kato 500 kei evangalion

[gavino200]

Both Kato and Tomix have their own good points with regards to shinkansens, but you certainly can't go wrong with most of the modern Tomix models.  I've also got a pre-order for the Tomix EVA 500.

How are Tomix with DCC? Do they have proprietary decoders like the Kato Shinkansens? Also, how simple is lighting installation?  My only experience with Tomix was with a Thomas the Tank engine. It ran well, but decoder installation was horrible. 

[Martijn Meerts]

Motor car is usually really easy to install a decoder into, but it does require taking the motor car apart and soldering wires to the motor and track pickup strips. If you've used a soldering iron before, it shouldn't be a problem.

 

The cab cars tend to be a little more difficult, but it really depends on the train. I recently added decoders to a Tomix 0 series shinkansen, which required some modications to the light boards in the cab cars, but they were fairly minor (cutting some copper traces, and adding some additional wiring for common anode). 

 

Tomix has no DCC-ready trains at all, they all require custom installation.