Scored a MicroAce RAP:T WOOHOOO! DCC conversion?

[quinntopia]

Well, I am one happy camper!  :grin I've been waiting for a MicroAce Rap:t for over a year, and then last month one pops up on eBay from PlazaJapan...it took me all of a two seconds to complete the "buy it now" option! 

 

The question is....how on earth do you get a decoder into these Microace motor cars?  Shouldn't be that difficult, but I was somewhat challenged by what appears to be a much simpler install on my Kato Relay Tsubame....this one has some strange attachement to the seat coverings over the motor (and I haven't had the courage to figure out how to get it off other than forcing it). 

 

It must be converted to DCC, but I am really intimidated here.  Any suggestions on either A) How it can be done or B) Someone I can pay to install it?

 

Here's some photos of my treasure by the way:

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Swine!  How did I miss that on Plaza?

 

Either he, or Micro Ace, managed to unearth a forgotten stash, or they're back in production... :blob3:

[Bernard]

Quinn - Congratulations it does look great (it matches your Avatar .)

I don't blame you about being a little cautious about installing a decoder in this one. It shouldn't be too hard to do. I make a bet some of the members here who have this train might have done a decoder install and can show you a step by step process.

[Martijn Meerts]

Claude, I doubt MicroAce will de a re-run of the special edition wooden case. If they do a re-run, it'll be the "regular" version.

 

 

 

Quinn, I haven't looked at installing a decoder in my Rapi:t, and I won't have any time to do so for quite a while yet. But if you're not in a hurry I can make a step by step. However, this might take me a month or 2, as I will be moving from Norway back to The Netherlands sometime next month. No specific date yet though ..

[CaptOblivious]

Quinn, could you post photos of the interior of the motor car? I'm curious what this piece you can't remove is; perhaps we can help you figure it out?

 

I haven't done a Micro Ace install yet, but looking at my Skyliner, and pictures of other people's motor cars, it should be dead simple, once you get the thing apart. The motor practically isolates itself, the way it is situated (you'll understand once you get it apart).

 

What about the cab cars? Can you get those apart?

[quinntopia]

The motor practically isolates itself, the way it is situated (you'll understand once you get it apart).

I got as far as removing the shell, and then releasing the tabs for the seats for what I expected would then be a 'clean' release of the seats to expose the motor and electrical components.  But the 'seats' are attached to the motor section....I only had about a quarter inch at best of room to peak inside between the motor and the botton of the seat section, and couldn't tell if it was metal/copper strips attached to the bottom of the seats, or just plain old black electrical tape.  Either way, it scared me!    Basically, I wasn't sure how I would get it back together!  And given the lack of space before something 'rips' not sure I can even get a decent picture.  I'll see what I can do.

 

Haven't taken the cab cars apart yet.  Just not enough time.  I think I may also want to upgrade the LEDs that provide the lights for the cab cars.  They are pretty dim and think would look much better with a higher power LED.  That's a bit down the road, and the sort of electrical work that is a bit 'beyond my pay grade'! :-)

 

I will probably replace the couplers....interesting this set comes with standard Rapido couples between all the cars and not any type of special 'close coupler' or something more appropriate for an EMU.  Strange since MicroAce did such an apparantly nice job on this that they would go with such an old school method of coupling the train. 

I'm also going to add in the coach/cab lighting, THAT seems pretty straight forward (seems MA has a "wide" and "narrow" lighting strip, and this recommends "wide" --- anyone with experience on that?)?

[CaptOblivious]

The motor practically isolates itself, the way it is situated (you'll understand once you get it apart).

I got as far as removing the shell, and then releasing the tabs for the seats for what I expected would then be a 'clean' release of the seats to expose the motor and electrical components.  But the 'seats' are attached to the motor section....I only had about a quarter inch at best of room to peak inside between the motor and the botton of the seat section, and couldn't tell if it was metal/copper strips attached to the bottom of the seats, or just plain old black electrical tape.  Either way, it scared me!     Basically, I wasn't sure how I would get it back together!   And given the lack of space before something 'rips' not sure I can even get a decent picture.  I'll see what I can do.

 

Don't break anything for our sake! :D

I was mostly just curious what this piece you can't get off was, and how it might be attached…you don't suppose there are screws holding it in? I've seen this before. Have you tried removing the trucks and any under-carriage detail to see if they're the cause?

[Bernard]

I have 2 MicroAce sets and they both have Rapido couplers which surprised me too. On my sets the motor car is in the middle and I found the plastic tabs that set the seats to the frame are a little delicate not as strong as Kato but the conversion to DCC was easy very similar to a Kato train.

But as CaptO said, don't take it apart for our sake, your set is hard to come by.

[Martijn Meerts]

MicroAce seldomly seems to use anything other than Rapido couplers except for their shinkansen...

 

I know that MicroAce does have some motor cars/locomotives that are hard to take apart. I had some problems with my Kiha40-400, although that was mainly because of the way the head and tail lights were implemented. Also, the DD16 was terribly to open up, and I still haven't figured out how top open up my 9633 =)

[westfalen]

I installed a Lenz Silver Mini in my Rap:t. The plastic seat insert simply unclips (unclip the couplers first), put some tape over the brass strips where the motor contacts them to isolate the motor, drill a hole in the seat insert for the gray/orange wires to pass through and solder them to the motor contacts. I soldered the red/black wires to the interior lighting contact points but you could make a couple of holes in the seat insert and solder them to the brass pickup strips at any point. Clip everything back together and replace the shell, the decoder is hidden in the end of the car without windows.

 

I put Digitrax function only decoders in the end cars for the head/tail lights, it was a while ago so I can't remember the details without pulling everything apart but I think I had to cut a track or two on the circuit board and turn over one of the LED's.

[quinntopia]

Thanks Westfalen! Unfortunately, I am somewhat ashamed to say that I chickened out on this one and sent it off to be professionally installed! Of course, now that I see your photos I'm thinking 'maybe I could have done that'! 

[westfalen]

Thanks Westfalen! Unfortunately, I am somewhat ashamed to say that I chickened out on this one and sent it off to be professionally installed! Of course, now that I see your photos I'm thinking 'maybe I could have done that'! 

The motor car was easy but I remember spending a few days on and off fiddling around with the light boards in the end cars, I wish I'd written down what I did in case I have to do it again. I had an Atlas shay done for me because I didn't want it to spend the rest of its life as a box of parts.

[Martijn Meerts]

light boards can be really tricky.. Once I've moved and "set up shop" so to speak (have a decent workplace ;)) I'll try and do some step-by-step and pictures on lightboards and such.

 

.. .. .. Well, after I figure out how it works of course =)

[nik_n_dad]

In the next week or two I'm going to just build my own lightboards using punchboards.  I'm tired of the messy work of trying to make the gazillion different boards work.  If I have luck, I'll post things.  But please don't hold your breath 

[EWS60008]

Sharp looking unit there and I am after one of these units as well! .