I've always been fascinated by Maglev and monorail systems. In model form they are rare, but a few hints saw me receive a tatty box containing the Revell HO scale model arrive at Christmas. There is a dusty corner of the Hereford Model Centre that is a little bit emptier now...
The Transrapid concept was developed in German around the turn of the century. Sadly, despite the prototype information in the model's box, the only working application is a short line in China. The planned links in Germany lost out to conventional railway systems - you can build an ICE train cheaper than a fancy-pants monorail maglev system and travel sufficiently fast for practical purposes. Even the Emsland test facility has been scrapped.
The model is a pre-painted plastic "kit" designed as a desk ornament. At just under half a metre long, it's an impressive beast. Detail is limited, just like the real thing, although electromagnets are moulded underneath the "track" if you look underneath.
Conversion to a working model might just be possible. You need to plan on making something that looks right rather than is right. The air gap on the real Transrapid is 10mm. Scaling that down results in a gap best described as bu**er all. This pretty much rules out proper maglev working as you'd need an overscale gap and the thing would probably move oddly.
Get past this though and I can see why wheels shouldn't be fitted inside, picking up from wipers operating under the track.
Two sections of track are supplied and as far as I can tell, spares were never available. Making your own wouldn't be too bad although some experimentation would be required. Apparently pre-fabricating standard sections on the prototype isn't as easy as it looks, everything to form a curve has to be bespoke.
For the minute, this is just a collectors item, but I am sure a Maglev model will feature in my future.
