Z Scale Layout – Gambling With Rolling Stock

10Mar/220

Z Scale Layout – Gambling With Rolling Stock

After sourcing a lot of both track and rollingstock locally (Thanks Tony!), I realised I had to put in an order to Buyee to get the rest of the parts I wanted. I could've just gone to HobbySearch, but I also needed some parts for my PC-9801. Hence, an order was placed, expensive shipping was paid and a box'o'magic arrived! I'll discuss the contents later... today I'll just talk about two of the components that were included.

Takara Micro Gauge

In Japan, at some point, next to the register in (I actually don't know which) stores, there were trains + chewing gum offered for cheap prices. The contents of these items were meant for display, but supposedly some of them actually came motorised. Per box, you received at least got one item of rollingstock, one item of track and a piece of chewing gum! This is actually how the sets I've already received were 'built up'. The goal, just like the magazines that used to offer part-by-part components to build a greater model, was to collect enough boxes with the intention to complete a set of ... something!? So, without further ado, I bring up the first item into evidence.

This is a shop-ready counter-ready box of Takara (Yes, the Takara Tomy brand) Micro-Gauge rolling stock + gum. It's unopened and ready to be explored. The theme is based on the EF-81 locomotive and associated sleeper trains... let's open it...

Awesome! Ten chances to win. I do love my Twilight Express, so let's see if I'm lucky!?

The end result? Two locomotives and two night trains! One of the twilight carriages is duplicated, but that's OK.

Note that each box comes with a postcard of the locomotives and some cute information on the back. Meanwhile, back to the locomotives... one of them was a little heavier?

Oh nice, it's actually got an engine... but it's battery operated! The chassis just pulls apart... an AAA battery was inserted and, well, the train ran like shit on the plastic track. The locomotive's coupler was also around 3mm lower than the carriages, so I couldn't even get it to pull anything. No real loss as this box was an entire gamble and I'm just super stoked to have two night trains in the mix!

Akia ZJ Gauge

The other box was exactly the same shape/size/form. Instead of targeting EF81s, it instead provided a chance to complete a 485-series EMU set.

So, this is the Akia ZJ Gauge series. It's actually the same as the rollingstock you see inside my coffee table, so I was happy to gamble with this box and see if I couldn't get another engine or, at least, make my consists a little longer.

The box actually looked like it had been re-taped shut... I wonder if someone opened it and scanned for motorised cars? Are they heavier?

Each box contained one car, one piece of track, a liquid sachet of candy and, for the cab cars, a replacement coupler.

In the end, I ended up with one cab-car of each livery and a mix of intermediate cars. No motors! It's OK, I purchased motors individually on Yahoo Auctions and they came in the box'o'magic from Buyee as well. No loss here, lots of fun gambling!