[CaptOblivious]

what about the E217 Yokosuka Line, is there a 4 car set with two end cars for that too?  Is that not being released yet?

 

Yeah, it looks like they are doing that one too. Anything with the red "Best Selection" logo is being reshuffled into 4-car starter sets.

http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/e217kei.shtml

[SubwayHypes]

so now its the waiting game.

 

I need to buy 4 car sets for both e217 and e531.  I like the idea of having two or three of the same train.  It gives the layout a more unified feel and makes the yards look very realistic.