The 227 Series 500 (Urara) has been in operation since July 22nd, replacing the 115 Series that has long been familiar in the Okayama area. With this perfect timing, KATO released the 115 Series 300, which has been active in the Okayama area, in three-car formations in the Chugoku and Shonan colors on July 27th, and the Chugoku color formation arrived today from the dealer where I had reserved it.

The 115 Series 300 and Chugoku color three-car set (product number 10-1808) comes in a paper package for four cars.

An example of the formation is shown on the back of the package.

The interior is made of polystyrene foam, and from the top, Kuha 115, Moha 114 (M), and Kumoha 115 are housed, with the bottom row of the four-car formation being empty. The upper left corner houses the accessory parts.

The included parts are a yellow jumper plug for the front of the KuMoHa 115, a black body support for the front of the KuHa 115/KuMoHa 115, and a gray driver for turning the lights on and off.

A small plastic bag containing instructions and destination display stickers is included.

Please refer to the following for the contents of the instructions.

KATO Railway Model Homepage | Product Details | 115 Series 300 Series Chugoku Region Color / Shonan Color (Okayama Electric Railway Depot) (katomodels.com) You can view the assembly table (PDF) by clicking (downloading).

From the left, KuHa 115-350 (74016-6), MoHa 114-330 (74014-4), KuMoHa 115-302 (74013-3).

The leading car to Mihara, Kuha 115-350

Moha 114-330 (M) equipped with a slotless motor

The leading car to Himeji, Kumoha 115-302

The black H-rubber window glass and silver-colored shoe rails are common to all three cars. In addition, the lower part of the driver's door is also colored in a square silver color, and from its shape it seems to represent the doorknob (additional installation) used to open and close the driver's door from the ground, but it seems a bit far-fetched because it lacks three-dimensionality.

The destination display window on the side, which is only found on Moha 114, is blacked out with the window glass, perhaps recreating an LED display. All three cars are reproduced as they were before the door switches were installed, and of course the affiliation mark is Oka.

The front of Kuha 115 (left) has a removable gray window, and the coupling surfaces of the three cars have fixed gray windows. The front right bottom of the Kumoha 115 (right) has three holes for attaching the jumper plugs (accessory parts). The taillights of the actual car are now clear lenses, but the model is reproduced with the red lenses that were used before the clear lenses were used.

On the roof. The appearance with the ventilator removed is reproduced.

The pantograph of the Moha 114 is a single horn PS16 (without snow cover).

The bogie for the T car is the current snap type, and the coupler is a KATO close-coupled type 2 (without hook) attached to the floor board.

The powered bogie has no traction tires in consideration of coupled operation. I haven't run it yet, but it's my first car equipped with a slotless motor, so I'm looking forward to the smooth and quiet running from low speeds.

By the way, speaking of the 115 series in Okayama, I own an Okayama updated color based on the old product released by Hobby Center Kato before it was colored for the Chugoku region (final color).

This is the "115 Series 1000 Okayama Renewal Color Type 3-Car Set" (product number 10-931).

I lined them up together. The old Okayama Renewal Color product has the old motor specification without a flywheel, so it may be difficult to couple the two formations, so I would like to enjoy running them side by side individually.

I also pulled out some friends from the Hakubi Line. Hobby Center KATO's "EF64-1000 JR Freight Hiroshima Renewal Color" (product number 3023-5) and KATO's "285 Series 3000 Sunrise Izumo" (product number 10-387). In this case, I have no choice but to quickly maintain the Chugoku Region color 115 Series 300 that I purchased this time.

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