Clearly people can model very nice non-powered versions, as shown here on the 1/87 Vehicle club. And I know at least someone has requested a working model of this before (in a 2012 under 'What Diesels Do You Want to See'). Someone probably has built such a model, but who and (most importantly) how?I have found Lego-Model on the web, but not really interested in those.On the topic, even looking at the Brandt website's Rail Power Unit Page, I can't seem to find how Brandt chooses the truck model for it's RPUs. There are Peterbilts, Western Stars, and Freightliners (possibly others) - does Brandt just use whatever suitable truck model the customer requests and convert it?(What brought this up? Seeing my little Broadway Limited Trackmobile spinning its wheels trying to pull two properly NRMA standard weighted 60ft railcars...)
Hi Chutton,
We are pretty proud of Brandt Industries that manufacture their products on the west side of our City. They are heavy into Agricultural machines as well and produced them long before going into the Rail industry.
From what I understand, it is the buyer who chooses the brand of the power unit and I would suppose that would be determined by previous experience, by what a company has in their fleet now (for stocking parts effiecently) the truck manufacturers dealer network in the main area of their work, success with a particular truck dealer in their area. Just as we might decide who to use as a service representative/partner for ourselves. Whatever unit is chosen it is retrofitted to accomodate the Brandt product.
Johnboy out..........................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
I don't know about any custom HO units ,but I have seen N and even Z trucks that were powered.If I remember right Bachmann has a truck that is not only powered but has DCC.You might check that as a starting point.
This would be a cool project. You would have to get a really small motor like this http://www.robotshop.com/ca/en/seeedstudio-mini-vibrating-motor.html
My budget hasn't been where it needed to buy one, but I also second the Bachmann if you're talking HO. I have a Unimog I'd like to power and the wheelbase matches pretty well. The Mog isn't dainty, but it's smaller than the Kenworth's, etc converted by Brandt. The trick will be how to deal with matching the wheelbase by stretching the power unit or some other solution.
BTW, it's pretty common for vendors to convert whatever heavy duty truck brand the customer prefers. Underneath, most are fairly similar in basic dimensions, etc. Depending on the brand, a Cat, Cummins, Detroit Diesel, or other engine as well as the transmission, brakes, air dryer, seats, fuel capacity, etc, etc can all be spec-ed by the customer. Hy-rail capability is just one more aspect of that mix.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL