JMTN blog

 I have written a short history of this interesting & colourful train in my personal Blog page, so if you want to read more about it, please have a look …

http://redracer.wordpress.com/2007/02/27/jr-east-shikisai-4-seasons-joyful-train/

Kato (under their Roundhouse label) will be releasing their latest version in March 2007, so if you are interested in ordering one of these, the deadline is NOW !!! As always please write to me directly.

Tomytec have finally opened web pages for the following items ….

• ‘The Truck Collection’ #3
• ‘The Trailer Collection’ #2 (due out on the 28th Feb)
• ‘The Car Collection’ #4 (just been released)
• ‘Tatemono Collection’ - Farms D/E/F & Factorys A/B/C
• ‘Jyoukei Collection’ - factory workers 4/5/6

As I promised, the last task before the chapter that was ‘Setagaya’ was closed forever, was to document all the buildings.

This has now been done at this page.

Please be patient, as there are over 370 thumbnails to load   Click on each one to see a larger version.

Some buildings were on different versions of the layout over the 5 year period, because when I first started, there were none of the Kato Diotown and Tomytec Machinami series etc available. As new releases came out, other buildings had to go, even though the layout was expanded to double the original size just to accomodate everything I wanted to display.

Not every building on the page was used on the layout, but it will give you an idea of the versatility of some of these kits, and hopefully give you some ideas to make some of your own. Don’t worry - the designs are not copyrighted

Please enjoy browsing, and if you have any questions about any of the buildings, please feel free to ask. With that many pictures, I am sure I may have missed a link somewhere, so if find any errors, please let me know

Here are the tentative releases that MicroAce plan for July 2007 …..

NEW RELEASES

• A0521 455 series EC 3 car set ‘Akabee’  (red/gray strip/white curve)
• A0522 475 series EC 3+3 car set revival express colour type (beige/cream)
• A2069 Chichibu Railway Deki200 series EL (brown)
• A2075 Chichibu Railway Deki300 series EL (blue with white stripes)
• A2086 Chichibu Railway 8x Woki100 + 2x Wokifu100 Limestone wagon 10 car set (black)
• A2390 Kiha65-600/1000 series DC 3+3 car set ‘Edel Tango / Spur’ Joyful train (white with pink/blue/yellow/green stripes)
• A2392 Kiha65-700/1700 series DC 2+2 car set ‘Edel Tottori’ Joyful train (white with blue stripe/dark pink front roof)
• A2450 103-1500 series EC 6 car set (JNR Kyushu area colour - light blue with cream stripe)
• A2457 103-1500 series EC 3+3 car set (JRKyushu - light gray/dark gray stripe/red doors & ends)
• A3127 Taki1100 series Cement wagon 8 car set ‘Ube Industries Cement Service’ (pale blue-green) - rerun of 2003 set with different company name

RE-RELEASES

• A7501 DD16-303 series DL (standard colour)
• A7502 DD16 series DL with Russell Snowplough

The following items will be out on the 15th …

A0254 0 series Shinkansen 8 car basic set (Imperial use)
A0258 0 series Shinkansen 8 car add-on set (Imperial use)
A1981 Seibu 10000 series EC 7 car set ‘New Red Arrow’ (refurbished type)
A1982 Seibu 10000 series EC 7 car set ‘New Red Arrow’ (original type)
A2180 Odakyu 5000 series EC 4 car set (single arm pantograph)
A2181 Odakyu 5200 series EC 6 car set (single arm pantograph)
A8251 Kiha183-5200 series DC 3 car set ‘Hakodate Express’
A8254 Kiha183-5200 series DC 5 car set ‘North Rainbow Express’

There have been lots of changes to release dates, particularly from Kato, who never seem to be able to plan anything properly

TOMIX

Just out
JR Hokkaido ‘Hokutosei’ passenger sets (will review shortly)

February
10th  - JR West 321 series EC sets
        - DE10 series DL JR Freight (red/gray)
211-3000 series EC with 2 green cars (1 double deck)

March
Kiha01/Kiyuni01 series DC 2 car powered sets
‘Sayonara Izumo’ passenger limited edition set
485 series EC + Kiro65 DC ‘Yutopia’ 2 car set
EF66 series EL
JR Hokkaido Kiha183-550 series DC sets (new version)

April
Nagano Railway 1000 series EC 4 car set (ex-Odakyu HiSE10000)

May
new style 6 & 7 car cases
JR Hokkaido Kiha183 series DC ‘Super Tokachi’ set (new version)
EF65-1000 series EL JR Freight
3-way points

June
EF81 series EL JR Freight

Kiha25 series DC 2 car set (M)
Kiha20 series DC car (M)
Kiha20 series DC car
Kiha25 series DC car
Kihayuni26 series DC car
Kiha22 series DC car (M)
Kiha22 series DC car
(all JNR red/cream colour scheme)

July
Meitetsu 7000 series EC ‘Panorama Car’ 4 car set (red)
Meitetsu 7000 series EC ‘Panorama Car’ 2 car addon (red)
Meitetsu 7000 series EC ‘Panorama Car’ 4 car set (red with white stripe)

Also listed for release ’sometime’ …

583 & 209 Ec sets renewal
N700 Shinkansen sets
E233 series EC Chuo line (and probably Keihin Tohoku line)
24.25 series passenger set ‘Yume Kukan’ (already done by MicroAce)

February
E231-1000 series EC sets Shonan Shinjuku line (why do we need more of these?)
E231-500 series EC sets Yamanote line (why do we need more of these?)

March
Kintetsu 10100 series EC 6 car set ‘New Vistacar’
211-2000 series EC car sets Tokaido line (already done by Tomix)
103 series EC 10 car set Chuo & Sobu lines

April
E4 MAX series Shinkansen sets (already done by Tomix)
JR West 321 series EC 7 car set (already done by Tomix
205 series EC 10 car set Keihin Tohoku line

Very disappointing to see the lack of original new releases here

February
Hankyu 2800 series EC sets

March
Hankyu 2804 series EC set

April
Meitetsu 1000/1200/1800 series EC  sets ‘Panorama Super’

May
201 series EC sets renewal version (green)

‘Summer’
Hankyu 8000/8300 series EC sets
103 series EC sets - Kansai type high & low driving position versions (orange, green & blue)

later
103 series EC sets - Kansai type low driving version (Okayama & Setouchi colours)
103 series EC sets - Kansai type high driving position (yellow)