Ebay Kato D51 Needs Repair

[Szdfan]

There's a good price for a Kato 206 D51 on Ebay --

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/294742781635?hash=item44a009eec3:g:iy0AAOSwLslh50Pn

 

The catch is that the model needs repair.

 

Pre-owned KATO 206 N Scale D 51 Steam Locomotive 2-8-2 with tender.  Runs in both directions. When running the motor has an odor. I don't know the cause. It may need a new motor or stop running. PLEASE DO NOT BID IF YOU CANNOT REPAIR THE MOTOR.  The locomotive and tender has dust, marks and peeling number stickers. The case and insert has scratches.  Light does not turn on. No extra coupler, no additional parts.  Track is not included.  Sold "as is", no return, no refund, no credit.  Ships from California. USA address shipping is $10, 5-10 business days. No foreign address shipping. Payment by PayPal only.  No returns. Please look at my other new and used N Scale auctions.

 

Thoughts? Is a questionable basket case worth the risk?

[disturbman]

It would be good to know what's the "odor", it could be nothing or something really bad. If the motor has a terminal problem, I don't see how you would replace it without buying another older Kato D51 with a motor in the cab as there won't be any spares available. Maybe you would be able to find a potential replacement on Alibaba or TB but who knows. 

 

It's a really old locomotive, I would stay clear of it but it might be worth the bet if you are willing to experiment and cannot afford a newer model. At the very least that loco would need a full servicing, in depth cleaning and re-oiling/re-greasing.

[roadstar_na6]

Sourcing a new motor, getting new running numbers and the effort of serviceing that whole thing wouldn't really be worth the effort for that price in my opinion. I personally would get the most recent Kato D51 for around 80 bucks 🙂

[Kiha66]

This is defiantly not worth the risks.  As Roadstar said a brand new production D51 is only $80, guaranteed to work and the detail and running quality is leagues above what this 40+ year old model is even if it ran well.  This is very much a case of "you get what you pay for".

[disturbman]

Agreed, but it really depends why you are doing it. Maybe @Szdfangets a kick at reviving older pre-historic models 🙂

[railsquid]

In which case it's not a particularly good price. Somewhere I have a Kato C11 of similar "vintage" which barely runs, but then I only payed about 1200 yen for it with the intent of using it as a static landscape decoration in front of a station. Even then it has the number plates.

[katoftw]

10-20 bucks maybe worth it. Not 40.

[Szdfan]

Thanks everyone. I was just curious. I’m not willing to take a risk like that 

[cteno4]

Yeah a couple of times I’ve worked on resuscitating old steamers and it was quite a challenge, tends to turn into rounds of whack-a-mole.

 

jeff