Just to add to the discussion I am adding a photo of the ZThek unit alongside my amateurish scratch built speeder shell on a Showcase motor. I appreciate the craftsmanship of work you all post. Bruce
Here is a rear view of the speeder. Notice the large plastic drive gear on the Showcase motor. Might need an apron hiding that, but it comes down within 2mm of rail. I do have some tungsten in the roof to improve running. Bruce
Very nice looking speeder. I don't own a SCM motor (yet) and didn't realize how small they are. May I suggest strip styrene with safety stripes to hide the gear? Stony Smith also makes a speeder with separate trailer. Thanks for the idea. Jim
Thanks for the feedback. I had the crew at the yard add the safety stripes. They want me to install a stove now that the temperatures here in Pittsburgh have plummeted. They enjoy tooling around in the speeder they built even though it is a bit crude. Bruce
Here are some similar power trucks from Japan. I have ordered the 9mm ones from them. The frames are 3D printed and very light, but just add weight. If you scroll down you will find 6.5mm gauge chassis. : http://www.narrow-garage.com/NarrowGarageE.html
Nice! I didn’t know those exist. I see they have an excellent variety of wheel bases to choose from. The 8mm motor is a bit too wide. I would switch out the motor just like I did my Searails truck.
Also those motors are only 6v. They do sell the 12v coreless 7mm motors further down the page which shouldn't be too difficult to adapt to their chassis.
Never heard how loud they were. Wanted a shay. Bought Rudy’s brass tank. I know what the Märklin 8800 sounds like.
I tried to order a couple of these but they declined my order. They are not shipping to the US due to pandemic restrictions.
I got a brass version of the MDT shell and tested it on the Showcase chassis. Things were going fine until disaster struck while puling the chassis out from the shell. I broke the chassis in half! The plastic arm that holds the motor snapped. I will have to design a bracket that can hold the chassis in place without putting any friction on the motor casing. The good news is that I was able to glue it back together with no loss of performance. I got lucky.
I made a chassis to prevent the power truck from breaking apart when removing it from the MDT shell. At first, I wanted it to be made of brass but that would cause a short circuit. It will have to be plastic after all. If your interested in more development details, go here: www.thezmaker.com I think it turned out pretty nice. To paint it, I used a technique commonly used to paint armor and aircraft. Start with a black under coat then add color on top. This will make it appear to have shadows in the corners and crevices. I've been watching too many modeling channels on youtube... For more pictures: go here