HS Blog Shizouka Hobby Show 2010 Report (Moving Bus Collection)

[bill937ca]

The HS blog has a new report on the recent Hobby Show along with some photos of the Tomytec Moving Bus Collection.

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/blog/100521

 

There will be a Moving Bus Collection Basic Set and Moving Bus Collection Power Unit.  More ways to empty our pockets!       :help:  Looks like the Basic Set is an oval like the basic tram rail sets.

 

It will be great for modeling Japanese buses, but as most Japanese buses are 30-35 feet in length, the chassis will be a little small for adoption to North American 40-45 foot buses.

 

Also some news about the Tomix wireless control. It will have 16 channels....to run 16 trains?  Sounds like a one man train show. :hello2:

[bill937ca]

More on the Tomytec Moving Bus Collection.

 

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/tomytec/l/013.jpg

 

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/tomytec/l/014.jpg

 

It looks like there will be two radius of curves C103-30-RO and C140-30-RO plus one straight length S70-RO.

[CaptOblivious]

Looking some at Bill's latest links:

Look like one of those posters illustrates the inner workings of the modules. The bus stop looks like it has two modes?

 

Also, it looks like Platz (or someone) is doing a z-scale 0-series—I've not yet seen any shinkansen in Z. This one looks like it tries to hide the motor in the lower parts of the model (I won't say in the undercarriage, as I don't want to exaggerate) to keep a clear view through the windows:

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/etc/l/007.jpg

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/etc/l/006.jpg

[David]

Looking some at Bill's latest links:

Look like one of those posters illustrates the inner workings of the modules. The bus stop looks like it has two modes?

 

My guess would be it either determines if buses will pull over and stop for a moment at the station (like a switch), or less likely it's a manual vs. automatic stop time switch.

[bill937ca]

Looking some at Bill's latest links:

Look like one of those posters illustrates the inner workings of the modules. The bus stop looks like it has two modes?

 

One possibility is that the stop module clips onto the roadway with the green projection extending under the roadway to create the stopping action. The green tab behind the shelter might be an on/off switch.

 

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/tomytec/l/014.jpg

 

I was looking in the Tomytec web pages today and new products are announced up to August, so I would expect the Moving Bus Collection September or later.

[Martijn Meerts]

Most interesting, in 1 of those info plaques, it shows them clipping the shell of a bus onto a motor unit, which could mean they're making motor units available for existing bus collections.

 

Should be interesting to see more details on these things, see if they used the Faller system, or came up with something completely new.

[CaptOblivious]

Most interesting, in 1 of those info plaques, it shows them clipping the shell of a bus onto a motor unit, which could mean they're making motor units available for existing bus collections.

 

Should be interesting to see more details on these things, see if they used the Faller system, or came up with something completely new.

 

 

That same plaque seems to show that the front wheels are magnetically controlled by a sub-road-bed wire (which you might could just make out in the other plaque), just like the Faller system. My guess is both systems work in just the same way, only the Tomytec system uses a Finetrack like road (notice the pics of the roadbed have the Finetrack tabs on the ends to hold them together).

[bill937ca]

Here's a prototype--lots of buses and trains overhead.

 

 

"Scene arrival and express bus coach bus leaving the scene. Sannomiya Station in Kobe, Kobe Sannomiya Bus Terminal and the Shinki Bus Co., Ltd. 1F mint and Sannomiya Bus Terminal, there are many off to the bus, the bus 行Ki交Imasu incessant."

 

More info from Wikipedia.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sannomiya_Station

 

Limousine bus of Kansai airport

 

 

Limousine bus of Haneda airport

 

[cteno4]

i think how this may work is that it may pull the guide wire in so it takes the sort of D vier into the bus stop and then there is the pause magnet trip in the 'bus stop' position. the bus platform green switch appears to just move the bar in and out under the bus track which i think just pulls the guide wire in and out. this would work with the guide wire in guide on either end with the center free then pull the center of the wire over and the ends just slip in their guides that also have an extra piece of wire to cover as the ends shorten with pulling over the center of the wire to the bus stop position.

 

i played with doing switches like this by just bending a wire back and forth to two other wires with the faller system and it worked fine. you can play with this a lot with bits of wire and just tape them to a thin piece of styrene or chip board then flip it over and let the bus run on top.

 

i am wondering if they have built the pause delay into the bus mechanism so that when its tripped by a magnet it just makes the bus pause for a set length rather than faller system where the bus just has a reed switch in it and stops the buss when it goes over an active electromagnet. when the electro magnet is turned off the bus takes off.

 

i just debuted my prototype for my ttrak street car modules this weekend that has two traffic lanes on either side of the two street car lines (photos soon). i started thinking that maybe ill think about making a dedicated set of 4 modules that would be a 2x2 block of modules (may have to be one big 2'x2' module as bridging the module gaps could be tricky, but does work with a bit of scotch tape for the busses) and have the outside lanes be an express lane (inside would be more prototypical, but i doubt the turns would work from that lane) that then crosses over down the side street. basically the bus would end up circling the block between the two sides of the ttrak set up.

 

if they use the faller electro magnet stop system then i could put one electro magnet on each side and have it on a circuit to keep it on for the length of time it takes a bus to get from one stop to the other plus a pause then turn off for a few seconds. then you could have two busses and they would circle the block 180 degrees from each other. the pause at the bus stops would pick up any speed difference between the two busses.

 

might not be so bad to only have one block of empty traffic lane with the bus then. modules on either side could widen traffic out to both lanes and also take off the outside lane for tram platforms mid street. you see a lot of moving traffic in and out from single to multiple lanes around tram lines in japan.

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

Looking some at Bill's latest links:

Look like one of those posters illustrates the inner workings of the modules. The bus stop looks like it has two modes?

 

One possibility is that the stop module clips onto the roadway with the green projection extending under the roadway to create the stopping action. The green tab behind the shelter might be an on/off switch.

 

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/tomytec/l/014.jpg

 

I was looking in the Tomytec web pages today and new products are announced up to August, so I would expect the Moving Bus Collection September or later.

 

 

[bill937ca]

You could just do the Kyoto Station bus terminal. Endless buses going round and round. Its like a maze.

 

 

 

[to2leo]

Been there twice and still think that's one crazy bus actions going on there.

[cteno4]

Ive been there, dont try to walk diagonally across it!

 

might be a fun one for the bus system and have the busses disappear into a tunnel and cycle back. im thinking the busses will be more fun if they appear and disappear a lot.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[westfalen]

Ive been there, dont try to walk diagonally across it!

 

might be a fun one for the bus system and have the busses disappear into a tunnel and cycle back. im thinking the busses will be more fun if they appear and disappear a lot.

 

cheers

 

jeff

That might look more realistic than just circling round a city block, they would look like they are actually going somewhere. It will be interesting to see how easy the Tomix system can be adapted into something other than a simple oval.

[Kabutoni]

C103-30-RO and C140-30-RO... I hope they also come out with a C177-30-RO and maybe some parts for switches.

 

Also, it looks like Platz (or someone) is doing a z-scale 0-series—I've not yet seen any shinkansen in Z. This one looks like it tries to hide the motor in the lower parts of the model (I won't say in the undercarriage, as I don't want to exaggerate) to keep a clear view through the windows:

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/etc/l/007.jpg

http://www.rc-awaza.com/event1005/etc/l/006.jpg

Could be a good base for a narrow-gauge project, as the length of the motorcar would be almost exactly resemble a 17m frame.

[cteno4]

That might look more realistic than just circling round a city block, they would look like they are actually going somewhere. It will be interesting to see how easy the Tomix system can be adapted into something other than a simple oval.

 

its looking like the tomix system is just the faller system revamped and in that case then you can create very organic paths if you roll your own road. it just follows a solid iron wire you put in the roadway (like 20g). i experimented a lot with the faller with the wire under a piece of heavy card stock (like 120lb stock) and it worked just fine. trick is then you have to build your own roads. faller way was to lay plaster for your roads with the wire embedded. ive been printing roads so the wire can go just under the printed surface.

 

yes a less used roadway (to make having no traffic on the bus lane) does give a better scene where it can disappear and reappear. thinking that the round the block might not be too bad if it has tall buildings and narrow side streets so the bus can disappear behind buildings well. also not follow the tram tracks the whole way. the round curves of the tomy bus track also dont fit into city scenes well. the faller bus can do some interesting turn shapes so im hoping i can make the tomy bus look like its turning a corner more than doing a long round turn

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

But you can expect the Tomy system to be embedded in a piece of plastic so it will be portable and temporary.

 

As long as there are 30 degree and 60 degree curves you should be able to integrate the street sections into a city. A 30 degree curve will give you a gentle diagonal and 60 degree curve will give you a sharper diagonal.

 

One of the best modular trolley layouts I have seen is Fred Miller's Gotham City modular layout.  The city center module has an oval with two diagonal streets inside the oval crossing in a 90 degree intersection. Three distinct routes within a 2' x 4' HO module and there is an elevated train station at one end too. This could be the catalyst for designing  a Japanese N Gauge moving bus module.  

 

http://fnbcreations.net/details.htm

 

http://fnbcreations.net/photos.htm

[Eliphaz]

so, has anyone seen the moving bus system for sale anywhere yet?

[cteno4]

nope no official release yet. even then it will probably be a 2-3 month lead after official announcement till they hit the stores as with most tomytec products.

 

you can still buy the faller mechanism if you want one right now to play with but those usually go for $100-150, hoping the tomytec will be a lot cheaper and maybe have a few new tricks built into them. the good news is they will fit the tomytec bus shell and wheel bases.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

so, has anyone seen the moving bus system for sale anywhere yet?

 

 

A lot of innovative, new Tomix products seem to run 6 months to a year minimum before they actually appear in the stores.  In particular this applies to the Tomix Wide Tram Rail, Tomix Fine Track Wide PC super elevated curves and the Moving Bus Collection.