Vol. 2 - No. 21

19th October, 2005

    
 CONTENTS

LATEST RELEASE NEWS

NOW AVAILABLE

LATEST PUBLICATIONS

PRODUCT REVIEWS

DVD REVIEWS

Other Pages

Index page of previous Product & DVD
reviews & Newsletter Back issues

RELEASE INFORMATION NEWS 
 Tomix
Kato
MicroAce
Greenmax
Modemo
Others

 EDITORIAL

There hasn't been much new news recently, other than the steady release of previously planned items.

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***** from TOMIX *****

41 days to release :-)

Latest Release News

19th October 2005

Kato will release the following ....
25th - 3019-5 EF65-1000 EL
27th - 3019-6 EF65-1000 EL and Saikyo line 205 10 car set and 6 door car sets.

The re-release of the Kirara 900 sets have been put back to early November, and also the DD51's have been put back to November.

Kato are releasing another European 'Bullet' train, this time the 10 car Spanish RENFE AVE set, which looks to me like a repainted version of the Thalys.

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Now Available

18th October 2005

Kato released the 10-470 2 pack of E231 green cars

17th October 2005

Tomix have changed the release date of the new Koki200 FC from December to November and the Hokkaido Chihoku Heights Railway CR75 series DC 2 car set 'Galaxy 999' set from October to November.

15th October 2005

MicroAce released the following ...

A9714 9600-9633 series SL 'Zebra'


A9715 9600-79618 series SL (Hokkaido)


A8811 2003 series Shinkansen DL 


A8806 912-2 series shinkansen DL

14th October 2005

MicroAce released the following ...

A1462 EF58-122 series EL + 2x Ohafu46 PC + 3x Tora90000 open tourist car 6 car set


A1463 EF55-1 series EL + Oha47 & Ohafu42 PC + 4x Tora90000 open tourist car 7 car set


A1182 417 series EC 6 car set (Tohoku area)


A1181 417 series EC 6 car set


A1180 417 series EC 6 car set (JNR)


D0002 Catalog #2 (306 full colour pages)

Modemo released the NS107 passenger car set.

6th October 2005

Kato released the 3rd type EH500 EL

and the 485 'bonnet' sets

4th October 2005

Kato released the first 4 in a new range of old-style commercial city type buildings.

23-454 - bank


23-455 - public hall


23-456 - taxi depot


23-457 - transport company office


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Latest Publications

MicroAce Catalog #2 

With MicroAce releasing 6-10 new items EVERY MONTH, you would expect a new catalog after 2 years to be a bit larger, and it is .... 88% more pages, 28% heavier, and fortunately only 5% more expensive !!!

All their range is featured (according to the cover, 674 items!!), mostly with one page per train type (which may be one set or a main + addon set etc. Pictures of all the cars are shown, together with the car number, symbols for features like lights, motor etc. There is a short story about the prototype, a picture of the set in it's case, some closeups of the models, diagrams of the full train's configuration, and the date the model was released.

Featured in the front is their HO Hokkaido diesel car range, and the Georama system hardly gets a mention !!! The back section is rounded out with pictures of the trains for release in Nov 2005 - Feb 2006, a full catalog listing, and directory of shops where you can buy them.

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Product Reviews

Tomix 5563 TCS Automatic Train Controller

This is designed to be used with the Tomix track sensors and TCS controllers. It gets it power from the TCS output of the controller, and has an input the white power plug from the controller, and up to 4 sensors. These can either be the track section one or the clipon one. Outputs can be two power feeders and control of 2 points. There is also a TCS output for continuation to other devices, eg level crossing, signals etc. There are ten modes of operations, with 8 being specific configurations, and a random mode and a straight thru mode. Diagrams showing the different modes can be seen on the "2 Sides of Japan" home page, and I will soon upload movies of trains performing all the different actions.

http://Japanese-Trains.com/2sides/

The sensors are used to perform functions sometime individually, and sometimes in pairs eg the first one to slow a train down, and the second one to make it stop completely. In the cases where there is only one sensor to start the train slowing, you need to have enough track length in front of it before it stops. The sensors can go on either side of the track, facing in any direction. You can adjust the rate of acceleration/deceleration from almost immediate to quite long, and depending on the speed of the train, you can adjust exactly where it comes to a halt using this control. Another control lets you adjust the length of time it waits between actions, from 3 to 60 seconds. I have found that the trains run a lot slower when using this unit, even when you have the main controller on full speed.

You can 'trick' it into combining several functions using multiple controllers as well eg if you wanted to have a section of track where one end had 3 sidings (mode 5), and in the middle you wanted to have a passing loop (mode 2). You set up one controller for each section, and make sure you have a insulated rail between them, and the controllers set on the same speed. The sensors can be mixed up between the sections, so the end trigger for each controller (that is used to reverse the direction of the train) is at the end of the other section. Of course you need one power controller for each auto unit.

Also multiple sensors can be joined 'in series', so that either will trigger the same function eg rather than just have one train going up and back the track, put some sidings at each end, and put a sensor on each one that are joined together. You can choose which track you select yourself, but whichever train is selected will still go up and back. You can us this with mode 5 which automatically selects 3 different trains, and make each of these three tracks manually selectable multiple tracks as well !!!

A very clever device, and I will be using it heavily on my next layout.

Modemo NT51 Enoshima 1100 type 'Yoshitsune' 

Another release from Modemo in their Enoden series, and this one was only repainted in this scheme earlier this year !!! The one 1100 series car is basically the same as the 1000 series, with slight mechanical differences, so Modemo were able to just do a repaint of their previous 1000 car. There are many colours in this scheme and the detail work is very fine and crisply printed. Both sides of the car are the same, and because this is a unique car, the car numbers are also printed on the ends. All you have to do is add a couple of details parts to the roof, and cutout and add the destination sign stickers of your choice. I notice that the interior details of the motor /gearboxes etc are now black rather than silver, so not as noticeable though the car windows.

Now all Modemo have to do (other than the many other colourful adverting schemes on other sets) is release the 10 and 20 series cars !!!

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DVD Reviews

JR Freight Train Parade

Company : Vicom
Title : JR Kamotsu Ressha
Number : DR-4653
Time : 95min
Zone : ALL
Format : NTSC 4:3
Price : „3,500

Vicom produces many 'train parade' videos every year, from yearly summaries, to specialised ones on particular areas (eg Hokkaido) or types of trains (eg Expresses). Never before have we seen freight trains featured though ...

This volume is broken up in chapters and sub-chapters as follows, based on the type of loco ...

  1. Diesel

    • DE10

    • DD51

    • DF200

  • DC electric

    • EF64

    • EF65

    • EF66

    • EF67

    • EF200

    • EF210

    • EH200

  • AC electric

    • ED75

    • ED76

    • ED79

  • Multi-voltage electric

    • EF81

    • EH500

  • Super Rail Cargo

    • In most cases you get to see a several full trains with each loco. This volume certainly fills a big gap in Japanese Train watching videos !!!

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    As mentioned above, this service is sponsored by 'Japanese Model Supplies', the only Japanese-only model train and other hobby item supplier in the world, outside of  Japan. Other suppliers have recently been broadening their ranges, and supply other things like computer games, and Chinese & European trains - 'Japanese Model Supplies' will always stay with Japanese-only products. It is often difficult to source these type of items and get accurate and timely information in English, when you do not live in Japan, cannot read Japanese web pages or do not have any contacts there. We have the facilities to access this information and these products, and whilst based in Australia, currently supply customers all over the world, including Australia, New Zealand, England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, South Africa, Canada and the USA. Therefore you will find that the items you see presented are not just 'fantasy' items that get released in Japan and you have no way of acquiring them - 'Japanese Model Supplies' CAN get these items, and CAN ship them to anywhere in the world (unlike some other retailers of Japanese model trains, who refuse to ship to the USA etc) !!!

    See their web page at the address listed above for all the information on what has been produced and how to get it.

    If you are in Japan, and visit the Osaka area, I recommend you take the time to visit "Railcraft Awaza". They have a large range of products available, together with friendly advice and service (but only in Japanese). Some photos on this site are taken by them and appear with their permission. For details of their shop location, see their web page at ... http://www.rc-awaza.com

     

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    Abbreviation

    Explanation

    TEC

    Shinkansen (Bullet train)

    EC

    Electric car (EMU)

    DC

    Diesel car (DMU)

    PC

    Passenger car

    FC

    Freight car

    SL

    Steam loco

    EL

    Electric loco

    DL

    Diesel loco

         Useful Links

    E & O E - best viewed 1024x768 or higher
    Page contents copyright 2005 - Doug Coster
    Photos copyright of the respective manufacturers & Railcraft Awaza Osaka.