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

[Welshbloke]

Pretty well, the only weakness I've found so far is that it won't completely stop the Kato RhB locos. It must be something to do with current draw as B Train Shorties and Tomytecs are fine with it, but the minimum setting leaves things like my Ge 4/4 II circulating. Other controller boards may not have this problem - I'd have to open the casing up to check which type this has as I've bought another two or three since.

 

My attempt to build a rechargeable one using a power bank casing (and 3/5 of the 18650s it was intended to hold) has the slight snag of cutting out if the loco doesn't draw enough current to keep the power bank awake. I don't know enough to be able to reverse engineer the battery management PCB and make it less picky, unfortunately. It's fine with locos which draw those extra few milliamps, like Kato as opposed to shorties.

[chadbag]

2 hours ago, gavino200 said:

I'm more than a bit jealous. I've never seen a single Japanese N scale item on Facebook marketplace. 

 

I see them occasionally.  nothing really great or priced well.  There was a KATO DD13 IIRC that was up for a while a bit back that I tracked...

[the_weird_one]

Been away for a long time - mainly due to job loss and having to move a couple of times so all hobbies went on a bit of a back burner while life sorted itself out.

 

Anyway back again now and having spent some time on Mandarake managed to pick up a few items I missed from releases last time around. Just need to motorise the Miku trams now.

[Dinosbacsi]

The Miku trams are really cute! Even though trams are not my thing, but they look really nice.

 

As for me, my Kato controller finally arrived! I really like this really silly looking, but retro blue color and the controls that resemble actual train handles.

Though the package didn't inclue the power supply cable for it yet. Even though I ordered one as well, it was "out of stock, but on order with the supplier", so I suppose they will post it when it gets restocked. Hopefully that will be soon.

 

Until then, if I get really impatient, could I use other cables with it, or would that be too much of a risk? I'd be using it with N scale B Train Shorties, so I'm waiting for the 12V cable, but I found a 11V cable at home. Could that work, considering it's lower than 12V, or should I rather not risk it?

[Yavianice]

KATO themselves recommends only using the PSU of the SX and not another PSU. Probably this has something to do with that the new one is PWM, and the previous one is not. I don't recommend using other PSU's with the SX powerpack, as it may cause damage to the trains or powerpack.

[Dinosbacsi]

I supposed this would be the case, thanks. Well then, waiting patiently for the supply cable. My power unit for the shorty car hasn't arrived anway (currently I have 3 car out of 4 sitting on rolling chassis, with the 4th car waiting for it's power unit), but it should arrive this week hopefully.

[Kanpai Keith]

On 2/26/2021 at 7:33 PM, Welshbloke said:

If the controllers use a plain 12v DC centre positive PSU then have a rummage through any old computer kit you have. My home built PWM controller uses the "wall wart" from an old router which was on its way to the tip.

 

If you pop the brake van and Lowmac on ebay you'll probably make the purchase price back.

The controllers use 16v ac power supply, which I find somewhat unusual. They push out a fair bit more then 12v dc to the track.

[inobu]

Yeah, this is crazy and needs to stop "again" as it makes no sense.  Ordered a 353 10-1522-23. The -24 came in a few minutes ago.

Opened it, Looked at it and put it back in the box and now its on the shelf in a box. Happen to see a Kyushu 7 Star and picked it up.

Same thing. Looked at it, put it in the box. Matter of fact it's the same box the 353 is in now.

 

What's really sad is I missed getting the Shiki-shima from Chadbag.....I would have done the same thing....

 

 

Inobu

 

 

[cteno4]

Hmm the rectifier should take off a couple of volts and I think the voltage regulator chip used in the old kato’s also took off a couple of volts.

 

jeff

[Welshbloke]

I wonder if it's because they don't have a load on? The multimeter is going to draw a lot less than a train.

 

12v transformers which deliver 13-14v used to be pretty common, I know I have a couple of old slotcar ones which deliver a healthy 13v. I've put them on a PAT rig and the insulation/wiring are fine, so I think they were designed that way. Presumably so they didn't sag when you had two cars going flat out with old variable resistor controllers.

[railsquid]

All hail the mighty Cow Train!

 

TomyTec Y001 "Cow Train" by Rail Squid, on Flickr

[cteno4]

I’m over the moon with mine!

 

let the cow puns moon again...

 

jeff

[railsquid]

Taking the bull by the horns, I know you like to milk these things, and have to say I have no beef with that as long as you don't do it on a dairy basis, which would be an udder disgrace.

 

Next step is to add the various parts to transform it into a proper people moover.

[gavino200]

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem. 😲

 

 

 

 

[beakaboy]

10 hours ago, railsquid said:

Taking the bull by the horns, I know you like to milk these things, and have to say I have no beef with that as long as you don't do it on a dairy basis, which would be an udder disgrace.

 

Next step is to add the various parts to transform it into a proper people moover.

needs an udder painted on both  sides of the chassis

[inobu]

18 minutes ago, gavino200 said:

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem. 😲

 

 

 

 

Didn't need to see that......

[Cat]

I use Buyee when they run a special promo for no-fee YAJ purchases, but also have set up saved searches with them for the email notifications.  One long slumbering alert woke up at the start of January.  Buyee was not running a promo, so purchased through Zen Market.  Then the shopping spree was on during the 45 days free storage that began ticking starting when the first package arrived at the warehouse.

The start of it all was the GreenMax bridge piers, this particular set is perfect for a stretch of the Hitachinaka Kaihin elevated track running the length of the Naka river valley.  Lucked out that there were a number of Bandai Power Unit 3 at a price I was willing to pay came along during the course of January.  Then lots of Shorties as conversion fodder for the chop shop.  The one set that will get used as-is is the 4 car orange E653 Fresh Hitachi to go with the 7 car red set acquired last go round.  The others are all earmarked for use, or potential use, in Kiha conversions for the various makes running on the Minato Line.  A few more tanks for Girls Und Panzer battles, and a nice small Cosmo oil truck round out the plunder.

 

I'm still looking to buy or trade for a Kiha 52 in the old JNR scheme, surprisingly none of those popped up at all this cycle. 

Still no sign of a Tomytec LNG tank all this past year.  That notification continues to slumber for my alerts.  With luck it might even go back into production sometime...
 

Edited March 3, 2021 by Cat

[Pauljag900]

7 hours ago, gavino200 said:

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem. 😲

 

 

 

 

There s no justification buddy!! But who cares😂😂

beautifull train and one of my favourites,the the second one I bought and will have another one soon But only 3 cars to run on my small layout👍👍👍good choice Gavin👍

[disturbman]

10 hours ago, gavino200 said:

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem. 😲

 

I thought we had agreed that the "problem" started when you had more than four of the same train, or eight of the same locomotive. You still have some room to play.

And you should definitely buy more.

Edited March 3, 2021 by disturbman

[Kamome]

10 hours ago, gavino200 said:

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem

This is a normal running formation and in no way excessive. Why on earth would anyone buy just 1 of these? Utter madness!😁

[marknewton]

2 hours ago, disturbman said:

...the "problem" started when you had more than four of the same train, or eight of the same locomotive.

Oh. I've got eight D51s, and a ninth on order. 😳

[Yavianice]

12 hours ago, gavino200 said:

This may be an excessive purchase. A second NEX so I can hook two of them up together. I'm really not sure I can justify this. I think I have a problem

You can't justify it without also getting the KATOmodels Kyoto version with the opened doors 😉

 

1 hour ago, Kamome said:

This is a normal running formation and in no way excessive. Why on earth would anyone buy just 1 of these? Utter madness!😁

Except if you want to do the Marine View Odoriko version, right? Did that one ever run coupled together with another N'EX? Afaik it only ran as a single unit between Izu Peninsula and Tokyo Station?

 

[disturbman]

1 hour ago, marknewton said:

Oh. I've got eight D51s, and a ninth on order. 😳

Oh no! We are going to have another intervention.

Who needs a D51?

[marknewton]

Don't forget, they're 1/80th scale, so not much use on an N scale layout... 😉

[disturbman]

We don't mind.