What did you order or the post deliver? (Japanese N Gauge)

[macdon]

A $35 train..........

 

 

While browsing our local online marketplace last Friday, I've stumbled upon this:

 

http://www.sulit.com.ph/index.php/view+classifieds/id/28920584/Train+Model+JR+Express+Series+485+by+Tomix?referralKeywords=model+trains&event=Search+Ranking,Position,1-3,3#advertisementDetails

 

I immediately contacted the seller to get more info and to check if the price was legit or a mis-print. Apparently, this seller has a female friend in Japan who sends various items for resale here in Manila. Typically - toys, clothes, knick-knacks, etc. However, since both the seller and his friend are not into the hobby - they dont know if the motor runs as they dont have anything related to testing it.

 

Thinking of the worse, I still forged ahead to buying it and thought that if it has a busted motor, then I could probably retrofit it with a Tomytec Power Unit or something in the near future.

 

The courier delivered it today, so here's some pics:

 

 

Its missing the blue cardboard sleeve, some dirt spots on the plastic light grey case and there's no literature inside the case, but I guess thats to be expected. The small plastic accessory bag is open and there's 2 plastic sprues that still holds the detail pieces - so dont really know if thats all of it or missing some detail parts.

 

The 6-car set looks great and I cant see any scratches or blemishes. All wheels move freely (except motor car) and couplers are all working fine.

 

Oh.......and yes, the darn thing runs! :D

 

Mardon

 

 

[JR 500系]

Jaw Dropped! 

 

1500 pesos only? Amazing find! 

[macdon]

Jaw Dropped! 

 

1500 pesos only? Amazing find! 

Yup!  or about $35. A kato building is more expensive than this set ...... Lol! :D

 

 

Mardon

Edited November 25, 2013 by macdon

[cteno4]

Cha Ching! Great work Mardon, always super fun when you dig up those super deals like that! It's a very nice train to boot!

 

Jeff

[katoftw]

I always look for local stuff on ebay.  Australia not being a huge N scale or Japanese railway modelling country, either the products go for higher than international prices.  Or they fall under the radar and you pick up a awesome bargin.

 

Good current example:- http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Brand-New-Never-Used-Kato-N-SCALE-8-Car-Shinkansen-Passenger-Car-Set-/190982000507?pt=AU_Toys_Hobbies_Model_Railways&hash=item2c776a0f7b#ht_397wt_958

 

I dont collect the series shinkansen, but I recognise the value.

 

---

 

This week I preordered a Tomix EF210-100 with 2x Koki 107 carriege with containers.  7820yen, not bad considering you pay around 1600yen per koki.  And I ordered a Kato V6 oval and a Kato Kyushu red 813-100 commuter.

Edited November 25, 2013 by katoftw

[Keikyu]

 

Hooray, my 2800 came today.

[Kabutoni]

Went to Akihabara yesterday to stroll around with an old friend from the homefront. Bought that little Keikyu 1000 type kit I was longing for (SER 6100 type, let's go!) and two Meitetsu 5500 series kits for a fictive Ltd. Express design. After that we, went to Little TGV and got drunk. It was a good day. Today was hangover day.

 

[Densha]

It's called 'Little TGV' but the mascot sits on a Shinkansen?

[Kabutoni]

It's called 'Little TGV' but the mascot sits on a Shinkansen?

 

Man, you just jealous we gots them railway themed pubs here with cute staff/attendants to serve you a hangover. xD

[Tecchan]

This will be at home for christmas! .-)

I've been dreaming of this baby for a long time…

 

[Darklighter]

Ordered a Kato Thunderbird (Basic Set + Add-On) from ModelTrainPlus.

 

Received a Tomix track cleaning car from AmiAmi (+lots of other small items that were on sale).

 

Last week I bought at TamTam in Kobe:

Kato C56

Kato Series E259 `Narita Express` (Basic Set)

Kato Series 221 (Basic Set)

Kato Series 225-0 `Shin-kaisoku`

Kato Series E127-100 Oito Line

Kato Series E4 (Basic Set + Add-On)

Kato Series 113-2000 Shonan Train

and the current issue of Tetsudou Fan which comes with a nice calendar.

Edited December 3, 2013 by Darklighter

[JR 500系]

Nice Darlighter! If i'm not wrong, you just return from Japan, right? The Thunderbird is at a very very attractive price from Modeltrainplus and was very very much tempted to get it. 

 

Anyhow, i got this from Modeltrainplus. Thanks for the free pamphlet to drool on!

 

A 200 series renewal set! What amazes me is the power couplers on this train, and the additional coupler at car 10 to couple with 400 series! What's a pity is i don't have the Tomix 400 series... The headlight and taillights are super bright, and definitely fitting interior lights on this baby! 

 

 

[Guest keio6000]

My latest consolidated order from Yahoo JP auctions:

 

• MicroAce Keio 6000 Series original red stripe. De rigeur.
• MicroAce Meitetsu 5500 scarlet red 4-car set - rounds off the Meitetsu collection
• Odakyu 8000.  Great train, but I bought it accidentally not realizing i already had one.  asked the seller to ship me his 9000 instead, but he never replied, so im guessing he didnt.  still, a very nice set.
• MicroAce 10-300 Toei Shinjuku line - runs on the Keio line.  Didnt like at first, but now I like it more and more (from photos).  Yes, I have the very very rare endou 10-000 set, though I wish MA would release an update to this
• E217 Yokosuka line i think 8-car set.  Bought on the cheap.  Still need to get a 211 to fill in my "all major JR east silver+stripe spamcans" collection and am debating whether to get a reasonalby priced used tokaido line 211 or bite the bullet and get the overexpensive nagano area one from Kato, new.  does anybody really *like* the 211? 
• non-train::  built 1/72 hasegawa MV-22 osprey. well built.
• non-train::  built 1/32 trumpeter 1/32 SBD-1 dauntless.  very well built.
• Tomix 92958 Naha/Akatsuki set.  3 locos and a bunch of blue train cars of my favorite blue train.  I repeat for those who don't have this but are looking for a very good set at reasonable price: get this one!  it's avaialble regularly for jpy 20000 or less on yahoo jp.. compare this with the Hakutaka blue train set which has one fewer loco and sells for at around double if not more.

I was going to hold out for a few more items, such as the surprisingly-skyrocketing-in-price Odakyu EXE set that i've been thinking about recently but finally decided just to ship it,

Now the crazy game where I ship it by sea and hope it arrives.

 

i also note that the EMS cost to ship this is about 28000 yen via the shipping service i use, which strikes me as ludicrous.  This should fit into one large suitcase (maybe a little more as the dauntless box is likely big).  a return ticket from london to narita in february can be found for around $700.  maybe i'll ask the auction service if i can stop in... (doubt they'll agree).

 

Tomix Naha/Akatsuki Set

 

 

MicroAce 10-300

 

 

Kato E217 (old color scheme)

Edited December 4, 2013 by keio6000

[Densha]

Last week I bought at TamTam in Kobe:

Kato C56

Kato Series E259 `Narita Express` (Basic Set)

Kato Series 221 (Basic Set)

Kato Series 225-0 `Shin-kaisoku`

Kato Series E127-100 Oito Line

Kato Series E4 (Basic Set + Add-On)

Kato Series 113-2000 Shonan Train

and the current issue of Tetsudou Fan which comes with a nice calendar.

I'm sure TamTam Kobe had a party that evening. ;)

 

@keio6000

That's a LOT of trains you've got there! I really like that Blue Train set too, the price is just as good!

[Martijn Meerts]

Got my 2 Flor Verde station kits yesterday. 1 is pre-painted, the other is just regular white card stock (or, more like an off-white card stock with plenty dark spots around the cutting lines ;)) I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll likely post some soon-ish.

 

2 things I noticed is that Flor Verde seems to use thinner card stock for the detail bits, which can be a bit of a problem with glueing them. On the other hand, they do seem to engrave a lot more details than for example Sankei, including having fully 3d roofs.

 

Building instructions are very basic. In fact, one of the kits just shows a few pictures of someone building the kit ;)

 

Anyway, now that I've got the kits, I can measure up the dimensions and start planning some T-Trak modules around them.

[Darklighter]

Nice Darlighter! If i'm not wrong, you just return from Japan, right?

Hai. :D

 

Yesterday a Kato EF210-100 arrived from AmiAmi.

And today I paid for two blue Kato Suhafu 42 (for my C56). These cars are not listed on AmiAmi's English website but their customer support made the order for me.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Darklighter

[katoftw]

Hai. :D

 

Yesterday a Kato EF210-100 arrived from AmiAmi.

And today I paid for two blue Kato Suhafu 42 (for my C56). These cars are not listed on AmiAmi's English website but their customer support made the order for me.

 2 42s?  wouldn't use a ohani 36 yup from with some form of oha in the middle?  or you just puting the 42s back to back so you have working tail lights whatever the direction you run?

[Darklighter]

 2 42s?  wouldn't use a ohani 36 yup from with some form of oha in the middle?  or you just puting the 42s back to back so you have working tail lights whatever the direction you run?

I'm going to put a Suha 43 in the middle. This is a consist suggested by Kato: http://www.katomodels.com/cgi-bin/nmi_pictureview.cgi?id=c56&num=1

[Kabutoni]

With the baby coming home tomorrow, I sneaked into TamTam today and couldn't resist this awesome offer. I know, I once promised myself never to buy Meitetsu trains, but a Greenmax 4-car motorised 3500 Series in mint condition for less than half the original price? Who can't resist!?

 

 

I think this will be one of the last trains I'll buy in a while. I'm now pretty well stocked on 18m length commuter trains and am lacking a nice Ltd. Express or two. Of course they should be 18m cars. I mean come on, 18m train rock!

[cteno4]

I expect to see a picture of nico sucking on an end car!

 

Jeff

[Kabutoni]

I expect to see a picture of nico sucking on an end car! Jeff

 

I'll get special train candy for him. Maybe I'll donate some older trains to Nico for him to run on the layout of TamTam in Kobuchi and Atelier Minamo in Machida later on in his life :D

[Tecchan]

 

A real beauty!!

For an used product and quite an old model, it's surprisingly in good shape and runs very well (after a few minutes of heating, the motor was a bit "rusty", it looked like it didn't run for a few years).

 

Two downhill though:

One of the pantographs was damaged during transport. It's not broken but it's unclipped and as those parts are incredibly small, it's a bit tricky to repair.

And the front (yellow) lights of the motor car don't work. Every other lights work (on both end cars) but not this one. Not a really bug deal but still.

 

I informed the seller about it and he called me to tell me that he didn't test this, was sorry and offered me a 10% if I wanted to keep the train or a 100% refund if I wanted to return it.

Of course I kept it but I found this really honest. :-9

 

Looking forward to make a review of it on Tecchan but I believe I'm a few trains late: N700-8000, 500 Series, Keisei Skyliner and E6.

[Kabutoni]

I had to go outside for a ride today, just to clear my mind. So a good excuse to visit TamTam to pick up the just released Jyoshin DEKI1 locomotive and 300 type. I haven't unpacked them yet, because baby. xD The locomotive will be used to power track maintenance trains and transfer deadheads. It will be pimped with a new pantograph and motor unit. The 300 type will probably be lost in time, space and spare parts.

 

[linkey]

Picked up the 2 KATO E259 Narita Express head units (KATO 10-847) and placed an order for 2 KATO E259 Narita Express Add-ons (KATO 10-848) but also have pre-ordered the E7 Shinkansen. Wondering what the other members of the AJMRG are going to say about me and another Shinkansen lol. 

[kvp]

My latest order just arrived. Actually I went to get a box of tomix tcs sensors for my upcoming layout, but ended up getting two shorties too to test them. (an enoshima electric type 305 and a jnr 4 car 113 series to compare it to my full length tomix 113 series) This reminds me that I should make and post a list of my trains or at least the ones that are already assembed and in working order and maybe the few japanese prototype 1:42 (gauge 0) toy trains I have.