Tram and road track from Tomytec

[to2leo]

Wow one breaking news after another.

 

I am more interested in understanding what it is talking about on the lower right corner about the bus.

Could it be the Faller car system in Japanese form?

[bill937ca]

That just looks like an ad for Tomix 3076.

[to2leo]

Oh well, we can only dream about a Faller system...

 

I am very curious whether the Tomytec tram tracks are like their Fine Track systerm or it is all just plastics....

 

If they are metal tracks, why give it to Tomytec and not Tomix?

[bill937ca]

Oh well, we can only dream about a Faller system...

 

I am very curious whether the Tomytec tram tracks are like their Fine Track systerm or it is all just plastics....

 

If they are metal tracks, why give it to Tomytec and not Tomix?

 

Everything has recently been re-branded Tomytec.  There is a new home page links to the existing Tomix and Tomytec web pages.

 

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/

 

Some new products are being announced at the Tokyo Hobby Show which runs this weekend.  But the major announcements are usually made at Shizouka in May or JAM in August.  At this point its only a poster. A prototype probably won't be seen until May.

 

There was some talk of Faller on one blog I translated.

 

http://popondetta.com/blog/2009/10/post_120.html

 

It looks liike Unitram is adding a crossover.

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1844.msg17465.html#msg17465

[CaptOblivious]

Based on Bill's link, it looks like Tomytec is both upgrading their tram track, and creating a system of matching road plates with a built-in Faller-like system. Holy crap! They mention that all sorts of nifty features, like automatic stopping at stop lights and collision avoidance in intersections, is planned. But it's all in the very earliest stages of development, so it will be a while until we hear more.

 

Very exciting!!

[disturbman]

It seems that a new war between Tomy and Kato is starting. Very exciting indeed.

[bill937ca]

Based on Bill's link, it looks like Tomytec is both upgrading their tram track, and creating a system of matching road plates with a built-in Faller-like system. Holy crap! They mention that all sorts of nifty features, like automatic stopping at stop lights and collision avoidance in intersections, is planned. But it's all in the very earliest stages of development, so it will be a while until we hear more.

 

Very exciting!!

 

So let's see a Kato Unitram starter set is $300-$400 US, Tomix/Tomytec/Faller system will be $$$$$.  Will anyone have any money left for trains   or just any money left???

[to2leo]

:blob6: I cannot believe it, I am so happy right now!

 

Is there a new person in charge at Tomix?  Kato and Tomix are certainly light years ahead of other competitors in terms of offerings and technology!

[cteno4]

BTW the faller bus system works great with many of the Tomytec bus shells. many have the right wheel spacing. even would work with a few of the trucks with some carving.

 

problem with the faller system is that you end up with a road with no other vehicles on it except for the moving bus. might work with having an express bus lane where the faller runs in where as the rest of the lanes could be clogged with traffic.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Guest ___]

Oh well, we can only dream about a Faller system...

 

I am very curious whether the Tomytec tram tracks are like their Fine Track systerm or it is all just plastics....

 

If they are metal tracks, why give it to Tomytec and not Tomix?

 

Everything has recently been re-branded Tomytec.  There is a new home page links to the existing Tomix and Tomytec web pages.

 

http://www.tomytec.co.jp/

 

Some new products are being announced at the Tokyo Hobby Show which runs this weekend.  But the major announcements are usually made at Shizouka in May or JAM in August.  At this point its only a poster. A prototype probably won't be seen until May.

 

There was some talk of Faller on one blog I translated.

 

http://popondetta.com/blog/2009/10/post_120.html

 

It looks liike Unitram is adding a crossover.

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,1844.msg17465.html#msg17465

 

 

I can only hope that if they are going to rebrand all the TOMIX stuff as Tomytec that the new TOMIX stuff will have the same level of detail, as the Tomytec. Part of the reason I seldom buy TOMX building is that the Tomytec stuff looks better.

[bill937ca]

In North America it has been very hard to get parts for the Faller bus system.  I haven't really considered it, although I've been aware of it for several years. 

[Fenway Park]

Faller are in severe problems in Germany but may be saved in some form.

[Martijn Meerts]

Based on Bill's link, it looks like Tomytec is both upgrading their tram track, and creating a system of matching road plates with a built-in Faller-like system. Holy crap! They mention that all sorts of nifty features, like automatic stopping at stop lights and collision avoidance in intersections, is planned. But it's all in the very earliest stages of development, so it will be a while until we hear more.

 

Very exciting!!

 

 

The current Car System can do all of that already. With a bit of work you can even add block control to the whole thing.

 

Miniatur Wunderland in Germany has a good amount of Car System on their layout, most of which computer controlled. Cars will also automatically drive to a "gas station" to recharge the batteries, and there's headlights, tail lights and indicator lights.

 

Railz Miniworld in the Netherlands has advanced it even more. In their case cars will decelerate and accelerate smoothly, rather than the sudden start and stop of the standard system and the system used at Miniatur Wunderland.

 

All that said, there are a lot of issues with the car system as well. It gets really repetitive, the roads the cars drive on will quickly show dark grey marks from the tires, and obviously the N-scale cars can only run like 5-10 minutes before needing a recharge...

[to2leo]

I hope Tomix can improve on Faller's existing system.  I also don't mind if Tomix partners with Faller to finally have its products available beyond the Japan border.

 

Someone finally posted how the Tomytec road system works!

 

[cteno4]

My little faller bus ran around the little test loop i made for like 30 minutes before pooping out.

 

big problem is the fact you have empty street with only one vehicle on it. ok for a more rural scene, but in a japanese city?! kind of makes for a boring street scene. also odd that only one vehicle (or a few) is moving and rest in your scene are static. there was a discussion of this last year about animation of scenes and some examples of the faller system here.

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php/topic,461.0.html

 

the stopping mechanism is an electromagnet under the road that when turned on will trigger a reed switch in the bus turning it off. turn off the electromagnet and bus starts back up again.

 

steering is a little magnet connected to the steering rod that follows a buried wire in the road. i think i got mine down to like 2.5" radius curves it would follow.

 

tomytec could really bring the price down on these, the mechanisms are not that complicated. drive train is a micro motor and two gears. the steering is pretty straight forward. no reason these should cost $75 for the vehicles. tomytec has all the shells to pop these in for sure! potential for them to do it like the train collection with mechanisms that work i a lot of the vehicles they make!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

If you're a bit handy you can make the entire drive and steering mechanism yourself. Many of the cars used in Miniatur Wunderland are custom built as well. They also added different types of motor and stronger batteries, although the battery bit will be difficult in N-scale..

[cteno4]

Ha funny you should mention that. i passed the mechanism by a guy i know in new zealand that does 3D printing about how hard it would be to try to mass produce the steering parts for these! he did not think too bad, just had to engineer the cad drawings necessary.

 

also found some small nimh batteries that could work. there are some tires out there in n scale. then just pop them into tomytec shells!

 

Lost a bit of steam on them when i watched some of the videos of the more advanced layouts and although the animation is great i was left feeling the scene was not dense enough for japanese stuff, so i have sort of put the faller bus on the back burner. still think it could be cool on a rural road where it goes into a tunnel and pops out somewhere else. then would not be odd if on other traffic (or a car or tractor on the other lane).

 

cheers

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

The curves in the street in that video look way too broad. That's a shame; real city streets have much sharper curves; I know the buses around here often have a hell of a time getting around some of them!

[bill937ca]

The curves in the street in that video look way too broad. That's a shame; real city streets have much sharper curves; I know the buses around here often have a hell of a time getting around some of them!

 

I'm not sure those streets won't be appropriate judging by a couple of bus videos I watched today.  One is in Tokyo and the other in Niigata. Commercial streets and National Highways are usually quite wide.  Side streets are extremely narrow, but buses generally do not run on those streets.

 

But that amount space does not always work well on a layout with limited space.

 

 

Tokyo

 

This is Route 60 which runs from Ikebukuro Station East Exit to Ueno via Kasuga Station.  So it's not in the sticks. It only runs every 30 minutes or so, but that isn't surprising with subways, JR and railways all over the place. Route 60 is based at Otsuka depot.

 

If you want to figure these things out go to Toei's Japanese language web site and translate it with Google.

 

http://www.kotsu.metro.tokyo.jp/bus/map/index.html

 

 

By the way this is 1 of 3 videos.

[to2leo]

I wonder if the upcoming Tomix or existing Faller system is suitable for slot cars.  Imagine the advancements and potentials if we can somehow combine other hobbies...

[Guest ___]

The curves in the street in that video look way too broad. That's a shame; real city streets have much sharper curves; I know the buses around here often have a hell of a time getting around some of them!

 

Well, here in DC, we don't worry about curves, or intersection because out buses will just drive up over them as well as any pedestrians, joggers, or pax for that matter. We've had like what, 6 thins past year?!

[cteno4]

I wonder if the upcoming Tomix or existing Faller system is suitable for slot cars.  Imagine the advancements and potentials if we can somehow combine other hobbies...

 

well the faller system runs with the steering bar having a magnet attached that follows a buried steel wire in the pavement to steer the buss. there is not power running to the busses, each run on an internal rechargeable battery. problem with doing cars would be getting the motors down tiny enough. while there are some german motors that have been used to make an RC VW bus in N scale!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[westfalen]

I hope Tomix can improve on Faller's existing system.  I also don't mind if Tomix partners with Faller to finally have its products available beyond the Japan border.

 

Someone finally posted how the Tomytec road system works!

 

 

It would be interesting to see what is under the road. I wonder will the Tomix system be typical of Tomix and Kato in that it will be more modular and easier to set up in the same manner as Unitrak. It would be nice to be able to just take the road sections out of the box, put them on the layout and run your buses.

[cteno4]

under the road is just a steel wire or strip down the middle of the street. thats what the magnet attached to the steering crossbar follows and directs the front wheels of the bus. bus is self powered with a rechargeable battery in it. you pause the bus by activating an electro magnet below the road surface (like at the stop point at the intersection) and it triggers a reed switch in the bus to stop the power. when you release the electromagnet the power in the bus goes back on and takes off. the electromagnet is like 1.5" in dia and 1.5" tall.

 

faller supplies like 20g solid steel wire to trench into your streets. i tried it through a few sheets of paper and it still worked reasonably well. I like printing my streets out on heavy paper and gluing them down so wanted to see if that would work and it did. I was thinking of trying to use the system on my ttrak modules and did some experimenting and they could even bridge gaps in a straight path between modules by just putting a small piece of tape across them. worked fine to have a small gap in the steel wire as long as it was going straight. i could get it to work on about 2.5" radius curves.

 

ultimately it was having to have very curved corners on the streets that just didnt feel right for me to use on the city streets. still want to try something, but thinking of something that is not on a busy city street. also thinking of trying to make the bus leave the scene into a hidden return loop to avoid to many right angle corners! the fallers do fine with a return loop, you just break the last end of the loop so it has a small gap so when the bus hits the Y it stays on the contiguous wire path then when it comes around the loop it jumps the end of the wire and picks up the main wire at the Y  back down the lead in section.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

This looks OK to me.  This display was at JAM 2008. The key is to use two lane roads. Not the best for bus schedules in real life.  I've not seen many frequent Japanese bus schedules.  Route maps show many overlapping routes running along common routes to terminals at train stations or other key points.  Many bus fleets are operated by railways as feeders to their railway lines.

 

 

"The cars are running using electric motors and capacitors instead of batteries. When the cars charge the capacitors at the signal or bus stations, their motors stop. Since there exist a proximity sensor in the head of the cars, the cars can avoid collision."

 

 

 

With more buildings and trains running on viaducts it would be harder to see what's going on.  Most Japanese cars and trucks, especially the Kei cars and trucks are too small for a mechanism.