Kato “Seven Stars In Kyushu” Set

[Dwight in Toronto]

I’ve been intrigued with Kato’s Seven Stars In Kyushu passenger set ever since it debuted some eight years ago. Availability has been elusive and sporadic, but Plaza Japan notified me last week that it was back in stock, so I treated myself to a birthday gift which just arrived.

Fwiw, I frequently followed these sets on eBay where price expectations were routinely $500 to in excess of $1000.  This one cost me $350 Cdn … about the price of a single DCC loco.

The predominant theme is the color - the two vinyl storage cases, the high gloss cardstock sleeve that holds them, and the train itself are all beautifully rendered in a dark purplish-brown (aubergine?) tone with gold accents.  The only word I can come up with that does it all justice is “exquisite”, because it truly is.  All packaging, instruction manual etc is Japanese.  A tiny brass Kato-branded screwdriver is included:




The set as delivered is DC.  The dual-cab loco features three 2-axle bogies (two wheels have traction tires), with a duplicate lamp arrangement on each end that illuminates in the direction of operation:




The coaches are identified with gold numbering. Coach 1 has a theatre window on its leading end, which provides passengers with a full on, in-your-face view of the rear of the locomotive (great for enthusiasts, but maybe a questionable choice of view for the well-healed guests who pay $5000 per night to experience this train; debatable I guess).  For the model, coaches 1 & 2 feature tiny LED table lamps visible through the windows:




The rear face of coach 7 is also a big theatre window.  On the prototype, this is reportedly the most luxurious private room on the train.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a most interesting lighting effect incorporated into the model … in addition to the rear red markers, there are two vertical bands of small golden lamps illuminated on each side of the window (the “seven stars”, one might guess!).  This is barely visible to the naked eye, but they showed up nicely in this iPhone pic:




The loco and coach 1 mate up with conventional Kato couplers.  However, all other coaches connect with a coupler arrangement that I had not seen before, but which effectively pulls the vestibule diaphragms closely together:




Finally, both coaches 1 and 2 (the ones with the table lamps) have a crude slide ‘switch’ on the bottom of the floorboard to turn the LED’s off.  There is a small snap-fit panel that can be popped out, and the ‘switch’ piece can be replaced with one of Kato’s DCC light control decoders:




I’ve only had this set for a few hours, and it’s presently running up some break-in time on my DC test loop.  However, I do plan to investigate upgrading the loco to LokSound DCC, and equipping all the coaches with track-powered lighting.  All the trucks are powered pickups, and can reportedly be equipped with Kato’s lighting kits, but I might opt to ‘roll my own’. That will be the subject of future posts to this thread. 

[peteski]

It is a very pretty train Dwight.

What you see (all wheels pick up power and there are easy ways to slide in specific decoders) is also present on other Kato models.
Kato included similar table lamps in their Orient Express sets. That is a nice feature.

The special couples are also interesting. I believe they are also used in other Japanese prototype train models (mostly commuter trains).  However Tomix uses even better couplers for they sets. Theirs also connects the cars electrically for even more reliable power pickup (all cars provide track power to the entire train).

Do the enclosed instructions provide a clue as to what DCC decoder fits in the locomotive?

[Mark5]

Cool. Led me into a rabbit hole of sorts ( ) - this train runs on the usual (for Japan) 3'6" (42" gauge) track.

[nscaler711]

The Kato lighting kits are designed for every type of car, so at the very least you'd just have to trim sections, and they give you lines or detents to do that.

It's often one of two ways snap into the roof, or post they slide onto.
Kato E353 Super Asuza
Kato E259 Narita Express


While Loksound does make a "drop in" for Katos, finding authentic Japanese sound files can be difficult.
Here is a thread on JNS
https://jnsforum.com/community/topic/20145-open-sound-data-and-smilesound-dcc-sound-decoder-for-japanese-model-trains/
and the Sound Data site it eventually leads too. They may use a specific decoder but from what i have gathered the files should translate to Loksound files...
https://desktopstation.net/smilesound/index.php?SoundData

The Seven Stars in Kyushu is a gorgeous set, I have watched plenty of videos on the real one and I too have always wanted one.
Oh If you think that case looks great, you should have seen the Evangelion Shinkansen 500 sets case. 

[Dwight in Toronto]

Greetings Peter - thanks for hopping in.  I think I’m going to be picking your brain, AGAIN, on this one!

I found one post online where a fellow used a TCS KOD8 decoder …. https://www.ntrains.org/sevenstars/

I’m exclusively ESU, but haven’t removed the shell yet, so I’m unsure of which decoder might best fit.  And I fully expect that a speaker install will, as always, be a challenge.

I’d eventually like to put warm white (or yellowish) led strips in the coach ceilings.  I really don’t care if they’re dcc controllable, so I was thinking of using your coach lighting schematic from a discussion thread you had with Craigolio back in 2013 (I was just checking DigiKey parts availability … they’re all still valid!).

But, first things first, and that is to get the loco on dcc (and preferably sound).

Quick question … the coaches with the table lamp led’s … would they still light up if I place them on my dcc track (NCE PowerCab system)?  I’m afraid to try!

[Dwight in Toronto]

@nscaler711  … thank you so much for the lighting pointers, and also the links to potential authentic sound files.  This is great, man … fantastic resource! 

[nscaler711]

So from what I've gathered for Loksound, they would use the 58941:
https://sbs4dcc.com/products/esu-58941-loksound-5-micro-direct-nmra-dcc-sound-decoder-n-drop-in-board-for-kato-wide-body-type.html
But I'm not sure how much clearance you have for that since its like they adapted a WVD board and a Next18 decoder.

The only loco I have is the EH200 that would use that decoder, and I know for a fact i could not use that. I had to cut, and "mill" away at the shell to get a Digitrax board to fit.
In the EH200s case I might be able to fit a decoder and speaker in the section with the regular board as there is just a drive shaft from the powered half in there.


There is less room under the shells the the Japanese trains than the Kato F units. Same goes for Tomix. Japan is slowly moving to more DCC friendly but they arent quite at DCC/sound friendly yet...

[trainforfun]

Quick question … the coaches with the table lamp led’s … would they still light up if I place them on my dcc track (NCE PowerCab system)?  I’m afraid to try!

My KATO observation car from the CN set have a table lamp ( or 2 ) and it works fine on DCC , even the rear white light and the red marker lights on each side

[peteski]

Yes Dwight, all Kato lighting has a bridge rectifier and a current limiter (resistor or in more recent versions they use a constant-current diode), so yes, it is safe for DC and DCC.

I cannot see the images in the link you provided but from  what nscaler711 wrote, the decoder he mentioned should work, except possibly for the vertical clearance. The piggybacked E24 nano on that assembly makes it rather thick.  I would use the clay and Saran wrap trick to easily find out how much free space is above the light board.

[Dwight in Toronto]

Peteski … hmmm … it’s unfortunate that you can’t see the images in the link I found.
I’ll try herewith to simply post the pic of the mech and shell; fingers crossed that it works:

https://www.ntrains.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/IMG_1879-scaled.jpg

[Dwight in Toronto]

It’s encouraging to hear that the in-coach table lamp LED’s should work equally well on DCC.  I’ll try it out shortly.

However, I’m curious about the lighting details on the end car (ie - the lighting configuration around the big picture window):
- when the train is moving forward, the red markers and golden yellow vertical strips of 7 “stars” are illuminated (as shown in one of the pics above). 
- when reversing, the tiny yellow lights turn off, the red markers remain on, and 3 white flood lamps light up. 

If this coach is placed on a DCC track, my wild guess is that ALL of the lights would come on and stay on, (and that the only way to restore proper directional operation would be with a function decoder).  Again, I’m afraid to try it out!  Anyone care to comment/advise ???

[samusi01]

If this coach is placed on a DCC track, my wild guess is that ALL of the lights would come on and stay on, (and that the only way to restore proper directional operation would be with a function decoder).  Again, I’m afraid to try it out!  Anyone care to comment/advise ???

That's been my experience. I forget which cars (perhaps the Surfliner cab car) but everything was lit up until I got around to installing a decoder to restore directional functionality.

[peteski]

Dwigth, by design, if LED lights illuminate in both directions on DC there is a bridge rectifier in that circuit, so they will also work in DCC.  If LED lights are directional in DC then since in DCC the track polarity flips many times a seconds, the lights in both directions will illuminate. They will be illuminating in the direction of the track polarity, but since it flips multiple times a seconds, you eye will see them all constantly lit.

But for either type of LED circuit DCC track voltage will safely illuminate them. Both types of circuit do have some sort of current limiting device.

[Dwight in Toronto]

Thank you Peter - your explanation is pretty much the how-&-why that  I was imagining.

Some time ago, you recommended a DigiKey source for very small pin-&-socket connectors, but I can’t recall the info.  Any chance you might have the reference handy?

[peteski]

Dwight,
Yes, I try to explain in easy to understand terms. 

I suspect you mean those Mill-Max male and female headers with 0.050" spacing.
Digikey part numbers:

ED8250-ND  50 pin single-row male
ED8450-ND  50 pin single-row female
ED83100-ND 100 pin dual-row (50x2) male
ED85100-ND 100 positions dual-row (50x2) female

I buy those and cut whatever number of pins I need for the project.  It is more economical then buying smaller connectors.  When cutting I sacrifice one pin to make sure the plastic housing has enough "meat" on it.