new track master revolution mods

Hi everyone,

just taking the discussion away from my hello post and putting it in the correct area.

So few things I'm looking at doing and finding out.

Mod a train to take 4x aaa in the engine not a connecting carriage.
possibly motor swap with higher RPM motor and maintain the 2x aaa batteries.

questions are: 1. has anyone found a place to buy replacement motor drive gears I would prefer not to have to take the originals on and off as over time I can see problems occuring with looseness.

2. does anyone know what the standard RPM motors are, don't want to go buy 1 from ebay and have it be just the same RPM and don't really fancy pulling out a timing light to figure it out haha.

3. we currently have 3 of these thomas sets with the dark grey tracks (4 soon after his birthday). It's difficult to utilize all 3 tracks to make 1 big track are there any suggestions on how to make these tracks easier, I make my own track but often with under 1/2 of the parts because they seem so specially suited to their own set it's difficult to join them at the right angles.

[Super]

As far as the tracks go, you could buy a few of these adapters made by a member here so you can also use the easily attainable with much more variations of Tomy Track http://www.ebay.com/itm/231863866883

As far as motor swaps check out this video from one of our members...

As far as motor swaps check out this video from one of our members...

thanks on both things! those RPMS give me an idea on what will at least improve on exisiting motors without going backwards. and those joiners are great idea. Can somone explain are these thomas trains identical (for most part) whats the difference with the Plarail and trackmaster... why are there even more than 1 option or are they just generational?

plarail/tomy is japanese, and tomy was the brand under which thomas and friends were sold in the western world until around 09 when trackmaster took over. plarail still produces thomas trains for sale in japan, though there are fears they either have or will lose the license to do so.

for thomas, the basic chain of events is:

tomy magnetic coupler [early 90s]
tomy/plarail hook and eye coupler [mid 90s - 05, except japan where retail sales still exist]
HIT trackmaster [06 - 09]
fisher-price trackmaster [09 - 14]
fisher-price trackmaster revolution [14 - present]

can somone please correct the years for trackmaster if im wrong? just let me know and i will edit accordingly.

dates edited.

Actually, the standard Plarail-type <i>Thomas</i> range was introduced around the same time as the magnetic coupling/dark blue track style (Tomy Trains/Tomytrain, which ended in 1997). Outside of Japan, it kept going until 2006, when HiT Toys introduced TrackMaster (I actually remember buying some of the first few sets at the time). This range ran until 2009, which was when Fisher Price took the reins. FP kept producing TrackMaster products in the old Plarail-friendly style until 2014, when we got the lousy, knock off-quality rubbish we have now (Revolution).

If you search the forums you'll see a number of threads discussing the differences between revolutions track and what we call blue tracks (i.e. original PlaRail). Most discuss around the design of the revolutions system and the fact that effectively most sets are almost 'one-trick pony' type sets. What we mean is that it will do something fancy, but that's about its limit, when you want to expand it's difficult to utilise all the parts as the sets have so many dedicated parts that only do one thing. The best comparison is original lego which had lots of generic parts and fostered childrens imagination to build things and new lego where you buy a kit for say an X-Wing fighter which can't really make much else and takes away that imagination/education element that the original gave you.

So to a degree it depends what you want. Do you want something that out of the box is impressive but gets boring quickly, or something that on the surface seems less exciting, but over time grows and keeps a childs interest as they add new features and functions to a basic set?

One other thing that has not been mentioned in this thread yet is that the new recolutions engines have been deliberately designed by Fisher Price to not run perfectly on the older blue track. This can be addressed with the judicious use of a file (again threads on this can be found). But it is a bit of an issue for anyone who doesn't like modifying engines and is really a cheap shot to try to lock people into the revolutions system.

As for your desires to up the voltage in your loco's to get more speed have you considered fitting a voltage step up circuit? You can use these to take the basic 3v and step it up without the use of extra batteries. No doubt this would have a downside in terms of battery life, but it is maybe an easier mod if you have the space

Actually, the standard Plarail-type <i>Thomas</i> range was introduced around the same time as the magnetic coupling/dark blue track style (Tomy Trains/Tomytrain, which ended in 1997). Outside of Japan, it kept going until 2006, when HiT Toys introduced TrackMaster (I actually remember buying some of the first few sets at the time). This range ran until 2009, which was when Fisher Price took the reins. FP kept producing TrackMaster products in the old Plarail-friendly style until 2014, when we got the lousy, knock off-quality rubbish we have now (Revolution).

thanks for the info. i was sure we didnt get trackmaster here until 09, and those were HIT ones, but we are behind the times over here, so not surprising. lol.
i only got into thomas around 08, and remember being there when the change over happened. had heaps of the magnetic range prior to that, but considered thomas to be beneath me [older childhood/teen years, so understandable] did buy some accessories like train washers as they were compatible.

[Super]

I can't recall if I have seen an upgraded motor video for the Revolution series. They have more of a direct drive gear box so I am wondering how fast that will make them. This also might make the need for added weight to hold the train to the rails. I am not that familiar with the Revolutions but there doesn't seem to be enough room under the shell for a larger battery pack without placing it in a trailing car. My suggestion is to skip the higher voltage mod as that entails more work and just try an upgraded motor which should give you more speed. Even more that the Plarails and original Trackmaster due to the gearing and the fact that Revolutions uses 3 volts. Not sure how much an upgraded motor will drain those two little AAA batteries.

Many of us use the Tamiya line of motors for our upgrades. You can check them out on the Tamiya web site to get specifications, including voltage and RPM, on all they have to offer here http://www.tamiyausa.com/items/mini-seri...tors-43050

I should try that sort of mod on one of my spare Takara Shinkansen's they use a standard size motor (despite the smaller size of the cars) and 2 AAA's in the 2nd car

[Super]

I should try that sort of mod on one of my spare Takara Shinkansen's they use a standard size motor (despite the smaller size of the cars) and 2 AAA's in the 2nd car

That would be interesting