I’m trying to learn more about the clear Nozomi 300 Series Shinkansen from 1999. From the back cover of one of the Plarail catalogs I was able to discern this through machine translate:
In late summer/fall 1998, Plarail had a campaign with the chance to win either a gold or skeleton (clear) Nozomi Shinkansen. To enter you had to submit an illustration (related to Plarail I think) along with a form containing a section to choose which type of Nozomi you wanted (skeleton or gold). The grand prize for one winner who submitted the best illustration was “one original Plarail in the world” presented as a New Year’s gift. (If anyone knows anything about what this prize was, could you please provide some info? This grand prize could very well be the rarest Plarail item ever, seeing as it was one of a kind.) 500 other people would be picked by lottery to receive either a gold or clear Shinkansen (whichever they selected when entering). These prizes were awarded in January 1999.
So, from this, I would assume there were at most 500 of the skeleton version made, making it pretty rare. I’m not sure how many gold ones were made because I have seen another catalog advertising a campaign where 100 people could win it, so it seems that version was available in several different lotteries (could just be leftovers though). From what I have read elsewhere it also appears the leftovers from this 1998 campaign where given out as promotional items in stores.
This is all that I was able to gather from machine translate, so forgive me if there are some inaccuracies. I would much appreciate it if anyone here who knows Japanese or has more knowledge about this model could help out. Thanks!
Photo from catalog:
![[Image: A7-F22-FA9-DAD8-4-DA7-BA65-D54-D4-DE0-C6-D8.jpg]](https://i.postimg.cc/67VD8Pyd/A7-F22-FA9-DAD8-4-DA7-BA65-D54-D4-DE0-C6-D8.jpg)
In late summer/fall 1998, Plarail had a campaign with the chance to win either a gold or skeleton (clear) Nozomi Shinkansen. To enter you had to submit an illustration (related to Plarail I think) along with a form containing a section to choose which type of Nozomi you wanted (skeleton or gold). The grand prize for one winner who submitted the best illustration was “one original Plarail in the world” presented as a New Year’s gift. (If anyone knows anything about what this prize was, could you please provide some info? This grand prize could very well be the rarest Plarail item ever, seeing as it was one of a kind.) 500 other people would be picked by lottery to receive either a gold or clear Shinkansen (whichever they selected when entering). These prizes were awarded in January 1999.
So, from this, I would assume there were at most 500 of the skeleton version made, making it pretty rare. I’m not sure how many gold ones were made because I have seen another catalog advertising a campaign where 100 people could win it, so it seems that version was available in several different lotteries (could just be leftovers though). From what I have read elsewhere it also appears the leftovers from this 1998 campaign where given out as promotional items in stores.
This is all that I was able to gather from machine translate, so forgive me if there are some inaccuracies. I would much appreciate it if anyone here who knows Japanese or has more knowledge about this model could help out. Thanks!
Photo from catalog:
plarail for life
![[-]](https://www.blueplastictracks.org/images/collapse.png)
