Lemke/Kato Plasser & Theurer Ballast Tamper Review

[cteno4]

Just posted a review of the new Lemke/Kato Plasser & Theurer self propelled Ballast Tamper over on the Japan Rail Modelers site. its a nice unit and looks like kato will be releasing it to other markets eventually.

 

http://japanrailmodelers.org/pages/reviews/lemketamper.html

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[Bernard]

Excellent read! I like the fact that links are included to see how the prototype works. This was a thorough in depth review.

[CaptOblivious]

Jeff,

 

Do you know where the instruction sheet could be found online? I mean the original, not Blaine Bachman's rather truncated translation. Or could you email me a decent-quality scan?

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Just FYI, I understand the N Thusiast Resprays Tamper is no longer available...

[cteno4]

Jeff,

 

Do you know where the instruction sheet could be found online? I mean the original, not Blaine Bachman's rather truncated translation. Or could you email me a decent-quality scan?

 

sure will do that today. it was floating around the desk here as the tamper has been on the desk for the last couple of months (gotta have some desk toys! actually i have too many).

 

cheers

 

jeff

[cteno4]

Just FYI, I understand the N Thusiast Resprays Tamper is no longer available...

 

Claude,

 

thanks, looks like they went dark in early 2010! wayback for the site is really spotty. ill post an update and remove the link from the article

 

cheers

 

jeff

[nik_n_dad]

We have one of these that's been waiting for a decoder... and now one of our friends here is working on the install (thanks).    It certainly is one of the more unique things in our roster.

[cteno4]

nik,

 

hey do you think i could ask you to scan your instruction sheet? Don asked me to scan mine and i cant find mine now. i had them out on the desk a few months back to scan for someone else and now i cant find the sheet or the scan!!!! arg...

 

thanks

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

Nikndad Emailed me a scan last night. Thanks to both of you!

[cteno4]

Capt,

 

can you please email it to me then, i cant find mine now! i fear its in one of the tax folders i just boxed up for 2009 taxes as they were all over my desk and when i was sorting receipts was the last time i remember seeing the plasser instructions!

 

too bad i couldnt have written off the plasser!

 

thanks

 

jeff

[CaptOblivious]

Having gotten a decoder in nik_n_dad's tamper, I can now say with some finality that this is a pretty bad model.

 

The trucks have cheap, poorly designed wipers that make only intermittent contact with the wheels. These wipers (intermittently) contact pads on a circuit board, which then distribute power through-out the model. On the non-motor side truck, I found substantial grime and corrosion between the wipers and the circuit board. Moreover, the circuit board contacts some brass wires to pass power along, but this contact is at best intermittent, (and, as it was delivered to me, not even close to making contact) and requires significant re-shaping of the contacts to ensure reliable contact.

 

On the motor side, where the decoder goes, I found no less than four points where accidental shorts between the motor and rail pickups could occur that are not mentioned in the DCC conversion instructions. The wipers will short out on the motor tabs in sharp (~11") curves! And the motor tabs will short out against the frame if they are bumped (and the vibration of the motor is plenty sufficient to ensure this happens)! Terrible design, unless the designed meant for it to be a decoder-eater.

 

The whole model is held together by friction-fit detail parts. Yes, held together. The coupler and bumpers are just short little plastic tabs, but they hold the shell to the frame. The trucks are friction-fit too, and are prone to explosions. Every detail piece, and both trucks, should be carefully affixed with PVA (white) glue to ensure they don't go flying off during running (the damn thing vibrates all to hell, too, which exacerbates the problem).

 

That said, once you know about the bugaboos, the decoder installation is actually surprisingly simple. I'll have a report up in a few days.

 

Thanks to nik_n_dad for the opportunity to learn a little more about decoder installation techniques, though (it is their model I've been working on). It's actually be surprisingly instructional to have a new design to work on.

[cteno4]

Yeah, i have had mine on the desk here for the last 6 months and after looking at it a lot it really is at the tomytec vehicle level of detail quality. it is a more intricate beast than a regular loco or train car, but for the price i would expect a bit more in the detail and quality.

 

i dont think ill pull mine apart after hearing this unless i need to! so far mine runs fine, very smooth, so i appear to have ok pickups.

 

pretty amazing there were that many small things wrong with it. i guess kato is not as careful when they release through another company and their name is not stamped on it!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps capt can you email me a copy of the scan of the instruction sheet, mine are totally mia now... jr

[CaptOblivious]

I have my doubts about the claims that this model was designed or made by Kato. Not a single component or design technique of the model is of recognizably Kato design.

 

(Also, I did email them to you. I'll send it again just in case.)

 

Yeah, i have had mine on the desk here for the last 6 months and after looking at it a lot it really is at the tomytec vehicle level of detail quality. it is a more intricate beast than a regular loco or train car, but for the price i would expect a bit more in the detail and quality.

 

i dont think ill pull mine apart after hearing this unless i need to! so far mine runs fine, very smooth, so i appear to have ok pickups.

 

pretty amazing there were that many small things wrong with it. i guess kato is not as careful when they release through another company and their name is not stamped on it!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps capt can you email me a copy of the scan of the instruction sheet, mine are totally mia now... jr

[Fat Al]

It's weird, but I just saw a couple of real life examples of these in Japan, and I was thinking to myself, "it'll be awesome if I can get my hands on one."

[nik_n_dad]

I read the (horrible) reviews of this model some time after we got it, otherwise I may have tried to distract Nik with something else.  The corrosion and grime is a disturbing discovery.

 

At the recent World's Greatest Hobby show, we talked to the Kato rep.  The European Kato stuff has virtually no connection to Kato according to him.  Typically don't use Kato components.  Sounded more like project management and maybe manufacturing.

 

Anyway, I hope the Good Captain isn't cursing the day the tamper showed up in his mail!  Hopefully if we try this again it'll be more fun. (And, I'm glad I didn't attempt this one, otherwise it sounds like I would have finished the install with a hammer) 

[CaptOblivious]

I wonder about the grime too. I think the corrosion resulted from the grime, and the grime may have been lubricant-gone-bad or somesuch. Also, where the grime was, the wiper was bent considerably out of true. It was easy to clean out (a little rubbing alcohol and work with a needle file), and bend the wiper back to true. Doing so helped conduction considerably, and so I mentioned it for the sake of others who might be wondering why thier model stutters.

 

I'll post some pics in the next part showing how the rear circuit board makes contact with the brass wires in the frame, and why the design is a problem, and how to adjust it. Adjusting that part made the biggest difference in performance.

[keiman]

Touch wood, have not spotted any corrosion or anything on mine, runs fine, just very slowly.

[CaptOblivious]

I found the source, while cleaning things up a bit. There is some grease-like substance inside the rear-most spring-drive that was oozing out onto various parts in the rear truck. I cleaned it out as best I could, and re-lubricated the drive. Hopefully it won't make a re-appearance.

[cteno4]

Hmm, mine is clean so far and running well. its geared to be slow as the prototypes dont really get above like 50-60kph.

 

It now makes sense if kato is just sort of project managing the stuff it does for lemke, maybe doing this to keep one of their manufacturing subs going. biggest problem with manufacturing like that if you contract out, especially in china, is that the manufacturing sub may not be around the next year, or may get tied up big time with a larger contractor and you cant get your run done. keeping a sub busy may be a way to keep them focused on you as much as possible and in business!

 

im pretty happy with mine, not the most beautiful model in the world, but decent. there is not a lot to choose from in MOW equipment like this in N scale, so BCBC as my friend use to say. bit pricy, but got it at a much better price on pre order from europe than its selling for now and especially with the japanese import price!

 

cheers

 

jeff

 

ps thanks captain and nik for getting me a scan of the instructions, mine are either filed in the 2009 tax records box now or into the recycling by accident after cleaning up after taxes... jr

[nik_n_dad]

Yeah, we got it from a euro-importer and the price was "ok", still high compared to most of other "real" kato products.  We're grateful to the Captain for getting it up and running for us.

 

We picked it up because it's just one the more unique things we saw out there....and that's how Nik & I have built our roster.  We were lucky that my wife & Nik got me our other piece of MOW equipment before it rapidly disappeared... the Micro Trains MOW Wreck Recovery Set: