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

[Junech]

I just got something small for today. I've got something to make my Haimos 230s into trailers and a figure set from ProHobby to see how they look in person. I'll give them some color touch-ups, and they should be ready for the diorama.

[Steve]

Latest Order from J-Scale.

 

 

KATO 3075-4 ED75 1000

KATO 3093-3 EF61 0 (Early Brown Livery)

Greenmax 19501 Suha 44 5-Car Train Set (Dragon Green Livery)

[ED75-775]

It’s new train Tuesday! This little lot came from our favourite no-battery, no-glue supplier:

 

 

The containers are to load up my KoKi train, which has had one empty KoKi 107 and a semi-empty KoKi 104 since earlier this year. Still need to find some more tank containers to fill the KoKi 200’s instead of more 20-foot ISO containers, but another Japanese holiday should take care of that nicely.

 

The silver thing in the middle of course is the highlight: the MicroAce model of Kumamoto-based KiHa 31 4 as it looked in its last years on the Hisatsu and Misumi lines. Both my buddy @SL58654号 and I were keen to get them, both for the Microsoft Train Simulator memories and of course to pair with our Kato SL Hitoyoshi sets. Coming from our favourite shop, there’s a little bit of extra foam at one end to stop it jumping around.

 

 

Didn’t take long to pull that out, did I? And speaking of the SL Hitoyoshi, here it is with the KiHa 31 for all the Hisatsu Line memories. From what I’ve seen online these usually worked as single units on that line, and as two-car sets on the Misumi Line. If anyone would like to prove me wrong, please do.

 

Future orders could be very interesting as apart from the remaining Kato RhB stake cars on my wish list (first one came today as well, yay!) I still plan on getting the other KiHa 31 and ED18 2 when funding allows. Plus there’s more Chichibu Railway stuff coming or out courtesy of MicroAce and Greenmax, Tomix are doing the JR East ED75-700 with a forum-username-appropriate road number, and MicroAce recently announced they’re doing a model of Nara Line 205 series set NE406 which I photographed at Kyoto earlier this year… marked ‘not safe’ from wanting more!

 

Alastair

[Tony Galiani]

My Marine Liner arrived from Plaza Japan.  I had held off a bit but, as we all know, resistance if futile so I went ahead and ordered it.  We rode this over the Seto Ohashi bridge in car 5 or 6 and were lucky enough to get seats on the left side of the train so could enjoy the views.  I had hoped to get seats in the first car but I guess there were no more reserved seats available when we purchased ours shortly before the departure.

I also picked up a GM kit and some figures since they had this set for a relatively low price.

Ciao,

Tony

[Wildphill]

Benefits of having children that are very into anime and order regularly, added this onto son no1's amiami order

[Sascha]

Some new stuff from Yahoo Auctions.

[tripel7]

A tomix EF66, brand new, one of my favourite loco designs. 

[Wildphill]

Amazon maneged to split my order so while my parts/magazine/motor car are in Hong kong at the moment I got this trailer car today 

[ED75-775]

Latest arrival for new train Thursday:

 

 

a Kato 3061-5 EF65-2000, purchased via Zenmarket. Although my usual tradition these days is to number the locomotive in line with the catalog image - in this case EF65 2065 - I’ve chosen to number this one as sister EF65 2067 which I saw blasting through Otsu with a container train on 26 June 2023.

 

This brings my EF65 total up to two, but there aren’t any plans for more at this stage. With space at a premium, I’ll have to start being more discerning about what I buy and when. Oh, and if I want a house too then I’ll need to buy less trains and save more too!

 

Alastair

[Kingmeow]

From a fellow JNS Forum member.  It just feeds my → Koki Mania ←.  🤪  The kit will keep me busy over the winter!  And the coffee mug will keep me up so I can build and paint the tank containers  all night long!  🙂

 

 

[bc6]

Today, I picked up a delivery containing more Koki, of course, one with LEDs on it. I also got a Taki with LEDs on it, lol. I got a rescue car for my MOW train and some paper kits from Kofu. Finally, I ordered an EH500, which is a throwback from when I first got into Japanese N-scale trains. I'm trying to choke back the tears, lol. 

 

 

@Kingmeow Wow I've never seen one of those kits before, It looks interesting. 

[Kingmeow]

14 hours ago, bc6 said:

@Kingmeow Wow I've never seen one of those kits before, It looks interesting. 

 

It certainly does!  When I inquired I was told that the company no longer makes them.  I did a quick look on the website listed at the bottom of the back packaging and it looks like the company is still in business but making other things.

[cteno4]

Pro-hobby/ICOM has been around for a long time. I think Icom is the company and pro-hobby is a brand of theirs, I’ve seen different things labeled in different ways.

 

https://sakatsuglobal.com/search?page=1&q=Icom&type=product

 

The iso tank containers were cool and out in 2009/2010 and around for a few years and they didn’t seem to sell well as they went on sale a few places to clear out remaining stock a long time back. I think they were just too much of a kit for most folks doing containers so did not sell as well as they hoped. They did do 7 different types which was cool as few larger iso tank containers have been done. Also let you easily paint and decorate as you pleased. They also did fun container things like little led reefer containers so you had a red light on in the control panel! That did not seem to sell well either as they were on sale a lot.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=104&cat=rail&state=&sold=0&sortid=6&searchkey=Pro+hobby+iso+container+kit

 

They came with batteries installed which was an issue with time some of the button cells corroded. One retailer sold me a few of just the lighting units for 100 yen each with no guarantees! Most had corroded batteries but I was able to clean them all up successfully.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=104&cat=rail&state=&sold=0&sortid=6&searchkey=Pro-Hobby+lighting+container

 

Pro-Hobby did a wide range of pewter cast figures and etched metal scenery bits. They sort of disappeared for a while from the main retailers, but are back more recently and Sakatsu keeps a lot of their stuff in stock (figures). The figures are a bit heavy looking at times and use to be listed as 1/144, but now are listed as 1/150 and I’ve not gotten new stuff to compare to the old stuff. They do very interesting figures like sumo scene figures, clowns, etc you don’t see anywhere else. I’ve collected a lot of them over the years then inherited a pile of them from a club member that shut down a huge layout ans loved details! The etched metal stuff was very interesting details from baseball backstops to construction details. Most prepainted on the metal sheet, so just nip then out and fold up. They also did the series of kei trucks as food and other specialty trucks. ICOM also does a number of hobby supplies and tools.

 

jeff

[bc6]

. A friend sent these to me these containers and trucks they make a nice Christmas present.

[Tony Galiani]

@bc6 - Would you have any info on the container truck in the front of your photo?  I have been looking for one to replace the old Tomix one I had.

Tony

[cteno4]

Tony,

 

many of the Tomytec containers flatbeds will let you pop off the container on them to put others on.

 

jeff

[bc6]

@Tony Galiani I don't have any personal knowledge of the trucks origin as it was a purchase from a friend. However a cursory search shows that It came from TOMYTEC truck collection #4 Diesel Quon Nippon Express Eco Liner 31. I took another pic with the container on it, If you Google the image you'll get tons of results. 

 

Jeff is correct as it may have been sold with an Eco Liner 31 container. 

Edited December 14 by bc6

[cteno4]

Different ones in the truck collections. You need to look for the trucks where you can see the fork lift slots along the bottom edge.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/search?typ1_c=104&cat=rail&target=itemseries&searchkey=The+Truck+Collection
 

jeff

[RS18U]

So I did not order these, I picked them up on my trip to Japan in November but this seemed to be the best place to post.

• Kato 10-325 81 Series Super Express Diesel Car 7 car set (used)
• Kato 10-177 251 Series "Super View Odoriko" 6 car set (used)
• TGW Single Line Overhead Poles (2 packages of 30 each)
• Tomytec MB7 bus (used)
• Kato 23-508 mini trucks
• Kato 23-520 Nissan cars
• Kato 4550-C from The Train Museum
• Tomytec Tetsudou Collection surprise box (2)
• Tomytec Truck Collection surprise box (used, so I knew what I was getting, a flatdeck)
• Bandai delivery van (used)
• Wrong scale: Kato 1-805 4 wheel van/caboose

Total cost was 31,133 yen.  Very impressed with the quality and value of used items.  Shops included Popondetta Akihabara, Chatora, TamTam, and Ginzatenshodo Honten.

 

Will

 

 

Edited December 15 by RS18U

[bc6]

@RS18U Nice haul coming back from Japan, This is about the amount of trains I'd like to bring back with me from Japan if I go. 

[Kingmeow]

Another family photo from Plaza Japan!  As usual, going in with another club member (usually two but the other guy over spent and didn't go in this time 🤣)  All the pre-made buildings are his while I got the Koki related items due to → Koki Mania ← 😁  Also got my first Greenmax kit.  This will fit right in when I airbrush the tank containers kit above.

 

My first Sankei kit on the far right.  Vending machine set and the laser cuts are so amazingly perfect!

 

[cteno4]

Welcome to sankei mania @Kingmeow! I think you will like them, they have a very satisfying assembly, nicely interlinked and good corner joints. The vending machines are about their smallest and are a little fiddly so don’t worry if the first one or two don’t come out perfect, it’s a brain learning curve and those you have to assemble with tweezers.
 

Same goes with the building kits as first one many make a mistake here or there leaving the sankei assembly logic. Mine was to double check wall pieces that may look square as sometimes they are a couple of mm smaller for joint creation. Pre fit pieces the laminate walls and make some pencil alignment marks to remind you of the order as walls are made out of laminating 2 or 3 pieces most of the time and the layering and orientations are critical on this. It would be nice if they put a laser etch line on the larger pieces’ backsides (in places never exposed) to help figure this out quickly and get a perfect position. For some of the joints you need to have some sankei laserboard scraps handy to make sure offsets in layered walls match the material width perfectly. Once you get thru a kit you learn all these bits and figure your own best approach to them, but don’t worry if the first one is a little wonky. Going forward if you get into them Amazon Jp sometimes has them on sale for 20-30% off (sankei does not give good margins so most retailers only mark them down a bit and rarely sales), but not as cheap as it use to be to get a small Amazon jp DHL sent over as it use to be.

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Wildphill]

Rest of Amazon order arrived , 4 days after first part, ordered some green max couplers to test, wanted medium but they were out of stock so got short, boy are they short

[Mister Gee]

Ok - just got back from our second trip to Japan, and it wouldn't be complete without a lap around Akihabara and other Tokyo shops. I hope you'll bear with me - I'm very happy with my returns:

First one is from a couple of places - new stuff from TamTam at what I thought were fair prices. The Koki car is from one of the used places I visited (I think this was from BookOff). The Type 48 I picked up at the Kato Hobby Center.

More TamTam stuff - at 701 JPY per car, I should have bought a full train of these cars! That loco was a great find at 2800 JPY, at least in my opinion.

The Hakodate Liner was part of my effort to focus on trains I've actually ridden on. I believe this was bought at Imon.

Now I haven't ridden on this, but II love the look of it with the red stripes. Purchased at the Kato Hobby Center.

I'll continue in another post - apologies if this is too much.

[Mister Gee]

The rest of my purchases were in anticipation of building my layout this coming year. Since scenery items are flat and easy to fit in my luggage, I got as much as I could find.

I visited Greenmax - so much stuff at awesome prices. I picked up their tunnel portals, traffic signals, and those rockwall fences. Those traffic signs were bought used at 600 JPY, and still had their original 900 JPY pricetag on them. The platform and overpass were from TamTam - my layout will have platforms facing each other.

I took advantage of the supply at Kato Hobby Center to get some of their scenery stuff - their bus/taxi stands look great. I also picked up their guardrail/street rail set and their concrete fences. At Greenmax I picked up the wall/fence set and the grade crossing. The cop-in-a-box and the trackside signage was bought used at Surugaya Specialty Store (I believe).

This last photo is stuff I bought at a place called General Store Railyard - it's located on the east side of Akihabara Station. Lots of non-model stuff, but railway related items. The container folds flat - I love it! They also had those stickers, paper tickets, and a huge locomotive calendar I put in my office. Well worth a visit!

Well, thanks for humoring me - I'm delighted with my haul this time around.