Other Models
Bus Models for Japan
07 April 2013 23:48
Jerry’s recent post on Quintopia about cars and the arrival of my order for four N-scale Tomytec bus models have me thinking about road vehicles.
One of the hardest parts of modeling a contemporary model railroad is the lack of contemporary road vehicles. By far the majority of what is available seem to be things not seen on roadways for half a century. And an urban railroad needs a LOT of model vehicles to look even slightly realistic. And they can’t all look exactly alike either.
As Jerry noted, Tomytec’s collections of cars, trucks, and busses (links are to Japanese pages) are a very good way of acquiring fairly detailed models in bulk at reasonable costs. A typical car collection bought from Japan runs US$67 before shipping and contains twelve boxes, each containing (typically) two vehicles. Even with shipping, that’s likely less than $5 per vehicle. Not as cheap as the low-quality Chinese models available off Ebay, which are suitable for filling in back streets, parking garages, and other places where the car is more glimpsed than seen. But a good price for a detailed model, and about a third of what European models go for.
Shipping from Japan isn’t cheap. I use EMS (express mail), and shipping my order of four busses cost me $15, about 50% of the cost of the busses themselves. But I’m impatient, and EMS gets the package to me in about five days. If you can wait weeks (or sometimes months), shipping SAL (standby air) will be a lot cheaper for small, lightweight, models like these. But it’s still going to be a significant part of the total cost. If you want to order these, see the websites of the Japan-based hobby stores listed on my Suppliers page for more specific information.
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One of the hardest parts of modeling a contemporary model railroad is the lack of contemporary road vehicles. By far the majority of what is available seem to be things not seen on roadways for half a century. And an urban railroad needs a LOT of model vehicles to look even slightly realistic. And they can’t all look exactly alike either.
As Jerry noted, Tomytec’s collections of cars, trucks, and busses (links are to Japanese pages) are a very good way of acquiring fairly detailed models in bulk at reasonable costs. A typical car collection bought from Japan runs US$67 before shipping and contains twelve boxes, each containing (typically) two vehicles. Even with shipping, that’s likely less than $5 per vehicle. Not as cheap as the low-quality Chinese models available off Ebay, which are suitable for filling in back streets, parking garages, and other places where the car is more glimpsed than seen. But a good price for a detailed model, and about a third of what European models go for.
Shipping from Japan isn’t cheap. I use EMS (express mail), and shipping my order of four busses cost me $15, about 50% of the cost of the busses themselves. But I’m impatient, and EMS gets the package to me in about five days. If you can wait weeks (or sometimes months), shipping SAL (standby air) will be a lot cheaper for small, lightweight, models like these. But it’s still going to be a significant part of the total cost. If you want to order these, see the websites of the Japan-based hobby stores listed on my Suppliers page for more specific information.
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Pylons
28 April 2012 23:42
No, I’m not writing about the ones from the 70s TV series. These are the electrical kind, Kato kit 23-401, which is actually a Heljan-produced model, although apparently not one sold directly by that company. The kit contains material for three high-voltage electrical towers of a common design. In fact, they’re nearly identical to those in a photo of Shin-Yokohama described as owned by JR East (see my Electrical Reference Images page). List price from Kato USA is US$19, but I’ve seen them for less. Frankly, they’re overpriced for what you get. Read More...
The Longest Preorder
16 October 2011 22:21
If you get into buying Japanese trains, the preorder is inescapable. Many models are produced in production runs just large enough to fill initial orders, and often not re-produced for several years, if ever. Popular models can sell out before they even arrive in stores, and if you want to be sure of getting something, you need to work with that.
It’s not that bad a practice in general. You are committing to buying something (stores may not do business with you again if you back out of a preorder, and they’re generally not cancelable). But you don’t have to pay, not even a deposit, until it actually arrives in the store. I do almost all of my preorders through Hobby Search, and have overall been quite satisfied with them.
A typical new product will be opened for orders several months in advance of the planned delivery date, and preordering will close when that store’s initial allotment is accounted for, which can be days after the preorder opens, or not until the model ships. Some preorders are for shorter lead times, even as little as a few weeks. Most are generally within six months. But I had one order that took a year. That is it up above.
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It’s not that bad a practice in general. You are committing to buying something (stores may not do business with you again if you back out of a preorder, and they’re generally not cancelable). But you don’t have to pay, not even a deposit, until it actually arrives in the store. I do almost all of my preorders through Hobby Search, and have overall been quite satisfied with them.
A typical new product will be opened for orders several months in advance of the planned delivery date, and preordering will close when that store’s initial allotment is accounted for, which can be days after the preorder opens, or not until the model ships. Some preorders are for shorter lead times, even as little as a few weeks. Most are generally within six months. But I had one order that took a year. That is it up above.
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