Anyone who has ever visited the epic miniature wonderland in Hamburg will know them: self-propelled H0 model cars that enrich driving operations immensely – they stop independently in parking lots and depots, flash prototypically when turning and look for their charging station when the battery power is running low . The underlying Car System was originally developed by the model building company Faller, and of course the solvent model builder can also buy ready-to-run models including controls there. But we want to dare to build a self-construction for which you can do this Car System not required. This is not that difficult due to prefabricated gears and axles.
A steel wire (or magnetic tape) embedded in the road and a pickup shoe with a small magnet attached to the front axle keep the vehicles on track. The slider hovers over the steel wire and, depending on the course of the road, moves horizontally to the left or right and thus steers the front wheels. Now all you really need is a small electric motor that drives the rear axle, an equally small battery and the small Car System car is done!
Car system vehicles shimmy along an invisibly laid steel wire via the magnetic slider, which is clearly visible here.
(Image: Falls)
Externally controlled
The first generation of these cars were indeed designed so simply; to stop the motor could be switched off by a reed contact and an external magnetic field. Of course, we don’t want to be satisfied with that: the car needs lights, a horn needs to be there and the engine’s speed should be controllable. To top it all off, we decide to build an emergency vehicle for the fire brigade from the small village of Plottenstein. Therefore, the vehicle must also be equipped with blue lights, and the horn can also signal the siren. And everything has to fit in a 1:87 scale car. So it has a size of about 10 cm long and 2.5 cm wide.
