"Look Model" ,Great Product,Good Service,Nice Price .

[Nato]

      I ordered two N Scale Brass passenger cars from Look Model in Japan http://lookmodeljapan.ocnk.net  through their online store. A Union Pacific Railroad track inspection car 'Fox River" former (C.& N.W. Car) $160.00 U.S. Dollars and one private car "Overland Trail"a restored 1949 SP Club lounge car $100.00 U.S. Dollars. Not everything pictured on their site is in stock. Too bad I really wannted UP Inspection car "Idaho" and a nice Chicago and Northwestern 400 Streamliner Onservation car. Oh well. In the private car section they were showing 'Hollywood Beach" the restored Seaboard (later SCL) lounge car with the Sun Roof over the lounge. This too was sold out ,and the model featured the way the car now is with end windows on the lounge end, so rebuilding would have been necessary to make it like an in-service car. The UP business train cars offered might be overstocks of Overland's run of a few years back made ,by Ajin in Korea,but the other cars offered appear to be all new made by Look. My two cars were shipped by Internal Air Mail (not the uasal SAL or SAL Air) you get from Japan. They arrived quite quickly. No fancy Green boxes "Overland" ,or Gold(old Oriental LTD) ,just nice sturdy white cardboard boxes with a small photo (like one on their site) of the car on one end. Cars are nicely constructed, painting and lettering first class, brown MT couplers have been fitted to ends. Inspection car has interrior with tiered seats visible through the tinted windows. Lounge car has no interrior,but has same tinted windows that match Overland's recient UP cars.Cars are very free rolling, of course have the new modern Amquack (Trak) roll style diaphrams on ends. Other cars of intrest that are in stock are the Amtrak Surfliner,m California double deck cars and a matching locomotive. A four car set of these cars is offered as DCC Compatible meaning I would guess interrior lighting that is like Kato's latest,will not melt down on DCC Voltage. Some unigue cars that were out of stock the  entire BI-Level 400 train of the Northwestern that included long haul versions of Gallery cars and rebuilt diner and tap cars that had their roofs rased up to match height on gallery cars. In closing I wold recommend Look Model if you are interested in passenger trains.         Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[VGN50]

Nate,

Not sure "sold out" is the actual status of the Hollywood Beach.  I emailed them almost two years ago asking about availability and said "you make it, I'll buy it."

Ken responded and said it would be a couple of months.  Nothing since then.

I think "out of production" is more appropriate.

That's a shame because everyone I have talked to highly recommends their products.

Mark

[Sokramiketes]

They seem to be mostly hand assembled, and I highly doubt the UP cars are left over Ajin production.  I own a Santa Fe full dome, and it is nicely done.  The trucks detail is a little flat, and the roof of the dome is a little wide, but it is about 100x better than the Bachmann version and saved me a lot of time.  I'll pick up some Kato trucks for it and then move on to other passenger car needs with my time.  Sure with there were NKP passenger car decals out there...

[flight2000]

I had one of the Amtrak Superliner transition cars and was happy with everything except the trucks.  Easy enough fix by swapping out for a set of Kato trucks.  They were a little flimsy for my tastes, but can understand how difficult it could be to get OEM trucks for stuff your making without going through the royalty fuss.

Brian

[altohorn25]

I just received one of the CNW observation cars about a month ago and it is pretty good.  As others have said, the truck detail is not the best, but they may be better than some of the earlier cars they produced.  Once I got the wheel guage correct (they were all a little narrow; took me 5 min to do), it ran great on code 55 and code 80 track.  Detail overall is really good; the antenna on the roof is not hugely oversized and the grabs on the carbody are nicely done.  The lighted drumhead and rear signal light are nice touches as well.  For a one of a kind signature car, I would reccommend it.

Nate

[Subwayaz]

I got one of the Amtrak Superliners also and I'm quite pleased; and for the price excellent. Hands down they are cheaper than Aljn.

[Nato]

       The correct type of replacement truck for the Track Inspection car is not available, American Limited trucks would be close,if I were to replace. On the 1940's era lounge car however MT or Kato smooth side car trucks would be correct. Look Model appears to be filling a small nieche (Spell Check) market. Nate Goodman (Nato).

[ljudice]

How does the Fox River look and blend in with Kato UP passenger equipment (height, color match, etc...)

Thanks for the report!