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I'm Driving the Remote Control Nozomi Set (1992)
First written December 30, 2024
The I'm Driving the Remote Control Nozomi Set (ぼくがうんてんするリモコンのぞみ号セット) was the successor to the 1988 I'm Driving the Super Hikari Set with this version featuring the Nozomi, the real final design of the 300 series Shinkansen. The train features a controllable horn, lights, two speeds, and the ability to reverse as well as a large layout with bridge and panel station. These sets use the same 27mhz "A" frequency as the Super Hikari version of the set.
Set contents
| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | RC Nozomi |
 |
| 1 | Control Box |
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| 11 | R-01 Straight Rail |
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| 6 | R-03 Curve Rail |
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| 1 pair | R-11 Turnout Rail | |
| 4 pieces | Slope Curve Rail (two each "A" and "B") |
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| 8 | J-15 Mini Bridge Pier |
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| 8 pieces | Panel Station |
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| 4 pieces | Suspension Bridge side pieces |
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| 9 | Single Overhead Wire |
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| 5 | Single Overhead Wire Stand |
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The train in this set is the pretty neat radio control Nozomi which is an attached three-car train with three driven wheels, controllable lights and horn, and two forward and a reverse speed. This train is based directly on the previous RC Super Hikari from the I'm Driving the Super Hikari Set.
The train takes three AA batteries, as does the remote. This example was produced in May 1993, and also has an E3 production sticker in the remote battery hatch.
The controller has controls for the horn and light, the speed, and the direction, although the train only runs in the slower speed in reverse. Parts of the "display" change with the controls with plastic linkages moving plastic parts with stickers on them to show different parts through cutouts in the tooling.
In addition to the very cool train, the set also includes a nice single-level panel station and two spans of white suspension bridge, a tooling previously used with Plaroad and later for Motor Tomica and TomyTrain.
All of the track and accessory pieces in this set were manufactured in Thailand and are of early 1990s production.
There is a lot of straight rails (12, if you count the panel station) plus turnouts and a mix of regular and sloped curves, and the box suggests a few other layouts with sidings that the remote control train can enter. Single overhead wires are also included, some with red bases so they can be stood alone and others bare to be inserted into the block piers and slope curve rails. The Super Hikari version of the set cost 9,800 yen in 1988, but this one came out at 12,800 yen in 1992...
Click for longer video with sound!
This set is a nice version of the Super Hikari set featuring the "real" train and nearly the same compliment of track and accessories, which are nice. The train runs nice and fast - the gearbox is single-speed, but the electronics control the voltage going to the motor to speed it up. The light and horn buttons must be held down when you want them enabled. The train's functions and features are neat and it works pretty well. Around 1995 a smaller, plainer version of the set with basically no accessories was released... I used the pieces from this set to represent it below. Much cooler, in the later 1990s at the end of the Nozomi's reign an oval with passing loop set with two remote control switches was released.
| Set name | I'm Driving the Remote Control Nozomi
Set ぼくがうんてんするリモコンのぞみ号セット |
Release period | 1992-1994 |
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| Notes: | Price | 12800 yen |
I'm Driving the R/C Plarail Nozomi Set (1995)
The I'm Driving the R/C Plarail Nozomi Set (ぼくがうんてんするR/Cプラレールのぞみ号セット) was the a cut-down version of the previous Remote Control Hikari Set featuring a similar rail layout but without virtually any of the accessories of the previous radio control sets.
Set contents| Quantity |
Item |
Photo |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | RC Nozomi |
|
| 1 | Control Box |
|
| 12 | R-01 Straight Rail |
|
| 10 | R-03 Curve Rail |
|
| 1 pair | R-11 Turnout Rail |
The train in this set is still the remote control Nozomi, although they would have been produced in the mid 1990s as opposed to the older example shown here - although as far as I know, there are no production differences up through the followup remote control switch set.
The train is the same, and has the same cool features, but the panel station and bridge and electrical poles are gone... The price is less, but there are virtually no accessories... the bubble had really popped.
| Set name | I'm Driving the RC Plarail Nozomi Set | Release period | 1995-1996 |
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| Notes: | Price | 7980 yen |