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

[Giugiaro]

13 hours ago, Little-Kinder said:

Wow you managed to find the TV50 starter set at a decent price?

 

KATO 40-902, sold by RG-Rokko for 27,750 JPY (this price includes the VAT exemption for international customers). It's now out of stock.

After shipping, VAT and customs, the final price for me was 244,09 €.

[Little-Kinder]

8 hours ago, Giugiaro said:

 

KATO 40-902, sold by RG-Rokko for 27,750 JPY (this price includes the VAT exemption for international customers). It's now out of stock.

After shipping, VAT and customs, the final price for me was 244,09 €.

Woh. Only 10k more expensive than it was. Even in Japan I don't see it under 50 or 60k.

 

Lucky guy.

[mags_minibuilds]

Just received my order from RGR. Kato power pack and CV1, CV2 and CV3 track sets for my B-Train, track pieces for my son, some motorized chassis and pantographs. The freight cars are incentives for my son for doing his homework. I flipped through the soldering book and it's a great how-to guide for beginners.

[bc6]

@mags_minibuilds Nice haul I see you got the mook what do you think of it?

[mags_minibuilds]

@bc6 I've assembled a couple of brass kits, watched numerous YT videos, read blogs and received tons of tips from @Martijn Meerts and @cteno4 so the book had a lot of similarities of what I already know. If I didn't have all that information, this would be the perfect book to get started on brass kits. The book is packed with many photos so it helps and there are a few techniques he demonstrated that I'd like to try. After reading the sections on painting, it reassured that my paint job is actually quite alright as the author seems to have the same struggles with paint peel and the nerve-wracking task of removing the masking tape and hopefully the paint underneath doesn't come off. Nevertheless, I do enjoy flipping through this book.

[Little-Kinder]

4 hours ago, mags_minibuilds said:

Just received my order from RGR. Kato power pack and CV1, CV2 and CV3 track sets for my B-Train, track pieces for my son, some motorized chassis and pantographs. The freight cars are incentives for my son for doing his homework. I flipped through the soldering book and it's a great how-to guide for beginners.

 

 

Why not just buy the M2 instead of the different CV? is there any difference?

[Kamome]

Finally got a chance to post my mini haul from JAM2024. There was plenty of used N gauge and HO courtesy of Hobbyland Pochi but I’m always more interested in the stuff not as easily available as the mainstream released stuff. 

 

First up is an Aru Nine brass kit for the Kushiro Rinkai DE601, currently Pacific Coal Transportation. It’s a low cost and easily folded kit with a choice of number and user options and took about a hour to compete. Hand rails for the sides have not been added yet. Wanted a little industrial loco for a limestone facility idea, this fitted the bill nicely. Not sure yet whether to create my own livery or try and reproduce one of its previous or existing ones.

 

The body uses a choice of the Kato B-train shorty bogie chassis although there is a separate chassis conversion kit needed due to the narrow width of the engine bay.  Here I used 11-106.

 

Other items acquired were some additional military loads to expand my existing train. This time some Type 73 APCs and a couple of sets of Material moving vehicles. 

 

I spent this weekend finishing one of the APCs. The moulding is not quite as sharp as the Type 87s I’ve done previously. Due to the scale, the eye doesn’t pick it up too much but the camera is quite unforgiving. As they’re resin moulded, they need a fair bit of cleanup before priming. 

 

Final n gauge parts were these 3D printed aircon units from the guys at Cityscape Studio. Check out their Youtube channel if you haven’t already. 

 

Also found a few HO details to improve my fleet. 

Some ward depot plates (区名札) for all of my Kato locomotives which don’t come with any. Mainly JR Freight but a few JNR passenger locos too. 

 

Decided to try some wire handrails from Fuji model to improve on the plastic ones that come with Kato or Tomix non-prestige locos. These are for the EF64 in JRF “milk carton”

 

And finally thought I’d have a go at some updated liveries on some of the containers. Here for the new NX Express  ecoliner 31 footers. These are waterslide decals and I’m slightly hesitant as they appear a single slide per side. Think plenty of softener will be required to get into all of the recesses. Alternatively I could break them up but then a big challenge with lining everything up. 

Edited August 27 by Kamome

[mags_minibuilds]

@Little-Kinder The CV track sets have tighter radius curves and points so the layout can be smaller, more compact. Though the tracks will only work with engines that have shorter wheelbases such as the Pocket Line series, trams and B-Train Shorty trains. For example, the CV1 oval size is approximately 13”x22.5” and the M1 oval is approx 24”x54”.

[ehtcom]

Nice little package arrived fro Banzai Hobby today. Well packed and pretty fast shipping for standard airmail. Only 10 days from order to delivery.

This will go towards my small 1220 x 750mm layout build.

 

[JR East]

Ordered at RGR  as soon as it was announced by Tomix, the Spacia X has arrived ... in Tokyo. 

 

I was on Aug 20th-21st in Tokyo, so that RGR sent it to my hotel

 

 

 

As I had to travel back to France with it, as hand luggage, I did not opened it immediatly

 

Arrived in France, I upacked it and ... Tadaaaaaaa

 

I would have imagine a better case, more "Spacia X"-oriented

 

 

 

Anyway the content is the most important to me. Lots of labels for all series

 

 

 

Finely reproduced 

 

 

 

 

and that ... I love !

 

and it comes with interior lights (no need to purchase separatly) 

 

 

It's time to play with it now together with my Tobu 500 Revaty

 

[ED75-775]

After a self-imposed hiatus since my return from Japan to allow my wallet to recover, I have returned to buying more trains again, specifically two of them which arrived from Zenmarket today:

 

 

Initially I'd only planned on getting the Swiss thing since it was at a slightly more sensible price than others I'd looked at, but I ended up giving in to temptation and took the opportunity to grab another train from my wish list; the Kato E531, specifically the 10-1293 version representing five-car set K459. The reason for buying that train was simple: on my first trip to the Moka Railway in 2023, I'd ridden onboard K459 from Oyama to Shimodate, but didn't find out that Kato produced a model of that set until I think a few months later. My photo below from that trip:

 

 

Having been only lightly used, and with all the destination signs fitted up (though one end display is slightly wonky and may need un-wonking some day should I ever feel the urge), my E531 was a lucky find at ¥9,000 (around $105.00NZD). It now becomes the fourth train in my collection that I've ridden on IRL.

 

 

While I was at prowling through Yahoo! Auctions, I was also lucky to find this JNR hand lamp, manufactured by Hakko Electric in October, Showa 45 (1970). It was being sold by a second-hand dealer at the bargain price of ¥1,300 (around $15.00NZD) on the premise it hadn't been verified as working, which I've confirmed it isn't. However, it's still complete and in reasonably good shape despite its age and obvious use, so it'll get a a helping hand to bring it back into working order for use as a backup torch when I resume tram driving again.

 

Meanwhile in transit from the Land of the Rising Sun, the next arrival should be a MicroAce ED17 courtesy of Amiami. Ordered on Sunday, paid on Monday, shipped on Tuesday with the DHL tracker claiming it should arrive next Monday. So far, so good...

 

Alastair

[tripel7]

On 8/23/2024 at 3:30 PM, tripel7 said:

Just managed to snag KATO v11 for 100e from a german store, I think a shop owner underestimated the size of the box, and just wanted to get rid of it 😏

The additional infra just arrived 🎉

best photo hosting service

[Little-Kinder]

21 hours ago, mags_minibuilds said:

@Little-Kinder The CV track sets have tighter radius curves and points so the layout can be smaller, more compact. Though the tracks will only work with engines that have shorter wheelbases such as the Pocket Line series, trams and B-Train Shorty trains. For example, the CV1 oval size is approximately 13”x22.5” and the M1 oval is approx 24”x54”.

I see thanks, yeah make sense if you are looking at a layout in a smaller space

Edited August 27 by Little-Kinder

[Madsing]

16 hours ago, JR East said:

Ordered at RGR  as soon as it was announced by Tomix, the Spacia X has arrived ... in Tokyo. 

I have received mine yesterday. The train certainly looks awesome. I love the overall shape, the sober colors and particularly the windows. I’ll have to find a way to upgrade it to DCC. 
I am somewhat disappointed by the surface finish. It looks like bare, unpainted white plastic and the way it reflects light does not seem right. Would you agree? What do you think?

 

Marc

 

[cteno4]

Marc, 

 

maybe some futura?

 

jeff

[disturbman]

I believe it's Tomix new satin finish. Kato used something similar on their new Kintetsu Vista as well. I'm personally still on the fence about them as they make the shells feel very plasticky to the touch, but the light effect seemed good to me. Though I only saw these models at night, with interior light on. So I might be wrong.

Edited August 28 by disturbman

[SwallowAngel]

On 8/27/2024 at 3:52 AM, Kamome said:

The body uses a choice of the Kato B-train shorty bogie chassis although there is a separate chassis conversion kit needed due to the narrow width of the engine bay.  Here I used 11-106.

 

Hmm, interesting kit, I like the odd nature of it.

However what interests me the most is the new motor housing. Makes me wonder if the reduced width of it allows the KATO chasssis to fit in some of the B-Train shorties 🤔

If I remember correctly the main problem of the 4-axle KATO chassis for the Bandai locos is their width compared to the old Bandai Chassis.

Do you have a Shorty loco you could try this modified chassis on?

Also what is the part number of the bracket? It itsn't listed anywhere on Aru Nine's website unforrtunatly...

[Madsing]

3 hours ago, cteno4 said:

maybe some futura?

Hi Jeff,

What do you mean, “futura”?

Marc

 

[JR East]

4 hours ago, Madsing said:

I have received mine yesterday. The train certainly looks awesome. I love the overall shape, the sober colors and particularly the windows. I’ll have to find a way to upgrade it to DCC. 
I am somewhat disappointed by the surface finish. It looks like bare, unpainted white plastic and the way it reflects light does not seem right. Would you agree? What do you think?

 

Marc

 

 

 

I'll compare with my photos. 

 

The main drawback for me is the missing destination labels as they are really spacia X specific. 

 

[tripel7]

Certainly not me just ordering an E353 startset because it's cheaper than order an E353 and powerpack seperate 👀

[cteno4]

7 hours ago, Madsing said:

Hi Jeff,

What do you mean, “futura”?

Marc

@Madsing It’s an old plastic modeler trick to use futura acrylic floor polish on naked plastic to knock off that plastic look some and not give a full thick looking coat of some sort of clear coat. You basically buffed it on with a soft cloth so there was not a heavy coating of it. It was basically a thin acrylic for your floors and its composition seemed to just knock off the plastic look without looking like a thick layer was on top (single air brush layer at scale is quite thick actually). I’ll ask a a fine scale modeler friend if it’s still in use or there is a more modern, main stream approach. Downside is it’s hard to know what it will look like until you apply it, which with a ready built model is hard as no handy inner surfaces or sprews to experiment on.

 

Surface textures and visual effects at 1/150 are hard to do and give the same effect, physics and size steps in. Most pictures and visual experience we have with the prototype is like 3-30’, whereas our visual experience with the same model is like always 200+’ — on the prototype all the fancy paint/surface finishes aren’t really visible at that distance. Also prototype are usually viewed/photographed in stronger outside, natural light and models at usually lower light levels and not full spectrum light. I remember when the deep purple/brown pearlescent emperor’s train came out the model pearlescence came out only under certain light on the model and you had to have your eye less that a foot away (150’ scale!).

 

jeff

[cteno4]

@Madsing heard back from my modeler friend and his use of future (now Pledge Floor Gloss) is now just to coat flat paints by airbrushing a very thin self leveling coat to lay down decals onto. He never says he never has naked plastic! Depending on how you put it on it goes from a satin (very thin) to a gloss (thick).
 

Many will use it to get clear styrene parts to look shinier like polished glass. It comes off with windex so shouldn’t hurt plastics if stripped. This is something I may try on one of my Tomytec trains to see how it does as I’ve never liked the “thick” look of the windows in many trains that have like 18” thick scale armored windows on them. Maybe the future dunk will help them look a bit clearer.

 

im also reminded that our mind’s eye and visual memory play a big part in perceived surface gestures and looks. It’s easy for our minds eye to say PLASTIC on a small thing but rarely on a larger thing. Our new Nero car has a rear contrast color panel which was billed as a paint option, but it’s actually a plastic addon side panel. If you look close your mind says plastic, but step a few feet back and you’d swear it was painted metal like the rest of the car (not like the usual plastic painted as metal on bumpers of all the same color). I think in models our mind will just go to plastic so much faster due to the relative size and knowing it’s all plastic too, so in a way also jsut hard to be 100% objective, but things like this are out of our objective control mostly! 

 

jeff

[Madsing]

Thank you Jeff for the details 😀

Marc

 

[cteno4]

Funny how the aging brain works, about 5 minutes ago it just popped into my head out of nowhere what I use to use the future on and it was Dinky die cast vehicles as a kid! They used a lot of colored plastic pieces for some details and the plastic looked very different from the gloss enamel paint and the future got rid of the plastic look! 
 

jeff

[Kamome]

15 hours ago, SwallowAngel said:

Do you have a Shorty loco you could try this modified chassis on?

Also what is the part number of the bracket? It itsn't listed anywhere on Aru Nine's website unforrtunatly...

Yes, I thought it was a bit different. A diesel electric built by GE I believe. Looks like a mini American locomotive, without the cab bonnet. 

 

Sorry to say I don’t have a shorty body to try. 

 

The part number is A3077. ¥880 including tax gives you parts for converting 2 chassis.

 

The DE601 kit requires the removal of the side walls that hold the top cover and circuit board in place.  There’s a drilling jig which doubles as the circuit retainer once the included screws are tightened, keeping everything in position. The top cover just holds the motor in position. 

Edited August 29 by Kamome