A new pseudo-British loco from Kato

[Buffin]

A (probably very reliable) N gauge loco at under £50 even from Gaugemaster (even if it is what they describe as a "cureo") must be good news for N gauge.

[njee20]

Not if it convinces manufacturers that what we want are cheap, fictitious models! Even if Kato decide it's a good idea and punt more out that feels a hugely wasted opportunity.

I'm glad some will find use in it, but it's definitely a no from me.

[tutenkhamunsleeping]

Just what I need to convince my grown up friends that the smaller scale is finally the sensible choice

[RailGooner]

As a sidebar the above two posts from Nick and Steve, are a great example of how opposing views on a topic are maturely accepted on this forum.

[Bob G]

It is funny.

When folk want a loco it has to be perfect. Nothing else will do.
Except for when folk can't afford such perfection, when they ask for a Railroad version.
And everyone else says there is no room for a Railroad version in N - market is too small.

These loco chassis are readily available already, and some of us @maridunian are better than others at utilising these chassis in well accepted 3D models.
But if anyone DARES to put a BR totem on a foreign body, the naysayers shout LIMA, PERU, and other such 4-letter words

If this gets kids into N, or provides a more-readily available chassis for butchery and trickery, why not?

Hope you all had a good Christmas and are happily enjoying the Twiglet Zone (that time between Christmas and New Year when you can't wait to get back to work).
Bob

[Jollybob]

I like it. And who knows, it may be a success that more prototypical models are made. That's what the market needs.

Rob.

[njee20]

It is funny.

When folk want a loco it has to be perfect. Nothing else will do.
Except for when folk can't afford such perfection, when they ask for a Railroad version.
And everyone else says there is no room for a Railroad version in N - market is too small.

These loco chassis are readily available already, and some of us @maridunian are better than others at utilising these chassis in well accepted 3D models.
But if anyone DARES to put a BR totem on a foreign body, the naysayers shout LIMA, PERU, and other such 4-letter words

If this gets kids into N, or provides a more-readily available chassis for butchery and trickery, why not?

That's a bit of a straw man. There's a gap between perfection and fiction. It's a spectrum, and we'll all fall somewhere different on it. I have no real issue with present prices, I don't advocate a Railroad range, I want manufacturers to keep pushing the limits.

I can't really see why this would get anyone into N gauge, but accept that may be my short-sightedness. The 800 starter set? Absolutely. An esoteric loco that no one will recognise? Why would that attract people, least of all children? Purely on price?

As you identify the chassis is already available, so adding a body to be thrown away doesn't seem overly worthwhile, although perhaps it'll bring the existence of the chassis into more people's consciousness.

[Bob G]

It is funny.

When folk want a loco it has to be perfect. Nothing else will do.
Except for when folk can't afford such perfection, when they ask for a Railroad version.
And everyone else says there is no room for a Railroad version in N - market is too small.

These loco chassis are readily available already, and some of us @maridunian are better than others at utilising these chassis in well accepted 3D models.
But if anyone DARES to put a BR totem on a foreign body, the naysayers shout LIMA, PERU, and other such 4-letter words

If this gets kids into N, or provides a more-readily available chassis for butchery and trickery, why not?

That's a bit of a straw man. There's a gap between perfection and fiction. It's a spectrum, and we'll all fall somewhere different on it. I have no real issue with present prices, I don't advocate a Railroad range, I want manufacturers to keep pushing the limits.

I can't really see why this would get anyone into N gauge, but accept that may be my short-sightedness. The 800 starter set? Absolutely. An esoteric loco that no one will recognise? Why would that attract people, least of all children? Purely on price?

As you identify the chassis is already available, so adding a body to be thrown away doesn't seem overly worthwhile, although perhaps it'll bring the existence of the chassis into more people's consciousness.

Well it is of course a continuum from cheap and nasty to highly detailed, and some of us will tolerate widely ranging standards too.
I will happily have a UM model or an old whitemetal kit on a chassis with the wrong size drivers just because I want something to fill that particular gap in my roster.
But I will also welcome highly detailed models. I am just careful not to put one alongside the other. Or I wear blinkers.

Some on here have advocated a Railroad range, when in reality what is available already spans the range.
I agree this loco is an oddity. In an era when we seek for realism, we suddenly get the equivalent of a Triang Giraffe Car, but I had one of those too and ran it alongside my undersized Triang Pullmans. And at age 9 I was happy.

It's not a loco I am going to buy, but lets see if it attracts some into the hobby. particularly at a time when price is one of the biggest factors out there.

Bob

[Roy L S]

A Giraffe car....

What a great idea, or maybe a Battle Space missile wagon (wasn't allowed one at the time)..

Roy

[Snowwolflair]

When Mr Kato came to the N Gauge show the new mechanism it is built on had just been released (its the coreless version I think). 

He did say that in Japan it was this type of product and their shortie range that KATO seeded the market with for new enthusiasts. 

This model is perfectly logical being cheap, I suspect will be robust, and your average 10 year old probably does not yet know what a rivet is.

What I find far more interesting is that it is based (loosely) on a transition (LNER/BR) period model.

[osborns]

What I find far more interesting is that it is based (loosely) on a transition (LNER/BR) period model.What it is based on is this
https://www.osbornsmodels.com/kato-n-scale---k10-504-1-11598-p.asp

[Bob G]

What I find far more interesting is that it is based (loosely) on a transition (LNER/BR) period model.

I thought it was a Japanese steeple cab electric just rebadged.
Also the running number should have been either 26500 or 26501 with the early crest if it was to be an ES1 look alike.
E numbers on electrics only appeared under BR late crest, and the number chosen is entirely fictitious.

Bob

[Richard Taylor]

The last two posts have answered the question I was going to ask which was "is this simply a re-badged existing Kato loco or a new body on an existing Kato chassis?"  Because, if it had been the latter. if Kato had put it on one of their shorty bogie chassis you would be much closer to a fooby ES1 - I could have lived with that (after a repaint) until I build my Judith Edge shrink ray ES1 etches.  Also note that ES1 is in the national collection hence I suppose why Kato think a fooby might be worthwhile.  Ah well...

Richard

[osborns]

if Kato had put it on one of their shorty bogie chassis you would be much closer to a fooby ES1
a chassis such as this.
https://www.osbornsmodels.com/kato-11-105-shorty-chassis-8558-p.asp

[PGN]

Well ... I'm certainly confused by the press release (or whatever it is) ... you give us a photograph of an iconic (if somewhat esoteric) prototype ... and then show us a model which looks NOTHING like it.

We're not talking rivets here ... we're talking a prototype that had bogies and a model that's running on 4 wheels.

We're talking a prototype that slopes away from the centre cab for the entire length of the hood on either side, and a model which only slopes away for the last short bit of the bonnet.

We're talking a prototype with side windows either side of the cab door, and a model with side windows to one side of the cab door only.

So I reserve my position ... and will wait with interest to see if it sells, and what might come next.