Bandai 'B-Shorty' Trains and THOMAS...

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I don't know if any of you guys have seen the Bandai B-Shorty range before, but basically they are small train 'kits' made of pre-printed parts that clip together and produce 'N gauge' train cars.

Out of the box they are all unpowered, but can be motorised using either Bandai or Kato motor units at a relatively low cost.

But the thing that makes them quite unique and also gives them their name is that they are deliberately designed to be short, no car being any longer than 6cm in size which makes them somewhat deliberately 'distorted' in terms of scale. Although this is no different in some ways to the Tomy/Takara/Daiso PlaRail's out there, just in a smaller 'N gauge'.

Anyway, I've just seen today they actually make a B-Shorty of the japanese real world 'Thomas' - Thomas & Passenger cars there is also a second set that provides additional passenger cars.

Now this is one exception to most of the range in that it states on Hobby Search that it is display only and cannot be motorised. But I'm not so sure this is true as I don't see why you couldn't fit one of the motors into say the first passenger car instead of Thomas. Regardless I've asked on another forum where there seems to be some level of expertise in the range, if anyone they will probably know.

Until then I just thought I'd give all you Thomas nuts the heads up about this model Smile
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
[-] The following 2 users Like Nigels's post:
  • ActionChugger, Super
Not falling for this one too Big Grin
Evan Almighty and His Train Collection
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[-] The following 1 user Likes ActionChugger's post:
  • sunhuntin
Nope wasn't thinking of you AC, but I know someone on here has the Tomy 'N Gauge' Thomas range so this may appeal to them Smile
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin
*cough*. i actually have that set, though unpowered as i couldnt make head or tail of what was needed. thomas and the carriages are covered in underneath, so would need to be cut away to fit any kit.
the carriages free roll, but thomas' wheels are fixed

more pics towards the bottom of this page http://sunsthomasandfriends.weebly.com/t...iends.html

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my website address has changed: https://sunscollections.weebly.com/
[-] The following 1 user Likes sunhuntin's post:
  • Super
I'm not surprised you got it Sun as it seems an ideal model for you as you got the Tomy one's don't you?

I'm looking into it, I'm told you can motorise one of the carriages using the standard Bandai or Kato motor chassis's and the suggestion is to replace the front truck on Thomas with a single axle and the rear with a normal Kato bogie. I've got a kit on order so I'll look into it when I get it and let you know.

The other suggestion is if you get a Kato C11 you can remove the body and fit the Thomas body onto it Smile

Even if I can't motorise it I figure its a good scenery item when I get round to building my N Gauge layout Smile
Happily collecting things all my life... Big Grin



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