fall inside a hole
2-Speed Tsubasa (1992)
First written February 29, 2024Happy leap day!
The Tsubasa (つばさ meaning "Wing") service is the high-speed service on the Yamagata Shinkansen lines that opened in 1992 with new 400 series Shinkansen trains to run it. 400 series trains serviced the line until 2010 when E3 trains fully replaced the 400 series. In 1992 Tomy released the 2-Speed Tsubasa (2スピードつばさ) in sixth generation packaging with, as the name suggests, a two-speed new power gearbox.
I have a 1992 print run sixth generation box Tsubasa. The rear of the box shows the 100 series 2-Speed Shinkansen, as several two-speed shinkansen boxes did in the 90s. The back of the box says of the Tsubasa, approximately: "A new train that directly connects the Tohoku Shinkansen and the conventional line from Fukushima and runs between Tokyo and Yamagata. This is an express train. It is characterized by its airplane-like style and silver body." The inside flap of the bottom of the box calls it the "MINI-HIKARI (TSUBASA)".
I have two 1992 production Tsubasas. The box pictured above is the older one, being produced in June 1992 around when the 2-Speed Tsubasa was first released, and the other dating from November 1992. Both trains use the older two-speed gearbox with white power switch and gears (mid-late 90s Tsubasas would have light blue power switches and gears) and use the older style of single split rear couplers. The power car chassis was developed in 1991 for the Tsubasa while the intermediate car chassis seems to be the same as the one used on the Super Hikari.
I wouldn't say this is my favorite northeasterly Shinkansen but it is probably the last one that I particularly like, the domed cabs have an almost alien spacecrafty-like appearance and the silver body looks futuristic. I like the grey and green color scheme and the stylized "400" on the power car. These early 90s 400 series cars do not have the "Made in Thailand" text in the axle holders, but these were updated not long after across the entire range.
When the Connection Play sets were released in 1997 this triangular-nosed Shinkansen chassis was updated to have a slot for the connection parts. Tsubasas, E2, E3, and other trains that use this chassis retained this connection feature after these sets went out of production.
I also have this September 1999 production Tsubasa with the later blue power switch. This one is more playworn and currently has an out-of-commission gearbox As I have two earlier Tsubasas I have not yet restored the gearbox inside. At some point I will go through my incomplete/poor condition Plarails and determine how many intact hard-to-find gears I have and use trains I do not care as much about to fix trains that I do like - although being in somewhat rough condition and having two early 90s examples still puts this train fairly low on the repair list.
I actually have a few other random components from some other 400 series trains with different detailing and stickers but I am not entirely sure what they come from and they are all incomplete.
Kinpika Tsubasa (1995)
In 1995 a Golden Tsubasa (金ピカつばさ号, "Kinpika Tsubasa") was a prize in the "Collect, Collect Campaign" (あつめてあつめてキャンペーン). This train would have originally come in a standard 2-Speed Tsubasa seventh generation box.
The tooling is, of course, the same as the regular 400 series. Being from the mid 90s, the gearbox has a light blue power switch instead of the earlier white style seen on the early 90s Tsubasas above. It also uses the newer style of double-split loop couplers.
There is not a production sticker inside my Golden Tsubasa but I assume it was some time in 1995 or perhaps slightly before.
There is not a lot of information about these golden trains online, although the BigLobe Plarail Museum's Phantom Gem section has an array of similar mid-90s Golden Plarails including this one and several golden Nozomis, some of which were magazine giveaways. There is also a version of the Tsubasa with plated windows instead of the black type shown here. I think I prefer this black window type over the all-gold type.
7464 Bullet (Tomica World) (late 1990s)
The 2-Speed Tsubasa was exported under the Tomica World range as item 7464 "Bullet" in the red style of Tomica World boxes. Its production is identical to period Japanese market Tsubasas and the only real distinguishing thing would be the box. Entering production in late 1997, I believe all of these Tsubasas would have had the connection parts feature.