Monorail

[Matteo_IT]

I've just seen a new model kit of Tokyo monorail: It's a 1/150 scale... very closed to N gauge.

Has somebody tried to motorize it?

I think it's a plastic model with non powered track, should be possible motorize it with a battery...

[cteno4]

actually 1/150 is Japanese n scale (its all n gauge) except for shinkansens (1/160), rest of the trains and structures are 1/150.

Long thread on these models and thoughts on motorizing them here

http://www.jnsforum.com/community/topic/4677-greenmax-tokyo-monorail-1000-type/?hl=monorail

Not easy. Ketaro started a project, but I think it got put on hold with his move.

Always wondering if they were working on a mechanism for it eventually. It's a tricky one and not a lot of room in there to work with.

Jeff

Edited February 22, 2013 by cteno4

[keitaro]

I am back now :)

yes I was working on powering this set.

 

i got 1 motorisedand some rail done. Its still in australia.

 

when i have money and a bigger place it will be shipped here with the rest of my and completed.

 

i used a tomytech motor. i think it was the 14m one.

 

i embedded flex track into the monorail track managed to keep it 9mm spacing and it ran. just 3 track pieces in length.

 

you need bogies for all carriages. green max is a good starting point. you want low detailed ones to hide them easier.

hope this helps.

[bobquincy]

A fellow monorail enthusiast sent me one of the Fujimi models, possibly as a challenge to see if I could power it like my Disney N scale monorails.  I had already tested a narrower chassis and the answer is "almost certainly".  The new design is going to the 3D print shop Monday and after some testing and refinement I may be able to sell the chassis.  Like with my other monorail, all other parts are comercially available.  Using Gizmoszone's 6mm motor; E-Flite's 70 mAH battery' and Deltang's Rx43-d2-v5 radio receiver it is not difficult to fit all the required components in the Fujimi monorail!  Here are some drawings of the running gear:

and

and the current Mark IVb:

[cteno4]

Bob,

 

Wow! This is great!I thought you would come up with something. Your Disneyland monorails are great and seemed the the way to do it for the fujimi.

 

Thanks so much for working on this! I assume there will be a similar unpowered chassis with just roller bearings?

 

Occurs to me you may have a good market for these in Japan, not heard of a marketed solution there yet!

 

Look forward to the progress on this!

 

Cheers,

 

Jeff

Edited April 6, 2013 by cteno4

[bobquincy]

It fits, it runs!  That was easy... what's next?  Ok, not easy, the most detailed drawing and 3D print I have made but it was pretty good on the first pass!

The chassis inside the shell.

 

The top.  The chassis is actually about 5mm shorter than the shell.

 

The bottom.

 

On the beam.  It runs and a 130 mAH battery fits inside the shell.  The is the first design and it needs some improvement in a few areas.  The second design is already at the 3D print shop, has all the improvements, and should be here in about a week.

 

Detail of the beam and rollers (upside down).  ***The screw heads are below the beam so the beam needs about a 1mm spacer under it so the screw heads clear the supports.  There are ways to resolve this but I think it is easier to just raise the beam a bit.  If someone really wants to try another method I can provide information.

 

More in about a week,

 

boB

[brill27mcb]

Bob, this is really impressive!

 

Rich K.

[bobquincy]

http://monorail.suzieandbob.com/images/fujimi.mp4

[cteno4]

Bob,

 

You da man! Way cool!

 

Jeff

Edited April 17, 2013 by cteno4

[dabsan]

This is really great!! Excellent!!!!!! :)

[Densha]

I found this video of a working monorail turnout in N gauge:

 

 

Some other video with a working monorail on a straight track:

 

Edited July 25, 2013 by Densha

[MichaelP]

Regarding the N Gauge Tokyo monorail, the problem I've encountered was having all the cars connected making wide turns on a 4 foot by 8 foot in a elongated simple oval rail track without compromising the width of each car.  If you notice most models that have been motorized travel in a linear path.

I'm still waiting for an N Gauge train company to develope a successfull n gauge mono set that c a n make complete turns in a complete oval set up.

 

[cteno4]

@MichaelP Check out bob’s n scale disney monorail, it rides on a pretty tight radius. He tried the same basic design on the fujimi model. I think just not enough response for him to keep developing it over the Disney monorail that probably has a pretty constant demand.

 

 

may be just a bit too fiddly for a manufacturer to want to try to produce. Being battery powered and r/c does eliminate fiddly track and pickups but still mechanically fiddly overall.
 

 

cheers,

 

jeff