GE 25-tonner

[velotrain]

While searching for reviews of Tsugawa power chassis, I came across this.

He uses a TU-7T chassis, but replaces the motor with one from Kato - as he says:

"which gives you the 12v motor, much better torque and speed control"

If interested, you can custom order one here:

http://www.randgust.com/Finished.htm

He also has an N-scale Trackmobile.

 

 

[mry1210]

Randy is a great guy has some wonderful models.
If you get the chance to see him at one of the show, stop by and talk. He'll explain anything you ask about them.


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[velotrain]

Some wisdom from Randy, and a source for cheap gearmotors.

 

"I've done four rebuilds with Faulhaber motors from Motorman.    I've torn two of them back out and replaced them with Kato 11-105 motors matched to Gismoszone plastic 5.14:1 3v motor gearheads.   Faulhabers with gearheads are wonderful, without them they are just good, not worth over $50 each.    I can get an 11-105 for $20 and the gearhead for under $10 and get a better and smaller end result.

 

The Kato 11-104 you used has an excellent motor and a 'meh' chassis as there is no equalization.   You can slow it down (a lot) by swapping the big 42" wheels with Kato 11-105 wheels which are 27".  The metal retainer thing on the bottom can be scrapped.   That's how I did my trackmobile.   But the real trick is to get reliable pickup with that chassis.   I finally gave up and put a pickup trailer on it.

 

The 11-105's with a gearhead from gizmoszone would be my recommendation.   They come with a 3v motor, I swap the motor out with a Kato 11-105 so I don't have to mess with 100-ohm resistors and get far better performance.   But here's the link for the motor-gearhead:

http://www.gizmoszone.com/shopping/agora.cgi?product=Gearmotor;ppinc=1

 

The gearhead mounts on the motor with the same two screw holes.  You have to cut the Kato motor shaft a bit shorter and grind it to a "D" shape to fit the pinion (I use an abrasive disk).  I've now done a dozen of those.  You can leave the 3v motor on and pair it with a 100-ohm resistor, on a tram it would probably be OK but if you're pulling a load of any kind that resistor is really going to heat up and control is also a bit iffy.

 

The 11-105 chassis have the best pickup and equalization I've ever seen, and critters are all about electrical pickup issues."

 

/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/

 

I've placed an order for four gearmotors, and the shipping was cheap enough at $5. 

However, the company came up as Wut Lik Plastic Models Factory, so I won't expect delivery for a few weeks yet.

[cteno4]

Good info. Nice to know those little kato motors are good runners.

 

the other day when we were talking about the small chassis for the hongkong tram I ran across some 470uf tantalum s during caps that were pretty small and think those can go in some of the smaller critters to get them to run a bit more smoothly ans handle points better.

 

jeff

[velotrain]

The 11-105 that Randy likes won't work for the HK trams, as it's a bogie chassis - I'd forgotten that it was different from the 103 and 104.  Randy doesn't think much of the TSU units, but I did order a TMC100, and will evaluate it for possible remotoring when it arrives.  I accept that unlike the Kato chassis that I bashed, it is already narrow enough for the trams, and I've ordered a bunch more of them as well as some of the 80M bus buildings.  I'm now wondering where I can get a slew of HK-style color graphics for shop names and advertising - I don't care what the text actually says.

[kvp]

I think the idea was to use the bogie wheelsets in the 2 axle chassis to make it run slower and have more tram like small wheels. The downside is that it's a rigid chassis, so power is only picked up from 3 wheels, which can be a big problem with insulated frog turnouts and crossings.

Edited October 24, 2017 by kvp

[HantuBlauLOL]

could magnetized wheels help? as in T scale.

[cteno4]

They might but would not work well on standard nickel silver rail, t scale had to do a much more iron based rail to make that work. T had to do it as the cars were so light they just could not get any traction. 

 

Jeff

[kvp]

Some german H0 scale field locomotives used one magnet under the locomotive and iron strips under the standard N tracks to increase pulling power but it didn't really help with the 3 point pickup issue of rigid 2 axle frames and imho using polarized live frog turnouts or wheel rim frog pickups are a better solution. Flywheels and caps also help, as well as using full voltage pwm control as it's less sensitive to dirt based increased track to wheel resistence than smooth dc.