kawaii limited set

[keitaro]

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10044940 awww i missed it went soo fast 

[linkey]

Oh my, that looks good but again that was very qiuck to close their reservations already. Must be a very limited item.

[Martijn Meerts]

Hmm.. Missed the re-release as well. Not a problem in my case since I managed to get the original release :)

 

I do wonder if it's a pure re-release, or if they updated the things a bit. Especially the couplers on the original release are bad, and definitely need replacing. Lots of uncoupling going on, even on a simple, flat oval without turnouts whatsoever :)

 

Looks wise, it's a really nice set however.

[westfalen]

Hmm.. Missed the re-release as well. Not a problem in my case since I managed to get the original release :)

 

I do wonder if it's a pure re-release, or if they updated the things a bit. Especially the couplers on the original release are bad, and definitely need replacing. Lots of uncoupling going on, even on a simple, flat oval without turnouts whatsoever :)

 

Looks wise, it's a really nice set however.

 

I picked up a set at Tam Tam last year, I agree with your observations.

 

just reserved the other Kawai freight cars in case they get taken down as well.

[Fenway Park]

The refrigerator cars with Allied markings are interesting.

[rankodd]

Someone may have cancelled their order  - it's currently showing as available for reservation.

[cteno4]

oh damn. could not stop the finger from clicking on preorder button... just too interesting of a little freight train!

 

think they just screwed up posting the pre-order earlier today looks to be back in force after i did my preorder.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[angusmclean]

 

I do wonder if it's a pure re-release, or if they updated the things a bit. Especially the couplers on the original release are bad, and definitely need replacing. Lots of uncoupling going on, even on a simple, flat oval without turnouts whatsoever :)

 

 

Their couplers are shoddy things, and I can't figure out why.  I have a rake of 5450 yellow wagons which constantly uncouple amongst themselves.  Luckily I have a good supply of other types to replace them.. I'm tempted by the reissued set, as I previously scored a photo of such a train off the internet some years ago, being hauled by an EF13 in original body shape, having only seen two or three photos of this unusual style, details of which can be seen here:

 

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/EF13

 

Angus

[The_Ghan]

At a recent model railway show in Sydney someone was mentioning problems with Kawaii brand, and it wasn't just the couplers.  Quality of plastic moulding and loose packaging were also raised as issues.  As I don't own any Kawaii brand I cannot personally comment but the loose talk around town is enough for me to steer clear of the product for now.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[cteno4]

I have a pretty broad smattering of Kawaii freight. most are very decent quality in the moulding, painting and decals. a few are a bit cheap, but every brand has a few items that are not all that great on quality. for the most part they have run fine with rapido couplers working fine when i have run them on the jrm layouts our on small setups at home. a few of the two axle cars can get cranky at times, but i also put that more up to the rigid body couplers with the two axle cars i have had about the same amount of problems with kato or tomix double axle trains.

 

the kawaii tora woodchip cars are really nicely done with fine castings and mesh details for the mesh roof.

 

Kawaii makes a lot of interesting freight that no ones else does.

 

at some point i would like to get into replacing all these rapidos with something a bit more prototypical, but ill do that when i have the time later!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[keitaro]

looking over the pictures they look great. are the couplers easy to change ?

 

i.e. have the ability to have tomix TN couplers added ?

 

i tried looking through to find these online but could find little on them anyone know what models are suitable for hauling this besides the ef13 i was thinking a steam loco

 

would certainly look nice all black heh 

[The_Ghan]

I agree, the set LOOKS great!  But do you want to be using the great hand of God to rerail your cars all the time?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[angusmclean]

At a recent model railway show in Sydney someone was mentioning problems with Kawaii brand, and it wasn't just the couplers.  Quality of plastic moulding and loose packaging were also raised as issues.  As I don't own any Kawaii brand I cannot personally comment but the loose talk around town is enough for me to steer clear of the product for now.

/quote]

 

If you want to model older style freight, the Kawai range is really the only option. I have a lot of them and have been happy with the purchase of their models, to run trains from the fourties-fifties era with steam locos, and apart from my aforementioned problems with just the 5450 wagons, all the others are ok.  Over the years, I have replaced the shiny wheels with Kato blackened wheelsets which improves their looks immensely, but Kato don't seem to produce these anymore.  They were cheap at Y360 for eight axles. For fixed consists like this, my coupling of choice is the Kato scharfenberg with the pretend air hoses, cutting off the two outer hoses, but leaving all four for the passenger cars. They look the part and give fairly close coupling for minimum cost and never let go. I don't use Tomix Tn couplers as they are over-rated and expensive in my opinion, whereas the alternative Kato range or decent rapidos are just a couple of twists to replace.

 

Angus

[keitaro]

thanks angus.

 

Ghan the tomix c57-1 I have the paint work matches with this set so well with the gold striping i am dreaming it now.

 

Although i am well over my budget i set myself so i think i may have to skip it this time :( or .....

[The_Ghan]

Keitaro,

 

I'm skipping a list of items as long as my arm because I've already blown my 2011 budget.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[linkey]

talking about budgets, I think I threw mine out the window a few months back as I kept seeing items I would like to have. Oh well need a stronger method to stop me from impluse buying.

[cteno4]

I agree, the set LOOKS great!  But do you want to be using the great hand of God to rerail your cars all the time?

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

 

ghan,

 

i dont have troubles with kawaii derailing or becoming uncoupled more than any other manufacturer cars of this type. they function fine. the multi axle truck cars are fine as well. rapido couplers are not the greatest coupler out there, but again w/in those limits my kawaii are fine. i probably have 40 cars. i have not heard complaints from other members of our club that they have any particular problems with Kawaii cars.

 

jeff

[westfalen]

I've replaced the couplers on my Kawai 4 wheel cars with Micro Trains 2004 couplers. I'll have to get out the express car set to see what I can do to get it to run better, it will look good running behind the Micro-Ace C60-7 4-6-4 that arrive last week.

 

P.S. Just looked at the TamTam price sticker on my set, 7350 yen compared to 8500 at HS, a good reason to check out the hobby shops when you're in town.

[Martijn Meerts]

I don't have many Kawaii cars, but the ones I do have, have been problematic. Not problematic enough for me to consider never buying Kawaii again though.

 

The first set I have is of 3 box cars (can't remember which ones exactly, it's a set I bought some 6 years ago), and the cars are very light. On 1 of them, the coupler pretty much immediately broke when I got it out of the box. In this case it's not a problem, because I bought the set for a specific purpose, and I only needed 2 of the 3 cars for that purpose. The 3rd one will be used purely for scenic purposes somehow.

 

The other set is the one mentioned mentioned in this thread, and my experience with it has been that some of the couplers just don't line up correct, which causes some uncoupling now and then. When put in a certain order to minimize the misaligned couplers, the set runs fine. I do plan to replace the couplers at some point, just like I plan to replace every single rapido coupler.

 

 

Again though, I wouldn't hesitate buying another set from Kawaii if I see one I like :)

[The_Ghan]

Thanks Martijn and Jeff,

 

I might review my position on Kawaii.  However, my 2011 budget is directed towards expanding my local and subway stock.  I don't have ANY freight yet, so will probably begin with Kato, Tomix and MicroAce stock when the time comes.

 

Cheers

 

The_Ghan

[westfalen]

Kawai seem to be the Bachmann of Japan (coincidentally some of their tooling looks suspiciously like Bachmann), when they do something well they are as good as anyone else but when they botch things up they go all out too, trouble is you can't tell which way a particular model is going to go. They are No.1 when it comes to variety of steam era freight cars though.

[cteno4]

hmm well i cant say any of the kawaii i have are seriously botched up. i have a pretty broad selection of cars from them. some are simpler in their moulding and details than others, but i never felt like any were a real problem...

 

jeff

[Guest JRF-1935]

It is a Very Nice Set !  Bought 1 in March,2010 - was much cheaper then ( I belive I paid somewhere around $56 to $65 USD for it) also bought a few extra express cars, plus a couple of yellow stripe Seki's to add to the mix - use 1 of my EH10's to pull it.  Makes a Nice train.  

Rich C

[linkey]

I have a few Kawaii sets and the only one set I have a problem with is the 6 car oil pots keeps uncoupling due to the rapido couplers. But the 3x 2 car transporter units when they connect up they run fine with and without cars on them.

 

So I would say it might be a batch issue or it might need that extra weight as they are pretty light items.

[westfalen]

I've started work on getting my express car set to run more reliably. I took one of the cars with freight trucks, made the part of the bolster the truck rests on flush with the underframe so the car would sit lower, fitted Fox Valley Models metal wheels and body mounted Micro-Trains 1015 couplers. I've only done one so far but I've given it a run round the layout with my 15 Tamu 5000 tankcars behind it and it seems to track well.