Merry Christmas 2007

I would like to wish all my fellow modellers and blog followers a Merry Christmas for 2007!

Body Building

A nice recent model added to the diesel rosta is this type 125 JR Kyushu single railcar. The model came as a simple build brass bodyshell from Japan to mount onto an ENDO type 110 chassis. The kit is made by the N gauge specialists Tokyodo and so far its their onlyHO offering, I had the model constructed by a guy more familiar with GWR tank engines than anything with a diesel engine, but what a fine job he has done!

Tourist Class

The Japanese manufacturer One Mile (http://www.one-mile.net/) have just released a nice 1/80 modern touring coach. These models are sadly not available outside Japan but can be obtained from some of the specialist online shops willing to export.
When i started to model Japanese 1/80 over six years ago there was very little street furniture or road vehicles available, now thanks to the TOMIX 80's collection and One Mile I can furnish my roads all I am waiting for now is a nice 1/80 modern HINO truck!!

True Blue!

The latest delivery has just arrived, another repainted locomotive,this time we have the Japan wide DD51 in the latest JR freight blue and white colour scheme. It bemuses me that KATO have since the models introduction only made the model available in diesel orange. This leaves the door open for people like Japaness shop Sazan to offer a multitude of later liveries, not just on the DD51 but the DE10 and a plethora of electric locomotives.

A Long hot summer (well mild and very wet!)

I wish I could say the above was true but apart from a few days its been a mild wet summer!!. Its been seven months since I have updated my blog, a long time but with work and family taking all my "warm weather" time I have had very little hobby time to spare.

Now its all hands on deck to commence some building work on the layout a few changes are being made, the first a pretty major on in the case that the layout will be diesel only relegating my electric stock to the display cabinet. This option was chosen due to the cost and non-availaility of Japanese 1/80 overhead wires, also im sure that after a few exhibition showings there would be some damadge to repair.

The first purchase is a nice repainted type 58 Kato DMU set, 4 cars in total, this brings the passenger DMU fleet up to eight sets, quite enough for now.

I will detail some progress on my baseboard soon with some trackwork detail.

Hand built Brass

To complement my Modemo 373 unit, I have taken the plunge and bought a second hand type 253 Narita Airport Express hand built brass three car EMU by ENDO. These trains operate several routes around the Tokyo area to the Narita airport.

These super models by ENDO are expensive by European prices and are only just at a viable price on the second hand market, I dont make purchases very often of this kind, and this might be a one off to go with my only other brass EMU set, a four car type suburban 209 by the KTM company.

The major problem with all these nice "handbuilt" models is the drive systems, OK as other models its totally hidden under the floor and powers the bogies through very small axle diffs, and there is no facility for DCC thus to get the models fitted with decoders will again be an expensive outlay.

A rare item now.

Here in the United Kingdom the Hasegawa company is well know for its models of military prototypes and aircraft, however in Japan they also market a small growing range of model trains under the "Modemo" marketing name.

Originally the Modemo name was known for its models in N, 1/80 HO and even O scale for their range of plastic tram kits that were either static models or motorised. Their range continues to grow in N scale and now includes some DMU and EMU sets.

Besides some plastic kits of older 1950's prototype passenger cars and a private railway two car EMU, the only other item available in 1/80 ready to run was the JR Central type 373 EMU set pictured above, this is one of my personal favorite trains on modern Japanese railways and I was pleased when the item first became available eight years ago. The model is of dubious quality compared with models that are available from Tomix and Kato, underframe detail is very limited and the bogies compensate to a degree that the wheel sets fall out of the bogie truck every time the model is taken from the box. The model otherwise runs well with another well designed underfloor "invisible" mechanism.

The comment that I have made above although personal has also been repeated in the Japanese model railway press, and the model is now no longer part of the Modemo range, it has been their only offering of modern image rolling stock to date in HO 1/80, perhaps the press comments worried them about starting another model.

The models now command high prices on the Japanese used market and are very hard and scarce to find, originally these items were available from the now closed JR models in Taunton for £180, I have seen them sell for over £250 on Japanese auction sites recently, so perhaps it might be worth some effort by Modemo to re-engineer the model and offer it again made to a higher standard.