Tomytec World Bus Collection

[bill937ca]

This item appeared about April 2016. These are Tomytec items imported by Walthers.  

 

 

The items available are a GMC TDH-4512 bus, a drive and a complete set. The TDH-4512 is a 1950s transition era medium / big city transit bus.

 

WB001 - Green/yellow/white (aka fruit salad)-- Los Angeles Transit Lines, various City Lines properties of National City Lines

WB002 - Orange/cream --Boston MTA, Pittsburgh Railways, Lake Shore Motor Coach (Detroit suburban)

WB003 - Green/white --Chicago CTA

WMBL01 - GMC TDH-4512 Bus Power Chassis

257998 - starter set (bus body, track, drive)

 

So far I have found five suppliers:

 

Walthers-- all items available

 

modeltrainstuff-- some items available

 

Osbornsmodels --some items available

 

Hobbylinc -- all items available

 

DM Toys -- listed as Faller 975799, all US items available

 

There is a detailed review on  The Railwire with detailed photos of the mechanism.

 

Instead of button batteries these models use a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery which is recharged with an USB cord included with the drive (much like a cell phone).  No separate controller is offered or required.

 

The entire drive mechanism can be removed by un-doing a single screw.  Good for cleaning out debris periodically.

Edited September 13, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

There is  now a Euro version of the World Bus Collection. There are Tomytec / Faller version of the Mercedes Citaro O530 bodies and separate chassis as of 9/2016  This item has a Faller item number.  This a contemporary big city Euro transit bus.

 

 

https://www.en.dm-toys.de/produktdetails/items/Faller_970356.html

 

https://www.en.dm-toys.de/produktdetails/items/Faller_974569.html

 

https://www.en.dm-toys.de/produktdetails/items/Faller_976297.html

 

Item numbers are:

 

974545--Citaro DB

974552--Citaro HVV

974569- Citaro PTT

974576--Citaro Silver

976297--WMBL02 Citaro drive

 

From DM Toys comes a detailed description of the Tomytec / Faller 970356 bus system:

 

A large Faller start-system (BUS), ready to go. The entire system has a size of 281 x 563 mm. We have all Tomytec track's in stock, so you can easily order more, to expand it. The buses for the system are available individually without chassis to change the look.

- 1 x bus model chassis & bus Citaro O530 with headlights and taillights
- 1 x USB charging cable
- 2 x S70-RO feeder road to the bus stop
- Bus stop basis and accessories
- 6 x S70-RO straight road
- 6 x C103-30-RO curve
- 6 x C140-30-RO curve
- 2 x spare tires
- 2 x magnetic holder with magnet
- 1 x magnet holder with magnet for the bus stop
- 32 x general connector
- detailed illustrated user manual

The functionality of the bus system:
- a magnet inside the bus detects a steering wire under the roadway
- the bus is simply driven by turning on the Power, at 2 speeds
- the front wheels perform a realistic steering movement
- the power-chassis of the bus take's speed by set the charge of a magnetic sensor, responsive to magnets under the roadway automatically.
- by loosening a screw on the chassis, you can set the wheelbase between 29 - 38 mm
- the Lithium-Ion-battery is fitted in the bus which can be loaded via a USB cable

Function of the bus stop:
You can choose between the STOP and GO function with a lever. In the position of GO the bus will pass the stop. In the STOP position the bus stops for 7 seconds and then moves on slowly again.

Operation of lighting:
The headlights light up when they are turned on. They turn to off gradually when the bus is stopping. The taillights light up when they are turned on. They appear brighter when the bus stops or slows down.

Edited September 13, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

Back to the original TDH-4512 group.

 

The TDH-4512 series designation means

 

T- transit

D-diesel

H- hydraulic transimission (automatic) 

 

45 - number seats (standard specifications)

12- version number

 

Length = 35 feet

Width = 96 inches

 

The pair window design was introduced in 1948 with the TDH-4509 and this was superseded in 1953 by the TDH-4512 when air bellows replaced leaf springs.  The TDH-4512 was manufactured from 1953 to 1959.  There is a list of buses built here.

 

When introduced the 35 foot GMC bus was found in all sizes of cities.  New York City Omnibus Corporation had a fleet of over 300 35 foot buses.  But once the 40 foot TDH--5105 (102 inches wide) and TDH-5106 (96 inches wide) were introduced also in 1953, the 35 foot bus was typically found in medium sized cities and on some suburban lines.

Edited September 14, 2016 by bill937ca

[bill937ca]

On the Walthers bus set page there is a link to download a instruction sheet, actually 3 pages. This deals with conversion for right hand operation and restringing the .055 diameter wire.

[brill27mcb]

Thanks for this link, Bill. Too bad Tomytec could not make their intersection pieces symmetric underneath, so they could be easily converted from left-side to right-side operation. The bus stop is pretty lame compared to the intersections. We have recently played with a Tomytec bus setup at our East Penn Traction Club N-gauge get-togethers. We built an asymmetrical layout with two "T" intersections. The U.S.-prototype GMC buses, with their long wheelbase, sometimes have the rear axle get too close to the inner edge when making the tight intersection curve, and they tip off the edge of the "road." We also had periodic funny crashes, even on straight road sections, into the 7-11 store and so on. The rear tires keep churning around, of course.

 

By the way, if you have not seen the *many* instruction pamphlets that come with either the intersection set or the set that enables "T" intersections, they show an amazing array of road pieces. These handle many special situations, such as changing from inner to outer lane on a 4-lane road, turning into either the inner or outer lane at an intersection, crossing the Wide Tram track pieces, etc. etc. The piece identification symbols run through many Japanese characters, and then run through the entire English alphabet! Tomytec have really thought through a wide number of possibilities. It is not clear to me (who can not read Japanese) whether they plan to offer all of these little road bits, or whether they expect users to add guide wire themselves. If you look under some of the road pieces, there are many hard-to-figure provisions (slots and nibs) for guide wire runs.

 

Another funny thing: in the Walthers power chassis instructions in English and other languages, they indicate that a personal computer is "required" to charge the bus battery, due to the USB cable supplied for that purpose. I'm sure less expensive options, like a cell phone charger, can be used as well!

 

Rich K.

Edited September 13, 2016 by brill27mcb

[bill937ca]

I think the Mercedes Citaro may be a 12m bus, roughly 40 feet.  The TDH-4512 is a 35 foot model of the GMC Old Look line.  Most Japanese buses are around 30 feet. These lengths may surprise some modelers.

[bill937ca]

Thanks for this link, Bill. Too bad Tomytec could not make their intersection pieces symmetric underneath, so they could be easily converted from left-side to right-side operation. The bus stop is pretty lame compared to the intersections. We have recently played with a Tomytec bus setup at our East Penn Traction Club N-gauge get-togethers. We built an asymmetrical layout with two "T" intersections. The U.S.-prototype GMC buses, with their long wheelbase, sometimes have the rear axle get too close to the inner edge when making the tight intersection curve, and they tip off the edge of the "road." We also had periodic funny crashes, even on straight road sections, into the 7-11 store and so on. The rear tires keep churning around, of course.

 

 

 

The road pieces need the ability to swing out to the left before turning right.  I remember PTC GM TDH-5106s on three way streets going right over to the left hand side to make a right hand turn.  In Lisbon even the tram lines are set to go to the left before going around the corner to the right, in famous case coming right up onto the sidewalk.

[bill937ca]

Thanks for this link, Bill. Too bad Tomytec could not make their intersection pieces symmetric underneath, so they could be easily converted from left-side to right-side operation. The bus stop is pretty lame compared to the intersections. We have recently played with a Tomytec bus setup at our East Penn Traction Club N-gauge get-togethers. We built an asymmetrical layout with two "T" intersections. The U.S.-prototype GMC buses, with their long wheelbase, sometimes have the rear axle get too close to the inner edge when making the tight intersection curve, and they tip off the edge of the "road." We also had periodic funny crashes, even on straight road sections, into the 7-11 store and so on. The rear tires keep churning around, of course.

 

By the way, if you have not seen the *many* instruction pamphlets that come with either the intersection set or the set that enables "T" intersections, they show an amazing array of road pieces. These handle many special situations, such as changing from inner to outer lane on a 4-lane road, turning into either the inner or outer lane at an intersection, crossing the Wide Tram track pieces, etc. etc. The piece identification symbols run through many Japanese characters, and then run through the entire English alphabet! Tomytec have really thought through a wide number of possibilities. It is not clear to me (who can not read Japanese) whether they plan to offer all of these little road bits, or whether they expect users to add guide wire themselves. If you look under some of the road pieces, there are many hard-to-figure provisions (slots and nibs) for guide wire runs.

 

Another funny thing: in the Walthers power chassis instructions in English and other languages, they indicate that a personal computer is "required" to charge the bus battery, due to the USB cable supplied for that purpose. I'm sure less expensive options, like a cell phone charger, can be used as well!

 

Rich K.

 

Your welcome. I think this tells us several things.  All the possibilities tell us why Walthers and Faller picked up the line and that from the beginning Tomytec was thinking of the export market.  The Walthers hand out says Tomytec has sold over a million pieces in Japan.  The number of dealers in Europe is growing this week. I think the Citaro just made it to the market last week after a typical European August vacation.

[brill27mcb]

I forgot to mention that the newer chassis with the rechargeable batteries has an "energy saving" mode. If you hold the start/stop button down for a few seconds when starting, the vehicle will run with headlights and taillights off, but the brake lights still work. This extends running time on a charge.

 

Rich K.

[ToniBabelony]

That old GMC bus also would fit on Soviet, or even Chinese themed layouts, as it was also built under license behind the Iron Curtain. Very cool developments anyway and it'd be interesting to see these appear in shops in Japan and what kind of reaction they will trigger.

[bill937ca]

That old GMC bus also would fit on Soviet, or even Chinese themed layouts, as it was also built under license behind the Iron Curtain. Very cool developments anyway and it'd be interesting to see these appear in shops in Japan and what kind of reaction they will trigger.

 

The Tomytec Bus System has been discussed on a N scale Russian train board. I've already seen one Japanese review of the TDH-4512 bus. Word gets around.

Edited September 14, 2016 by bill937ca

[cteno4]

I had asked Nariichi to ask at a tomytec meeting if the features on the us busses was coming to Japan when it was first announced but at the time they said no. Not sure if that meant the us mech coming to Japan or the feature set coming to the Japanese mech.

 

Jeff

[bill937ca]

A couple of interesting videos of the Tomytec/Falller operating bus system.  Basically the same as moving bus but with different buses.  

 

 

Is that a moving truck in video 1? I just noticed the word BUS.  This is only on the European version of the bus roadway.  Its not on my WBS-101 Base of Bus Stop Set imported by Walthers and I don't believe it would be on the Japanese version.

 

Edited October 2, 2016 by bill937ca

[woodbury22uk]

The Mercedes Citaro articulated bus in this set uses the same concept as the GM bus, and the bus itself is similar to buses running in the UK. Due for November release. Would probably adapt to US articulated designs too, if only someone made the body.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10395187

[cteno4]

Video here on the articulated bus

 

Jeff

 

[woodbury22uk]

Video here on the articulated bus

Jeff

Thanks for posting the link to my video.

 

Couple of issues. The postal service had been a bit rough with the set so the motorised chassis had separated into two pieces held together by the wires between the motor unit and the trailer. The joint between the two parts clips into the back of the motor unit. I reinforced this with a drop of cyano/superglue. There are two clip-in location points at the rear corner of the motor unit and I fixed these with cyano too. The motor unit needs to be pushed all the way forward into the body so that the driving wheels are free to rotate.

 

The articulation is not flexible. In fact it is part of the front bodyshell. To ease the movement of the trailer around the articulation point I rubbed a soft pencil round the inner edge of the trailer bodyshell.

 

I have managed to get mine to run round a 90 degree 66mm radius curve by adding a 5mm wide strip of foam plastic to the inside of the curve. However it will not manage a 180 degree curve without toppling over. I think this is due to being at the absolute limit of the articulation. Having a straight or much gentler curve either side of the 90 degree 66mm curve allows the trailer to not get to an extreme angle.

 

Mine is working fine on my layout which includes seven 90 degree 66mm curves!

 

Because the instructions are only in Japanese it is not obvious that the lights can be turned off to conserve battery life. Once the motor is running hold in the on/off button for 3 seconds to extinguish the lights. The brake lights still work fine, and come on passing over the speed change magnet ahead of the bus stop,

 

Very pleased with mine. I checked out the battery life on the second day. Using the supplied road circuit set up as an oval with the bus stop on the inside a full charge lasted 2 hours and 34 minutes with the running lights off but the brake lights still operating. Circuit time was a remarkably consistent 28 seconds as measured at the beginning and just before the battery was exhausted. An orange LED flashes to signify that there is about 5 minutes charge left. Of the 28 second circuit time, 7 seconds are stationary at the bus stop, one second in low speed arriving and departing the bus stop, and 20 seconds in high speed. High speed is the equivalent of 28mph (45kph). Actual distance run was just over 550 metres, so about 51 miles (83 km) scale distance.

Edited January 5, 2017 by woodbury22uk

[cteno4]

Woodbury,

 

Hey great you are on the forum! Sorry I forgot to credit the video to a post over on the tomytec bus system group on yahoo!

 

Thanks for the review!

 

Jeff

[brill27mcb]

Our club group has had problems getting the US-design General Motors bus (Tomytec, sold through Walthers in the U.S.) to go reliably around the inner curves on the intersection road piece. These are not smooth curves, having a straight strectch midway through the corner. Sometimes the rear wheels of the bus fall off the inner edge of the roadway, sometimes the bus just keeps turning instead of straightening out, and sometimes it just loses the under-road ferrous wire to follow and takes off in a random direction. This occurs with both left-side and right-side of the road operating practice.

 

Rich K.

[HantuBlauLOL]

why euro buses are much more expensive than japanese?

[cteno4]

I suspect that the new tomytec export is doing what the market will bare from the looks of what they are pricing SRP on already produced items, like buildings, in the us market with walthers. SRP is 50-75% more here with walthers and a direct deal with tomytec.

 

I could see them figure the euro train market tends to be more expensive so...

 

Jeff

[kvp]

Might not be the best place for this info, but if you install the temporary stop magnet to the bus stop and only pull the lever to stop position after the bus has passed this magnet, then the main stop magnet will hold the bus indefinetly. This allows timed automatic and manual stop and go operation without changing the magnet setup under the stop.

[woodbury22uk]

Our club group has had problems getting the US-design General Motors bus (Tomytec, sold through Walthers in the U.S.) to go reliably around the inner curves on the intersection road piece. These are not smooth curves, having a straight strectch midway through the corner. Sometimes the rear wheels of the bus fall off the inner edge of the roadway, sometimes the bus just keeps turning instead of straightening out, and sometimes it just loses the under-road ferrous wire to follow and takes off in a random direction. This occurs with both left-side and right-side of the road operating practice.

 

Rich K.

Rich

 

I have the GMC chassis installed in the plastic double deck body for the new style London bus (Oxford Diecast). For this I have extended the wheelbase to the maximum of just over 38mm/1.5in. Most of the time it follows the wire even on the tightest radius. I have sometimes needed to apply a bit of downward pressure on the steering magnet holder to keep things running smoothly. One thing which might affect it is the approach angle of the bus. You need at least 70mm/2.75 inches of straight before the junction so the bus approaches the turn straight on. Another thing with the intersection is that some of that web of wires underneath can become dislodged and send the bus off in a random direction. All the fixed wires now get a drop of cyano from me before fixing the intersection down.

 

The day I got my GMC chassis I fixed it in the double deck body and shot this short video. The white styrene insert is a bit obvious. I am now designing a 3D print insert for these bodies which I can have printed in black so I do not have to keep breaking out the styrene and solvent for each new installation.

 

Edited January 7, 2017 by cteno4
Fixed YouTube embed

[bill937ca]

One thing which might affect it is the approach angle of the bus. You need at least 70mm/2.75 inches of straight before the junction so the bus approaches the turn straight on. 

 

 

 

Yes, I have seen this issue in the Tomix documentation.

 

is a basic set of the crossroads to set. We will connect the four parts together. Select bus right / left / straight ahead manually. Road · wide tram rail common joint. Is attached. 

※ Please be sure to connect the straight road (S70 · S74) to the intersection.

 

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/diocolle/lineup/soko/soko008.html

Edited January 7, 2017 by bill937ca

[HantuBlauLOL]

I suspect that the new tomytec export is doing what the market will bare from the looks of what they are pricing SRP on already produced items, like buildings, in the us market with walthers. SRP is 50-75% more here with walthers and a direct deal with tomytec.

 

I could see them figure the euro train market tends to be more expensive so...

 

Jeff

 

 

actually that lures away foreigners from buying euro trains..

[cteno4]

Yes, I've wondered why the euro market has stayed expensive even though it seems good sized. Does anyone know the history of euro train pricing? I assumed since the since they jacked the prices up when bring stuff to the us they would do it even more to the euro market...

 

I think the pricing of walthers here on the Japanese Tomytec stuff is hurting it getting general circulation in the us market. the few us only busses they have made so far has no competition here and small market so more understandable a high price.

 

Jeff