Underfloor Powered Trucks

[alloboard]

Where can I find underfloor powered trucks, boogie, or wheels that are good for HO Multiple units?

[Rotorranch]

Not sure what you mean exactly. If I understand correctly, you want a complete drive that will fit under a loco/car/tender/whatever, without protruding through the floor of the loco/car/etc.?

Rotor

[loathar]

http://bowser-trains.com/hoother/trolleys/misc/misc.htm
Bowser has these.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/224-9
Coachyard sells these. I think they have more than what Walthers lists if you find their site.

Is that what your looking for?

[RDG1519]

Another supplier is from Australia

www.hollywoodfoundry.com

I have not used their product but it looks to be high quality, including Mashima motors.

Chris

[Rotorranch]

He's looking for a completely under the frame drive. Something that does not protrude into the shell.

I'm not aware of any such drive. It would take little bitty motors to drive such a critter. They'd have to be hidden in the truck frame.

Rotor

[nedthomas]

PFM and/or NWSL sold a unit called a "SPUD". They were very high speed due to the gear ratio. Also the axle gears cracked over time.

[Scarpia]

He's looking for a completely under the frame drive. Something that does not protrude into the shell.

I'm not aware of any such drive. It would take little bitty motors to drive such a critter. They'd have to be hidden in the truck frame.

Rotor

That's too bad, as I would like some as well, for scratchbuilding purposes.

 

[tomikawaTT]

He's looking for a completely under the frame drive. Something that does not protrude into the shell.

I'm not aware of any such drive. It would take little bitty motors to drive such a critter. They'd have to be hidden in the truck frame.

Rotor

That's too bad, as I would like some as well, for scratchbuilding purposes.

Don't look now, but the motor could be mounted to the underframe, driving the truck axles via Cardan shaft.  In prototype, the Budd RDC and about a gazillion Japanese DMUs.  In model, I see these fairly frequently as craftsman-builder projects written up in Tetsudo Mokei Shumi.

I don't know if there are any Japanese commercial sources for these drives.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[Scarpia]

Don't look now, but the motor could be mounted to the underframe, driving the truck axles via Cardan shaft.  In prototype, the Budd RDC and about a gazillion Japanese DMUs.  In model, I see these fairly frequently as craftsman-builder projects written up in Tetsudo Mokei Shumi.

I don't know if there are any Japanese commercial sources for these drives.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

Do you have any other links or photos of models thereof, Chuck? I'm not worried about the two box motors I need to build, but the Brill cars themselves. 

[locoworks]

google 'spud' or 'blackbeetle'.  they are both of a similar design which is basically a mashima type motor with a 17-1 reduction on both ends driving both axles of the unit. they are usually available with different diameter wheels and/or wheelbases.  but as already mentioned, a centrally mounted motor driving the bogies using carden shafts is also an option.

[Johnnny_reb]

By doing a web search I found that Northwest Shoreline has such a thing.

http://www.nwsl.com/Catalog/CatalogSect4.htm

[marknewton]

He's looking for a completely under the frame drive. Something that does not protrude into the shell.

I'm not aware of any such drive. It would take little bitty motors to drive such a critter. They'd have to be hidden in the truck frame.

Rotor

There are more than half a dozen such drives on the market that I know of, all fairly readily available, so I'd say you're just not very aware.

NWSL offer SPUD and PDT drives - motorised trucks and single axle drive mechanisms.

Steam Era Models offer Black Beetle drives - motorised trucks and single axle drive mechanisms.

Hollywood Foundry offer BullAnt motorised trucks and custom built mechanisms.

Tenshodo/Hanozono offer motorised trucks.

Halling offer motorised trucks.

High Level offer motorised trucks.

Greenmax, Tomix and Kato all offer motorised mechanisms.

There are others that I know of, but you get the idea.

Cheers,

Mark.

[marknewton]

He's looking for a completely under the frame drive. Something that does not protrude into the shell.

I'm not aware of any such drive. It would take little bitty motors to drive such a critter. They'd have to be hidden in the truck frame.

Rotor

That's too bad, as I would like some as well, for scratchbuilding purposes.

 

It's okay, Rotorranch may not be aware of any such drive, but they do exist, and are easy enough to obtain. You mentioned Brill cars, what do you have in mind?

Cheers,

Mark.
(Modelling traction, interurbans and EMUs)

[modelmaker51]

The NWSL & Tenshodo spuds have brass gearing, they won't crack. I put one under the floor of old Athearn Hustler and was able to fill the whole engine compartment with lead for pretty good traction.

[Scarpia]

It's okay, Rotorranch may not be aware of any such drive, but they do exist, and are easy enough to obtain. You mentioned Brill cars, what do you have in mind?

Cheers,

Mark.
(Modelling traction, interurbans and EMUs)

Mark, thanks for your offer of help. I admittedly haven't done as much reserach as I should have, as I'm not really ready to begin construction, but here's a shot of one the Wason (I know I said Brill earlier, sorry) built cars I need to come up with.

 

These were again Wason plans no#2077 with peckham trucks

If the original poster would prefer, I can start a new thread, as hijacking isn't nice to do!

Cheers 

[loathar]

http://www.nwsl.com/Catalog/CatalogSect4.htm

Just found these NWSL PDT power trucks.

[Rotorranch]

Cool...I didn't know they were available. Maybe that's what alloboard was looking for?

Rotor

[Scarpia]

the problem that I see with the NWSL is that they are 6 wheel.

I was just checking out Proto:87 - and they might have something soon!

see their upcoming product page. 

[marknewton]

Scarpia, there are also 4-wheel NWSL power trucks, see:

http://www.nwsl.com/Catalog/pg019-cat4-03-v0605.pdf

http://www.nwsl.com/Catalog/pg020-cat4-04-v0605.pdf

The catch with using them is that the minimum wheelbase is 7' in HO. The shortest wheelbase Black Beetle is 25.5mm, again, about 7' in HO.

I'm guessing that the Peckham trucks on the cars you want to model are shorter than that? If not then you could use either. If they are shorter, and you would like to model them accurately, then you need to consider an alternative power truck.

I'm not familiar with the cars you've posted the photo of*, but they appear to be a combine, in which case you could use something like the Hollywood Foundry truck. Install it at the end with freight compartment where it wouldn't be visible, and use a dummy truck under the passenger end.

Generally speaking, I don't bother with detailed interiors on my cars, I'm happy to use window shades/blinds etc to conceal the bits like motors and decoders I don't want seen.

The Proto87 page you linked is very interesting, yeah? I've been watching their announcements very closely!

Cheers,

Mark.

*What road did they run on?

[loathar]

the problem that I see with the NWSL is that they are 6 wheel.

I was just checking out Proto:87 - and they might have something soon!

see their upcoming product page. 

I saw a California show interview with the owner and he was talking about those coming out next year.