Kato - New releases

[Darren Jeffries]

The following items are new releases from Kato.

? Item No Descriptions Price* (Yen) Bar Code Release
NEW  20-544 Double Track Curved Track R414/R381-45 Degrees Incllined (2 pcs.)  1,470 4949727517162 Dec.4


NEW  20-545 Double Tack Viaduct Approach R414/R381 (L & R)  683 4949727517193 |


? 8037-4 Tank Car TAKI 1000 Blue with Japan Oil Terminal Feather Mark  1,365 4949727517278 Dec.7


NEW  10-547 Series N700 Shinaknsen Bullet Train "Nozomi" 4-Car Set, Powered  13,650 4949727517605 |
NEW  10-548 Series N700 Shinaknsen Bullet Train "Nozomi" 4-Car Set, Add-On  8,925 4949727517612 |
NEW  10-549 Series N700 Shinaknsen Bullet Train "Nozomi" 8-Car Set, Add-On  14,700 4949727517629 |


NEW  10-005 Passport Special Set inc. Steam Locomotive D51 Train  18,900 4949727517636 Dec.11


NEW  11-512 Series 321 Japanese Destination Sign Set, JR Kyoto/Kobe Lines  1,260 4949727517223 |
NEW  11-513 Series 321 Japanese Destination Sign Set, JR Takarazuka Line  1,680 4949727517230 |


NEW  10-550 Series KIHA82 6-Car Set (connectible with Loco. EF63)  16,800 4949727517674 | Dec.20
NEW  6061-3 Diesel Car KIHA 82  3,150 4949727517681 |
NEW  6062-3 Diesel Car KIRO 80  1,470 4949727517698 |
NEW  6063-3 Diesel Car KIHA 80 Powered  4,410 4949727517704 |
NEW  6064-3 Diesel Car KIHA 80 Trailer  1,470 4949727517711 |


NEW  23-107 Suburban Island Platform A  1,050 4949727515601 Dec.26
NEW  23-108 Suburban Island Platform B  1,050 4949727515618 |
NEW  23-109 Suburban Island Platform End B (2 pcs.)  1,050 4949727515625 |


NEW  2019-2 Steam Locomotive C62 Tokaido Line  11,550 4949727517643 |


NEW  10-534 Series SUHA 44 Express "Tsubame" 7-Car Basic Set  12,600 4949727517735 |
NEW  10-535 Series SUHA 44 Express "Tsubame" 7-Car Add-On Set  10,500 4949727517742 |


3020-4 EF58 Brown  6,510 4949727517834 Jan.10

[disturbman]

Kato seems to be releasing a new painted train for may, the Series 205-3100 Senseki Line Mangattan Liner II (a 4-car Set).

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10110217

[Mudkip Orange]

The "Mangattan Liner" (gotta love that literal romaji pronuniciation!) trains showcase artwork from Shotaro Ishinomari, who basically invented the concept that later became Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. A decent chunk of his work is now housed in a museum that looks a bit like a crashed UFO - see http://www.man-bow.com/manga/

[westfalen]

Unusual to see this coming from Kato, 'painted' trains are usually more a Miro-Ace thing.

[disturbman]

Not a painted train but that's it, Kato is going to release in june the new EF510-500 Hokutosei.

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10111670

That was quick!

[disturbman]

And for those who don't know, the loc looks like that and will be used by JR East to haul Hokutosei and Cassiopeia sleeper trains.

More details...

source: http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/ef510.shtml

[bill937ca]

More photos from the RM blog.

http://rail.hobidas.com/blog/natori/archives/2010/03/post_1214.html

[Toni Babelony]

Yes, it was just delivered to JR East and already Kato jumps on the bandwagon!

On pre-order already on HobbySearch! http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10111670

 

[disturbman]

Allready announced two days ago, see this thread some posts before. :)

[Toni Babelony]

Allready announced two days ago, see this thread some posts before. :)

Ah, I see :P Didn't see that one, so I thought I'd start a new thread.

[Toni Babelony]

Also, the EF500-510 is now also on HW Japan on pre-order! Of course with 26% off http://www.hwjapan.com/sh/KAT2010030501.aspx

[scott]

Does Kato have an e-mail list for new-model announcements? I've looked all over kato-models.com and can't find anything.

[CaptOblivious]

This is a good source for release information generally:

http://ngi.blog.eonet.jp/n_gauge/

If you use Google Reader to subscribe to RSS feeds, you can set it to automatically translate the feed into English!

[westfalen]

Does Kato have an e-mail list for new-model announcements? I've looked all over kato-models.com and can't find anything.

Have you surfed around the Japanese language version of Kato's website? It has a lot more information than the English version.

http://www.katomodels.com/info/topicslog.shtml

[scott]

Looks like Kato will be releasing both a 3-car 115 set and a 2-car E127, both in Niigata livery. (Toni, you were right about the E127!) Looks like I'll be pre-ordering...

There's more, of course--poster attached:

[David]

Ouch. A second E127 (Kato site link doesn't work yet, but I assume it's EM13/FL11 DCC like the other), and another steam/passenger set back to back. Yeah, I'll be spending a lot this summer. At least that 10-828 setup is smaller/cheaper then the complete Tsubame steam set.

[Toni Babelony]

Heheheh I'm always right

Anyways, that 115 looks attractive as hell! I have some good memories travelling on one of 'em from Echigoyuzawa to Urasa... I shouldn't get one, as I'm Enoden (and other very small EMU) orientated...

[David]

I need to wait until Kato actually fills in the page for the 115 (both it and the new E127 pages are blank), I'm really trying to get only DCC ready (EM13) EMUs going forward. I'm still killing myself with steam engines that I'll likely never be able to upgrade to DCC. Gets worse with my lovely set of 9600s since their coreless motors would fry trying to use address 00 on DCC.

[scott]

Pre-orders are open--HW's prices are a little better than HS's, if anybody's looking. I pre-ordered both Niigata sets; now I'm wondering if I should cancel the pre-order of the Oito line E127, but I'm not sure how.

[edit] Does it make me extra-geeky that I had pre-ordered *before* I got the Hobby Search e-mail announcing the new releases? 

[David]

As before, trams where announced, and the tram portion of the poster was seen at the Shizuoka Hobby Show.

Besides the 3 trams, Kato also has (new) in September:

JR East Nambu Line 205-1200 series (6 car formation)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nambu_Line

DF40 locomotive and individual 43 series passenger cars (Suha 42, Suha 43, Oha 47) available in both blue and brown
DD54 locomotive and 7 car 20 series sleeper set (also individual cars available)

EDIT: Just to be clear, the locomotives are new, the matching passenger cars are reruns (they also match previous electric locomotives Kato has released - the EF65-500 is in fact in the rerun list just below, giving you two choices to pull the set)

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Yes, I am also seriously happy that the H0 DE10 is having a rerun 

[to2leo]

I wish I can see how the black and white Toyama tram looks like.

[David]

I wish I can see how the black and white Toyama tram looks like.

In theory they should look just like the TomyTec versions coming out this month, only with working lights and built in motor (everything but the shell is likely to be 100% the same as the first set of Kato Portram units).

[bikkuri bahn]

Yes, I am also seriously happy that the H0 DE10 is having a rerun

Me too, I'm tempted to make a reservation (I already have reserved Kato's rerun of the C56, which is due sometime this month).  But the upcoming HO Tenshodo C58 in plastic is even more attractive.

[SONIC883]

Uhuhuh! A DD54!

I had 3 old Tomix DD54 which I send back after short runnig time because the gear was awful and the locos was stopping.
This is my favorite from KATO this year

And the DF50... Maybe the loco looks better like the MicroACE one, but I wouldn't replace it. Old diesels is not my high rated theme for collection

[David]

Not sure if it's actually an American/European product being sold under the Kato name (anyone recognize them?)

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119788
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119785
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119787
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119784
https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119786

Looks like they're all the same tooling, just with different paint jobs. 2 car set for $86 suggests it's either a motor car and a trailer car, or that both cars are powered with a simple drive system (i.e. from the photo it almost looks like it could use the pocket train power unit).

Could this be an extension of the Unitram system (you have to admit Kato has a pretty easy job if they want to do that, since the reality of cities buying from only a few companies reality means they can release many trams using the exact same tooling - for North America they could easily get away with releasing a Kato quality PCC in half a dozen liveries)

[Toni Babelony]

Hah, cool: https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10119787 A local brew ad! These things will probably be a hit again in Germany.

[SONIC883]

Looks like a rerun of the _old_ "Hannover gruesst Hiroshima" Tram serval years ago

[David]

The differences seem to be the addition of an advertising board to the roof (the drawing also suggests a slight increase in roof detail, but its hard to tell from one little line) and a big change in price - even for a 2 car set it seems expensive compared to the old model. Is Kato reusing the molds for the body (with an addition to or replacement of the roof piece), but replacing the mechanism with something that won't be as obvious?

[rankodd]

They're also listed as 1/160 instead of 1/150. How accurate are they with such specs?

[marknewton]

Not sure if it's actually an American/European product being sold under the Kato name (anyone recognize them?)]

It's the existing Kato model of a KSW single trucker as far as I can see.

Cheers,

Mark.

[westfalen]

They're also listed as 1/160 instead of 1/150. How accurate are they with such specs?

All Kato products for the European market, TGV, class 66, etc, are 1/160.

[bill937ca]

Those little single truckers with four wheel drive have a tendency to get stuck in switches and crossovers when they hit a dead spot---unless you run them a hundred miles an hour.

[marknewton]

Ha - a bit like a real single-truck car! 

We have a Reko-wagen at the museum, and it's very temperamental going through the scissors crossover.

Cheers,

Mark.

[clem24]

What I really want to know is when Hobbytrain is going to release those dang M6 Duwags...

[scott]

The announcement for Kato's September releases is out. Nothing as exciting as the last couple of months, for me at least, but it looks like there will be three  more trams. The 683 is nice, but a bit steep. I know it's not realistic, but I wish they'd release a 4-car set.

[disturbman]

You are late, this has already been discussed at lentgh on the forum.

[scott]

I'm sorry--I missed that somehow. Is it possible to delete this thread?

[Tosaden]

This is a model of the so called "Aufbauwagen". These cars were seen in many cities in Germany after WW2.

[David]

I'm not sure if there is anything to excite anyone, the reissues don't seem far off what's already been reissued recently. Two new sets, the Tokaido E233-1000 (I might be interested even if the Tohoku Jukan link to Ueno won't be done for a few years) which is probably DCC ready, and the 115-1000 Niigata renewel color 2-car set.

[rankodd]

Woo! I didn't realize that the 113 series was up for re-release! It's one of the trains that I took photos of when I was there in 2004 and I was always disappointed that the set was sold out. Thanks for the post! :)

[KenS]

Most, if not all, of these are available for Reservation on Hobby Search.  They were posted late Friday.

It is nice to have the poster up though, as it confirms what should be there.

[David]

Yes, all the reissues where up on HS on Friday, only the 2 new items are "new".

[KenS]

Back at the May hobby show, there was a brief mention that Kato was doing a new version of the Hokutosei "blue train".  HS just put up the reservation page for the basic 6-car set, the expansion 6-car set, and the re-released blue EF510-500, all due in November.

Google doesn't find the part number anywhere else yet (not even on Kato's home page, although the EF510-500 is showing up there on the production schedule). And HS doesn't have any photos yet.  A very under-the-radar product release.

I already have an EF510-500 (I picked one up last month), but I've put in my reservation for the two sets of cars.  This is one of the last kinds of trains I didn't have a model of (locomotive-hauled passenger cars), and I'm really looking forward to it.

[angusmclean]

I moved too quickly.  I despaired of waiting for Kato to rerelease this coach set, suprising they didn't combine the loco/coach set release date back in June, and opted for the Tomix 7/5 12 coach set instead last month. Also disappointed that Kato did not do a gazzump on Tomix in the November production slot by releasing a Cassiopea liveried version of the EF510.500.

Angus

[KenS]

It's not clear to me if this is a simple re-release, or an updated version. The previous set (10-804/805/806) was also a 12-car set of the train, but it came with the EF81 (used up to this year).  This one has a new model number (10-831/832), and they're re-releasing both the EF510-500 and DD51, which I believe are the present motive power as of June.  So there could be differences in the cars to update them also (I'm not well-versed in passenger-car details to know what's changed in the last few years).

The lack of a Cassiopeia-liveried version of the EF510-500 is an odd oversight.  I have to believe they're going to do one.  But Kato always seems to march to its own drummer, and not do things that are "obvious" to the rest of us (like Unitram switches, for example).

[Fat Al]

I moved too quickly.  I despaired of waiting for Kato to rerelease this coach set, suprising they didn't combine the loco/coach set release date back in June, and opted for the Tomix 7/5 12 coach set instead last month. Also disappointed that Kato did not do a gazzump on Tomix in the November production slot by releasing a Cassiopea liveried version of the EF510.500.

Angus

You can never move too quickly.

You just have to buy all of it, that's all. 

[KenS]

I turned up a Japanese blog, and another one, with details of the sets.  Assuming I've read this correctly, the cars in the sets appear to be an exact match for the post-2008 12-car consist described on the Japanese Wikipedia page for the Hokutosei, with the first six cars owned by JR Hokkaido, and the second six by JR East:

Ohanehu25-2  (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper, HU?)
Ohane25-562  (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper) “Duet”
Ohane25-563  (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper) “Duet”
Ohane25-566  (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper) “Duet”
Ohane25-552  (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper) “Solo”
Suhane25-503  (37.5 - 42.5t, standard class, sleeper) “Lobby, Solo”
Sushi24-505    (37.5 - 42.5t, catering car) “Grand Chariot (dining car)”
Orone25-505  (32.5-37.5t, green class, sleeper) “Twin Delux”
Orohane25-502 (32.5-37.5t, green class/standard class, sleeper) “Royal Solo”
Orohane24-553  (32.5-37.5t, green class/standard class, sleeper) “Royal Delux”
Ohanehu25-215 (32.5-37.5t, standard class, sleeper, HU?)
Kani24-505  (over 47.5t, luggage car)

The wikipedia page suggests that the first Ohanehu has "B compartments" (which I think is Googleese for "Bed Compartments"), but that the second Ohanehu has "open bed B", but that's the only difference in the two lists. Anyone know what "hu" stands for?

Note: I used the list of car types (Ohane, etc) on the Prototype board to translate the names to the parenthesized info.

The text on both sites is similar, and sounds a lot like the usual Kato description, and apparently came from a FAX sent to hobby shops (again, if I'm reading it correctly).  The cars take the usual 11-209/210 interior lighting sets. The two end cars appear to be equipped with Rapido couplers (and something called a "Nakkurukapura" is included). A "Hokutosei" end sign is included.

[westfalen]

It's not clear to me if this is a simple re-release, or an updated version. The previous set (10-804/805/806) was also a 12-car set of the train, but it came with the EF81 (used up to this year).  This one has a new model number (10-831/832), and they're re-releasing both the EF510-500 and DD51, which I believe are the present motive power as of June.  So there could be differences in the cars to update them also (I'm not well-versed in passenger-car details to know what's changed in the last few years).

The lack of a Cassiopeia-liveried version of the EF510-500 is an odd oversight.  I have to believe they're going to do one.  But Kato always seems to march to its own drummer, and not do things that are "obvious" to the rest of us (like Unitram switches, for example).

I wish Kato had said they were re-doing the cars when they bought out the loco. I couldn't wait for a train for my EF510-500 to pull so I grabbed the 10-804/805/806 when I found a set, they only have 11 passenger cars plus the EF81 which I didn't really want but I guess you can never have too many engines.

I may have to get the new sets and have pre-2008 and post-2008 trains.

The 10-804/805/806 sets come with interior lighting already installed.
BTW "Nakkurukapura"=knuckle coupler

[David]

Most of this already thin month has been known. Interesting that the "hyper" controller isn't marked new - have we overlooked the possiblity that it's really one of Kato's old 80s controllers being brought back (it certaintly looks like the old color scheme)?