Hi guys,
I'm a quite a way off even thinking about the road vehicles but I'm interested to know your thoughts. I haven't even got any track down yet so this really is thinking for the future.
At some point I'd like to incorporate moving road vehicles into my layout and I'm looking at the Tomytec bus system and the faller road system.
Ignoring the prices what are your thoughts on either of these systems, which one would you choose, and why?
Thanks for any advice given :-)
Price is definitely in favour of Tomytec. If you're modelling British outline the bus is the right sort of scale and the right way round (RHD) with the bus stop arranged as a pull over to the left.
This guy has the Tomytec system. His observations may be of interest. http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/ (http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/)
Quote from: NgaugeDan on March 03, 2012, 11:53:13 AM
I'm a quite a way off even thinking about the road vehicles but I'm interested to know your thoughts. I haven't even got any track down yet so this really is thinking for the future.
At some point I'd like to incorporate moving road vehicles into my layout and I'm looking at the Tomytec bus system and the faller road system.
I would argue that now is the perfect time to be thinking about this. With these types of road systems, they need to be planned into the layout at the same time as the track...they can be really fiddly to install retrospectively.
My understanding is that the two systems are similar mechanically; inasmuch as they have the motors in the vehicles and follow a magnetic strip in the road. At present I believe the Tomytec set only comes with the road sections pre-moulded, whilst the magnetic strip is available from Faller separately.
In theory, this means that you could use the Faller strip and run Tomytec buses on it...although that would need to be checked out.
I see you are based in Sussex. If you have not done so already, the West Sussex N Gauge area group has several members who have used at least the Faller system, and they may be able to give you some more hands-on experience...
Quote from: Malc on March 03, 2012, 12:19:44 PM
This guy has the Tomytec system. His observations may be of interest. http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/ (http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/)
Which has effectively written off my interchangeability theory of the two systems. Although there is nothing there to say that the Faller system could not be adapted relatively simply to handle only Tomytec vehicles....it just precludes using both.
I agree that now is the time to incorporate the roadway.
I have the Faller system ready to install and i cannot see how i would fit it after the baseboard is done, i will be building the roads in to accommodate the guide wire as I go.
I like that i can have any shape road and have natural curves and not-quite-straights. I think that is my problem with the Tomix system.
I have bashed my Faller German bus with a Japanese body And Anglicised it. I can't wait to see it running down the high street past WHSmiths!
I saw the Faller sytem on a layout at TINGS in 2009 and fell in love with the idea. And straight away started incorporating the bus route into my street design.
Thanks for replys so far, At the moment I'm swinging towards the faller due to being able to run more than one vehicle each way easily.
Maybe this is something that tomytec will introduce hopefully in the near future?!
Evening all,
I'm thinking I'm about to take the plunge and am looking at purchasing the faller car system starter set (162002).
I'm looking at purchasing it from Germany as it's cheaper than in UK.
Does anyone know if it's possible to buy the vehicles/motorised chassis seperately for when I want to expand and what sort of price they are?
Also, how easy is it to put a British 1:148 vehicle body onto the chassis?
Thanks for any help.
Dan
You may end up having to pay Import Duty on that and our beloved Parcel Force will whack a Handling Fee on top of that.
Today I have just had to pay an extra £19.45 for a r/c Radio I bought from Hong Kong.
The Import Duty was £5.97 the rest was the Parcel Force Handling Charge >:( >:( >:(
Thanks for the heads up although I thought import duty was only relevent if items are coming from outside Europe?
Sorry to hear you had to pay £20 extra :-(
Yes - import duty only applies outside Eurozone. Below is a link to a post from Gordon who regularly buys abroad.
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=3958.45 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=3958.45)
Scotsoft, rotten luck about the radio - the Parcel Force Handling Charge, in particular, is extortionate. What on earth do they do to justify it.
The guys in the flying forums have been battling this charge for a long time.
Customs and Excise say it has nothing to do with them.
Parcel Force say it is because they have to do Customs and Excises job that they need to charge.
So basically you get bounced from one place to the other.
This is the second time they have stung me, the lsat time was just short of £40.
I could not write what I really feel about Parcel Force in the Angry Thread without being hung, drawn and quartered.
Yea my impressions of parcel force aren't great either,
Quote from: scotsoft on April 30, 2012, 09:04:10 PM
You may end up having to pay Import Duty on that and our beloved Parcel Force will whack a Handling Fee on top of that.
Today I have just had to pay an extra £19.45 for a r/c Radio I bought from Hong Kong.
The Import Duty was £5.97 the rest was the Parcel Force Handling Charge >:( >:( >:(
Parcelfarce are part of the Royal Snail. The Royal Snail is owned by the state. Therefore the Freedom of Information act applies. So if you'd like to know how much of that handling fee goes where - you can ask them for free 8)
There are ways to avoid all the duty which those doing a lot of "personal" importing sometimes use. You just need a friend in another EU state which has no ceiling on personal imports and to post it twice !
Quote from: NgaugeDan on April 30, 2012, 08:46:22 PM
Evening all,
I'm thinking I'm about to take the plunge and am looking at purchasing the faller car system starter set (162002).
I'm looking at purchasing it from Germany as it's cheaper than in UK.
Does anyone know if it's possible to buy the vehicles/motorised chassis seperately for when I want to expand and what sort of price they are?
Also, how easy is it to put a British 1:148 vehicle body onto the chassis?
Thanks for any help.
Dan
If i recall correctly you can buy single vehicles. The N range is small (in number i mean), and about 100 quid each. I successfully swapped out the body of the bus from my starter set to an older style british bus from NTrain's hongkong range.
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238)
It is not cheap, but it can be done.
If i recall correctly you can buy single vehicles. The N range is small (in number i mean), and about 100 quid each. I successfully swapped out the body of the bus from my starter set to an older style british bus from NTrain's hongkong range.
[/quote]
Can we see a picture..................................
Quote from: EtchedPixels on April 30, 2012, 09:27:13 PM
There are ways to avoid all the duty which those doing a lot of "personal" importing sometimes use. You just need a friend in another EU state which has no ceiling on personal imports and to post it twice !
I've come across a Canadian business who were doing something similar on a commercial basis for video games, DVDs etc - drop-ship to France, and then send on within the EU at some wonderful discounts. I have no idea whether this was creative abuse of "personal" imports, or the French having special rules for their Quebecois (sp?) chums...
Quote from: NTrain on April 30, 2012, 09:34:32 PM
Can we see a picture..................................
Sure can!
(http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z334/Mustermark/Faller%20Bus%20Conversion/DSC_00012.jpg)
A couple more pics in this thread:
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238)
I have used the HO version of the Faller system. It needs some thought and planing and ideally should be designed into the layout from the start, not an after thought added later.
Oddly I found that it was usually 20-30% cheaper to buy starter sets (vehicle, charger and various other bits and pieces) than to buy the same vehicle on it's own!
Thanks for replys guys.
Yes I'm looking at buying a starter set containing a lorry to get started. My layout is currently in the base board stage (not for too much longer) so it would ok to add the car system at this stage. I've just got to decide the route etc :-)
Or do I still consider the bus system ?!? Ahh decisions decisions.
There's a bit about the bus system in Nspirations 7 and it does look good, also it's to a scale of 1:150 instead of 1:160!
Dan
Quote from: Claude Dreyfus on March 03, 2012, 12:42:26 PM
Quote from: Malc on March 03, 2012, 12:19:44 PM
This guy has the Tomytec system. His observations may be of interest. http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/ (http://www.sumidacrossing.org/OtherElements/TomytecBusSystem/)
Which has effectively written off my interchangeability theory of the two systems. Although there is nothing there to say that the Faller system could not be adapted relatively simply to handle only Tomytec vehicles....it just precludes using both.
Although he says
"The Tomytec system uses a very strong magnet, and wire attached to the underside of a fairly thick styrene roadway. Apparently Faller vehicles used with Tomytec roads don't track reliably, and Tomytec vehicles used with Faller wire can seize the wire and not move" I would have though that it's just a matter of a little experimentation to sort out a suitable metal strip and depth that it can be buried in the layout road-way (al la Faller style) to run the Tomytec mechs.
I have also seen a vid of the Tomytec system with lots of vehicle going in both directions. But the real limit is the size of the mechs (for both faller and Tomytec); they'll only fit in large vehicle like buses and lorries - nothing suitable for cars.
H.
Yes that is a valid point. At the moment though I'd be happy with buses and lorrys, then hopefully later they'll develop a motor for N gauge cars.
I could have a bus lane on my layout with cars caught in traffic at roadworks, then it would be realistic too :)
Another reason for swaying towards the faller system is at the moment the cheapest I can find the Tomytec Moving bus system A2 starter set is £95 at Osborns. I can get the Faller starter set for cheaper than that from eBay.
Has anyone seen the moving bus system anywhere for cheaper than £95.00?
Dan
Quote from: NgaugeDan on May 01, 2012, 10:26:04 AM
Another reason for swaying towards the faller system is at the moment the cheapest I can find the Tomytec Moving bus system A2 starter set is £95 at Osborns. I can get the Faller starter set for cheaper than that from eBay.
Has anyone seen the moving bus system anywhere for cheaper than £95.00?
I got mine for about £65 from Plazza Japan on ebay. When I was looking the Faller system was a lot dearer - if you could find one as most places seemed to no longer stock it. And you get the bus pull in/stop bit with the TomyTec.
H.
Thanks H, I've sent them an ebay message as they currently don't have the set listed. Did you have to pay import duty?
Dan
Quote from: NgaugeDan on May 01, 2012, 10:47:13 AMDid you have to pay import duty?
Nope, they declare on the customs form (attached to the parcel) that the contents are low value toys.
H.
Quote from: NgaugeDan on May 01, 2012, 10:47:13 AM
Thanks H, I've sent them an ebay message as they currently don't have the set listed. Did you have to pay import duty?
Dan
They tend to label them as low value toys, but I have paid duty on their imports before now because our customs people are not quite that stupid and used to stopping fraud.
I can recommend Plaza Japan though - the service is excellent.
Your alternative is to build a magnetic roadway or moving surface road.
Take a look at Stafford Springs - and thats Z scale (the moving road stuff starts about half way in, and shows how its done)
Stafford Springs Z scale Train upgrade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRT76GidKEk#)
Quote from: EtchedPixels on May 01, 2012, 12:06:43 PMYour alternative is to build a magnetic roadway or moving surface road.
Take a look at Stafford Springs - and thats Z scale (the moving road stuff starts about half way in, and shows how its done)
Yep, but it not new though. I've seen it done before on very old British outline layouts.
H.
Quote from: H on May 01, 2012, 12:25:22 PM
Yep, but it not new though.
I never said it was - most of the best ideas have been around for a very long time but get forgotten. It's a lovely very small scale example though - especially the skater which is something you'd be hard pushed to do any other way.
Also somewhat cheaper than £100 a bus.
Alan
Well I've just had a result on eBay.
I decided to go for a faller starter set (162002) which is a wiking lorry. I found a new one in Germany on eBay through a seller with decent feedback so I placed a bid in the last few seconds and won!
I got it for £65.13 including shipping from Germany which I think is a really good price. The cheapest I'd seen it in the UK was around £80 plus P+P.
I can't wait for it to arrive and to incorporate it into my layout plans :)
Quote from: Mustermark on May 01, 2012, 01:18:26 AM
Quote from: NTrain on April 30, 2012, 09:34:32 PM
Can we see a picture..................................
Sure can!
(http://i1184.photobucket.com/albums/z334/Mustermark/Faller%20Bus%20Conversion/DSC_00012.jpg)
A couple more pics in this thread:
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=1545.msg41238#msg41238)
Thanks
Quote from: EtchedPixels on May 01, 2012, 01:59:20 PM
Quote from: H on May 01, 2012, 12:25:22 PM
Yep, but it not new though.
I never said it was -
I never said you said it was :smiley-laughing:
Quote from: EtchedPixels on May 01, 2012, 01:59:20 PM
Also somewhat cheaper than £100 a bus.
With the TomyTec starter set, which I paid £65 for rather than £100, you actually get two bus bodies (not sure why as you only get one motor chassis) plus the roadway and a special pull in bus stop mechanism section and a bus stop shelter!
H.
I've just been stung by Customs fees of £48 on a package from Hobby Search aka 1999.jp aka PlazaJapan... (which I’ve since noticed is actually all Parcelforce Handling fees and not customs at all which is outrageous)
Negates the cheaper price I paid for the Tomytec bus system and a cheap Kato Glacier Express set, but thankfully there are things in my order which you can't get any other way which reduces my pain.
My mistakes by the look of it. Previously I've not been surcharged on stuff from US or Plaza Japan and indeed looking at the invoice the charges were all non-customs (mainly VAT). The problem is only Hobby Search have the individual bits and pieces I was after, mainly stuff to further my Kato RhB project such as individual bogies.
However, back to the Tomytec bus system:
Ran my B2 set at my club last night having got it in my office earlier in the day. Almost the whole club to a man was fascinated by it!
I do mainly European, and the immediate thing I found (to my utter glee) was that you can dupe the bus into operating in left hand drive /right hand of the road running, although the lights that operated on the bus when you add the widget magnets don’t work, but they don’t really add a great deal IMO. The bus even still pulls into the bus stop when running in the ‘wrong’ direction.
My installation is likely to be a single track anyway as it is to be part of my minimum space Kato Glacier Express layout. Whereby the bus runs in the middle of the road which is realistic for a Swiss Post bus on a rural mountain road.
Unfortunately putting the Rietze Swiss PTT bus on the Tomix chassis doesn’t quite work as the Rietze wheelbase is just too long. However modifying the side the doors are on on the basic bus supplied with the set is going to be a piece of cake.
I wonder has anyone thought about motorising an actual vehicle, gearing it down with mini robot motor and gear box.
This motor is the smallest one I could find:
http://www.robotshop.com/uk/solarbotics-gm7-gear-motor-7.html (http://www.robotshop.com/uk/solarbotics-gm7-gear-motor-7.html)
• Voltage: 5vdc
• RPM: 145
• Torque: 25oz.in (1.8 kg-cm)
• Current: 88mA
• Reduction: 120:1
• Shaft length: 2mm
• Size: 53x13x19 mm
• Weight: 20 grams (0.7oz)
At 53x13x19mm it almost fits inside the Oxford diecast horsebox ... but not quite.
http://www.jd-collectables.co.uk/acatalog/Southern-Railways-Albion-Horsebox-N-gauge-from-Oxford-Diecast-4677.html (http://www.jd-collectables.co.uk/acatalog/Southern-Railways-Albion-Horsebox-N-gauge-from-Oxford-Diecast-4677.html)
I was thinking either shoehorn in a vehicle or scratch build a vehicle around the motor. The road would be like a track with small kerbs and maybe a centre divider. The vehicle is set off from a road tunnel into the fiddle yard. It then meanders its way on the track/road probably bumping off the kerbs here and there until it disappears into some trees or another area accessible from the yard, where the operator in time resets to go back the other way.
I'm just wandering if this idea is a goer, or would lack realism in movement to the extent, it would be better having static vehicles.
Quote from: Firefox on November 24, 2015, 11:28:21 PM
I'm just wandering if this idea is a goer, or would lack realism in movement to the extent, it would be better having static vehicles.
Well it would certainly be less realistic in movement than using either the Faller or Tomytec systems that were discussed in this thread... ??? :hmmm:
Quote from: Firefox on November 24, 2015, 11:28:21 PM
I wonder has anyone thought about motorising an actual vehicle, gearing it down with mini robot motor and gear box.
This motor is the smallest one I could find:
http://www.robotshop.com/uk/solarbotics-gm7-gear-motor-7.html (http://www.robotshop.com/uk/solarbotics-gm7-gear-motor-7.html)
• Voltage: 5vdc
• RPM: 145
• Torque: 25oz.in (1.8 kg-cm)
• Current: 88mA
• Reduction: 120:1
• Shaft length: 2mm
• Size: 53x13x19 mm
• Weight: 20 grams (0.7oz)
At 53x13x19mm it almost fits inside the Oxford diecast horsebox ... but not quite.
http://www.jd-collectables.co.uk/acatalog/Southern-Railways-Albion-Horsebox-N-gauge-from-Oxford-Diecast-4677.html (http://www.jd-collectables.co.uk/acatalog/Southern-Railways-Albion-Horsebox-N-gauge-from-Oxford-Diecast-4677.html)
I'm just wandering if this idea is a goer, or would lack realism in movement to the extent, it would be better having static vehicles.
There are plenty of smaller motor and gearbox setups available. Power with a hearing aid battery, and maybe add a resistor around 50 ohms to drop the speed. For steering mount a ball bearing under the front axle with a neomagnet above, to follow a buried steel wire. Probably less haphazard movement. This seller on ebay tends to have the small motors.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/antareshobby?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2754 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/antareshobby?_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2754)
IDL Motors is currently in the process of releasing a connectable version of their linear motor tracks which might be worth considering. Unfortunately this isn't exactly cheap, can only handle one tight group of vehicles, and while powerful enough to propel small plastic vehicles in N gauge would probably not be up to large trucks or any sort of diecast models.
Their website is: http://www.teenytrains.com/ (http://www.teenytrains.com/)
Thanks woodbury22uk. Excellent info on the motors. That ebay source produces a 7x7x16 motor which is just what I need.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-System-HO-N-scale-MD06G18T-Gear-motor-1V-4V-DC-ratio18-1-1qty-/141777118288 (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-System-HO-N-scale-MD06G18T-Gear-motor-1V-4V-DC-ratio18-1-1qty-/141777118288)
It will fit the Oxford diecast trucks and I think it will even do the bus. I wanted to motorise a bus as they regularly go back and forth.
But I had almost given up because I couldn't find a small enough motor and gear. I spent ages searching and looking too! Also steering suggestion sounds good. I wonder if motor can overcome friction from the magnet guide though?
Quote from: Firefox on November 24, 2015, 11:28:21 PM
It then meanders its way on the track/road probably bumping off the kerbs here and there until it disappears into some trees or another area
Will you be having another vehicle, this time a police car, following to arrest the driver as "drunk in charge of a horsebox" ???
Unfortunately not as the car is probably too small to motorise :(
However, it could be towed behind the bus/horsebox on a piece of fuse wire, and let's hope the rivet counters don't start pointing out the wire :laugh3: