Tomytec Bus System

[hectorton]

    I was not fortunate enough to purchase the "The Moving Bus System Basic Set A or A2 when they were first released.  However, I was recently in Japan and I purchased the System piece meal (Roadway, Power unit, and The Bus Collection Nishi-nippon Shatai Kogyo 96MC Non-Step Bus (5-Car Set) A2).  On arrival at home I configured the system to try it out.  To my disappointment none of the bus bodies for the Tomytec 5 bus collection that I purchased would properly fit on the bus system power unit. The bus bodies sit too low on the power unit and rub against the tires preventing the power unit from moving.  Am I missing something or am I installing something wrong?  As I understood it the 5-Car set is suppose to work with the power unit.  I can jury rig it and put something between the power unit and the inside of the bus body to raise it and prevent it from rubbing against the tires, but I should not have to do this; they are suppose to work with each other.  Does anyone have any info on the subject.  If someone out there has one of the original Bus System Sets can they take a look inside the body of the bus to see if something goes between the power unit and the body.  FYI, these are the HS Item Codes for the items I purchased (Bus Collection-231929, Power Unit-232124).

[KenS]

There are adapter pieces that come with the power unit to allow some of the other bus bodies to fit. They're tiny black tabs that can be attached more than one way (and the one that's preinstalled can be reversed, I think).  I wasn't able to get it to work myself, but I didn't try too hard and that was before I had a list of compatible bodies, so I may have been using one that wasn't. Here's what they say about it on the Hobby Search listing:

 

"By using the spacer parts, this item can power

1. HINO Blue Ribbon City Hybrid bus

2. Nishi-nippon Shatai Kogyo 96MC Non-Step Bus

3. FHI 7E Non-Step Bus

4. Isuzu ERGA Non-Step Bus

5. BU04

- Buses may need some work to incorporate the motor unit. "

 

So it looks like it should work with the adapters.

 

Tomytec recently announced a new power unit with a 35mm wheelbase (the original was 32mm). This is due out in June, but reservations have already closed at HS (maybe you could find it through another dealer).  What they say is:

 

"The combination of the spacer

Mitsubishi Fuso MP218/618 (1) (4th)

(/ Open N016 ~ 020 sixth) 5E Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (2) (9th) 58MC Engineering West (3)

West one-step 96MC Engineering (4) (bullet 11) Mitsubishi Fuso Aero Star (5) (sometimes 15)

One Step 7E Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. (6) (bullet 16)

Corresponds to the (open-N011 ~ 015) units set HT/HU5 Hino Blue Ribbon (7)."

 

You can see the list of sets and other things available at HS at:

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/list/1219/0/1

[hectorton]

Ken S

 

    Thank you very much for your information.  It was very helpfull.  I should have paid closer attention to the packaging and instructions.  Hectorton

[JR 500系]

Now i just spotted this video:

 

 

This guy is great! He actually combined the moving bus system to the automatic train crossing system! It's wonderful how the moving bus can stop and actually move off once the train is gone! Also amazing is how did the bus go through metal tracks without moving off track???

 

Amazing stuff!

[ToniBabelony]

Dang! That looks amazing! I'm subscribing to this guy. He seems to have more awesome stuff on his channel. These are the things people want from Tomytec to happen...

[E6系]

Most incredible that a dog play trains.  :)

[JR 500系]

Well, it's not really the moving bus system, well it's not even a model either!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10230213

 

But this is really nice!

 

It's a book for Tomytec bus collection models ranging from 1-18th series! Also covered models for the moving bus system!

 

Now i'm so gonna pre-order that! 

[westfalen]

I've found the buses with keep going straight ahead over short gaps in the guide wire, I've run mine over gaps between T-TRAK modules, I'm more interested in how he sets it up to stop at the crossing. He has modified the system a bit, notice how the bus runs along the left hand side of the street like it should rather than down the middle of the road.

Edited June 13, 2013 by westfalen

[cteno4]

hes using a little rc servo to move the magnet in and out of the position that will stop the bus. you could also do an electromagnetic coil as well and a relay. but one issue is that with the two pickups on the tomytec bus (speed and stop) it would need to be much smaller than the old faller one that only had the reed swtich for start stop (very crude and needed a big field to activate).

 

on the faller bus with the weaker steering magnet i was able to get it to function fine with wire under 020 styrene sheet and then have it go thru gaps like a cm and keep going straight. you can then even make points with the wire and have a wire that you can pull between two other lines to have it go one way or the other. using a little server like this guy did would be perfect to move a point like this.

 

also you can do a loop back by just having a small gap where the loop back comes back into the Y so that when it hits the Y it goes down the solid side, but when it comes back in from the loop it goes over the gap and back out the input wire. it was pretty fun what you could do. i found just taping the wire under the styrene sheet was a simple way to play with ideas like this. i assume the tomytec busses would work better with the much stronger steering magnets than the fallers did.

 

cheers

 

jeff

[westfalen]

I had a return loop as you describe set up when I was testing the Tomytec buses and it worked ok.

 

I still haven't been able to find steel wire as thin as Tomytec use on their roadway though, all I've been able to get my hands on is a bit to thick and inflexible to work easily, with something as thin as Tomytec's I could just run it along the base board and lay the road surface over the top. Even had a look around Tokyu Hands last time I was in Japan.

Edited June 14, 2013 by westfalen

[cteno4]

faller was nice to include a large ball of thin metal (ferrous) wire with the bus starter kit i got, so i had a lot to play with. I know a chap here in the states that had to try a few different wires out there until he found one what was magnetic capable enough to work with the faller bus. i think he printed his roads and put on heavy paper. wire was laid and a bit of chipboard the same thickness of the wire was laid on either side of the wire then the road on top. 

 

faller magnet is pretty weak and it works ok this way. seeing how small and deep the tomytec wire their magnets must be much more powerful. also i think they went to solid state field sensors instead of reed switches which is also a great improvement.

 

post some videos of the modules when you get a chance! i experimented with this as i have mainly street car ttrak modules with double lane roadways on either side of the track. found i needed a bit of transparent scotch tape over the junction to get it to jump the gap and not get the front wheels stuck some of the time. i may still embed wire in the roadway when i do the final roads, but just looks odd to have one lane with no other vehicles. was thinking of maybe just doing a few block loop as a bus express lane so it would just be in an isolated patch. otherwise was waiting until i had a road scene that it made sense to only have one vehicle alive on it like a country road or back street.

 

btw i was able to get the faller to do a pretty tight turn, tighter than they recommended. doing a small easement helps a lot to do really tight stuff. also doing a bit of a swing out let you go around a 90 degree corner more gracefully. fun with the new tomytec could be had with the speed change, slowing before the curve and speeding up after!

 

jeff

[westfalen]

During my experiments using wire covered with Tamiya texture paint road surface I stuck a piece of post-it note over the gap between the modules. On my Urasai Fumikiri set of modules I using a different plan of attack by using the Tomytec roadway and leaving a gap at the module joins into which a loose piece of road is placed when the modules are assembled.

 

Edited June 15, 2013 by westfalen

[JR 500系]

Nice West!

 

I've tried doing the same before, getting steel wires and attempting to hide it beneath the road surface into my foam board, but the thickness of the wire is just too much and the magent stuck just right there. It's like the bus getting stuck on mud with it's rear wheels tearing up the road... I then tried using a much thinner wire only to get the bus moving off track half the time... It's really tough to get it where you want the bus to move... Tomytec has done well in this aspect...

 

If only the roads can be self-constructed, then we can have more variations to the roads, even having buses entering into building basements and out!

 

By the way, pre-ordered the Book on Tomytec Bus collection... I love the Tomytec buses, especially with all their variation colours!

[JR 500系]

I never seem to be able to find out all of the Tomytec Bus collection series released to date... The secret variations in each collection series from 1-18 was not recorded, and it is kinda hard to find on the web. I did however find this page containing some of the secret variations and all the colours released from 1-15 series: http://rabuca2006.web.fc2.com/the-bus.htm

 

Also, there are tons of special 2-bus packs in many different variations that are not documented even on Tomytec's original site...

 

Hence i would love to get that Book on the FULL bus collection series to date!

[bill937ca]

I never seem to be able to find out all of the Tomytec Bus collection series released to date... The secret variations in each collection series from 1-18 was not recorded, and it is kinda hard to find on the web. I did however find this page containing some of the secret variations and all the colours released from 1-15 series: http://rabuca2006.web.fc2.com/the-bus.htm

 

Also, there are tons of special 2-bus packs in many different variations that are not documented even on Tomytec's original site...

 

Hence i would love to get that Book on the FULL bus collection series to date!

 

Many of those are probably special issues for the operating companies. Those usually get sold only at company offices in limited quantities.

[macdon]

I tried my tomytec moving bus earlier in an experiment to see how it will perform in my decal roadway on sintra board. If you guys still remember my "small round layout" project, this is the city printed city block I had our printers make.

 

The roadway decal is on a 1/8" thick sintra board and I hand carved a canal underneath the roadway to try a 1/8" GI wire. I only tested a small portion of road and due to my imperfect hand carving of the canal - I guess some of the wire are either too close to the surface and some are far.

I even damaged the decal roadway when I was carving out the sintra board.

 

 

It was just a "U" turn using one end of the road - just to see how it goes and if I could use the decal on sintra board in making a future layout using the tomytec moving bus.

I would say it is a failure, unfortunately.

 

 

In my 2nd video, I changed the 1/8" GI wire to 1/16". The smaller size would probably go further inward the canal and be closer. As in the first video, there were times that the bus go haywire as I predict some portions of the 1/8" wire to be closer and some further away from the road surface.

The 1/16" wire video was a lot better than the first, but in the 5-minute video you'll notice that the bus went haywire 3x. One was during the start, another one midway and the 3rd was almost at the end of the video. I cant explain why it did that - maybe dirt on the road? 

 

 

 

I'll check other materials as well. Maybe thin cardboard with a decal for roadway.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mardon

[JR 500系]

@ Bill: Please see attached picture. Do you mean the buses that are featured are limited edition sets? They look just great! These came from a Yahoo Auction which i actually tried to bid for, but it became way too expensive for me to handle... I especially love the Enoshima painted bus, painted in the same cartoon livery as the going-to-be-released Modemo NT133 Skip-go tram! Hopefully the book will have all the variations made by Tomytec to date, including the limited and secret variations... If i cant have them, at least i can drool at them ~

@ Mardon: Now that is just super work! I thought that was the original Kato road plate! It looks great, and the painting is fantastic! Are you going to add a road tram too, judging from the curves on the end of the road plates?

I think the system is kinda hard to copy perfectly, but i think you did a great job! Just one thing, can i ask if you actually wanted the bus to go in the middle of the lane? I thought the bus would look better running on the left lane ~ The passengers in the bus of the first video must be feeling very very giddy... The wheels of the bus go round and round... round and round...

Anyway great stuff in making the moving bus system work! Are you going to add in bus stops? I think the bus stops will be kinda hard to copy... I still can't grasp the concept behind the whole bus stop thingy... I mean i know there are magnets to stop the bus, but how does the bus know when to move off again? Amazing stuff..

With my lousy skill, i can only depend on the actual stock tomytec bus tracks....

Edited June 17, 2013 by JR500 のぞみ

[bill937ca]

@ Bill: Please see attached picture. Do you mean the buses that are featured are limited edition sets? They look just great! These came from a Yahoo Auction which i actually tried to bid for, but it became way too expensive for me to handle... I especially love the Enoshima painted bus, painted in the same cartoon livery as the going-to-be-released Modemo NT133 Skip-go tram! Hopefully the book will have all the variations made by Tomytec to date, including the limited and secret variations... If i cant have them, at least i can drool at them ~

 

Yes.  If you bring Bus Collection in Japanese Wikipedia and translate it with Google Translate you will find a list of Operators made to order.  These were made for the operators to sell from their office, at open days or at shows.  This type of thing is most common around the Day of the Railway in October.

 

Examples from the article:

 

Tokyu bus original set - three set, 4000 limited

Keihin Express bus original bus set III - 2 units set, 9000-limited

Hakone Tozan bus original set - two sets, 6000-limited

Enoden bus original set - two sets, 6000-limited

 

Anyone else wanting them has to go to Yahoo or eBay and pay the going rate. I have a private issue train from the railway collection. Notices at the time said only 4000 were made and they sold no more than four at time after paying admission to the Tokyu museum.

Edited June 17, 2013 by bill937ca

[macdon]

@ Mardon: Now that is just super work! I thought that was the original Kato road plate! It looks great, and the painting is fantastic! Are you going to add a road tram too, judging from the curves on the end of the road plates?

 

I think the system is kinda hard to copy perfectly, but i think you did a great job! Just one thing, can i ask if you actually wanted the bus to go in the middle of the lane? I thought the bus would look better running on the left lane ~ The passengers in the bus of the first video must be feeling very very giddy... The wheels of the bus go round and round... round and round...

 

Anyway great stuff in making the moving bus system work! Are you going to add in bus stops? I think the bus stops will be kinda hard to copy... I still can't grasp the concept behind the whole bus stop thingy... I mean i know there are magnets to stop the bus, but how does the bus know when to move off again? Amazing stuff..

 

With my lousy skill, i can only depend on the actual stock tomytec bus tracks....

 

 

Hey JR,

 

The answer to the city block decal is here:

 

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/7219-simple-round-layout/page-2

 

Yeah, for testing purposes I deliberately made the canal right smack the middle of the road. That block already belonged to my son who has the small round layout so in order for him to lent me his city block for experimentation - he now owns the moving bus as well! Lol! I just knew I was gonna mess up making the canal, so I guess I would need to replace that city block again. 

 

Good experiment I think - and something that I would share with all of you in this forum :)

 

I will attempt more experiments and will post up here from time to time.

 

Mardon

[cteno4]

mardon,

 

great work! bummer it didnt totally work out but getting there. i think the issue is the wire is too large and close to the surface. even the old faller bus with the weaker magnets was sold with less than 1/16" wire for it.

 

you might experiment with some 020 styrene with decal on top for your top. then just put a shim pieces of cardboard or styrene under that around the wire instead of trying to carve a trough. this was always an issue with the faller bus when folks would make a paved road then cut a slot in the road to bury the wire. at times the wire would go too deep and the bus could wander and other times it would be too shallow and the steering magnet get to close and cause it to go wonky or even stick to the road and stop it. even if you were to use a router to try to cut a consistant slot i worry it might wander a bit in depth, plus its harder to change your path if needed and if its off just a bit you will have your problem of going thru the top like you did by hand 2mm is not a lot of wiggle room!

 

by just taping it directly to the underside of the styrene its always the same height from the road surface. also easier to change your path and experiment. 

 

i think the 2mm syntra is probably a bit too thick. finding the right wire is also tricky. one chap here in the states went through about a dozen wires before he found the right one to bury in his road construction for the faller to get it working just right.

 

the n scale faller system is tough as these are light little things and its a balance on the steering control magnet. ho is much more hearty it apears. but i think with some experimenting you can find something that is really consistent and should work, especially on a clean block like this.

 

experiment a lot, it really helps! i had a lot of fun seeing what i could make the faller bus do with just wire, tape and a hunk of 020.

 

good luck and keep us posted, great data to share!

 

jeff

Edited June 17, 2013 by cteno4

[JR 500系]

Yes! Received an email today from HS informing the bus collection perfect manual is in stock and ready to ship!

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10230213

Just looking at the book cover i'm already drooling! *No definately not at the girl but at the buses and i'm not lying*

 

http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/image/10230213a/20/1

Cute buses! Even cutier when a cutie plays with cute buses! Now why does the preview page only emphasize on the moving bus system (and the girl)? I'm looking forward to looking at the bus collection variations, especially the secret ones...

[Darklighter]

the girl

 

I wonder, if she hosts a Japanese TV show about (rail) travelling. She looks familiar.

[westfalen]

I don't know if anyone else has seen this on Hobby Search's blog yet but looks very interesting.

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm72.jpg

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm71.jpg

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm73.jpg

[ToniBabelony]

I don't know if anyone else has seen this on Hobby Search's blog yet but looks very interesting.

 

Saw it in Ginza last Thursday! It's amazing! It's just what it looks like and functions really well :) I was there with a friend and we're probably going to integrate this in our future layout as well. :P

[JR 500系]

I don't know if anyone else has seen this on Hobby Search's blog yet but looks very interesting.

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm72.jpg

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm71.jpg

http://www.1999.co.jp/blog/img/20130805_tm73.jpg

Thanks West! That looks amazing! Finally a moving bus system working junction~ That would DEFINATELY go into my layout for sure. Perhaps even 2 or three of them~ Now the thing is with integrating this with my normal hand-made 'roads' from hard 'black' paper... 

 

 

Saw it in Ginza last Thursday! It's amazing! It's just what it looks like and functions really well :) I was there with a friend and we're probably going to integrate this in our future layout as well. :P

Hi Toni! You mean it's released already and available for sale? Nice! Any idea how much it would cost? They are only sold in a 'figure-8' layout with the central junction only? There would mean it would cost quite alot, since there are other road plates. It would be great if Tomytec sold just the junction alone. Saw alot of wires on the table; does these wires control the turnout required at the junction, via a turnout switch, much like in tracks?