Autonomous model trucks


J

John Tail

New Member
Hi all,

I'm new to the hobby and working on my layout idea. I do not have too much layout space available, but the layout of tracks and tracks only would not look so realistic. While some roads and vehicles would add to the scenery, a layout with working trains and "frozen" cars would not look so good either. So I'm wondering if I can get the cars to ride on my layout as well and if so, what should I take into account when designing the track/road-plan, what are the costs, control options etc.

This surfaced yesterday on facebook and seems very promising, but not much detail is available and there are no actual products yet as far as I can tell: https://www.facebook.com/futurstreet/

Is there anything else similar on the market? I remember reading about some Japanese system, but have never been able to find any information on it.

Cheers,

J
 
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First of all, welcome to the forum John. The only system I know of is by a German outfit named Faller.
http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html
This part of their website is in English. There are distributors in USA that carry their products, probably including Walthers. Google "Faller Car Systems" for more info. I have personally seem it in operation on a layout near Dallas TX recently. The operator had sensors embedded in the roadways that would send some kind of signal to a control panel to temporarily stop a vehicle if it was gaining on the preceding one. I believe that this is also the system used on the "Wunderland" layout in Hamburg Germany. If you haven't seen their website, it is a must for all modelers. Again, Google is your friend.
Willie
 
santafewillie said:
First of all, welcome to the forum John. The only system I know of is by a German outfit named Faller.
http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html
Click to expand...

Thank you, this looks very interesting. However, I'm a bit lost as to how to make it work and what functionality I can expect and not sure I want to risk the expense (~2.500EUR) to get all the components of a starting system if I'm not missing something. I would be very happy to hear from an experienced user if there are any on this forum.

J
 
santafewillie said:
First of all, welcome to the forum John. The only system I know of is by a German outfit named Faller.
http://www.faller.de/App/WebObjects/XSeMIPS.woa/cms/page/pid.14.17.109/lg.en/Car-System.html
Click to expand...

Thank you for the pointer, now I know a lot more. However, I'm not really sure what do I get for the money and since it is pretty expensive (>2.500 EUR entry for a small layout with one or two vehicles), I will put it on hold for now. While I'm waiting, maybe the guys with the facebook page come up with something that is easier to grasp and can be had without robbing the bank :). I would be very interested to hear from somebody who has actual experience with Faller Car System Digital.


Cheers,

J
 
The Colorado Model Railroad Museum also uses the Faller Car System. All of them are trucks. No automobiles. They have been modified to represent USA type vehicles including buses. There is a hidden staging area that has a series of shoots and gates to distribute different vehicles in different order instead of having just one or one sequence circulate. They do have the triggers at stop lights and such to prevent them from all bottling up nose to tail.

The vehicles are fragile and have a short battery life. The road tracking system is anything but flawless and we often have vehicles all over the ditch. They require constant monitoring when running, and a great deal of maintenance between runs. Keeping the batteries charged without over charging them is another continual issue.
 
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I don't know if the Faller system allows automobiles as well as trucks. If so, the battery life will be even shorter, as there's less space in the vehicle. But as far as the other issues are concerned, Miniatur Wunderland seems to have a reliable system, though maybe they don't show any videos where their trucks are ending up in der ditch, verdammt.

Check out the numerous episodes of Gerrits Tagebuch on Youtube. It's phenomenal. How would you make volcanic lava that both glows and flows?
 
Wunderlands display is even more incredible in person!

I have three faller vehicles so far, a truck, a pickup, and a van; I like them. I plan to get more in the future, but they are at least $100/ea. The novilty is fun, but I probably could have done without them. Designing roads that are functional takes up a lot of space that could have been used for other things.

I plan on adding stop lights, etc down the road.
 
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