Japanese H0 Lima Trains.

[Welshbloke]

There are options for the Lima motor. I've seen kits to replace it with the flat can type found in cassette players, or of course you could fit a couple of Tenshodo SPUDs under a multiple unit. My experience was that they behaved pretty well when DCC fitted, as the decoder is essentially an onboard PWM controller.

[martin67]

6 hours ago, AmeliaChan said:

Yes, for a really old model, it was really nicely done, the cab window on my model was a little off position, i didn't know why, but the clear plastic had that front window inclinataion.

Also the train was scaled to 1/80. I didn't measure and scaled the model, but my electrotren dmu was a lot smaller than the lima one. If you are a lima collector, that model is a must have, for me, it's one of the most beautiful lima trains made in that era. 

 

Hi,

 

indeed the scale was 1/80, which is the correct and traditional scale for japanese HO, in order to keep the track look at least a little bit "narrow gauge". The Shinkansen, therefore, is 1/87, as it's a standard gauge train in real. Besides the orange train, Lima sold blue, green and yellow versions in Japan only. These tend to be quite rare.

 

http://lima-modeltrain-collectors.xobor.de/t276f9-JNR-Suburban-Class-quot-Kokuden-quot-GER.html

 

Martin

Edited June 22, 2019 by martin67

[martin67]

5 hours ago, Welshbloke said:

There are options for the Lima motor. I've seen kits to replace it with the flat can type found in cassette players, or of course you could fit a couple of Tenshodo SPUDs under a multiple unit. My experience was that they behaved pretty well when DCC fitted, as the decoder is essentially an onboard PWM controller.

 

The cassette player motor is also available in Finland, they call it "Susu-Motor", already with pinion gear to replace Lima or Fleischmann pancake motors.

 

https://www.freewebstore.org/susumotor/index.aspx?pageid=2469816

 

Never tried this option, though. With some cleaning and lubrication the original G-motor is not a bad runner, especially very early ones or those frome the mid 80's onwards. I use some old unchanged Lima locos on exhibitions, and people are quite surprised, how smooth they run. To be honest, there are lemons, too. Some of them I can't get into running condition.

 

Cheers,

 

Martin

[Welshbloke]

The big improvement to older motors generally comes from adding more pickups. Some models had pickup from one side of each bogie, later on extra wipers were added for all wheel pickup. Phospor-bronze wire and copper strip board are a good upgrade.