I see a lot of argument back and forth on life-like products and I realize there is old, middle, and new-production life-like, but it is very hard to get hard information on a couple of products I've been eyeing, so: 1) Can anyone tell me if the LL GP60 is DCC ready or not? I do not mind doing some work to get there but would rather not, so can this unit take a drop in decoder, and how does it REALLY run? how does it look in person? Is Life Like ever going to do another run of these and if so, will there be improvements? I could use a pair of NS units! 2) What can anyone tell me about the new run of LL GP38's? Are they drop in decoder ready? How do they run? How do they look up close. The SOO line and NS units would be nice additions but I am very hesitant, I love my Katos and Atlas units and own nothing else. thanks in advance.
Not sure exactly on the GP38 but I do not believe it is DCC ready. The GP60 is not. AztecTrains will mill your frame for next to nothing ( I think like $10) and they are pretty quick about it. The GP60 are nice runners (at least my three are)
A quick look under the bonnet of a GP38-2 a couple of months back gave me the impression it's not DCC-ready, drop-in decoder-wise. Not sure about motor isolation, though.
My GP60's are excellent runners too...and they detail up to be a great looking locomotive. I'm hoping to give mine another workout at the Brisbane train show this weekend.
Have any of you done the Aztec conversion and installed a decoder? If so, how hard was the decoder to install?
That's a great tutorial Dave. It looks simple enough that even I might try it. jsoflo, When I am considering adding a new locomotive to my fleet I will check the Spookshow N scale Locomotive Encyclopedia http://www.visi.com/~spookshow/trainstuff.html He provides a great list of every N scale loco that has been produced, with the year of production (both model and prototype) and a review, usually from MR mag. It is a handy reference.
The GP38-2 will allow a drop in decoder with the ,otor contact strips removed. you need to wire a PnP decoder to the icolated motor, about a 30 second job. The next runs of the GP18, GP60 and GP38-2 will feature PnP decoder ability. All three will also feature new tooling to some degree. The GP38-2 will get the sight glass and loose the holes in the hood. They may also get new fans. The GP60 may gain a plow and the GP18 should have new fans as well.
Gary, are you the same Gary that was doing a chop nose GP7/9 for the TC&W? That was a terrific site you had going there. Did you ever finish it and if so did you post it ? Thanks lv4142003
Welcome to TrainBoard, lv4142003. 'Tis I! And thanks!! Hmm, I should get back to completing them, eh? Admittedly, I haven't compiled any more pages for them nor uploaded the pages to the new(ish) server either.
