I converted mine over to a PRR GHQ L1 Mikado, so I've got the original tender shell (CB&Q) boiler & cab, other parts available if somebody needs stuff. I've also got a set of regular non-TT rear drivers as I converted mine over.
You can still pick up Kato Mikado's on Ebay in the $80+ range. There were a group of six priced separately and each went for $89 plus shipping which still prices them out at less than $100 per loco. Again BLW has Kato Mikado's priced at $99.95 in his August summer sale.
Feather River Trains and Rio Grande Hobbies also list Mikados. I don't know if they dug these out of a corner of the warehouse or what, but they are available. FRT list NKP and WP. Jerry
Anyone in the industry care to speculate on how a long out of production item such as these would suddenly reappear at multiple dealers? Any chance that Kato held some back for warranty support and is just now getting around to clearing them out?
Jack: The road names available at the various dealers are from the last run of Kato Mikados prior to the latest release. That run came out in the 2002-2004 time frame.
Yep, I knew that Bob. IIRC, those were the first ones that skipped the factory installed traction tires and used more prototypical (open spoked?) drivers. I like those Mikados so much that I'm half tempted to buy one of the CNW units. My guess is that Kato is updating the mechanism and we'll soon see a number of new DCC friendly releases. Everything about that engine (other than the lack of plug and play DCC) is just superb.
Jack: If Kato were ready to update the Kato Mikado mechanism to make it more DCC friendly, they would have done so when they released the new CBQ and Undecorated versions with factory installed detail parts.
I will agree with PSG. If they were going to do a DCC update, it probably would have been done by now. It would require a solution similar to the GS-4 or make room for the decoder in the loco. Both would require a major redesign to accomplish this. Mounting in the loco would be the easiest for them to modify but that would upset the ballance of an already tail heavy loco.
I'm not sure a DCC decoder really would add much weight. I've got Lenz Silver mini's mounted in the cab. The Silver Mini's weigh almost nothing, certainly not enough to affect the weight balance. And I might add that doing a DCC conversion this way (putting the decoder in the cab, against the firebox) really isn't all that hard. I did four Mikes this way in about 30 minutes each. I think that putting a decoder in the tender is much harder; in my case, I decided to use the cab mount for motor control; I later added a sound decoder (micro-Tsunami) in the tender just for sound. The two together work (and sound) great, and made the wiring much simpler. John C.
I'm not talking about the decoder adding tail weight. The best place for a decoder in the boiler is where the nose weight is, above the light board. That weight can be removed or shrunk to install a decoder in it's place, but removing the weight is what would upset the ballance. Bob has installed his in the tender which keeps the running character of the loco in-tact. Doing that requires wires between the loco and tender and from past history, that is something Kato won't do in a production loco. I think the last Kato steam loco with wires between the tender and loco was the Kato/Concor Hudsons.
Just a couple of questions...... someone before mentioned about stock still lying around, and Kato still holding back warranty coverage, but is there anyone out there that got a dog, that would require a warranty repair, and if you did have breakage, how does Kato know if you just got one, or like many of us, have several of them, and making a claim on a old one using the newer one's paperwork.... In other words, is there anyone that bought a Kato Mike that needed it? ....and...... If you install a dcc decoder in one, could that conceivably affect warranty coverage? ....(this ain't a real question)........... Aren't these little buggers real hard to install a decoder? I knew and respected a guy who was really an N fanatic, then one day at a swap meet, he was selling everything, and converting to HO because he couldn't get any dcc system in his mike......... ....inquiring readers want to know.......... just kidding....... Ken "FloridaBoy" Willaman
That's why mounting a small decoder (like the Lenz Silver mini) in the cab may be a better choice than trying to mount it in the boiler or in the tender. You don't remove any weight this way and you don't have wires running to the tender. I forget where I saw the article on how to do this, but basically it involves removing the shell and cutting a small "half moon" opening in the very top of the shell at the back of the boiler where the cab snaps on. You feed the decoder wires through this opening in the back of the shell (there is just enough space here for the wires to clear the flywheel), solder the red, black, white and blue wires to the existing light board for power and light control (you have to cut a trace on the light board to sever the light circuit), and solder the motor wires to the brush caps. There is enough clearance in the top and sides of the shell to avoid the need for milling any of the frame for wire routing when you do this. Put the shell back on, and the decoder sits in the cab flush against the firebox. I'll see if I can take a picture of one of my Mikes done this way in the next day or so. I think the instructions I saw used a small TCS decoder, but I've used the same technique with the Lenz Silver Mini wired decoder. No milling of the frame is necessary, although it does require cutting the decoder wires to an exact length. True, if you look into the cab, you'll see a not-very-prototypical DCC decoder sitting in the space where an engineer/fireman should be, but the decoder installation is a LOT simpler this way that trying to mount it in the boiler or in the tender. John C.
Losing the cab detail is the reason I would choose not to do it that way. I like to see in the cab and detail them as much as possible. It just proves there is more than one way to skin a cat so to say. What I would like to see is a decoder that plugs in and replaces the light board. It could have the headlight as part of the board and then have wires for the motor and accesory outputs. As small as decoders are getting now, I think it would be easily do-able. That light board isn't much smaller than a DZ125 and with an SMD LED, it could be another 1/8 or more longer. This would allow you to keep the weight in place and would make a fairly painless decoder install.
Tony: The wiring between the loco and tender have no effect on the performance of the Mikado if you leave enough slack in the wiring. this is easily done. The wiring can easily be hidden by painting them black. This installation keeps the integrity of the weight in the boiler intact. After over 50 installations I find that this is the way to go including sound decoder installations.
Ken: See my published article on a Sound decoder installation in the Kato Mikado in the July-August 2007 issue of N Scale Magazine. I've done over 50 of these installations and they are easy if you follow instructions.
Hi Bob. I know that at one time you used the LokSound micro to do this installation. Have you tried it with a Soundtraxx Micro-Tsunami? John C.
An absolute thumbs-up agreement on a decoder to replace the light board. I think it can be done; TCS and Lenz both make wired decoders whose circuitry is certainly no bigger than the light board. Thickness might be an issue, but I doubt it: I've installed Lenz Silver Mini's in LifeLike SW's in the space vacated by the light board without the decoder height being a problem. Moreover, a decoder like this could be used in a lot of split-frame locomotives. Jeez, this is a terrific idea. Why doesn't someone do it??? John C.
John: Most of the sound decoder installations that I've done in the Kato Mikado (12 to be exact) used the Lok-Sound micro decoder. I have one Mikado on my work bench that will utilize a Soundtraxx Micro Tsunami decoder. For regular decoder installations in the Kato Mikado I prefer to use the Lenz Gold/silver JST decoder with a harness. I prefer to use a decoder with a harness in the Mikado in case there is a decoder failure, then I can simply unplug the decoder from the wiring in the tender and install another decoder. You can't do that if your decoder wiring doesn't have a harness to disconnect from. The Lenz JST gold/silever decoder is an HO decoder and has more power than a Lenz mini silver decoder.
