A review of some recently acquired kits.

In planning for the future harbor area I have been looking for structures that would fit in with the locale on the West Coast/Columbia River area. Saw these small kits from TomyTec, liked what I saw, and decided to order a few.



The kits are, left to right, The Public Pier consisting of a boat repair structure and a concrete sloped pad, Bounty Seafood with a separate pier and a wood pier, and the Dockside details which includes concrete breakwater and a number of cast concrete shapes commonly used in breakwaters, and a small remote lighthouse. The last items were a couple of their 46 ft. fishing boats.

The Bounty Seafood is an amazingly detailed kit with a lot of parts like a sawhorse bench with fish on the table, a concrete pier that can be repositioned as I did in the upper photo and a timber pier. Boxes and crates and bollards seen at the building corners are included separate parts. My surprise is that each structure had a small packet of figures and the mat that they sit on which will do for the harbor bottom with a few touches added. Both kits assembled easily with no more issues than any other kit, maybe a few less. Very little sanding or trimming and they are pre painted so for me just a little weathering will be needed. Details like gas bottle and drain spouts are cast on but look good.



The boat repair is a little jewel that I haven't seen anywhere. It has a ramp and boat cradle that can be positioned in or outside and the separate concrete and their small fishing boats fits nicely on it. Again another small packet of figures, another boat cradle to go on the concrete ramp and some decently painted cast on details on the ramp and the boat house. The outside ramp has floats, net and rope that are cast on a painted. As the first structure this is pre painted and just needs minor tweaks in assembly and weathering. Both bldgs. have window glazing pre installed.



The last items are the fishing boat shown below and the breakwater shown on the right in the first photo.

The fishing boat is an approximate 46 footer with a lot of detail parts to be added ranging from masts to the net rigging and floats, plus side buffers. It has a two part hull that leaving the lower part off creates a waterline model, but if modeled on the boat cradle has a rudder and propeller. The concrete ramp behind the boat is the 2nd part to the boathouse.

The last item referred to is the breakwater kit. It has three separate sections and the small remote lighthouse. Separate packages contain various shapes of cast concrete riprap shapes and they can be seen in the first photo on the upper right.



While probably not everybodies cup of tea they do fit into the west coast scene and the boathouse is similar to some in the north east coastal areas. All three kits came with the blue pads seen and one just has to discard the Japanese signage and replace with American names. The Bounty Seafood kit will be the receiving for my cannery and combined with a separate bldg. with rail loading. The way that the sections can be positioned work out fine for me since the bigger fishing vessels I have will dock on the side of the structure and I will add some more bollards to the dock section without them.

These are my first strictly Japanese kits and my first from this company and overall I am pleased with the quality and the ease of assembly with very little if any needed prep work. The treatment of the cast on details like gas bottles to fishing nets is excellent. Somebody with really good eyes and a fine brush painted the details on my kits. The paint also gives off a slightly weathered look already so It won't take much to age them some more.

Now for the kicker. These are listed as N scale kits on the box but the scale is listed, also on the box, as 1:150. And I have absolutely no issue with that as they are so close as to go nicely with my 1:160 stuff.

And the token disclaimer: No I have not been paid for this commercial, nor do I own any stock, or am employed by the firm. This is purely an independent review.

 

Have you acquired these yet? These your pictures, or...? Tell us about the kits.

 

Check back to the original post. A lot has been added.

 

Small remote type lighthouse with a strobe and bell.



I may end up moving this to the mouth of the Klickitat river as a navigation aide and put one of my regular lighthouses in its place.

And all the kits meet the seal of approval of Wesa and Deekus the Cats. They won't leave them alone. Don't know if these were stored or made near a catnip field or a Sushi restaurant. Fortunately they all fit back in their regular boxes when assembled so I can keep them safe until harbor building time.

 

Do these come with a nuclear contaminated powerhouse or glow in the dark parts and pieces that washed up on the Oregon and Washington coast ??? Just kidding John !
Paul

 

Don't know I haven't seen any weird green glow coming out of my room at night. But there is something about the parts or the box that has the big guy (cat) really interested. Maybe those fish on those sawhorse tables are real dried fish.

 

Where did you get them from? A U.S. shop, on line, ordered from Japan? I would love a couple of these kits myself...

 

A dealer who carries the TomyTec or Tomix line should have them or be able to get them. I first saw them in the monthly flyer that comes out from that certain big catalogue dealer up North. Just for snickers and giggles I checked with a vender I deal with west of Baltimore and they had the same kits only a little cheaper and the shipping was a little less. They do have some other structures along this line and some other types of fishing boats.

 

This morning I pulled out my box of still uncompleted small coastal vessels and fishing boats and sat the TomyTec 1:150 scale model fishing boat in front of them. My scratch built 1:160 scale stuff, except for the hull of the commercial model of a Sardine Carrier at 90 feet in length in the back, also 1:160 scale, and the TomyTec are so close that I don't see much difference if at all. The only difference is that the TomyTec is based on a more modern design where my vessels are more of a 1910-1920 era. Otherwise these two new vessels will be a nice addition to my fleet of smaller vessels and can take far less space on the layout allowing a tighter more compact harbor scene of vessels nested at a dock or pier. I did remove the rudder and propeller shaft from the vessel and snap the bottom on and it sets very nicely as a waterline model that way.

 

I see that one of the cats is doing guard duty over the ships.

 

I've been tempted to buy some Japanese prototype structures to use with my Japanese equipment I have. Those you have look very nice.
BTW, Japanese models are 1/150 because prototype Japanese trains are narrow gauge. The Shinkansen are standard gauge. I have both, along with my American stuff. Love them all.

 

Wondered if anybody would spot that. The big paw belongs to Deekus's younger brother Wesa who is a healthy 14 pounds and as stated in an earlier post has a strange attraction to these kits alone.

The only other items that are Japanese that I have in my collection of trains is a pair of snow plows that I saw the potential to make a snow dozers out of. When I first saw these buildings I saw the potential of the small footprint and the American look to the structures that would fit nicely in the proposed harbor scene. What was the surprise was the depth of detail and the additional parts that will help bring that area to life.

Unfortunately it does seem that there is a very limited availability of their stuff in this country.

 

I know all about that. Fortunately, I started ordering from a retailer in Japan and they've been very good. They have an English language page with prices in yen and in dollars. They have a large selection of equipment and structures. I get my orders shipped Express Mail and it usually takes about a week if the item is in stock. I understand that some would rather find their stuff here in the states, but it is an option if you'd like to find some more of their kits. They even carry TomyTec:

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1905/0/1

 

'...Oh no, there goes Tokoyo. Go, go Catzilla. Yah'

Blue Oyster Cult