New motorized truck technology from Kato

[160pennsy]

So when does this HO motorized truck technology filter down to N-Scale? Imagine the possibilities of increased weight or available space inside our diesel loco split frames once those big motors, flywheels & drives shafts/worms go away. Got this blurb from the mrrwarehouse.com website:

"KATO  has provided a sneak preview of a new style HO truck with motor mounted on the truck. These were not yet available (in USA at least) when this portion of the update was posted in Jan 2013.  Wheel size, wheel base and availability of the trucks alone is unknown."

This link shows a product preview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lLK2tKssj5M

[Nilmadic]

Cool!

[Kisatchie]

As usual, I'm leery of new HO technology being shrunk down to N scale. Motors small enough for N scale trucks, in my opinion, won't be strong enough to haul a good amount of freight cars.


Hmm... gloom and doom
from the mouth of Kiz...

[mecgp7]

Interesting. A while back on the Atlas O scale forum, they were talking about how nice it was that the new O scale locos were getting away from motorized trucks. Apparently there are O locos that now share the current split frame design.

[bill pearce]

I suspect that we will be fighting the laws of nature and physics to get motors that small that pull, BUT...what if those motors could replace the current Kato motors? think of the extra space for weight! And by the way, the same could be said for the motors used in Zscale locos. But, I would bet they ae expensive.

[loco-n]

The Kato Protram has 2 similar motors in N scale. No Flywheel. Enough power to pull itself and perhaps more (?).
Franz

[peteski]

The Kato Protram has 2 similar motors in N scale. No Flywheel. Enough power to pull itself and perhaps more (?).
Franz

Actually those Light Rail Vehicles self-powered trucks do have miniscule flywheels and they use low voltage micro motors (like the ones used to vibrate cell phones).  One of these days I'll take one apart and post the photos.

I have feeling that in the long run, these will be prone to failures and even the smallest debris will jam the gears.  They (due to the tiny size and complex design) will also be very hard to service.

[up1950s]

As usual, I'm leery of new HO technology being shrunk down to N scale. Motors small enough for N scale trucks, in my opinion, won't be strong enough to haul a good amount of freight cars.


Hmm... gloom and doom
from the mouth of Kiz...

True that , but what it does show is better mind-set towards weight , as well as smaller motors , and that helps N Scale with what ? Well the increased sales/purchases of HO powered trucked models boosts design and offerings , which in turn can be used for N Scale , maybe helping opening the door for scale hood widths , and fire box widths . That SW-1 , a better GE 44 ton , USRA 0-6-0 , and Russian decapod depend on new smaller motors that can pull more than their own weight . This is progress that might just help N in some ways .

[GimpLizard]

As usual, I'm leery of new HO technology being shrunk down to N scale. Motors small enough for N scale trucks, in my opinion, won't be strong enough to haul a good amount of freight cars.

Hmm... gloom and doom
from the mouth of Kiz...

Maybe not currently. But ijn time... Go back a mere ( ) 60 years or so. Who would have thought then that we'd have the N scale locos we have now.

So here's another reason to eat right, exercise regularly, and stay away from alcohol. So we can live long enough for technology to catch up with us. (And hope we don't die of boredom in the meantime. )

[daniel_leavitt2000]

We don't really need in-truck motors to increase weight. If Kato started using smaller motors, say 1/3 the size of their current design and changed to a surface mount flexible pc-board, they could dramatically increase weight.