Bandai B-Train Shorty

[Dinosbacsi]

28 minutes ago, disturbman said:

I used to run 6-car Shorties with these, with no problem whatsoever.

Wonder if they change something to them or you just had bad luck.

That's weird... These ones wheel slip so easily that first I though they don't even have any traction tyres at all! I was about to remove the traction tyre from the broken Bandai unit and put it on this one to try it out, but turning it upside down I noticed it actually does have one, so I really don't understand how it has such horrible traction.

 

Even the 3 car 165 series is just barely managing to drive. At first it kept getting wheel slipping and stucking in curves, I could only get it going around reliably by putting the weight above the bogey with the traction rubber (instead of spreading them out evenly in the middle) and rotating the car 180° so the traction rubber wheel is on the other rail.

 

Of course, I do have to admit that my shelf is not entirely level. Not much, but it's definitely off by 1° or 2° - can't be seen with eyes, but uncoupled cars can roll away on the track. But I don't believe such a small inclide should be a problem?

I also have some quite tight R117 curves, which I could imagine being a problem (even though my Bandai unit can take them with minimal problem). But the 1 motor + 3 trailer train can't even leave the straight siding track properly, so I can't even blame it on the curves.

 

In any way, I will try getting more weight and see if that helps. Also oil the motor in the 103, hopefully that silences the weird noise. I will also want to install the usual shibata couplers instead of the rapido ones, but so far I havn't figured it out how to remove the bogeys from these Kato units. Do you know how to take them off?

[bill937ca]

Any reason you are using the old 11-106? I'm surprised they are still available.  New power units since 2021 are 11-109 and 11-110. There is a 11-108 but it is a tram poser unit with no couplers.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10646051

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10646049

Edited Tuesday at 11:58 PM by bill937ca

[Beaver]

8 hours ago, bill937ca said:

Any reason you are using the old 11-106? I'm surprised they are still available.  New power units since 2021 are 11-109 and 11-110. There is a 11-108 but it is a tram poser unit with no couplers.

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10646051

 

https://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10646049

 

Those are the four wheelers. They replaced old products 11-103 and 11-104.

 

The shorty bogie chassis have not been replaced. They are codes 11-105, 11-106 and 11-107 depending on the sideframe design.

 

https://1999.co.jp/eng/10030554

https://1999.co.jp/eng/10032823

https://1999.co.jp/eng/10032821

Edited Wednesday at 08:46 AM by Beaver

[disturbman]

10 hours ago, Dinosbacsi said:

That's weird... These ones wheel slip so easily that first I though they don't even have any traction tyres at all! I was about to remove the traction tyre from the broken Bandai unit and put it on this one to try it out, but turning it upside down I noticed it actually does have one, so I really don't understand how it has such horrible traction.

Actually, my memory is defaillant. It was four cars, not six. But I still didn't have the issues you are describing. My units were zipping around.

Beside adding weight to the motor car, you could also look at puting some Bullfrog Snot to the other motorized axles. It would give more traction to the motor car.

 

10 hours ago, Dinosbacsi said:

I will also want to install the usual shibata couplers instead of the rapido ones, but so far I haven't figured it out how to remove the bogeys from these Kato units. Do you know how to take them off?

Sorry, I don't remember. It's been too long. But I think you can manage to swap the couplers without removing the bogeys.

[Dinosbacsi]

8 hours ago, disturbman said:

Beside adding weight to the motor car, you could also look at puting some Bullfrog Snot to the other motorized axles. It would give more traction to the motor car.

Hmm, I checked their site out, looks like an interesting product. Might give it a try sometimes. My EF64 with the 2-axle Kato unit could also use some more traction.

[EF57]

It’s long been known that the Kato units are far inferior to the Bandai, see earlier in this thread.

[Beaver]

The Bandai stuff is out of production, as part of the winding down of the B-Train brand. There will be no more. So there isn't really much choice.

 

The new Kato 4 wheel units are much better than than Bandai one was, but the bogie type does indeed have shortcomings. With Kato now making use of coreless motors there is the possibility for an improved shorty bogie chassis, if demand justifies it. The current bogie unit was designed in 2002/3.