Keihan 600 Series K-On! Ho-Kago Tea Time Train

[cteno4]

Doug just alerted me to Platz releasing a july release for the Keihan 600 Series K-On! Ho-Kago Tea Time Train! looks to be 2 cars with different art on each side! they are showing assembly required, maybe a tomytec style snap together, but also showing up as requiring painting.

 

http://www.hlj.com/product/PLZKO-1

 

btw i have had great experiences ordering from hobby link japan and they have been keeping a 15-20% off retail on train stuff.

 

not showing up on HS yet though.

 

looks like a fun train!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Densha]

Must... have... but, I want to know what's the case with it before ordering. Looking at the pictures it gives me the impression that it only includes the colored parts, and don't you think that price is a little too cheap for a complete set?

[cteno4]

densha,

 

it does sound like a kit from hlj's Shizuoka 2012 page

 

http://www.hlj.com/shs-2012-platz-report

 

they do have the paint icon on it so it might require a bit of painting. hlj is usually pretty good about getting the modeling info/level right AFAIK.

 

show releases like this usually start out with skimpy info and it builds in the next few weeks.

 

jeff

[Densha]

It says "decals" on that page.

What I just thought is that possibly you can make a complete train from it, but without a motor. That would be really unfortunately if it would be like that.

[cteno4]

densha,

 

probably w/o a motor at that price. many green max kits come w/o motors and you can power them with green max chassis. the tomytecs are all this way coming unpowered and you just power with the appropriate powered chassis if you want to. helps keep the costs down if you just want a static model or do the buy in two stages!

 

im wondering who's chassis will work with it.

 

it will be interesting to see if the decal is just the figures or also the base colors. i suspect from the wrapping that the decals might have most of the side color on them to go on a white background. going to be fun to wrap that decal over the windows like this.

 

anyhow i think we will see more info soon on this, this is just the first pop, but it does sound like a kit. their other kits are just plain gray styrene that need painting

 

http://www.platz-hobby.com/products/2028.html

 

interesting to see platz still poking into the train stuff.

 

jeff

[Densha]

Yeah, hopefully we'll get to hear more soon!

 

I know Tomytec also uses that system, but they probably adjusted it more to their own products than a 3rd party.

[cteno4]

well all platz needs to do is have the appropriate moulding on the inside of the kit to take a particular mechanism from another manufacturer.

 

this was the case with btrains shorties for a long time with them fitting kato mechanisms.

 

really should not be hard to fit a mechanism into one of these, im betting the tomytec adjustable would fit into these. worst case is just a little hacking and whacking to get it to fit into the shell and maybe a couple of support tabs glued in.

 

ive got my hanshin tigers from Hanazono working well with a tm16 mechanism. did not require much to make it fit, feels like the shell was kind of made to fit in there as it sits perfectly. its just a little fiddling with each end piece.

 

i think the smaller guys do the nudge nudge wink wink to use the big guys mechanisms on their kits and shells as they cant afford to roll their own. the kato adapter track still says its an atlas adapter track even though it fits the tomix track like a glove and atlas track needs shimming! gotta chuckle at that.

 

jeff

[cteno4]

HS just listed this train. only 15% off so hlj is a better deal.

 

they list it as a greenmax kit. so it will most likely be unpainted, but be set up to be powered by a tomix unit (doesnt say which one)

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10183970

 

i doubt its precolored due to the price point. i think the kit is just an update to this kit

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10007507

 

the precolored version is quite a bit more

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10086201

 

will be interesting to see the decal sheet if its wrapping all the color

 

jeff

[Densha]

You're right, it says that it uses the Greenmax kit as a base, but also that they added something which I don't understand due to that computer translation.

And it seems that the decal has to be put around the whole train exterior. Why would it actually need to be pre-painted when the whole part that was actually painted get covered in those decals? The other parts only need to be gray, so it looks like at least.

[Martijn Meerts]

It's weird though.. An unpainted painted train :)

[cteno4]

yeah its going to be tough getting that wrapping detail around all the windows and around the corners and such. i assume they may suggest a base coat. wonder if you get an extra set of decals just incase of a whoops!

 

jeff

[linkey]

Jeff,

 

What even more scary for me is that I am watching the Anime Series of K-ON! (Keion!) on English Dub (only the 1st season as the second (named K-ON!!) isn't out as an english dubbed until mid to late 2012 depending on the Anime Voice Actresses.

 

Oh by  the way, Yes I have this on pre-order via HLJ.

[Densha]

linkey,

Just watch with Japanese voices mate.

Btw, I just read that the DVD/Bluray of the K-ON! movie will be released in July in Japan, that took quite some while.

 

Also I wanted to say "show me when you've got it", but the problem is probably that it won't be available by then as I don't expect it to have a very large stock.

[linkey]

linkey,

Just watch with Japanese voices mate.

Btw, I just read that the DVD/Bluray of the K-ON! movie will be released in July in Japan, that took quite some while.

 

Also I wanted to say "show me when you've got it", but the problem is probably that it won't be available by then as I don't expect it to have a very large stock.

I recently met two of the American Voice Actresses (Christine and Crintina) who came to Melbourne for Supanova Expo. I wil lbe watching it in Nihongo especially when the final 2 DVD's come in so I have got the K-ON! set. :)

[Densha]

Here a prototype is showed: http://ngi.blog.eonet.jp/n_gauge/2012/05/platz512012-cef7.html

But still no information on what kind of kit it will be.

Apparantly HS also has more pictures: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10183970

It doesn't seem like a motor is included. Personally I hope that they will include a motor and put the decals on it out of the manufacturer because I want to able to use it a layout and I'm not confident in placing decals myself.

[keitaro]

there is no motor but you can but the gm one.

[Densha]

Do you perhaps know which motor I need for it in that case?

[keitaro]

while they do not specify same as amagi modeling you are left to work it out your self.

 

The model itself is for diplay purposes (same as amagi) however they leave the option of being able to remove the bottom to add a motor to it.

 

While not sure the 600 is either 18m class or 18.5 the same as 1650 class???

 

maybe some one knows better

 

so you would be best to get a tomytech or gm of the same size.

 

My advice would be to buy the model when you get it measure it up and decide what motor unit will be the tightest fit.

 

Small double sided tape will hold the shell on nicely.

 

As 1 18m class gm motor may not fit as well as a different 18m they offer.  there are slight differences in the length/width depending on the shell they were made for.

 

tomytec would be the better choice if possible as it is flywheel and quieter.

[Densha]

Thanks!

I've noticed that the original Greenmax one uses a Tomix motor, but it doesn't say which one, weird talk about "bernina" --> http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10007507

Searching on the Japanese HS for "ベルニナ" (bernina in katakana) resulted in these --> http://www.1999.co.jp/search.asp?Typ1_c=104&scope=1&scope2=0&itkey=%83x%83%8B%83j%83i . So Greenmax probably included the motor from those red trains made by Tomix. But I don't think you get those motors separately.

 

It seems like this guy over here has used the chassis of the Kirara (the same red train as mentioned above or at least looks like) by Kato. --> http://redbelt.blog98.fc2.com/blog-category-29.html

And this one did the same: http://fujikeikoh.blog22.fc2.com/blog-date-200607.html

But of course that's when he assembled it from the very start, so I'll probably have to see how it turns out until someone (or myself) has it in his hands. Now if I only know whether it is assembled or not and especially if the decal is already applied, then I could decide whether to pre-order it or not.

 

 

Not relevant with motors: When searching on google I found out that someone already has made the K-On livery by himself: http://mokei-ya.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2011/12/post-8d77.html

[bill937ca]

Keihan 600s are 15m.

 

http://www.keihan.co.jp/traffic/railfan/vehicle/otsu600.html

[keitaro]

Keihan 600s are 15m.

 

http://www.keihan.co.jp/traffic/railfan/vehicle/otsu600.html

 

fair enough couldn't find anything before didn't think to look on the companies site itself....

 

i had read the 1650 was similar so assumed.

 

Either way just find  a suitable gm or tomy tech one

[Densha]

I decided to give emailing HS a go, and the conclusion is that it's unassembled and the decal hasn't been applied either. So actually like the most Greenmax kits.

This makes me doubting whether I should order it or not, if I fail in applying the huge decal there's probably not a spare one included. I don't even have any idea how to apply it, is there anyone who has applied decals before and could explain how it works?

[Densha]

Two more links on the result of a Greenmax Keihan 600 series:

http://mokei-ya.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/2011/05/post-f4a5.html

http://shashou-jnr.blog.ocn.ne.jp/blog/2010/01/post_0b5b.html

[Densha]

I forgot I was in the wrong topic, but here's some pics of the Platz K-ON version:

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,6999.msg73591.html#msg73591

[ToniBabelony]

Maybe a nice figure set to complement this train?

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10205772

 

I can well imagine a scene with the train on its opening run at a station where a performance is given by this little group. ;)