The Mehanos are crap,but I have a few modified MRC's that run great.THe driveshaft setup MRC uses makes a big difference over those crappy spring drives..I used the worms and double drive gears from ROCO GP7/GP30/F7 chassis,which have finer worms,so, lower gearing,and I updated them with the older Life Like GP38/FA/F7 blackened wheels,which have nicer flanges,and are smaller diameter than the stock wheels.[more lowering of the gearing..] They're not chromed,so they also get better traction..Mine run and sound as good as ER Sharks..
Hey, I've got four RSD15's repowered with Kato 5-poles that are still soldiering away. I do like this idea though.... A NEW CONVERSION FRAME!
I notice this thread's been going for almost five years and still no RSD15, I don't think any manufacturers are tuned in.:tb-biggrin: I'd take some in each of the three, no four, paint schemes the Santa Fe ones wore. We want RSD15's Atlas, if oldrk can do it surely you can. I saw some of the newer Mehano locos in Germany last year, they didn't look too bad and I see they come with Loksound decoders.
I sure wish we could get one from Atlas. There may be a thread on here about a kitbash, but I can't find it right now. Of course I would like the SP - SSW version. I modified a Model Power unit with a Mitsubishi open frame motor. I used the original mechanism. Although it ran much better, a different frame would have been a better solution. I don't have this unit anymore; here is the only photo I have.
Thanks, Kevin. You know, I did detail the exterior with wire grabs, wire handrails, custom paint, horn, sunshades, etc., but it did not help the performance like I had foolishly hoped it would.
Nice to see that Mehano has a dealer network in "Kanada"...LOL!!! Wonder if there's a shop in Kwebec?
You know, I've really missed Rivarossi in N - the classic Atlas stuff. And Roco often got a bad rap. But Mehano?? They almost put me, and thousands more, out of the scale. And this looks like the exact same stuff.
If someone would do the RSD15 in both high and low noses the earlier high hooded RSD7 could also be represented, as Atlas already does in Trainman O. Sure would be nice to have such available!!!
We're flogging a dead horse here, apparently manufacturers for some reason think an RSD15 wouldn't sell. Come on Atlas if you're tuned in, I'm sure you'd sell more Santa Fe RSD15's than Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion MP15DC's. My apologies to the guy who models the Lake Erie, Franklin & Clarion. Maybe Athearn could do an RSD7/15. They already make a diesel locomotive that sold in relatively small numbers to only two roads (three including post merger orders) that later in life found it's way onto several regional roads plus a variation that sold in even smaller numbers to one of the originals roads plus one other.
Following the lead of SSWJIM (Jim Bence), I'm in the (slow) process of building up three Santa Fe Alco RSD-15/RSD-7's using Model Power RSD-15 shells, using Jim's Atlas B40-8 mechanism with Atlas C628 trucks method. I did my best to follow Randjust's remotor-the-MRC method, but I just couldn't get the old MRC mechanism to run as smoothly as I wanted to (they wobble, trying to tune the friction in the old drivetrain wasn't really working) - and given the choices available (I didn't have any old good motors around like Randgust did, otherwise I might have gone that route)............ so, I decided to give Jim Bence's method a go. As I know Jim had a PC crash and his photos were lost, I decided I should document what I did (mainly so that later on I would remember myself what to do!), and share that with everyone as well. I've got the 1st mechanism done and running smoothly, fitted under the Model Power RSD-15 shell. Here's four photos of the mechanism, and here's link to the Pbase.com web page where the complete set of pictures (of what I've done so far) is located: http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/n_scale_rsd15&page=all http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/148672756 http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/148672757 http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/148672760 http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/148672777 I hope this helps, comments and suggestions welcome.
