Sankei & Cosmic

[Nick_Burman]

Hi all,

 

 

Trawling through Hobby Search I found kits by Sankei and Cosmic - the second making mostly HO copies of the Unitrack N scale products (possibly with Kato blessing), does anyone have websites for the firms? Also, do the Sankei kits need painting?

 

Cheers NB

[cteno4]

Nick,

 

the Sankei kits are laser cut colored chipboard (high density cardboard/matte board). they dont need painting, but can use some weathering. they are nicely done kits, but at HO size i would suggest you put in some internal bracing along walls and roofs to make sure you dont get eventual warping and sagging. card stock models can be prone to this with time. also doing a good coat of dull coat inside and out will help any humidity effects later.

 

sankei does a nice job of layering up walls so you get some relief detail around windows and such and greater strength on the walls.

 

card stock models like this have a little less 3D relief detail than you get on plastic models and roof detail is usually just laser etched a bit into a layer of chipboard. Looks very good at N scale, but i might worry that at HO it might start to feel a little flat on the detail up close. I would try one of the smaller less expensive first to see if you are good with the look.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Sankei web page:

 

http://www.m-sankei.co.jp/

 

Another source:

 

http://www.hlj.com/scripts/hljlist?Maker1=SKE&DisplayMode=images&Title=Sankei+Miniatuart+Items&Dis=2&Sort=std&qid=OYOI1BALW59LZLQ&set=1&Scale2=150

[Nick_Burman]

Nick,

 

the Sankei kits are laser cut colored chipboard (high density cardboard/matte board). they dont need painting, but can use some weathering. they are nicely done kits, but at HO size i would suggest you put in some internal bracing along walls and roofs to make sure you dont get eventual warping and sagging. card stock models can be prone to this with time. also doing a good coat of dull coat inside and out will help any humidity effects later.

 

sankei does a nice job of layering up walls so you get some relief detail around windows and such and greater strength on the walls.

 

card stock models like this have a little less 3D relief detail than you get on plastic models and roof detail is usually just laser etched a bit into a layer of chipboard. Looks very good at N scale, but i might worry that at HO it might start to feel a little flat on the detail up close. I would try one of the smaller less expensive first to see if you are good with the look.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Thanks Jeff. By any chance you or anyone wouldn't know the footprint of the Sankei stations?

 

Cheers NB

[bill937ca]

It appears that Cosmic is a  hobby shop that like F Models contracts out a line of products.  So you will find Kato and Tomix products on its web page as well as its own products.  

 

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~cosmic-rm/tenpoannai.htm

 

That they can do manufacturing shouldn't really be a surprise as many goods in Japan are produced by small sub-contractors..

 

Cosmic web site

 

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~cosmic-rm/

Edited May 21, 2013 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Thanks Jeff. By any chance you or anyone wouldn't know the footprint of the Sankei stations?

 

Cheers NB

 

 

Best place to try is Plaza Japan.  Look in the blue box.

 

http://stores.ebay.com/Plaza-Japan/1-150-N-Scale-/_i.html?_dmd=1&_fsub=1407213010&_sasi=1&_sc=1&_sid=169030440&_sop=1&_trksid=p4634.c0.m322&_vc=1

[Martijn Meerts]

Sankei is top quality stuff.. I was very hesitant to do any 'paper' kits, but by now I have a TON of Sankei kits waiting to be built.. Mainly the various Studio Ghibli ones ;)

[velotrain]

Nick - HS just announced this little guy from Cosmic:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10337913

 

You do need to supply a Kato shorty chassis, which a load would cover.

 

It looks to be the same as this Aru model - is there a specific proto?

 

http://www.modeltrainplus.net/collections/aru-nine-arumo-n-scale/products/aru-nine-a1005-open-wagon-emu-type-deto

 

Interesting that this so closely follows the World Craft short "freight" tram.

It could be argued that both are actually work / maintenance / engineering trams.

 

[kvp]

[velotrain]

Thanks kvp

 

Both models have substantially reduced the length of the car - perhaps primarily to fit the available mechanism (and typical N-scale tram curves).

 

The side boards on the proto clearly fold down, which the models don't seem to represent.

 

Does anyone know what the small projection from the non-pantograph cabin is?

 

The HS photo of the Cosmic model was initially even more crude - if that can be believed.

 

They've also added a very tiny image of it painted - which confirms your identification.