Shorty B's

For those that don't know, 'Shorty Bs' are the name that Bandai give to a massive range of 'N gauge' locomotives, coaches, wagons, well you name it they make it. The big difference though to the normal 'N gauge' out there is that for a start these are all size restricted, in that they are all a uniform 6cm or so in length. However apart from that they are all highly detailed and there are also some cool models such as the EVA 500 Shinkansen - although that is difficult/expensive to get hold of.

The other big thing is they are actually sold as 'kits', all pre-painted/printed, but nonetheless kits that you have to clip together to construct them. They are also meant to be static models coming with relatively poor quality PlaRail style plastic wheels. However the Japanese being as clever as always have a solution and both Bandai and Kato make both proper 'N gauge' bogies and even miniature motorised chassis to enable you to make a fully functional 'N gauge' train.

Anyway with the background explained, here's the first 3 sets I bought - I should add the kits usually contain 2 cars, but can have as many as 6 or more cars in a single kit. Some trains such as the Shinkansens are also often sold in 'set A' and 'set B' (sometimese even a 'set C') containing anything from 3 to 6 cars each!!!

Enjoy!! (Almost forgot there is a PlaRail Oliver in the background to give you an idea of scale - sorry its out of focus, but these things are small and depth of field is small )

[Super]

The pictures look great Nigels but how precise are the pieces so when snapped together they are seamless. As with a lot of snap together toys they just don't piece together well.

Nice!

Nice Nigel's, great find, your always coming up with these great undiscovered Japanese toys! Thanks for enlightening us! I really like these, there quite 'cute' aren't they - I'm sure there's a Japanese word for it (but I can't for the life of me remember what it is) are there any steam trains available in this series?

First kit you have seems to be the anime 'K-ON!!'. Don't watch it, but I recognize it.

The pictures look great Nigels but how precise are the pieces so when snapped together they are seamless. As with a lot of snap together toys they just don't piece together well.

These are precision moulded and fit perfectly, I didn't have to file, trim or adjust anything in anyway, they just clipped together perfectly. I was a bit dubious and half expected to have gaps or to have to glue them or something, but no such thing at all - well impressed

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Nice Nigel's, great find, your always coming up with these great undiscovered Japanese toys! Thanks for enlightening us! I really like these, there quite 'cute' aren't they - I'm sure there's a Japanese word for it (but I can't for the life of me remember what it is) are there any steam trains available in this series?

Yeah I know, another thing I'm into lol! But I don't mind too much as they are true 'N gauge' apart from the compromised length, but the nice thing with that is it makes them run better on tighter 'N gauge' curves that normal 'N gauge' loco's have issues with. So if you want a nice tight/small layout it is an ideal solution hence why they are popular in Japan

There are a few steam loco's available including a model of the Japanese real life Thomas and his coaches. Unfortunately that one is apparently not an out of the box model able to be motorised, but there are options such as putting a motor in one of the coaches and then using some bogies onto Thomas or alternatively mounting the Thomas body onto a standard Kato C11 chassis

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First kit you have seems to be the anime 'K-ON!!'. Don't watch it, but I recognize it.

I've not watched it either, but it was a cool looking train, apparently these are all modelled on real 'special' trains in operation in Japan. I've got a few more coming including a version of the NEX (Narita Express) with a 'monster hunter' skin on the cars

I found a couple of YouTube video's of a guy assembling and motorising some Shorty B's I thought you guys might like to see the process and how easy it is

[Super]

Thanks Nigels

Too small for my gorilla hands

Thanks Nigels

Too small for my gorilla hands

Well I did say they were 'N gauge'

I really like these, there quite 'cute' aren't they - I'm sure there's a Japanese word for it (but I can't for the life of me remember what it is)

Kawaii desu ne!!