Where to get trains that went on sell 8 years ago? (Chuuou 231-0, Micro Ace A4012/3)

[snarfel]

Haven't done this hobby for quite some time, maybe 15 years and looking to get back into it. Thought I'd collect and play with something of more personal value first. Used to take the Yamanote (231-500) and Chuuou (231-0) to school between Meguro-ku and Chiyoda-ku. The Yamanote 231-500 not surprisingly is relatively easy to get ahold of, will probably pick up one of the newer runs by Kato. The Chuuou-Sobu 231-0 is much harder to get ahold of...only Tomix and Micro Ace seem to have done it. Tomix is easier to get ahold of...but they seem have a weird thing going on with a 3 and 4 car set...so not the full 10 car set...neither include any of the SaHa cars...Micro Ace seems to be the only one with their 4 and 6 car sets to make the nice 10 car set, but their last run was in 2010.

 

Trawling through the forums it looks like people use Buyee and maybe a few other sources, but I have yet to find a Micro Ace A4012 and/or A4013 up for sell. Are there any recommended places to park a search alert or something? Thanks!

Edited May 15, 2018 by snarfel

[katoftw]

buy one of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112102

 

then buy one of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112104

 

then buy three of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112106

[snarfel]

4 minutes ago, katoftw said:

buy one of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112102

 

then buy one of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112104

 

then buy three of these https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10112106

You are absolutely amazing, thank you so much! Do you know if there's a recommended DCC chip to convert the motored car from DC to DCC? Didn't see anything on the store page or the Tomix product page beyond the optional light kits.

[kvp]

1 hour ago, snarfel said:

You are absolutely amazing, thank you so much! Do you know if there's a recommended DCC chip to convert the motored car from DC to DCC? Didn't see anything on the store page or the Tomix product page beyond the optional light kits.

Since Tomix trains don't officially support DCC, i would suggest wired Digitrax decoders (DZ12x series) as Kato DCC decoders are also made by Digitrax. Some Lenz mini decoders also support bipolar headlights and that would allow you to convert the head and tail lights without modifiying the boards, essentially the same way as the motor cars, by adding the decoder between the two pickup strips and the motor/headlight board contacts.

[snarfel]

On 5/15/2018 at 2:09 AM, kvp said:

Since Tomix trains don't officially support DCC, i would suggest wired Digitrax decoders (DZ12x series) as Kato DCC decoders are also made by Digitrax. Some Lenz mini decoders also support bipolar headlights and that would allow you to convert the head and tail lights without modifiying the boards, essentially the same way as the motor cars, by adding the decoder between the two pickup strips and the motor/headlight board contacts.

So basically get like a DZ126 for each of the 10 cars...so something like $220 for the parts then? Any Tomix DCC converters here recommend any Digitax decoders in particular? Is there a guide or anything on converting Tomix non-motor cars to DCC? Worst case I can always pay my local store to do it as they support that kind of thing, but I'd rather learn to do it myself should I move to a place that doesn't have that kind of convenience. The only thing I've been able to find thus far are videos for the Tomix motored track cleaner.

[kvp]

Normally only the head/tail lights and the motor cars are converted. Any internal lights are left always on as most LED based internal lighting boards have rectifiers and could run safely from 14V (N scale) DCC.

 

If you do this, then usually only 3 decoders will be needed, two for the end cars and one for the middle motor car. The internal lights (if any) will be always on unless the train is stored on an unpowered track.