Japanese D51 Mikado

[zscaler]

Originally Posted by Chris333

Since the motor is in the tender where a decoder would usually go, why not put the decoder in the cab where the motor usually is?

Will look at that. Thanks.

[Garth Hamilton]

Originally Posted by zscaler

Will look at that. Thanks.

I believe Robert removed the tungsten weight behind the motor and used that space for the his decoder.

[kimvellore]

How about replacing the motor with a better and smaller one and making place for a decoder.... Just a thought and the motor looked cheap.... still waiting for my loco

Kim

[pray59]

That little motor is pretty good, no need to replace it. Use a DZ-125 decoder, as it's size and component arrangement allow it to fit behind the motor, and inside the tender if you cut the waterbox deck off the tender. fashion a replacement out of styrene.

The headlight is always on, dc or dcc, and takes dcc just fine, so no need to mess with wiring in the loco. All the dcc wiring you need is right behind the motor, and you will have 2 functions to use 1 for firebox flicker and one for reverse light.

[Garth Hamilton]

<http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10092803>

The Tenshodo Z-scale Japanese Mikado is back in stock at Hobby World as of this morning Jan 29th 2010.

happy hunting

[spyder62]

Originally Posted by Garth Hamilton

<http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/10092803>

The Tenshodo Z-scale Japanese Mikado is back in stock at Hobby World as of this morning Jan 29th 2010.

happy hunting

thanks Garth I now have one on the way.
rich

[pray59]

I forgot to post my quick review:


Pilot Diameter .153"
Pilot Axle to first driver .46"
Driver Diameter .235"
Driver Axle Symmetrical Spacing .295"
Trailing Truck Diameter .15"
Rear Driver Axle to Trailing Truck Axle .475"
Pilot Axle to Trailing Truck Axle 1.81"
Trailing Truck Axle to Tender Bolster Drawbar Length .665"
Tender Wheel Diameter .15"
Tender Bolster to Bolster .645"
Tender Truck Axle Spacing .3"
Pilot Truck Axle to Rear Tender Wheel Axle 3.35"
Between Flanges .209"
Outside Flange to Outside Flange .24"

I took my D51 over to Jeff's and showed him. It ran great on DC, although it
took 2 volts to get it to start, which is about a scale 20 MPH or so.

Well, I took it apart while Jeff was working on a new module, and found the
Universal shaft was mal-formed. If I had a good one, it would probably start
running at an even lower voltage.

Anyways, I Decided to see if I can install a DCC Decoder, and the short answer
is yes.

There was one problem though, taking apart the tender to get to the motor took
me an hour, because someone glommed the inside with superglue! Yup, CA glue, and
the culpret's fingerprint is forever imbedded inside!.

It's an ingenious shell design, with an inner motor shell locking the motor in
place on the tender floor, with the coal load as one piece, 2 metal weights, and
the tender sides and ends as a single piece like a sleve fitting over the motor.

Everything looks like it would snap together by design, but the assembler
probably broke the snap fit for the coal load, so they just glommed in a 1/4
ounce of superglue, and made the whole affair a nightmare to take apart. I kept
chipping away at the clear superglue until I got it apart.

I soldered a Digitrax DZ125 in place where the rear weight would go, and that
was really straight forward. It ran even better off DCC than it ran on DC,
probably because the 12v DCC pulses overcome the universal shaft's binding
better than pure 2v DC could. Runs great slow or fast.

This tender is small, about the size of the Marklin Bumble Bee steamer's tender,
or the Casey Jones tender.

The loco has 8 wheel electrical pickup, and the tender also has 8 wheel pickup,
for a total of 16 wheel electrical pickup, The best in Z Scale.

One thing I noticed was the headlight is somewhat dim. It was dim at 2 volts,
and I placed it on the DCC power, and it was at the same brightness, no
flickering! Whatever is on the headlight LED board, works just fine with DCC!
Think of it as a DCC track power indicator! It's the best! So I don't need to
wire the headlight function at all.

The rear tender light is non functional, but since the decoder is right there, I
should be able to fashion an SMT LED setup real easy.

I could not fit the tender shell all the way down after installing the decoder,
so I need to cut the rear deck off the waterbox part of the tender, and fashion
a new one out of styrene.

The motor is a can motor of the type Chris Schmuck calls a "2 Speed" On and Off,
but in this loco it works very good. I just wish my drive shaft was not
mal-formed so I could really see what this loco was designed to do.

The shaft has nubs on the end that snap into a cross slot universal cup. The
nubs on my shaft are diagonally opposed insted of perpendicularly opposed as
they were designed to be, probably because some factory worker was in such a
hurry, they pulled it out of the mold while the plastic was still hot and soft.

Overall, I think it is the best steamer mechanism DESIGN I have seen yet in Z
Scale, however the Chinese factory workers who assembled it needs to be sent to
a re-education camp, as there are signs they were in much too much of a hurry to
assemble them. Probably after that worker has assembled a few thousand, he will
get better at it.

I am very happy with this loco, and the price, under $100, is amazing!

Jeff took videos of my DCC work and test, so I am waiting on him to post videos
to share.

Today I ordered 4 more, becuase there is a 20% off sale, making them $84 each.

[DPSTRIPE]

I had already received my first streamlined version, my pre-ordered standard version is on its way, and I ordered two more of the standard version today.

I am very happy with my streamlined version. With a PWM controller, mine runs quite well at reasonably slow speeds, comperable to my Marklin 5 pole mikados. So, I'm guessing the manufacturer must have cought the problem that Robert's locs have in time to correct the problem later in the run. My tender didn't have the super glue issue, either. The only problem that I had happened when I took the loc apart to check it out. I broke off one of the power wires leading from the loc to the tender. The solder joint on the loc side is a bit delicate, but it was easy to fix.

I look forward to having a couple of these for kitbashing projects. Hopefully, this is a very successful product launch for Tenshodo so they will offer other wheel arrangements.

Dan S.

[Loren]

Robert, Dan,
You guys just can't leave well enough alone can you........always tinkering and taking things apart. I envy you both, as well as others who have 'the knack and touch'.

I wish I was the caliber of modeler you guys are in that respect. I'm not that educated or savy enough to do some of the things others do so I salute your achievements and encourage you to continue to lead the way to further advancements in 'tinkering' to make the world a better z place.

Guess I'll just have to win the lottery so I can afford to have you guys do custom work for me.

Somewhat on the side lines of this one.......

All the best.

[Chris333]

Does anyone know the gear ratio? How many times does the drive shaft have to turn to get the drivers to revolve once?

Can these still be purchased anywhere?