Bandai B Train Shorty's

I just thought I would share some pics of a few of the more recent shorty's I've added to my collection. Apologies for the poor depth of field, but these are tiny models as they are fundamentally N Gauge, but compressed to a consistent size length. As such you are almost into macro territory, one day I'll get the tripod out and take some higher quality pics

One of my new favourites, a Nankai 'Peach' RapI:t

Then a special 'Monster Hunter' edition of the NSX

A more sedate (boring?) local train

Another of the 'girl group (or cartoon)' skinned trains

[Super]

Those are amazing. Are all the graphics painted on or are there any stickers or decals? That Peach Rapit is very cool looking.

It very much depends, most come pre-printed with all the logos and stuff and the only stickers involved may be things like destination boards and similar as they usually provide a list of options so you can set it as you wish. Even if they are not fully printed they will be fully painted, for example the Rapi:t came fully painted, the only stickers needed were the 'Nankai Peach Rapi:t' logos. The only other one that had stickers was the Monster Hunter NSX which was a surprise as all others with 'skins' I've bought have always come fully printed - like the other 'girlie' one that was all fully printed.

But overall the quality of these little marvels is unbelievable for the size, as I said in the commentary they are N Gauge and run on a normal N Gauge track. the only difference to scale N Gauge models is these are typically only 6cm long regardless of the model they represent.

These ones I upgraded from the standard plastic wheels to proper running gear (available cheaply) and in the case of the NSX & Rapi:t I also fitted a motor unit - these are available from Kato and are made to simply clip into the bodies in place of the standard plastic 'display' running gear.

As such the motors can be swapped pretty easily from one train to another if needed, but I've also got a couple of EF's and a DD loco motorised so I can use those to pull the coaches if I prefer. I've also got a lovely 9 car Casiopia set.

The only other modification I've started to make is to add a small 5gm steel weight to each coach to make them just that little bit heavier

Oh I nearly forgot to say, in transit I have a EVA 500 8 car shorty, on pre-order a Nankai Rapi:t 'star wars' and already sitting at 'From Japan' a standard Nankai Rapi:t all 'shortys'

Ok, well I just received my latest Shorty, this time the glorious EVA Type 500 as already seen in PlaRail versions.

This one comes in two parts, a set A and a set B, each builds into a 4 car set, the A set being the front half, the B set the rear half ending up with an 8 car train. As usual the detail is awesome and the quality of the mouldings so precise they simply clip together seamlessly.

When I posted my last pics about these marvels Super asked me whether they come pre-painted or if the markings are stickers as often seen on PlaRails etc... Well there's no definitive answer but most come pre-painted/printed with just some accessory type stickers for things like destinations etc... But I thought to highlight what you get I'd actually show you.

To start here's the two box sets, the second picture shows the illustration on the sides highlighting what cars you get in each set;

The next batch of pics are the components you get in the A set, these make up into the front four cars, you'll see there are the pre-painted car sides/roofs, accessory parts that make up the default plastic chassis and wheel assemblies, the glazing parts to give you the realistic windows and other structural bits and bobs.

Then we have the instructions and the supplied stickers for destinations, etc...

These items are things I tend to add to those models I want to actually run rather than be used as simple display models, there are the 'bogies' which replace the standard plastic bogies/wheels and a motor unit, this has 8 wheel electric pickup and powered drive on 2 of the 4 axles. In this model I opted to fit it into the 2nd car rather than the lead car simply because there is a little more space. Both these bogies and the motor are standard 'N' gauge and use sprung close couplings.

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After about 20-30 minutes of cutting parts off sprues and clipping things together I finally end up with a 4 car train, unfortunately these pics are not very good due to lack of depth of field, I'll update them with some better ones when I get a chance, but it gives you an idea of what you end up with - enjoy!

[Super]

She sure is pretty. I am curious as to the one coach thats a different color in the "B" set. Do you also replace the bogies all the coaches with metal ones?

She sure is pretty. I am curious as to the one coach thats a different color in the "B" set. Do you also replace the bogies all the coaches with metal ones?

If its a 'runner' then yes I replace all the bogies, you can either buy the Bandai ones or alternately use Kato which are made just for these kits. Same with the motors. I tend to use Kato as I think the quality is better.

Basically you need one pair of bogies for each car, or an motor unit instead. They make different motor units for different types of train or locomotive (you know EF's DD's etc...). The nice thing is you can actually just pop the motors out - and the bogies for that matter, so if you fancy running a different train that isn't setup for running it's possible to switch the bits over fairly quickly.

As for the different colour coach, that simply replicates the real train, it has one coach different to all the rest exactly the same

The only difference between these and a scale N gauge model is these are self-assembly and they have the shortened length. But that can be advantageous anyway as they can take sharper corners than a fully N scale model can

[Super]

Cool, thanks Nigels can't wait for the video. I must find pictures of the real train with that odd colored coach.

Ok, so still no video yet (gonna make AC suffer ), but I have assembled the 'B set' so now have all 8 cars complete and I have taken some better quality pictures with a bit more depth of field.

There's quite a few pics as I've taken pics of both sides of the cars (they will be in order, car 1 thru 8) as some have different colour schemes or patterns on each side, not to mention different window and door configurations.

You'll also notice that these are all 'glazed' (i.e. have windows), have these high quality paint schemes and even every roof is different between cars.

Again this highlights that if Tomy wanted to produce a high-quality printed version of the Star Wars Rapi:t they could as the technology exists.

Talking of which my Shorty B version of the Star Wars Rapi:t train is in the post, so once it arrives I'll assemble it and we can compare with the Tomy version for quality

[Super]

Did the glazing come with the set or did you add it?
Are the graphics for the Star Wars B Shorty going to be the same as the regular Tomy?

Yes the glazing comes with the kit - if you look at the pics of the 'parts' in Set A you'll see some packs have clear plastic parts. Each of these is a custom part that fits one and one only of the train side parts as seen in the other pics.

The graphics for the Star Wars B Shorty will be similar to the EVA 500 above, tampo printed directly onto the train sides, they do come with glazing, but in such circumstances the glazing will come pre-fitted as they will print the appropriate parts of the graphics directly onto the glazed window getting the same translucent effect you see in the real train. So no, not a paper sticker, it will be done properly

You can see an example of the new shorty here on a Jauce auction;

Star Wars B Shorty