Look!!!!

[Super]

Just arrived and she is a beauty. The Kyushu Limited Express Aso-Boy comes with a Plakid and he can sit in any one of three spots in the rear, viewing car unlike most Tomy trains that sit a Plakid in the middle coach car. There is a lot of clear plastic window and headlight configuration both in the front and back which makes this an ideal candidate for a future lighting mod. This is the first we have had with the new Tomy chassis engine design and it is not loud but it is fast. Has a 2 speed motor and I believe the slow speed equals about that of some other Shinkansens High speeds settings. A great new and different design from Tomy which is what attracted me to it. What do you think?

Very nice indeed Super, in fact it shares quite a few features with one I got the other day the "S-48 - Kintetsu Sightseeing Express Shimakaze"

Like your one that had a plakid in the rear coach and although the middle and rear coach have some 'windows' which are simply holes like a lot of the plarail the rear coach has some lovely plastic (glazed) windows for the 'sightseeing' aspect I presume as does the engine car. As you quite rightly say both are good candidates for lighting.

With mine when I get round to it I intend to 'glaze' (i.e. fit perspex) to the windows that lack it and I'm toying with the idea of prototyping a standalone lighting 'block' that could be fitted to the floor or ceiling of any car. It's something I was messing with when building some custom lego models but I never got round to coming up with a self contained module. But I think now is the time to push it up the 'job list'

Regardless I hope you realise I have now added the S44 to my 'to be purchased list' and yes I have loads of lists for all sorts of things lol!

Did you get this gem from Tokyo hobby shop?

[Super]

Thanks Nigels

Look forward to seeing what you come up with in a stand alone lighting block. Sounds like a great idea.

Did you get this gem from Tokyo hobby shop?

I was lucky enough to get in on the great early pre-order price (thanks Gerisplarail1) at Hobby Search . Was my first experience with them and I will do more business with them. Email notifying me the train was in stock, paying with PayPal, them shipping and it arriving at my door in the States took only 5 days. No additional taxes or charges and came in a sturdy box rather than just bubble wrap covered in shipping paper like some Japan sellers use to ship trains. With the rate of exchange being very favorable for us here the train cost of the train (pre-order price) and shipping was very reasonable. I am anxious to now use my "Points" to apply to my other pre-order train set to be released in October, the C58 SL steam train Ginga Set (6-Car Set)

I checked out the site Super and they do in fact have several items I would love to buy. But when I tried the cost of shipping was very prohibitive, in fact almost as much as the items I wanted to purchase effectively doubling the cost. So for now I decided against it and will stick with the other suppliers I've found

[Super]

Thats funny, I was thinking the opposite for me and will be using Hobby Search more than my usual sellers, at least for now. But then again we have everything we want so we are just looking for the new releases. It looks like Hobby Search uses up to date rate of exchange rates for both the price of the train and the cost of shipping which as of now is a great deal for the USD compared to the Yen. What I have noticed about Ebay Sellers is they do not. They list their items in USD's so they are making a lot of profit on the rate of exchange. Their prices are the same now as they were when the rate favored the Yen over the dollar. Are your suppliers local to your country and thus no shipping costs?

No the suppliers I use are typically on Amazon marketplace and offer most items with 'free shipping' yet their prices still under-cut the eBay sellers for the same items.

Of course you sometimes get the odd item that isn't on there and I have had to resort to eBay, but either way I'm getting way better deals than those offered on Hobby Search. It's a pity as they do have some items in stock and on pre-order that I would buy without hesitation if it wasn't for the shipping overhead.

Which shipping option do you use Super? Maybe I selected the wrong one...

[Super]

I am too impatient to wait for something using the cheaper, slower method so I always opt for the fast 3 to 5 day EMS shipping which is, of course, the most expensive.

Hhhhmmm, me too, not so much for the speed, but because its tracked, maybe I'll go back and have another play