mrp Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Delivered today from HS, a Tomix 92987 JR Series 100. And I have to say, this is officially my new favourite set. It’s the first set I’ve had with Tomix all-wheel pickup and power conducting coupler. Wow! No flickering lights - ever. No low speed stalls - even going through a complex series of turnouts at braking speed! I’m sold. If Tomix ever put these couplers on their commuter sets then I’ve got a bunch of trains to replace… 2 Link to comment
railsquid Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 (edited) So, I finally scratched my Greenmax itch, courtesy of TamTam in Akihabara, whose current special offer corner caused me to realise I had urgent need of a Kansai-area private railway EMU to keep my MicroAce Hankyu 800-kei company: It's model number 4629, a Kintetsu 15200-kei. On the whole not bad; the motor is not as smooth as some Kato or Tomix offerings, but acceptable (I have far worse on my roster). Visually... not bad but it doesn't have that "wow" factor some models do; it looks better running in the background than close-up. Summary: would buy Greenmax again if there's a model I really want. Edited to add: it does handle my "Kato #4 points of death" section fine, at both low and high speeds; on the minus side, at higher speeds there is some visible "leakage" of the front and tail lights through side windows. Also, I surmise that Greenmax is probably the last remaining customer for VHS tape cases. Edited again to add: it has a ridiculously high top speed; if I dial my Kato power unit all the way up to 2pm, it zips around the layout like it's a Shinkansen. Talking of wow factor, I picked up this the other week: A Roco (Austrian manufacturer) model of a German ET85 EMU (built in the 1920s, ran until the 1970s). The model itself would have been manufactured between 1979 and 1985. It does sound like a herd of elephants when it's running, but it does have that certain "something" even though it's missing a buffer and one of the pantographs won't stay down. Edited February 12, 2015 by railsquid 1 Link to comment
mrp Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Edited again to add: it has a ridiculously high top speed; if I dial my Kato power unit all the way up to 2pm, it zips around the layout like it's a Shinkansen. I don’t know if it only applies to the US unit, but you might want to watch out with those Kato power packs. There's an analysis at sumidacrossing.org with measurements showing the standard Kato controller putting out an unregulated 20V peak (15.8V RMS) at 100% throttle. I guess Kato engines will take that - it would be pretty crazy if they sold you a power pack that could toast their own trains - but it may be a bit high for Tomix and others that really expect no more than 12V. Link to comment
linkey Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Finally paid for the KATO re-released E657 Super Hitachi Basic 6-car and 4-car Add on sets. Oh my it's not a Shinkansen lol Link to comment
kvp Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 The Kato power packs are made in a way that it's possible to use them both for N and H0 scale. For N scale models, only the range below the red line should be used. Kato modells are 16V tolerant, but motors from other manufacturers are not, so it's a good idea to keep the voltage below 12V. Also for Tomytec train collection items, the ideal top voltage is around 9V. Link to comment
railsquid Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I don’t know if it only applies to the US unit, but you might want to watch out with those Kato power packs. There's an analysis at sumidacrossing.org with measurements showing the standard Kato controller putting out an unregulated 20V peak (15.8V RMS) at 100% throttle. I guess Kato engines will take that - it would be pretty crazy if they sold you a power pack that could toast their own trains - but it may be a bit high for Tomix and others that really expect no more than 12V. I need to get me a voltmeter thingy to test these assertions... The instructions included with Tomix locomotives explicitly advise against running them with "controllers which output above 12V DC, e.g. the Kato KU1 controller" but don't mention the standard Kato controller - which is the one attached to every test track in every shop I've been into in Tokyo. FWIW I'm also not exactly a speed freak, I like to see stuff trundle around and don't usually touch the red area. Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 Well at 2pm on the throttle, you weren't close to 100% power. So it isn't really relivent to your situation. I'm doubtful many run at 100% cos most this fly of corners at that speed. Link to comment
railsquid Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 The point is, with any given voltage, the Greenmax set runs noticeably faster than most other trains I have, apart from maybe the Shinkansens. Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 So just a higher gear ratio like Kato Shinkansens. Same power, more speed. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 My first order from Jauce has turned up - a hard-to-find Tomix ED62 (my second now). I say hard-to-find...well, it was when I ordered it. Today came my weekly update from HS; guess what Tomix are re-releasing in the summer! The jury is out on Jauce for me at the moment - the selection is great, but is not cheap (lots of additional costs), and certainly not quick (my order took well over a month to arrive). Not the end of the world, and I will probably try them again for something that is awkward to find in future. Link to comment
enodenlover Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 This has been a pretty good week as far as N scale Japanese stuff is concerned. On Monday my friendly neighborhood postman brought me a Fujimi model of the Ginkakuji temple that I ordered from Plaza Japan. On Wednesday I was surprised by the unexpectedly early arrival of the JNR Oldtimer Kumoha54-100 2-car set along with a pair of Kato single track viaduct curves ( thanks Hobby Search for the super fast service ) and today brought Tomytec's 2-car Osaka City Subway series 50 train from Model Train Plus. As soon as I get the check for the stuff I recently sold on eBay I'm going to send HS an order for lots more goodies, primarily Kato buildings and Tomix tram track. It's an expensive hobby but I'm having fun and I guess that's all that matters ( if I had a wife I kind of doubt if she'd agree with that though. ) 1 Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 (edited) My first order from Jauce has turned up - a hard-to-find Tomix ED62 (my second now). I say hard-to-find...well, it was when I ordered it. Today came my weekly update from HS; guess what Tomix are re-releasing in the summer! The jury is out on Jauce for me at the moment - the selection is great, but is not cheap (lots of additional costs), and certainly not quick (my order took well over a month to arrive). Not the end of the world, and I will probably try them again for something that is awkward to find in future. Do they not EMS it? I use Buyee and they EMS it. But yeah even with EMS, it will stil take 2 weeks for it to arrive to me. Win auction. Day or 2 to pay. Day or 2 for seller to to send. Buyee recieves and repacks. Then EMS shipped to me. I only use them for hard to find items, not worth it for everyday items. Edited February 14, 2015 by katoftw 1 Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 2 parcels arrived recently... 1 is a small little order from HS. Needed a 8-car set to house my 683-2000 Shirasagi together, saw a Tomytec Bus Collection 14 case still available (I can always do with more Bus Collection cases) and the Hanshin Tiger train. Cute little train! Thinking of motorising it with Tomytec railway collection parts... The other is a carton of Asahi beer from Loco1 ! :) The BRT bus system is here! Interesting system with the turnout and 'Y' track, and a really beautiful bus. Haven't played with it yet though... And the 500 series Kansengar is finally here! Finally a prototypically correct 500 series for myself, coupled with the wonderful power coupler system and beautiful decals stuck on the body~ 1 Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Wow. Those bus layouts are funky. Give you plenty of options to do. Do you get a plain white bus you can paint yourself? Link to comment
ToniBabelony Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Today, I went out alone on a little venture to Ebina. Next to a left hand mini point from Tomix and a TM-20 15m power unit, I got these gifts for my son: For a relatively small company, they have a ton of merchandising lined up! Sotetsu cares a lot about its image amongst fans of all ages. The wife got some expensive Belgian chocolates to distract her from my personal shopping. xD And something about valentine blah blah... 3 Link to comment
marknewton Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 2 parcels arrived recently... The other is a carton of Asahi beer from Loco1 ! :). ~ Wot! No photo? ;) The brewed under licence Asahi is quite good, but the real thing is rather better. I'm envious! :) All the best, Mark. Link to comment
Claude_Dreyfus Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Do they not EMS it? I use Buyee and they EMS it. But yeah even with EMS, it will stil take 2 weeks for it to arrive to me. Win auction. Day or 2 to pay. Day or 2 for seller to to send. Buyee recieves and repacks. Then EMS shipped to me. I only use them for hard to find items, not worth it for everyday items. It was sent EMS, but took over a fortnight for the items to be dispatched to Jauce by the original seller and a similar amount of time for them to get to me - and the usual UK customs hold-up was only a day. Not all of this is in Jauce's control, and I am not having a grumble about them. Link to comment
railsquid Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 It doesn't happen often that I actually get something through the post, but I joined the British N-Gauge society a while ago and the membership stuff and first issue of the bi-monthly magazine arrived the other day. The magazine is pretty good and packed with N-gauge-only stuff articles, which makes a change for the UK as British model railway magazines tend to be OO-biased. The membership handbook is more substantial than the list of Society Rules and Regulations I was expecting. It has those too of course, but the hundred or so loose-leaf pages also have useful-looking articles from old editions of the magazine. Link to comment
IST Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I was a member of NGS a few years ago for a couple of years. Some days ago I was thinking about rejoining them, but the quality of the journal a little bit hectic for me. Sometimes it had very interesting articles about layouts or product reviews. I have just seen there is a new quarterly mag in GB called N Gauge Now. Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted February 15, 2015 Share Posted February 15, 2015 Wow. Those bus layouts are funky. Give you plenty of options to do. Do you get a plain white bus you can paint yourself? Yap. Along with the bus collection case there is another white bus too for you to paint. In fact, I have quite a number of these white buses (from the bus collection cases I love to buy to house the buses) which I have not (or dare not) started to paint on! Wot! No photo? ;) The brewed under licence Asahi is quite good, but the real thing is rather better. I'm envious! :) All the best, Mark. I think David from Loco1 had them all and sent me the carton box to envy! :) Link to comment
linkey Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Very quick shipping been made by HSJ and the KATO E657 Super Hitachi (full set - both Basic and add-on set) are here as they arrived on yesterday (17/2) and they were shipped out on Friday (13/2). Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Despite the Chinese New Year Holidays, the postman diligently delivered my small order yesterday! Nothing much, just a Tomix 2112 EF-66 Locomotive and a MicroAce Maya-34-2002 Track Inspection vehicle. Now I finally have a track inspector! :) 1 Link to comment
westfalen Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Kato ED19 arrived on Friday. A nice little loco but it's going to take a little thought installing DCC in this one. Kato seem to be deviating from their usual DCC friendlyness with some of their new diesel and electric mechanisms. Link to comment
katoftw Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Two seperate boxes arrived today. Tomix JR 500 Shinkansen. 3x Tomytec buses - Kita-Kyushu, Fukuoka and Kagoshima. Plarail couplers (for the kids). Kato couplers to fix the broken couplers on my 321 Kyoto/Kobe commuter motor car. WS248PC 2pk S248PC 4pk Link to comment
JR 500系 Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 Welcome to the bus club katoftw! Glad you're still focusing on Kyushu even for buses ~ :) I wonder who got the Tomix 500 series Plarail car instead of the Kansengar ..... :) Link to comment
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