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There is a Discussion Group formed on Yahoo for this topic. Visit this
web address:-
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Japanese-Z-Scale/
The list is open to all interested. Postings are monitored to
ensure junk mail does not get in. To participate in the discussion you
need to either sign your name and city or fill in your profile on Yahoo
with your name and location. |
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photo Mr Nansatu |
This was the first Japanese Z-scale train I have
come across. It was made by Akia also known as Plus Up Co. Ltd. In
2008 they rebranded themselves and know use RealZJ as theri brand
name. It runs on Z-gauge track and it is very
interesting in that it has been marketed like a Bandai product.
Bandai
is strictly a toy and they make short caricature models in N-Scale 1:150
and scale models in ZZ scale 1:300. powered by a watch battery that
run on plastic track with a gauge of 4.5mm. I got my 485
express set from World Hobby International in
Japan. |
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photos by Akia
(PlusUp Co Ltd)
photo Mr Thom-Freudenreich |
This is a layout that Akia has had made for
running this train on and for photographing the models on and it has
appeared at several conventions. It has also been advertised on
their web site as being available commercially for purchase.
Company web site is now at this address:-
Http://www.realzj.com
They do do
other things besides Japanese Z. The company name is PlusUp Co. Ltd.
On the 27th of August when I viewed their web site they had a banner
line running saying they are going to be issuing the 485 set in two
new colour schemes for the "Swans" and "Super Snow Grouse" and are
working on tooling for another streetcar. The commercial web
site that is listed on the The
http://www.realzj.com web site as the
source for this material is here. It is in Japanese
https://secure.intercom.co.jp/ecIntercom/shop/category/category.aspx?category=5030
I have not found any hobby shops with English web pages on the
internet that still have these sets available but at the 7th
convention of the Japanese Model Railroad Association in Osaka in
August 2006 they were available for sale from various venders in the
hall according to Harald Thom-Freudenreich who attended the show and
provided the picture to the left at the bottom of the column. |
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photos Akia
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*Double Track Overhead Lines Pole 10 pieces](../images2/10064636_small.jpg)
RealZJ photos |
This is the power pack and track that is available
from this supplier (InterCom Direct). I must add that I did not find it available from
my supplier until much later but I did find track in the each box with the 10 cars I purchased
but not enough to make a complete oval in the one box. The track was
of very poor quality.
The samples I have are Brass rail probably code 55 in size in a
plastic base with ties that have an inverted "U" shape to them. The
cast on spikes seem unable to keep the rail from rolling over in the
tie bed and preventing it moving in the tie bed back and forth along
its length. The rail joiners do not keep the rail upright unless
modified. The rails slide back and forth in the rail joiners on the
ends of the rail so it is very hard to assemble the rail pieces into
a loop. The height of the track is a match for the Micro Trains Z-scale track and
once one piece is connected to a piece of Micro Trains track it is easier
to connect more of the Akia stuff to it. Most of the Japanese sites
I have seen, comment on the poor track quality and recommend the
use to Micro Trains track instead of the Akia track supplied.
By early 2008 Plus Up Co. of Japan has progressed
through 3 versions of track and their latest is very good and quite
similar to the Micro Track put out by Micro Trains of Oregon USA.
The tie spacing is twice that of the Micro Trains system and the
rail while the same height has a larger bottom web making a bit
stiff to join their track to-gether the first time around. It also
will connect up to Micro Trains Micro Track as well. The Road Bed
track comes in packages of 4 straights either 110mm long or 220mm
long. They have curves in two radii 195mm and 210mm in 45 degree
segments so 8 pieces to a full circle.
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Z303-02 195mm radius x 45 degree segement
x 8 pieces (full Circle)
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Z303-03 220mm radius x 45 degree segement
x 8 pieces (full Circle)
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Z302-02 110mm straight x 4 per package /w
connect to power pack
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Z302-02 220mm straight x 4 per package
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Z305-01 10 pieces of double track overhead
poles (no wires overhead poles only)
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Z901-02 pig tail to connect power pack to
road bed track.
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CZP-01
Power pack for RealZJ
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photos Akia
(PlusUp Co Ltd)
photos Mr Nansatu |
This is how I purchased my first box through
Hobby World
International in Japan. When I tried to get more after receiving my
first box it was sold out, however they contacted me weeks later when
another box surfaced and I did purchase that one also. On the retail site InterCom Direct in Japanese
showcased the product. There was a link on Akia41.com site where I first
viewed these models and showed these models being sold in a box of ten
cars of which 8 were identified and 2 were mystery cars. In my box one of those
mystery cars was the power unit and the other a head end car (481) to allow me to make
up a six car train in the "Hitachi" or "Hi" colours. They also sold it in a
boxed set with an oval of track and power pack but this option has since
disappeared from the web site. There are still options to
purchase more track either straight or curved or a complete oval. The
power pack was also offered as a separate unit. They were all quite
reasonably priced, being about 9000 JPY for the starter set. under 4000JPY for
the box of ten cars or the power pack and under 2000JPY for the packages
of track. (for a quick conversion 100 JPY = 1 CDN$ or .90 cents US) There were no switches offered. When I tried to contact them
in English there was no response and the shopping cart system at
InterCom Direct is all in
Japanese. The current site for the Company Puls Up or RealZJ is
http://www.realzj.com |
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This shows the non powered trucks under the cars and how they are
held in place. This is just a copy in a smaller scale of how Kato and
Tomix do
their non powered trucks. The wheels seem a bit oversized but they work
nicely and the flanges are not huge. The wheel sets run very well on
Micro Trains track, in fact the whole train runs well on Micro Trains track. MTL is to have switches available in the next month or so.
(The switches were available in late October and the first release was
sold out in a few days.) |
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photos Mr Nansatu
 |
Mr Nansatu maintains a web site at
http://c62.hp.infoseek.co.jp/z/
these pictures are
from him showing disassembly of the Akia 485 Express.
The power car and its construction and disassembly. The car can have
some problems in that things are not as tight or sure a fit or as well
assembled as might be
required to keep this model operating over a long period like the
N-scale products of Kato, Tomix and Micro Ace they are patterned after. For more on this see next
section down. Taking this unit apart is quite easy. The body shell comes
off by gently prying the sides away from the chassis using 4 tooth
picks. The locking tabs are on the window glass and with the glass in
place the glass holds the chassis in place.
When assembling the body and chassis make sure the window glass is fully
inserted in the car side window openings. The metal weight is held in place on two small pins
on a plastic plate located below it. The weight can be gently pried off
of the plaste with a small
screw driver. The plastic piece that held the weight can be removed
by inserting a small flat blade screw driver into the square holes on
the side of the chassis and pushing in gently on the bottom of the tab
while prying up gently to release it. Look at
picture 3 (left hand of row 2). The wipers are held in place with one
small pin on each side. When re-assembling this piece make sure you have
it oriented correctly.
This plate has one end that goes over the brass bearing
holder on the end of the motor without the power contacts. It only fits
on the chassis if it is oriented properly in the
correct relation to the motor. Next you need to remove the weights over the shafts. Take
time to note the orientation of these units with the bevel end towards
the power trucks. If you put them in wrong they interfere with the
turning of the power trucks and the placing of the cover plate with the
pick up strips. The power trucks can be removed from the chassis by
gently prying the side of the chassis with the power truck turned hard
to one side. Too remove the motor gently pry up on the motor at both ends
a bit at a time. Check the orientation as it comes out as it only goes
back in the correct way with out damaging things. |
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photos by Mr Nansatu
 |
Several of us have discovered some problems in the power truck. The bottom cover plate does not
hold the worm shaft in position always and the shaft is not always
properly inserted into the worm gear and the delrin bearing on the
end of the drive shaft. So pressure on the worm gear in one
direction will suck the drive shaft out of the end delrin bearing. Mine
ran right out of the box and would push or pull 5 cars without problems
but I very soon ran into difficulty with the power car. I had to
repair it to get it running again. There
appears to be too much play in this shaft with the worm gear on it and
it is able
to move back and forth about 4-5mm. I used a pair of 00-90 washers on
each end to the worm shaft between the delrin bearings on the shaft to reduce
this slop and to ensure the worm shaft does not fall out of the bearing
after repositioning the worm gear on the drive shaft of the truck. I had to move the shaft further into the Worm gear to provide enough
shaft to go into the delrin thrust bearing.
Looking at first picture on left side of row 1 you can see the
top of the power truck. Just behind the brass wiper coming up from the
axle ends is the locking tab from the bottom cover plate. Pushing in and down
will release the bottom cover plate with the drive gears attached
exposing the worm shaft and bearings which are clamped between these two
pieces when assembled. After I assembled the truck after making repairs
to the worm shaft on one truck I jammed small pieces of .020 inch
plastic strip behind the locking tabs holding the bottom plate in the upper part
of the truck. (look in picture 1 to the left - sequence is from outside going in, brass
contact power strip, bottom plate tab then .020 shim which can not bee
seen in photo). In picture 2
in the column to the left you can see the
small round delrin bearing found on the open end of the worm gear shaft.
Do not loose it. The other one is trapped on the shaft between the drive
shaft coupling and the worm. This shaft just sits in the bearings and
the bearings in the indentation in the truck casting and is held in
place when the bottom cover is snapped up in place. Notice how much open space there is between
the bearing and the worm as you push it into the truck housing and pull
it back out. This can be reduced by installing small brass washers for
00-90 screws on the shaft one on either side of the worm gear. The
drive shaft couplings are just a press fit to the worm gear shaft in the
truck and the motor shaft. I also found out that the mesh between the
worm gear and the tower gear is minimal and so just a small piece of
paper placed below the delrin bearings seat in the truck housing can
improve the mesh between the worm and the gear. Otherwise you could end
up stripping the tower gear and then you would have no contact between
the worm and the tower gear. The paper shim would be about 5 x 15 thou
.005 x .015 inches or .13 x .38mm no bigger than this. The piece of
paper will be about 3 thou of an inch thick .003 inch or .08mm. |
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photos G Hamilton |
These are the 4 passenger cars from Takara which I modified by
removing the original trucks with couplers and replacing them with Micro
Trains 904 Passenger Trucks for Z-Scale which do not have couplers attached.
MTL new pn is 004 02 240. and body mounted 905 couplers on the ends of the cars.
Mtl new p/n 002 02 021. This string runs through reverse curves of
Micro track with out problems. The scale appears to be 1:200 in height
and width and 1:220 in length. |
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photo G Hamilton |
Here on the left we have a view of a body mounted 905 coupler
as it mates to a MTL GP35 coupler. On the right we have the same view
only with a talgo mounted 905 on the MTL passenger truck using a strip
of brass. Notice the Talgo coupler is slightly lower than the body mount
and both are below the height of a standard coupler on a Micro Trains
car. |
photo G Hamilton |
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photo G Hamilton |
Here is a look at the talgo mounted 905 coupler on the MTL 904 passenger truck
The brass strip has an offset that places the bottom surface of the 905
coupler below the cross bar it is attached to. The pin sticking up goes
into the opening on the bottom of the car to prevent the truck from over
rotating to the left or right. On these passenger cars the talgo mounted
coupler performs better in some aspects than the body mounted coupler,
but it is much more difficult to adjust to get it operating 100%. The talgo mounted
coupler also allows the cars to come closer to-gether because the
coupler is mounted partially under the car. Something you can not do
when you body mount the coupler under the car as there would be no room
for the car to swing left or right. |
photos G Hamilton |
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The TakaharaTomy cars that were available as M-gauge in the 24/25 series
of Japanese passenger coaches were:- |
in Green livery of the Twilight Express of JR West
sleeping car type OHANEFU 25-500
sleeping car type OHANE 25-560
compartment car type SURONEFU 25-500
luggage van type Kani 24-0 |
in Blue livery of the Hokutosei of JR East
sleeping car type OHANEFU 25-0
sleeping car type OHANE 25-0
saloon car type OHA 25-500
luggage van type KANI25-500 |
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photo G Hamilton |
Here is a picture of a complete train pulled by the C57. |
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photos G Hamilton |
Here we have a shell from a Z-scale static model of a
1:220 EF-58 Japanese Electric that has been modified to fit on a Marklin
GG1 chassis. This is not quite the correct mechanism to use as the
driver axle spacing is incorrect on the two driving trucks. However the
overall wheel arrangement is correct for this locomotive and the only
modification I made to the chassis was to remove the circuit board and
hard wire the pickups to the motor. The shell has a lot of grinding done
on the interior of the roof of the shell to get it to sit down properly
on the chassis. So the look is correct but the rivet counters will find
fault. I have put lighting in the headlight using fibre optic. So this
whole train has been created from static models of a toy train that were
in scale or close to it. |
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photo Ztrack Mag. |
For more on the emergence of Japanese Z-scale you should be reading
the magazine Ztrack. Click on the image to visit the magazines site.
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