C62

C62 is a type of 4-6-4 steam locomotive built by the Japanese National Railways. The C classification indicates three sets of driving wheels. The C62 was built with a 4-6-4 frame, upon which was mounted the boiler of the JNR D52 class 2-8-2 locomotives.

These were the largest and fastest steam passenger locomotives to run in Japan, and hauled the Tsubame express on the Tōkaidō Main Line between Tokyo and Osaka. Forty nine were built from 1948 to 1949. The last examples in regular service were withdrawn in 1973.

Text taken from this Wikipedia article.

The kit

The kit is a strange beast. It comes in approximately 100 installments with 1 being released each week. Each installments includes various parts and a magazine with a wealth of information not only about the kit, but also the prototype as well as a lot of other Japanese steam engines. Each magazine has an article called "100 Scenes of Steam" in which they pick a certain locomotive or route, and describe it in detail. They also added a whole lot of excellent images. The first 4 installments came in a nice thick cardboard box, starting at the 5th however, the packaging was a bit cheaper. Not a problem, since the boxes take up far too much space, and for the magazines they have collection folders, each of which holds 20 magazines.

The second part of the magazines is dedicated to the C62. First they explain precisely which new parts you get, where on the prototype they are, what they're function is, and in some cases how they function. They added photo's and drawings explaining every little detail. They then have a step by step on how to build the new parts.

The disadvantage of it all, is that everything is of course in Japanese, which at this point I can't read. For building purposes, the instruction images would be enough, but it's a shame to not know what they write about the parts, not to mention what they write about in the "100 Scenes of Steam". For that reason, it would be great to get to know some people from Japan, or people who can read Japanese and translate certain parts for me. I'd be willing to compensate for it in the form of a present of sorts. It would also be nice to be able to put translated building instructions online, it might interest some people. I also have in mind of making available translations of various instruction sheets that come with loco's and trainsets. If you think you can help, please contact me.

Back to the kit, it will be a while before I start building because I really don't have any space, and I would like to get some more parts to get a better idea of how they've planned everything. That way I may be able to estimate which parts I need to paint before glueing things together. Until I start building I'll occasionally add info and pictures of the various installments here. Once the building starts, there'll be a detailed report with plenty images of course ;)

The final result will be an all metal steam locomotive display model of almost 1 meter long with functional wheels and some light effects.

The parts

As already mentioned, the kit comes in 100 parts or issues. Several of these issues make up a section of the locomotive. The issues are divided in the sections listed below. These are probably not 100% accurate since I tried to translate them myself, but it's better than nothing ;)

Eventually, you'll be able to click on each issue to get a detail page with some quick information on the articles in that issue, which part the issue will add to the locomotive, and of course a step by step and progress report. When that will be added I can't say, as I'm not certain when I will be starting the kit.

• issues 1 to 8: smoke chamber section front area details
  • issue 1: assembling the smoke chamber door
  • issue 2:
  • issue 3:
  • issue 4:
  • issue 5:
  • issue 6:
  • issue 7:
  • issue 8:


• issues 9 to 17: main support and cylinder
• issues 18 to 31: driving gears, rods & cylinders and front bogie/truck
• issues 32 to 47: boiler
• issues 48 to 66: engineer's cab and surrounding area details
• issues 67 to 73: rear bogie/truck and surrounding area details
• issues 74 to 90: tender
• issues 91 to 100: base, sound and extra's