Thursday, May 01, 2014

Tomytec moving bus system

In my hunt for more information on how the system works (and there are some very good Youtube vids), no one has taken one apart to have a look at the innards. So as we always like to go where fools fear to tread, out with the screwdriver. First up a better picture of the model. 2 LR44 batteries in place.


 The steering mechanism is a quite impressive piece of engineering, as it not only steers, but also rocks from side to side so that all 4 wheels are always in contact with the road. The white knob is the on/off switch.

 Taking the back panel off we can see the gearing. Nothing else interesting in this bit so its goes back on.
 Undoing the screw in the middle of the top and suddenly its all on.


From left to right we have:
- The control chip with a detector unit attached. This picks up magnets in the roadway which can be used to start and stop the bus and change its speed. The square plastic piece holds the detector in place in the chassis.
-The motor bit. Not much that could be changed here.
-The battery holder. It is part of the chassis so would be hard to do away with.
-The steering mechanism. The top piece is the rocking part, and the bottom piece is the steering part.

So, there are some options for altering this. I think it could be shortened with the detector at the back of the chassis and the batteries on top of the chip. This would work better for a delivery truck.

Its an interesting wee beast/and I think that there is a bit of potential to add this to a layout. I already have some thoughts.....

15 comments:

Dave said...

Looks more hi tech inside than the faller system
I have faller.
Their HO cars make a good chassis for TT trucks. I have 2 trucks and a bus.

beaka said...

I have had a Tomytec bus starter set for around 18 months with the intention of using it on my N scale Japanese layout. They are releasing a controlled intersection in June which enables stop/go/straight ahead/right turn/left turn. Not all at the same time though. lots of possibilities for NZ120. I have seen a neat video of a small micro layout with a bus climbing up a steepish road on hill and returning back down again after stopping at a bus stop on top. interesting to see your dissection progress!

0-4-4-0T said...

Umm, any chance you will be able to put it back together so that it goes again?

Motorised Dandruff said...

Ye of little faith. I have and it does without any bits left over.

Newby said...

I just received my new basic set and I wonder if anyone knows of English translated instructions. Once I figure that out I want to modify the length of the unit so it might fit on an (American) bus body.

troopamg said...

I have the BM2 Bus engine and took it apart since it did not run after new batteries were put in. One of the metal connectors in the top of the battery holder fell out and I do not know how it should go back in. Are there places that repair these things? Do you have a picture of the battery holder upside down to show the metal contacts installed.?

Motorised Dandruff said...

Just trying to work out which bit you mean. under the battery lid there is a metal clip where the long bit points forward, and it slips betwen the 2 central pilars.
the bottom one has a plastic insert that holds the metal tabs in place. I have alosso had success joiggling the wires at the back. to the motor behind the coil. be careful doing this, I'm not sure how solid its all put together.

troopamg said...

Thanks for your response. By the way is there a service parts or repair business for these?

Motorised Dandruff said...

Not that I'm aware of, though my japanese is not that great.

troopamg said...

Are the various bus bodies compatable with the chassie? Would anything make them go a little faster?

ShotSlugger said...

Has anyone tried making their own roadways for these? Rather than using the manufacturers own?

ShotSlugger said...

Has anyone tried making their own roadways for these? Rather than using the manufacturers own?

Dave said...

I've started a Tomytec moving bus system yahoo group in an effort to centralize ENGLISH language information.

It can be found at:
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/tomytecBus/info

casson777 said...

I bought one of these with a view to 're gauging' it for use with 4mm scale road vehicles..Trials so far have been pretty satisfactory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkHyYkmB8ZE

Ken Jones said...

So I've been running my moving bus system since 2013 / 2014 but I cannot get the BM01 motorised units anymore. Can anyone repair them or have working units they don't want which I can buy. Must be the original BM01 units