kato yard truck and container

[cteno4]

kato is releasing a pair of yard container trucks along with trailer and container. at $27.40 and $23.40 (why different priced?) retail and they are very unimpressive. the are not quite tomytec detail yet 3x the price! looks like much of the plastic is just moulded color, not painted and ok detail, but again not tomytec vehicle level. disappointing kato...

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10098611

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10110227

 

perhaps tomytec will do a yard truck in its next trailer series!

 

their re-release of the tractor trailer pair is equally blah and priced at $30 retail!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10189254

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10110225

 

the good old set of 4 Wiking tractor trailers are as nice than these and usually less than $20 for a box of 4! just seems like kato should be competing with tomytec for detail quality, not doing less and charging way more. tomytec is even doing smaller sets of the containers and container trucks -- heck you can get 2 sets of trucks for $18 retail!

 

i guess these are shooting more for the us market than japan, street price seems to be around $16-18, still twice the price of tomytec.

 

sorry [/rant]

 

jeff

[Krackel Hopper]

I couldn't agree more..

 

I am equally disappointed in Kato's forklift and container stackers..

 

I am glad I kept my Tomytec and Fujimoto stackers.. I seriously considered selling them so I could have a fleet of stackers in the yellow/blue JRF coloring..

 

At $20 for the stacker, the $18 Tomytec has twice the detail..

 

The $25 forklifts are not that much better than the $7 Tomix.. Fujimoto certainly has the best forklift in the bunch..

 

 

Yet.. their cars and minibus look on par with Tomytec..

[traindork]

Those yard trucks were released here in the States a couple of years ago. I don't remember exactly what I paid for one, but I believe it was around $15-$18. I'm sure there's a shop somewhere with some still in stock.

[cteno4]

forklifts are out and you get 2 of the smaller container forklifts for 2250yen discounted at hs. still over $14 for one small forklift that is not as much stuff as any of the construction series vehicles for less than $8 ea. these prices just seem like 2x what they should be. i guess kato did a small run for direct single retail sales so costs were high.

 

jeff

[linkey]

Again seeing the photos if the KATO Forklifts and Container Stackers it feels to me that they are reverting to how they do their cars. Tomytec is sadly overpowering them with better detail and movement. So I am very happy that I did buy a Tomytec Container Stacker which also includes a 40ft Container.

 

So it looks like I will only buy Trains, track and buildings from KATO but not cars or trucks.