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

[nah00]

3 hours ago, katoftw said:

Kokis are a slippery slope. Be careful. Plan to but 5 and in 6 months you have 40.

 

And then come the containers...

[Welshbloke]

I know, I'm already thinking "the train cases for them can hold 12"!

 

Does anyone have the Tomix KoKis with tail lights? At the moment those seem to be anywhere between an extra £10-£20 more than the unlit sort, so I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it.

 

At present I'll have one short container slot empty over four wagons, so another two packs of short containers (probably some 19Ds and UR19As) will fill the set.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Welshbloke
More info

[dgreen787]

On 8/17/2018 at 4:29 PM, nah00 said:

 

Surprised the two car set cost more than the single car one, it seems to be much more scarce. I lucked out on that one asking Nariichi-san at MTP if he could get one shortly after it came out and luckily he still had one in stock in the store with the motor. I wish they had on/off switches for the lights instead of having to yank the lightboards out though. 

 

I will admit, I had done no research previously. I just knew they were unavailable from the main online retail stores (I hadn't checked the auction sites), and was planning to buy them if I found them. There was some sticker shock involved when I finally did find them.

[nah00]

1 hour ago, Welshbloke said:

I know, I'm already thinking "the train cases for them can hold 12"!

 

Does anyone have the Tomix KoKis with tail lights? At the moment those seem to be anywhere between an extra £10-£20 more than the unlit sort, so I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it.

 

At present I'll have one short container slot empty over four wagons, so another two packs of short containers (probably some 19Ds and UR19As) will fill the set.

 

The lights are a bit fiddly on them but that can be fixed by slightly bending in the contact strips so they are tighter against the wheels. They're pretty much limited to JR East and JR Hokkaido though so they're by no means a necessity for modelling freight in most of Japan but they do look neat. Also empty slots aren't uncommon, I've seen a decent number of KoKis with only four 19D or similiar containers on them. 

[Welshbloke]

Yep, I've been watching videos of EF210s and KoKis on YouTube by way of research.

 

The thought does occur to me that I can have another KoKi 107 and containers for the same price as a bare KoKi 50000 with tail lights. This strikes me as a better deal! I'll wait until everything turns up and then decide what to finish the train off with.

[Das Steinkopf]

9 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

I know, I'm already thinking "the train cases for them can hold 12"!

 

Does anyone have the Tomix KoKis with tail lights? At the moment those seem to be anywhere between an extra £10-£20 more than the unlit sort, so I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it.

 

I have all 3 versions, KoKi 50000, KoKi 106 and KoKi 107's, the best thing about these wagons are that they come with a decal sheet with 10 different car numbers, that way you can purchase multiples of one type and then renumber them. 

 

9 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

At present I'll have one short container slot empty over four wagons, so another two packs of short containers (probably some 19Ds and UR19As) will fill the set.

 

 With KoKi's it is quite common for them to run with less containers than a full load, I remember someone put a diagram showing the distribution of the loads with between 1 to 5 12" containers onboard, it's basically a principle of balancing the load for example if there is only 1 container it's bang in the middle, 3 containers 1 in the middle 2 on each end, 4 containers middle container missing, with 2 containers they are normally in the #2 and #4 positions.

Edited August 20, 2018 by Das Steinkopf

[beakaboy]

I obtained 4  very early Kato Coaches with one powered about 10yrs ago as can be seen in the first photo. Cleaned and lubed and ran quite well. The underside is shown in one photo as well as the back of a case. I only paid about $15 for the set as it came with some other models. Just picked up another 3 coaches for just over $10ea that match the original with another powered car. 6 coaches are 25-224 numbered and one is 26-30. Looks like I need 2 x 20 series coaches according to case. Is there much difference between 25 and 20 series? I have no clue what configurations they ran as. I would love to know when they were produced. Shows the great Japanese engineering design to still be running well today.

Also picked up a new Kato 10-400 Cassiopeia E26  coach set for $100 recently. All I need is the 10-399 set and an EF510 loco. Hopefully Eurostar25 will have some luck for me when he travels to Japan in Sept.

[disturbman]

1 hour ago, beakaboy said:

I obtained 4  very early Kato Coaches with one powered about 10yrs ago as can be seen in the first photo. Cleaned and lubed and ran quite well. The underside is shown in one photo as well as the back of a case. I only paid about $15 for the set as it came with some other models. Just picked up another 3 coaches for just over $10ea that match the original with another powered car. 6 coaches are 25-224 numbered and one is 26-30. Looks like I need 2 x 20 series coaches according to case. Is there much difference between 25 and 20 series? I have no clue what configurations they ran as. I would love to know when they were produced.

 

These are not "coaches" but DMUs (KiHa in Japanese), diesel multiple units or railcars. They were produced in the 50s and 60s. They ran in various formations, as single units or multiple units, some times mixed in with other KiHa (I have seen picture with some KiHa 40). The KiHa 25 have one cab whereas the Kiha 20 have two. There might be other differences but you will need to translate and read more precise articles. Other members will probably know more.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/国鉄キハ20系気動車#キハ52形

[Kamome]

3 hours ago, beakaboy said:

Also picked up a new Kato 10-400 Cassiopeia E26  coach set for $100 recently.

This is an older set for the Cassiopeia but you may be able to find it’s counterpart set (10-399) in used sections in places like Hobbyland Pochi or Poppondetta.

 

There have been more recent releases which come as follows:

 

10-833 4 car set (cassiopeia 510-500 + 3 cars)

10-834 3 car add on set

10-1441 4 car set (Rainbow Express EF81 95 + 3 cars. 

 

Both the loco sets come with the head and tail cars.A combination of one loco set and the 3 car add on will complete your 12 car formation. The bookcase that comes with the 3 car add on has room for the other 3 cars and loco.

 

 

 

[chadbag]

5 hours ago, Kamome said:

This is an older set for the Cassiopeia but you may be able to find it’s counterpart set (10-399) in used sections in places like Hobbyland Pochi or Poppondetta.

 

Yeah, look around (to no-one in particular).  I recently got the 10-399 AND the Cassiopeia EF81 (colorful one) as a set on Yahoo Auctions through ZenMarket for around $65 plus a little in shipping and their obligatory 300 yen fee.  It was marked as used but is basically new.   So look around.  Things like that show up now and then with reasonable prices.

[beakaboy]

9 hours ago, Kamome said:

This is an older set for the Cassiopeia but you may be able to find it’s counterpart set (10-399) in used sections in places like Hobbyland Pochi or Poppondetta.

 

There have been more recent releases which come as follows:

 

10-833 4 car set (cassiopeia 510-500 + 3 cars)

10-834 3 car add on set

10-1441 4 car set (Rainbow Express EF81 95 + 3 cars. 

 

Both the loco sets come with the head and tail cars.A combination of one loco set and the 3 car add on will complete your 12 car formation. The bookcase that comes with the 3 car add on has room for the other 3 cars and loco.

 

 

 

thanks Kamome, Eurostar owns the 10-833 set which will be my next option if he fails to find older sets on his trip

[beakaboy]

11 hours ago, disturbman said:

 

These are not "coaches" but DMUs (KiHa in Japanese), diesel multiple units or railcars. They were produced in the 50s and 60s. They ran in various formations, as single units or multiple units, some times mixed in with other KiHa (I have seen picture with some KiHa 40). The KiHa 25 have one cab whereas the Kiha 20 have two. There might be other differences but you will need to translate and read more precise articles. Other members will probably know more.

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/国鉄キハ20系気動車#キハ52形

thanks Disturbman. learning new stuff every day. DMU (Kiha in Japanese). Any idea when the models were made?

[Welshbloke]

Kato re-released those units fairly recently with newer chassis. Have a look here: http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/kiha20kei.shtml

 

There were three versions. A KiHa 20 with two cabs, KiHa 25 with single cab and KiHaYuNi 26 which has one cab and post/luggage compartments as well as seating. As long as there's a cab on each end of the resulting train you can pretty much run them in any formation you fancy. You might want to retrofit the Kato knuckle couplers for smaller gaps and a less obtrusive coupler.

 

I'm not sure how old the body tooling is, but I don't think they even have clear headlight lenses so I'd guess 60s. I believe the old Kokuden 103 Series tooling dates from then and that has similar levels of detail.

Edited August 21, 2018 by Welshbloke
More info

[Kamome]

On 8/21/2018 at 8:39 AM, Das Steinkopf said:

I remember someone put a diagram showing the distribution of the loads

Here it is again. Courtesy of N scale World Magazine.

 

Its not mentioned here but if you have any Koki 200s, they don’t carry the smaller 12’ containers. They carry up to 2x 20ft, 2x 30’ or a single larger container.

 

Edited August 22, 2018 by Kamome

[Ultratram]

A few new items arrived. My RM tooling, model assist kit. Greenmax maintenance vehicle kit and some bogies, couplers and pentagraph for a more ambitious project. I have plans to make a scratch build keikyu deto 11 - 12. Still working on the build drawings for that project.

 

The RM tool comes with a brass rod bender that looks extra useful for making railings.

[chadbag]

46 minutes ago, Kamome said:

Here it is again. Courtesy of N scale World Magazine.

 

Its not mentioned here but if you have any Koki 200s, they don’t carry the smaller 12’ containers. They carry up to 2x 20ft, 2x 30’ or a single larger container.

 

 

 

This is cool.  This should go into some reference section of the forum 🙂

 

Does anyone know of a good source or maker of the 40' ISO international containers in 1/150 that are made to fit Japanese KoKi?  (fit onto the tabs)

[gavino200]

57 minutes ago, Ultratram said:

My RM tooling, model assist kit. 

 

The RM tool comes with a brass rod bender that looks extra useful for making railings.

 

 

What exactly is it? It looks interesting.

[Ultratram]

It got it mostly for its jig stand to help in the assembly and painting of my greenmax kits.

 

It also can hold pentagraphs so I may feel confident in detailing those. The rod bender is good for making hand rails or if one of those modelers that wants ultra detailed roof equipment you could go down that route.

 

I do plan on using the right angle cutting aid for my sign board stickers.

[Welshbloke]

First containers arrived. The UM12As will go on a different wagon in the end, this KoKi 50000 will have the three 12' containers interspersed with a couple of 12' tank containers, while the UM12s flank one of a twin pack of Seino 20' containers. If I grab a three pack of 19Ds and another KoKi I'll have a fully loaded five car set.

 

 

[beakaboy]

14 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

Kato re-released those units fairly recently with newer chassis. Have a look here: http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/kiha20kei.shtml

There were three versions. A KiHa 20 with two cabs, KiHa 25 with single cab and KiHaYuNi 26 which has one cab and post/luggage compartments as well as seating. As long as there's a cab on each end of the resulting train you can pretty much run them in any formation you fancy. You might want to retrofit the Kato knuckle couplers for smaller gaps and a less obtrusive coupler.

 

I'm not sure how old the body tooling is, but I don't think they even have clear headlight lenses so I'd guess 60s. I believe the old Kokuden 103 Series tooling dates from then and that has similar levels of detail.

Thanks so much for the info. I am rather fond of the old/early stuff from Japan. Have a little collection separate from my main train collection. 

[Welshbloke]

I have a few. Oldest is a 1979 153 Series which I bulked up using newer cars (Kato used the same tooling with new motors up until the last 153 Series release, I suspect they'll retool before making any more). Also a pair of Kokuden 103s but they're the recent release with modern motors. They respond well to detail painting and Shibata couplers, also added aircon pods to my yellow set to produce a 3 car Tsurumi Line unit. Hopefully Kato will do this again as the potential for kitbashing with GreenMax parts is huge.

[TimWay4]

Last night and today I took delivery of two new items:

Firstly last night I took delivery of a Z gauge layout that a club member didn't want, it cost me £80 and came with a loco that was probably worth that much

 

Today I took delivery of the Tomix EVA shinkansen from Sascha 

 

both purchases I'm super happy with 

[Das Steinkopf]

3 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

First containers arrived. The UM12As will go on a different wagon in the end, this KoKi 50000 will have the three 12' containers interspersed with a couple of 12' tank containers, while the UM12s flank one of a twin pack of Seino 20' containers. If I grab a three pack of 19Ds and another KoKi I'll have a fully loaded five car set.

 

 

 

 I'm waiting to see where this will all end up in a couple of years time, I originally wanted a couple of of dozen KoKi's and some containers to go with them, now I am sitting at close to 80 KoKi's and 260 odd containers with at least another 20 odd containers on preorder.

Edited August 22, 2018 by Das Steinkopf

[Welshbloke]

Just had to glue the 19F containers on (using Glue 'n Glaze as it should pop off cleanly if I ever need to move them). Anyone else have that problem? It looks as though the clips on the containers have a bevelled upper edge rather than flat, so the slightest nudge will unclip them. The UM12As fit on far more positively but will be going on a KoKi 106 when it turns up.

 

I'm sticking at five for now as it's the maximum length for the Kato passing loop set, which is my usual way of isolating one train to run another.

[defor]

2 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

Anyone else have that problem?

I've been mixing and matching between B-Train Mini, Tomix, Kato, Tomytec (truck collection), Hogarakadou, and Greenmac, and yes, this IS a problem- there doesn't seem to be any overall consistency. All my Koki are Kato and B-Train, but the 'snap' of the containers is a bit of a mixed bag. That said, none of them simply 'lay' there, and dont seem to fall off in motion, so for now I havent had to go with the glue option. At some point I was hoping to do a rundown of the various options out there and their pros and cons. For now I'm simply chasing quantity, as no self-resppecting freight terminal doesnt have stacks of freight on platform!

 

Also what the hell happened to the 106+107 Kato sets? are they already out of print? I need more card, and as I only have one full cased set, I only have one lighted Koki!