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

[MrLinderman]

Something new to try, this is my testing setup for Tomix fine track, might also use this as my "testing" layout for DCC and Ex-Rail learning. 

 

[bc6]

This is a good way to start something new congrats.

[Damo Jr.]

Managed to feed my fetish for Hokkaido wraped trains after getting a $50 Amazon voucher in a promotion.    I should resist temptation! 

[ATShinkansen]

Been away from the forum for a while, but wanted to drop in and share some recent purchases:

 

a 2-pack of Keiyo Rinkai KD55’s, an EH500, an 8-pack of TaKi 1000’s and an 883系 Sonic.

 

 

the KD55’s are my first private railway equipment, and the 883 is my first JR Kyushu train.  The 883 is also special to me in that I picked it to represent Oita, Austin’s sister city.

[ATShinkansen]

Oh, and I picked up this roughly O scale kit a few months ago of the first train in Japan:

 

[gibet_b]

Just received my first Hobby Search order, a bunch of Kato switches and one turnout :

 

I’m a bit anxious, because a previous order from Plaza Japan is stucked at "Departure from inward office of exchange" in Roissy since 14th. And it’s a more expensive order...

Edited February 18 by gibet_b

[SL58654号]

As an early birthday gift to myself, I obtained this new KATO D51 with the Giesl ejector (2016-C) from Nikkyosha model shop. I've always liked this special funnel from the story about Peter Sam. Unlike the length of time it was worn by Edward Thomas, the 36 Class D51's that wore them made good use of them for the remainder of their service lives. 
I'll be spending my birthday itself with my friends in Hitoyoshi. It'll be great to visit Mozoca Station, bathe in an onsen and see my favorite locomotive there in one day as well.

 

[gibet_b]

Just received my second order, this time from Plaza Japan :

 

Some kits, figures, more switches and turnouts, rails, six wagons and a locomotive. For the cost of all of this, I would have obtained only a locomotive and maybe one wagon in french stuff... I will post detailed photos later in my project post.

[cteno4]

Yeah even with the higher costs of importing japanese trains these days (shipping increases mainly), they still remain quite a value the world around, especially with the quality, consistency, and variety thrown in! Here in the US we keep saying this to folks at shows as they think it must be a very expensive hobby compared to us trains.

 

jeff

[gibet_b]

1 minute ago, cteno4 said:

Yeah even with the higher costs of importing japanese trains these days (shipping increases mainly), they still remain quite a value the world around, especially with the quality, consistency, and variety thrown in! Here in the US we keep saying this to folks at shows as they think it must be a very expensive hobby compared to us trains.

 

jeff

 

And yet, in the US, it's less expansive than in France... Years after years, it's becoming less true (because of import taxes and fees), but modeling US train in France can be less expensive than modeling French trains, especially in N scale. 

[cteno4]

Before the large increases in shipping with the pandemic wiping out the cheaper methods like SAL and express shipping going way up Japanese trains still beat out buying US trains in the US. Now it’s a bit more on par maybe due to domestic shipping on the increase. But with passenger trains it’s probably still a bit better with japanese with some shopping and especially tight he very low yen. Sadly we may end up with duty’s here as well, but since most all our US trains are not made domestically they will be hit the same as japanese trains probably and just hike the overall hobby cost.

 

Even with all that when you figure in the quality, consistency, and variety along with price its still the best value.

 

jeff

[RS18U]

I have been finding that locally used Japanese trains sell (at stores that have any) for at least what the cost is new in Japan, and often more to the point the shipping ends up 'free' so might as well buy new.

2 hours ago, cteno4 said:

just hike the overall hobby cost

Yes, and not looking forward to that 😟

[cteno4]

Yes still perception by most in the US that japanese trains are expensive so folks price them high, never looking to see they are asking way more for a used train than getting it new from japan! Even one US importer purposely tripled the price on their stock as they wanted to play into their perceived expensiveness and prey on those who we’re ignorant of the true price and had the money to blow, awful business practice.

 

jeff

[alain10025]

I completely agree with the fact that despite of shipping fees and custom fees, Japanese made trains are an excellent value. For the price of a single locomotive of a French train in France, you can easily get a full train from Japan. On top of that, since I live in Canada, shipping fees from Europe are much more expensive than those from Japan... Basically, I am counting on Kato making French trains ! The recent announcement that Kato will release this year an old German train (BR175, see https://www.plazajapan.com/4949727698892/ ) gives me hope they could consider releasing more famous European trains such as the SNCF Turbotrain RTG which, I believe, has never been made in N-scale !!!

 

Alain

[SL58654号]

7 hours ago, alain10025 said:

I completely agree with the fact that despite of shipping fees and custom fees, Japanese made trains are an excellent value. For the price of a single locomotive of a French train in France, you can easily get a full train from Japan.

I agree. By and large Japanese N gauge trains I think give you the best value for your money at the most attractive prices compared to larger scales across the board. While my KATO N gauge collection is nothing inconsiderable in size, it would be worth a mansion, limousine and a boat if it were HO gauge! 

[Kamome]

4 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Even one US importer purposely tripled the price on their stock as they wanted to play into their perceived expensiveness and prey on those who we’re ignorant of the true price and had the money to blow, awful business practice.

Ah yes, the creative use of the “rare” tag 

 

The domestic UK market is still way overpriced for n gauge as it hasn’t become the mainstream despite it gaining popularity. Dapol were one of the few brands that had some reasonable pricing although they were plagued by hit and miss QC issues. So the retailers charge the same price for n as they do for 00 despite the large decrease in detail, more in some cases, and the UK market seems to accept it. Introduce Japanese product which is produced in far greater numbers and as the UK customers already pay a high price, increase the Japanese SRP threefold. You can also describe the product as rare and state that it’s actually manufactured in Japan should anyone quibble the price. 

[Kingmeow]

I remember Fall 2023 when I was at TamTam in Akihabara and bumped into two British gents and we struck up a conversation.  They couldn't believe the pricing in Japan on N-Scale products compared to back home.  They were kids in a candy store!  It immediately occurred to them that someone was ripping someone off!  🙂

[Lessigen]

Here's my latest delivery from RGROKKO that I got this weekend:

• MicroAce A6530 - Class 1000 Shinkansen Prototype (Set A)
• MicroAce A6531 - Class 1000 Shinkansen Prototype (Set B)
• TOMIX 97932 - Oigawa Thomas the Tank Engine 9-car set
• KATO 10-2043 - Tokyu 5050-4000 Series (Shinkansen Wrapping)
• A couple EM13+FL12N DCC decoders (not pictured below)

Had to get the Class 1000s as I love prototypes and weird/unique trains, and coincidentally they were releasing right around the corner when I found out about them so I was happy to get a pre-order discount on it too. They're my first MicroAce trains and I'm very satisfied with the quality. Hopefully they'll re-release the 922 and 941 Series Doctor Yellows soon in the future. Noticed MicroAce released the E926 East-i as well last December so I have that on my next order 🙂 

 

The Oigawa Thomas set is fantastic. It's a bit difficult to find new online at a good price so after I found out that Masaharu-san had it for his usual discount I jumped on it. It's my first high-grade TOMIX item (and my first high-quality item in general, plus also being my first steam locomotive) and the detail is amazing. I loved all of the little things that were put on a locomotive that's only a little bit larger than a couple of my fingers. I am having some teething problems though, they have a second motor in one of the coaches and it doesn't kick in until half throttle on my Power Pack whereas the C11 works with less power, so the C11 wheelslips a lot at low voltage because of the added weight and friction from that motor coach not kicking in. Maybe I'll buy a non-powered coach to replace that one since the C11 works fine pulling 6 cars without it.

 

The Tokyu 5050-4000 Series was more of a FOMO buy but it was on my wishlist. Runs great as usual being a KATO set, and I like the little attention to detail with the light-up destination display. I would have expected a sticker in place of it so it was a nice touch. I believe GreenMax is making a Shinkansen-wrapping themed train too based off of the 3020 Series but it's both really expensive and in my opinion doesn't look too good.

 

 

MicroAce A6530

 

MicroAce A6531

 

KATO 10-2043

 

TOMIX 97932

 

[ED75-775]

45 minutes ago, Lessigen said:

I am having some teething problems though, they have a second motor in one of the coaches and it doesn't kick in until half throttle on my Power Pack whereas the C11 works with less power, so the C11 wheelslips a lot at low voltage because of the added weight and friction from that motor coach not kicking in. Maybe I'll buy a non-powered coach to replace that one since the C11 works fine pulling 6 cars without it.

Have you tried adjusting the motor on the powered coach?

 

While I don't have the Tomix Oigawa Thomas set, I do have the 98522 SL Ginga carriages (and matching C58 locomotive) and that set also has an adjustable motor in the first coach. The trick here, and the instruction manual states this, is not to run everything coupled together straight away but spend the time testing both your locomotive and powered coach and adjusting the coach so that it performs at the same speed as the locomotive. Once you've got the speed synced then you can go for the whole train and run it like it's meant to be.

 

If you haven't already spotted it yet, the adjuster head on the coach motor will look like a cross-head screw. You should also have an adjusting tool in the packaging somewhere looking like a plastic screwdriver.

 

Alastair

[Lessigen]

1 minute ago, ED75-775 said:

Have you tried adjusting the motor on the powered coach?

 

While I don't have the Tomix Oigawa Thomas set, I do have the 98522 SL Ginga carriages (and matching C58 locomotive) and that set also has an adjustable motor in the first coach. The trick here, and the instruction manual states this, is not to run everything coupled together straight away but spend the time testing both your locomotive and powered coach and adjusting the coach so that it performs at the same speed as the locomotive. Once you've got the speed synced then you can go for the whole train and run it like it's meant to be.

 

If you haven't already spotted it yet, the adjuster head on the coach motor will look like a cross-head screw. You should also have an adjusting tool in the packaging somewhere looking like a plastic screwdriver.

 

Alastair

 

Then it's a case of me not RTFM correctly...🤦

I must have missed that part while translating the manual during my excitement of unboxing it. I will look into doing that. Thanks Alastair!

[Lessigen]

33 minutes ago, ED75-775 said:

Have you tried adjusting the motor on the powered coach?

 

While I don't have the Tomix Oigawa Thomas set, I do have the 98522 SL Ginga carriages (and matching C58 locomotive) and that set also has an adjustable motor in the first coach. The trick here, and the instruction manual states this, is not to run everything coupled together straight away but spend the time testing both your locomotive and powered coach and adjusting the coach so that it performs at the same speed as the locomotive. Once you've got the speed synced then you can go for the whole train and run it like it's meant to be.

 

If you haven't already spotted it yet, the adjuster head on the coach motor will look like a cross-head screw. You should also have an adjusting tool in the packaging somewhere looking like a plastic screwdriver.

 

Alastair

 

Thanks for the help, I just did some quick adjustments and it's working perfect now!

 

Since you have some experience with this, do you know of any adverse effects of running both the engine and coach at a higher speed than you set the baseline to? I noticed that because of the gearing ratios between the loco and the coach, on the lower and higher ends the coach provides less or more power than the loco. Would this cause issues later on if I run this at near-max throttle for like an hour over time?

[ED75-775]

@Lessigen glad to hear it's working fine now. As far as the baseline speed and adverse effects, I have to admit of being not sure. My biggest concern is that under the scenario you suggest, the loco and coach will be fighting against each other trying to maintain their constant speeds, and that may put some stress on the drive trains in both. I'd be more inclined to find a sweet spot in the middle range between slow and fast, and just enjoy the train like that.

 

Alastair

[MrLinderman]

Nothing crazy this week, got an island station from Tomix (locally bought) to see how the spacing fits and works with Fine Track, added it to my "testing" layout, will be a good measure also for sizing on loco's for the larger layout. Just got the standard non-lit variant as I wanted to see how difficult it would be to "light" it myself, going by the spacing available and pillar size I'm leaning towards getting the "lit" version for the big layout, but will have a go at doing up some micro LED strips for this one and see how it looks.

[bill937ca]

First layout purchase in a long time. Two Kato 14-806-1 MyTram Classic BLUE sets. This calls for digging out some Unitram for a small celebration layout.

 

I now have all four tram colors. Probably like yellow and blue the best because of associations with places I have visited.

 

Edited February 27 by bill937ca

[bc6]

its been a while since I posted here nevertheless I got a bunch of GREENMAX stuff for some reason. 

There are a couple of GREENMAX engine sheds, two MOW kits, and a large train washing machine lol.

I got some ARU detail headlight parts and some chopsticks supposedly from Japan to practice with, All together IItadakimasu!!!!