TT Scale. The Ideal Scale.

Figured I'd start this since I'm thinking of how to motorize etc. these castings.

My initial thought is that since I have the same number of A and B units, I'll only motorize the Bs and leave the As as dummies to house large speakers. I'll use modified versions of what I call the "Skeleton" chassis design that I'm using for my UB. The main reason I'm asking is because as usual, I'll make everything available for others.

Any thoughts?

Good idea, but as for me - I have only A unit(s). Will your chassis/power unit be suitable for A unit too?

Do you think it will be better than Hollywood Foundry?

Well, I only wanted to power the B unit because I don't have to take into account the cab and lighting for it in the design. That would lead to the A unit chassis being very cheap since it doesn't require much of anything. And it would leave a ton of room for a big speaker for BIG sound :)

Will it be better than HF? I suppose that's a question for someone who will have both to compare side by side. I don't have any HF parts so I don't have an opinion of them.

Anyway, keep the responses coming - if there ends up being a large group of people who want power for the A and don't want to use HF, I'll probably do a design for it as well.

Ok, I've purchased TWO A-units, so I think I can be just that man who can compare your chassis and HF's one :)

I think it will be good enough even without the lighting for the cab. ;)
From the other side - even if you motorize B-unit, you can't use it without A-unit, am I right? So you need to light the cabin in any case - of course, if you need it!

If you motorize A-unit, you can use either only FA as well as FA+FB. But if you motorize B-unit, you can use only FA+FB pair!
So I think it's better to motorize FA.

Arseny wrote:Ok, I've purchased TWO A-units, so I think I can be just that man who can compare you chassis and HF's one :)

I think it will be good enoght even without the lighting for the cab. ;)
From the other side - even if you motorize B-unit, you can't use it without A-unit, am I right? So you need to light the cabin in any case - of course, if you need it!

If you motorize A-unit, you can use either only FA as well as FA+FB. But if you motorize B-unit, you can use only FA+FB pair!
So I think it's better to motorize FA.

Good points....

I have an A-B-A set on the way shortly so either arrangement works for me, though as Arseny said, the lighting needs to be done either way...

Well for the lighting I was thinking that a decoder would go in the A unit and I'd just run two wires to the B for the motor. If I did an A powered chassis and the B as a dummy that would still require 2 wires running to the B for sound. But I suppose having everything in the A is probably easier/better for most. Keep the comments coming....I'm not totally convinced just yet......

The more I think about it, the more I think the A needs to be powered. For smaller shelf-type layouts engine length can be a big factor in what you can do operationally; having to run a B unit means one less passenger car or two less freight cars in your train.

That, and: some folk may not have ordered a B unit!

Marquette wrote:The more I think about it, the more I think the A needs to be powered. For smaller shelf-type layouts engine length can be a big factor in what you can do operationally; having to run a B unit means one less passenger car or two less freight cars in your train.

That, and: some folk may not have ordered a B unit!

That's I am talking about!

And you can put a decoder into B unit, and sound, and additional condenser to improve smoothness.

A lot of good points I hadn't thought about. Ok, A it is.