Great work as usual Robert. So now here is the question: Being as you have a guagemaster, and have run the mikado with that and straight DC, which is better for performance? Straight DC with the gaugemaster? Or the loco with DCC?
As for the limited running I have done so far, the loco performs the same on clean track. This decoder has loads of features to compensate for load, dirty track, grade, and provides a constant velocity. If you look at the third photo, the top right of the Gold Mini decoder has 3 solder pads where you can attach the UPS power module. The UPS is not yet released but it might be a battery or more likely capacitors that provide power over dirty track, for smooth constant running. I plan on using this feature when available, and making a new tender with the reverse light , a doghouse light, and the UPS module installed inside. The decoder also features a Back EMF circuit to read the motor response, and provide extra power to keep it running at a constant velocity over varying track and load conditions. Another feature of this decoder is Rail Com, for transmitting data about the decoder to supported devices. Kind of like transponding on a digitrax, but it can brodcast stuff like CV values and more for future uses. It also has Constant Braking Distance technology. You can have be running slow or fast, and at the same point tell the loco to stop, and no matter what speed it was going, the stopping distance will be the same. As I put this locomotive through it's paces, I expect it to be my best runner. This is the decoder I have been waiting to put in this locomotive. I have about 20 decoders of different makes on hand, but did not install any until the Gold Mini became available. When I started on the NP Mikado modification, I selected the best running Mikado out of the 7 I had on hand. I was hoping it would have been one of the blackened drive SP units, but it was a CB&Q unit that ran the best and pulled the most cars, so this was the unit to do my best work on to date. i deserved the best decoder to date. -Robert
Wow! I had no idea a decoder could do all of that. I must say I am interested in the idea of backup power. Would those wires then be connected to something like a watch battery? Or am I missing the idea? It sounds pretty awsome and like something that could completely change the whole way we run trains.
I think it is a little bigger. Tom at Tom's Trackside Trains had Debbie Ames from Lenz come into his shop and demo the system in HO. She placed masking tape over several inches of rails, and ran the loco over the tape, then backed over it without a hitch. Then she showed Tom something that he described as looking like it had 2 AA size batteries on it, as being the UPS module. Since she did not charge it for any length of time, I suspect it was larger electrolytic capacitors on a small board with voltage regulators. On the ZDCC yahoo list there was a post from a guy who seen the small one in Dortmund: So it seems like it may be caps. -Robert
Running over masking tape! That is imprssive! I must say, if they can make something like that that fit into a Z tender and work that way...wow. By the way Robert, the amber light to simulate the glow of the firebox is truely fantastic!
That is just amazing! I fought for HOURS with my N scale Kato Mike to get a decoder shoehorned into it. Boggles my mind how you got a decoder into a Z shell! Curious about the firebox though. You have the headlight connected directly to red/black (track power), and then use the headlight wiring for the firebox? I *pretty darned sure* I read that correctly. EXCELLENT work! Gold star for you!
Yes, the headlight function was wired to 2 parallel orange LED's and set to Gyralight mode, because this decoder don't have firebox flicker. The glow is repeatable, but slow enough to represent a convincing firebox glow. The normal headlight is a 12 volt bulb, wired between the red and black wires in effect, (just used the normal Z Scale headlight as though it was a DC setup) but my DCC was trimmed to 10 volts for safe motor operation. As added safety, I programmed a straight line speed table with Decoder Pro, that runs from 5 to 150 out of 255, so the loco's top speed is half what it could be. All this Voodoo DCC stuff I do started when I bought an NCE decoder tester, and noticed that a 2 function decoder can actually output 4 LED's. They have an LED that indicated motor direction, so I got a clue. You can extrapolate 4 functions out of a decoder with creative wiring, add an always on headlight as a "Power On" indicator, and you can turn any decoder into a 5 function decoder. What would you use them all for on a steamer? 1) The Incandescent Bulb is headlight and track power on indicator. Who cares if it is on when the locomotive is going backwards. 2) The white wire is programed for firebox flicker or gyrolight depending on the decoders FX options. 3) The yellow wire becomes the tender backup light. 4) The motor forward gets a pair of white 0402 SMT LED and current limiting resistor wired in to match the circuit that the NCE Decoder Tester uses, and the white LED's become front class marker lanterns. 5) The motor reverse gets a pair of red 0402 SMT LED and current limiting resistor wired in backwards from the white LED's to match the circuit that the NCE Decoder Tester uses, and the red LED's become front class marker lanterns depicting a steamer going in reverse. -Robert
It's achievements like this that make me wish I was in Z. I would be already, but there isn't equipment available to model the prototypes I want, and I wouldn't be capable of scratchbuilding everything. I just wish manufacturers offered Z with DCC...
Triplex-I model the PRR and Northeast and between Micro-Trains and Marklin, I'm pretty well covered... I think it is time for you to take another look at Z What prototypes are you looking for??
Look at my sig, Michael: 1990s Conrail. Ideally, I'd have SD80MACs, C40-8Ws, an SD38 with RSD-12 slug for my yard, GP15-1s, SD60Is, B23-7s, plus more common stuff like SD40-2s and GP38-2s. None of those are available in Z, except the "more common" ones. And without those characteristic engines, it just isn't Conrail. Or where could I get 89' enclosed tri-levels - a staple of modern railroading? Or 89' flats? Z is still short on modern rolling stock. With enough space, I'd build a steel mill: that means coke cars, hot metal "bottle" cars, slag cars, some sort of switcher for the mill like an SW1500, MP15, or GE 44-tonner... There's a reason I plan for N. I know I can get almost every desirable feature of my dream layout in a ~120-square-foot room in that scale. Now all I need to do is get a room even that big...
Yes, you can model Conrail in Z scale. AZL is offering SD40-2s in Conrail. AZL is also preparing to release SD70s this year and Conrail versions are planned. The SD70s will be injection molded. Alan Curtis Models is preparing to release 89' flat car kits (http://www.alancurtismodels.com/). Also, I have it on good notice that the 89' tri-level autoracks are coming. I would say next year. Märklin last year released 'torpedo' cars for the steel industry. This year, they have released slag cars. Also, they have released a steel mill in Z scale. FR of Germany also offers coke cars and coal porters for Z scale. Micro-Trains has released a Conrail caboose many years ago. Also, they offer assorted Conrail rolling stock. Pennzee also has available Conrail three bay hoppers. I have included a few images. Is it time to rethink Z scale? - Rob Kluz
Yes, the Z scale equipment looks good. I try to keep abreast of everything available in Z. I thought the scale was so small (in number of modellers, that is - I like the physical size) that I could do that. I guess I was wrong. I still say the selection isn't good. Maybe by the time I get the space and money to build a new layout, there'll be enough of a selection available to choose Z. Anyway, I don't want to rely on AZL engines - I will not be available to afford a brass roster in the foreseeable future. As I said, all this is really moot for the moment, as I don't have room in my present house for anything much bigger than a door layout. My old HO 4x6 is stored away because there's nowhere I can operate it. Even in Z, I would want more than that size - I want to model heavy mainline railroading. Anything less than 20-car trains and a 3-scale-mile mainline just won't cut it. Then again, maybe I'm just scared of getting back into active model railroading. I'm still basically a total beginner, and my last attempt ended in a fiasco.
It's made by Marklin, and kind of resembles a USRA Light Mike... Kind of. Beggers can't be choosers, and they (Marklin) use the same shell and tender on their 4-6-2 Pacific. I had to do some serious mods to try and catch the flavor of an NP mike. -Robert
I like what you did with this Mikado. Have you ever tried the new CT Elektronik z scale decoders? I think their z version is even smaller than the Lenz. I have a Mikado and was debating over the Lenz and the CT.
