How did you improve your rolling stock?

[Kiha66]

My EH10 was a little noisy,  so I cleaned it up and gave it some run time.  Does anyone have a recommendation for good model lubricants? 

[Pauljag900]

Hi kiha,

i personally use a Dapol one,but there s so many out there.Kato and Tomix are usually maintainance free so be a bit carefull buddy,I over lubricated a noisy train a few years ago and shorted the motor out,at least that’s what I was told.If it s the running gear that’s noisy then try one of the recommended ones,but if it s the motor I m not sure there s a lot you can do other than changing the motor,which is nt dificult to do so long as you can find the right one,if you have the spec card then it should be on there if not,good luck😂😂😂for me,I use the golden rule of using as little as possible as it can create more trouble than its worth.

of course that’s just my opinion but here s guys on here with a lot more knowledge than me that can probably help you better.👍👍If it were  me and it runs ok then I d just accept it’s a bit noisy to be honest mate.👍👍hope this helps a little buddy,

paul

[kvp]

3 hours ago, velotrain said:

Looks like you need some of Paul's lighting effects ;-)

OFF: Or i should really get a camera instead of this $59 dual sim chinesium cellphone i picked up in the nearest shop when my previous one broke. Also need to fix the room light as the old lamp's bakelite sockets crumbled and so far i didn't bother replacing them. So i'm down to a single bulb right now from the original 5. :-(

 

ps: also have to add 2.8 meters of 2.5 meter tall bookshelfs to the todo list...

[kvp]

1 hour ago, Kiha66 said:

My EH10 was a little noisy,  so I cleaned it up and gave it some run time.  Does anyone have a recommendation for good model lubricants? 

 

Tamiya RC servo grease. At least this is what is available off the shelf locally and doesn't leak out like the maerklin synthetic oil. (or dry in solid like their old oil) In mosty use this grease on old Tomix worm gear drives as it stays put on the surfaces.

[kvp]

Yesterday i decided to run a few koki-s and looked for a suitable locomotive. Then i discovered that my de10 still didn't have any running numbers on it, so i fixed that.

[Khaul]

My Tsurumi line Kumoha 12 arrived today. I installed the interior lights and put together an oval of track for a test run. It growled horribly at low speed. Then run normally when throttling  up. I had the same problem with other EMUs. In all cases I managed to eliminate the growling by tightening the motor mount. I am quite sure growling happens because of resonance at some particular rotation speed. The fix is very simple:

 

I cut two little segments from a rubber band and wedged them on the two sides of the motor. The low speed growling disappeared (sorry for the crappy motor picture).

 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by Khaul

[kvp]

Just found a box of pg16 pantographs where i didn't expect them (in one of the electric parts boxes), so i installed them on one of the tomytec trains that is still awaiting a motor and needed a pair of ps16s. I should really start to clear up the mess.

[serotta1972]

On 11/12/2017 at 12:38 AM, Kiha66 said:

My EH10 was a little noisy,  so I cleaned it up and gave it some run time.  Does anyone have a recommendation for good model lubricants? 

I hope they re-release this model in the near future.

[VJM]

This is reasonably subtle, but I really like the way that it turned out.

 

[serotta1972]

Sorry not Japanese but is a Kato. :)  I was playing with my Daylight train and the gap between the cars is huge and as I was looking at the trucks to see what can be done to reduce the gap, I notice that the coupler holders were adjustable.  I have the newly released set, is this a new feature?  If it is, it's awesome as I didn't have to buy or change anything to reduce the gap and also not permanent.  The only issue now is that it won't run on tighter curve radius which I'm perfectly ok with as it doesn't look all that nice anyway on anything less that a 345 or 381.

 

Remove the wheel and then the coupler holder and move it towards the center of the truck.

 

 

 

 

[Kiha66]

11 minutes ago, serotta1972 said:

Sorry not Japanese but is a Kato. :)  I was playing with my Daylight train and the gap between the cars is huge and as I was looking at the trucks to see what can be done to reduce the gap, I notice that the coupler holders were adjustable.  I have the newly released set, is this a new feature?  If it is, it's awesome as I didn't have to buy or change anything to reduce the gap and also not permanent.  The only issue now is that it won't run on tighter curve radius which I'm perfectly ok with as it doesn't look all that nice anyway on anything less that a 345 or 381.

 

I have a spare box of kinamatic couplers for this set if you want them, to really reduce the distance between cars.  I'll bring them to crockett this weekend.   I got them for my add on set, so there are just enough to use for the base daylight set.

[serotta1972]

I knew about those and thought maybe this was a new solution to reduce the gap.  Was just looking at some photos of the kinematics and there's barely a gap.  Thanks for the heads up and would like to check them out.

[gavino200]

1 hour ago, serotta1972 said:

Sorry not Japanese but is a Kato. :)  I was playing with my Daylight train and the gap between the cars is huge and as I was looking at the trucks to see what can be done to reduce the gap, I notice that the coupler holders were adjustable.  I have the newly released set, is this a new feature?  If it is, it's awesome as I didn't have to buy or change anything to reduce the gap and also not permanent.  The only issue now is that it won't run on tighter curve radius which I'm perfectly ok with as it doesn't look all that nice anyway on anything less that a 345 or 381.

 

Remove the wheel and then the coupler holder and move it towards the center of the truck.

 

 

 

 

 

Interesting. I have Daylight coaches from a bunch of different releases now. I'll take a look and see. I have the multi-unit 10 car set which I converted to kinematic ages ago. I have a brand new double car that should have the same as what you have. I also just got, a four-car add-on set from before the double and triple cars were released. 

 

The kinematic couplers are very close indeed. But I'm not sure I'd install them again. They can be a tad tricky sometimes to couple, and are slightly less reliable than regular Kato couplers. Bear in mind, I used to be a stickler for authentic looking couplers, but now reliability is my main thing. I don't even convert Arnold couplers when I get them. But I should be able to answer this question for you.

[gavino200]

The oldest set - the four car set from the early release does not have these adjustable coupler shaft.

 

The newest double car does have it.

 

My 10 car set still has one car that is a conversion car - kinematic on one end, standard Kato on the other. It's adjustable just like yours. However, I don't remember if I switched this out or not, and it was second hand anyway. 

[kvp]

Afaik the locomotive end of the set should have a rapido coupler as a factory default even if kinematic couplers are preinstalled.

[gavino200]

49 minutes ago, kvp said:

Afaik the locomotive end of the set should have a rapido coupler as a factory default even if kinematic couplers are preinstalled.

 

That sounds right. Or the Kato couplers. Most if not all of the American Kato trains I've bought come with the Kato knuckle couplers installed. I know the previous owner did some customizing. He put the Kato LEDs in all the cars. My guess is that the multiple car joints came totally apart, and he had no clue how to put them back together. I'd bet the cars never worked properly again, so he sold the set. 

 

This thread gave me the impetus to take another close look at the double and triple. I opened them up and went through everything. Mulitple mistakes had been made with reassembly. It took a while but they're working perfectly now. It was nice to have the brand new double car as a reference. 

 

So here it is - 16 car Morning Daylight hauling ass around the track. Thanks guys. :)

 

 

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by gavino200

[serotta1972]

1 hour ago, gavino200 said:

The oldest set - the four car set from the early release does not have these adjustable coupler shaft.

 

The newest double car does have it.

 

My 10 car set still has one car that is a conversion car - kinematic on one end, standard Kato on the other. It's adjustable just like yours. However, I don't remember if I switched this out or not, and it was second hand anyway. 

Thanks gavino200 for the info. I looked at my new Hiawatha set and it doesn’t have the adjustable coupler shaft. Interesting how the Daylight has both the Kinematic and adjustable coupler shaft as options for close coupling. All the cars have Kato knuckle couplers.

[Pashina12]

Daylight <3

[Kiha66]

From my understanding, the kato daylight cars have the different coupler mounts and the kinamatic compatibility to try to allow turns while also simulating the full width diaphrams the prototype came with.  Almost all other railroads didn't use the type or very quickly removed them, so  I wouldn't expect kato to add this feature to any other sets.  The very first Kiha 81 and 181 series EMU actually were delivered to JNR with this feature, but were also quickly removed.  Kato made a limited edition full width diaphram version of these, but the diaphrams were only for display as the trains couldn't make curves with them installed.

[Kiha66]

I've been repainting old Kato models so the one piece molded roof vents dont looks so cheap and plasticy when run with the newer models.  A pretty quick and easy upgrade. 

[kvp]

Just a quick caution note about the Kato pocket line sets. There are two motor variants for each chassis form: one that uses wheel back wipers and is completly unreliable and one on newer sets that uses axle tip pickups. New (reissued) sets have the latter, but if you order a spare motor chassis from Hobby Search, you could end up with an older motor that is quite jumpy and unreliable compared to the new one. You can't run both in a single train. It's easy to tell the two apart, as the old variant has two plastic pickup strip holder tabs, while the new one has only a single one at the motor contacts.

 

There is a way to put the older motor (which is the same as the new one) into the new pickup car, but you have to swap the wheels from the new trailer to the cog axle of the old motor, move the old motor and filter cap to the motorless trailer frame, while keeping the new frame, weight and pickups. The result is a dual motor set with all wheel pickups and 4 powered axles. This also allows additional trailers (like a baggage car) to be added to the train. In my case, it's meant to be relettered as a MAV Hungaria 20 series locomotive used in the late 19th and early 20th century for low traffic branchline service with mixed trains. (btw. the shape and base color of both the locomotive and the cars are matching the hungarian variants, except the original cars didn't have those boxy weights under them)

 

ps: If anyone wants to DCC these motors, it's easy as you only have to bend the motor contacts up to clear the pickup strips (optionally isolate with tape), then solder the decoder track inputs to the pickup strips and the motor outputs to the motor contacts. Also remove the filter capacitor before reinstalling the plastic pickup holder tab.

[serotta1972]

21 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

From my understanding, the kato daylight cars have the different coupler mounts and the kinamatic compatibility to try to allow turns while also simulating the full width diaphrams the prototype came with.  Almost all other railroads didn't use the type or very quickly removed them, so  I wouldn't expect kato to add this feature to any other sets.  The very first Kiha 81 and 181 series EMU actually were delivered to JNR with this feature, but were also quickly removed.  Kato made a limited edition full width diaphram version of these, but the diaphrams were only for display as the trains couldn't make curves with them installed.

 

Ah, thanks Kiha66 for that great information - I wasn't aware of the full width diaphragms and looking more closely at the Daylight cars, it does have that.  I was wondering why the car ends looked different.  I was just looking at a video of the Kato Daylight with Kinematic couplers and looks awesome on a straightaway.  I will gladly take those extra Kinematics off your hands.  

[medusa]

Put knuckle couplers on my new Kato Koki 107. Use Kato 11-702 normally for it, but it turned out I had only 7 of them left for 4 cars. :(

Fortunately there was a pack of Greenmax 8053 in my parts box, so I used one for the trailing car. (Kato has one pair of red end marks for the Koki cars in its box).

 

 

 

I wonder a bit about the Greenmax coupler. Due to the instructions, it is not a dummie but it doesn't couple with the 11-702s (at least not easy). Well, it's on the end car so it doesn't matter much.

 

Sorry about my messy bench and the camera -- seems it slowly starts to die...

Edited December 8, 2017 by medusa

[Coromant]

I have the Kato and Tomix kokis also. Earlier replaced on Kato EF-64 arnold coupler to knuckle. When I ordered the Tomix kokis I forgot the fact Tomix coupler isn't compatible with Kato. So firts I'm thinking about what can i do the Tomix Kokis. I don't want to use the arnold coupler because it's disgusting and the Takis train already use the knuckle couplers. I do a try with Tomix boogie and my surprise it's fit well so I changed all of the Tomix kokis coupler to Kato Knucle Coupler and now they can roll together :)

The Tomix boogie and the Kato coupler:

[medusa]

Yes that's exactly the way I did it with my Tomix Koki (most of what I have, the Kato Koki above are the new ones). I used Kato 11-702 for all it. On the Tomix, it's a little bit tricky not to loose the spring but it works.

Edited December 9, 2017 by medusa