"New" Z Chassis?

[Alaska Railroader]

Interesting. Here are two photos, the first is a chassis we sell by a world class master craftsman. While at NTS in July the owner of Rokuhan purchased one of these from us at our vendor booth. The second photo arrived in my inbox today. By all appearances someone saved themselves hundreds of hours of research and developement. At least I can clearly see a difference in the quality of materials used.
https://picasaweb.google.com/108376361706524174594/ChassisComparison?authkey=Gv1sRgCJfgjfbLorX1eQ#
This is the link that I received today:
http://www.rokuhan.com/english/news/2011/09/z-gauge-power-unit.html

K.E. Snyder
www.stonebridgemodels.com

[DKS]

I agree, they look disturbingly similar.

Then there's this mechanism, which was introduced in Germany some time before Lajos' chassis emerged:





While it's not as similar as the two examples you provided, there are just so many ways a motor, some gears and four wheels can be arranged.

[Chris333]

I wouldn't say they stole the design in any way. A few years ago I built this:
https://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/HOn30#5239418998190706130
And I got the idea from here:
http://www.nigellawton009.com/MPD18.html

[Sokramiketes]

And Craft (Japan) had a version just like Lajos before that.

And... Lajos has a larger gear reduction. And a little over a month is quick work to have China make a copy... Possible, but more likely it was in the works before July.

[tom mann]

Amazing that a market exists for all these different types of chassis.