Japan’s most famous locomotive is undoubtedly the venerable Class C62形, 2-3-2, three drive axles, steam engine which served Japan National Railways for twenty five years from 1947-1973. The C62's were the largest and the fastest steam locomotives ever used for passenger service in Japan.
The Hitachi, Kawasaki, and Kisha Seizo companies built 49 of these record-breaking locomotive between 1948 and 1949. The engine alone weighs 88.8 tonnes. C6217 broke the narrow-gauge steam locomotive world speed record in 1954 with a top speed of 129 km/h on the Tokaido Line.
Five of these giant locomotives remain, with three being in the Kyoto Railway Museum. C622, modelled here, is kept in working order in the museum by JR West. This engine sports stainless steel swallows on the smoke deflector showing it hauled the famous Tsubame (Swallow つばめ) Express between Tokyo and Osaka. The symbol for the line is on a disk mounted ahead of the smoke box. This service is now provided by the 800 series Shinkansen bullet trains.
This is the huge 1:50 scale model from ARII (#356029) of Japan, and is nearly a half meter long. The kit is very complex, and the running gear is almost operational. The running gear is built with plastic parts secured with metal screws and bolts.
All of the tyres were electro-plated silver, so all of that had to be removed. I found that a couple of hours in 'Greenworks' cleaner removed everything while leaving the part shiny and perfect. See photo at bottom.
The biggest obstacle was the total lack of plans in the kit. I bought it at the 2013 CAPCON model sale and wrote to ARII in January 2014 asking for a PDF of the plans. Once these were in hand construction could begin. Sadly, construction took six years, with the vast majority of the work taking place during the current Covid-19 situation. So in reality it is a six month model instead of the six years it has been slowly underway. A neighbour who is a woodworker and furniture builder and who hand-makes bespoke speakers for Tetra Speakers kindly made a live edge board to which I attached the trackbed and then epoxy glued on the tender and engine. Thank you to Bruce Sinclair of Ottawa.
Although large, it lacks a lot of detail which could have easily been moulded in. The cab could use a lot more detail. Also, the running board walkway does not sit properly on the boiler sides or at the front, and this meant using a fair amount of epoxy to hold and fix. I hope it does not explode under internal pressure.
Paint is mostly Model Master ‘Engine Flat Black’, with a large amount of Vallejo powers for weathering and rusting and soot.
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| JNR C622 つばめ Tsubame Express (ARII Models,1:50 scale) |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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| C622, Arii 1:50 scale |
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C622 under construction in the Hitachi or Kawasaki factory,
which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom.
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C622 under construction in the Hitachi or Kawasaki factory,
which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom. |
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C622 under construction in the Hitachi or Kawasaki factory,
which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom. |
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C622 under construction in the Hitachi or Kawasaki factory,
which just so happens to be in my spare bathroom. |
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Using GREENWORKS to remove the electro-plate silver.
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| This is what happens when you build plastic models whilst on drugs. |
