I picked up a Hallmark brass Alco RSD 4/5 fairly cheap. A great looking model that wouldnt move. Basically, the gears in the trucks were frozen and when I tried to disassembly this POS the trucks inside castings fell apart. Does anyone have any clue where I might get parts to fix this junker?
I have a brass GP-9 that looks great and runs terribly. Someone suggested I throw a LL mechanism inside. I have to figure out how to open it up so I can measure the space inside and see what might fit. Maybe there is such a replacement for your loco.
My thoughts exactly. Just isolate the frame of the mech from the shell with sheet styrene to prevent shorts. If an RSD from Atlas won't fit, I'll bet there is an Atlas mech that will fit, just adapt the Atlas RSD trucks to it. They should work with a different mech. Should...
Removing the shell is fairly simple. Turn it over and swing the trucks to one side and you find a small screw on each end that you remove. I thought about the mech swap but that sounds too simple! It may come to that or I simply may sell it.
I might add that if you see a piece of Brass and it is really inexpensive there is a reason for that, in my experience. As far as I am concerned the only brass to buy is MOW , cars or other non-fuctioning pieces. That said you can also be fooled by even the high priced brass. Some of it is also junk. Stick with Kato, almost never dissapointed. Mike
My personal experience, albeit limited, with Hallmark over the years is that they have excellent brass engraving, reasonably good detail, no window glass, and horrible mechanisms. I always wondered why the brass manufacturers devoted so much to good looks withoug considering the running performance. When Kato diesels came out, I looked on all forums for years for a person to discard the brass mechanism, do the adaptation necessary to put an Atlas/Lifelike split frame/Kato mechanism under it, some glass in it, and you have a runner, son. But then the same manufacturers above, now including Model Power, Athearn, Spectrum and others are now producing top quality plastic and metal shells, which is in my opinion an integral reason why brass is nothing more than ca ca in our hobby now. Plus plastic is easier to work on. Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
I have a large number of the early-1980s Samhongsa micro-geared brass engines from Oriental Limited and Hallmark. The RS-3s and RSD-5s were from the former importer. Are you sure your unit is Hallmark? If you have one of the early 1980s Samhongsa micro-geared mechanisms, I have extensive experience with them, and could probably help. Mark H. <edit> Well, it looks like Hallmark did import a Kumata RSD-5 according to Spookshow. http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/hmrs.html If that's what you have, I can't help you.
Brass was never meant to be run. You were just supposed to look at it. If you look at the old magazines they were rebuilding HO brass in the 50's. The original N Scale mechs were lousy, why spend the effort on a desk decoration? Even my Overland, Crandal Cab E9 runs with DCC and a Kato chassis under the beautiful brass cover. The original modern split frame chassis developed a scream that would not go away. It amazes me that once a train is made in plastic that was only available in brass(stainless) is so much better with finer details. Take the El Capitan Hi-Levels as an example. Which would you rather have? An empty metal shell without trucks, couplers glass or interior or a complete train with all the details except light, a simple addition.
That's an over-simplification; a lot of the N-scale brass could be made to run quite well. An example was the Samhongsa micro-geared stuff I refer to above, which when adjusted properly, ran as well as any modern mechanism. I put my Samhongsa stuff aside not because of mechanical issues, but because of the fact that recent plastic runs just as well, but comes already painted and glazed with better detail. In my experience, the issue with the above-mentioned brass was that one needed to have developed a certain level of mechanical skill to get the most out of it. For example, in addition to the usual break-in process, I had to replace the nylon gears in each truck as they tended to shrink and crack within a year of purchase. Electrical contact required properly adjusted wheel wipers, and occasional re-soldering of wires between wipers and the motor. Etc. Mark H.
Here is a brass U30B from Hallmark. I added windows and paint detail and it runs great. You cant find one in plastic.
