Kato NW2 and LL SW900/1200?

Has someone tried to put a LL SW9/1200 shell on a NW2 chassis? It would eliminate this fragile power-pickup mechanism of the LifeLike's.

Is it worth the effort? (I have just reserved a NW2 in Milwaukee colors....)

Michael

 

Michael,I am not acquainted with either locomotive other then seeing 'em at the club being used in the freight and intermodal yard..Both seem to be smooth runners.

However,I will take this to the next step and wonder if the Atlas VO1000 drive would work?

 

It would probably be less work just to fix the LL pick-ups.


Jason

 

the Lifelike pickups are easily fixed with some sheet bronze Phosprate. somewhere their is a thread that shows this, I know it involves running a strip the full leignth of the shell, I am not sure what else. I have never had any problems with mine.

 

I took apart 2 Life-Like SW9-1200 and of course each time 2 out of the 4 flat brass spring blades used for picking-up the current fell off the plastic body. Those brass contacts are fixed to the plastic body by some kind of heated and ( badly )pressed plastic pins
No problem , I put the brass contact blades back into place and glued the 4 of them with some crazy glue.
That link should help, read the "Locomotive Disassembly* paragraph.
http://mysite.mweb.co.za/residents/grela/lifesw9-1200.html

Jacques

 

Hi Michael,

Only just read this thread, so apologies I am a few months behind
I bought a Kato NW2 with the sole purpose of using the chassis + Digitax decoder to use under a LL SW1200. Unfortunately the NW2 chassis was just a bit too wide so I did the next best thing & repainted & decalled my NW2 to D&RGW.
The Kato NW2 runs sweet anyway (naturally)

My LL SW1200 still sits in it's box repainted but waiting for Rio Grande decals

PS I have pics of my completed NW2 in my Albums - Loco's

Thanks Steve

 

Steve,

thanks for your reply. I decided that I'm gonna try the bronze-strip method.

And boy, your weathering & decaling job looks sharp on these NW-2's. Wish I could do such a good job....



Michael

 

A belated welcome to TrainBoard, Steve. Where in Sydney are you?

I'm looking at doing the same thing (Kato under LL body) and only had the pair out side by side two nights ago.
I believe this has been done with modification to the LL body because of the different way the body fits together compared to the Kato.

 

I've done it. I bought the NW2 purely with the idea of repowering mine.

Took a little dremel work on the inside of the LL shell, but man, I love it. Worth the work.



If you need me to I'll post shots of the shell interior and the frame. Really liked this because it kept the pulling power even with the open cab.

 

Hi Michael,
I think a good decalling job really only depends on getting a nice gloss surface to decal to > some patience in getting the decal to snuggle down around surface details and staying calm when those decals don't quite go where we want em to go!
As an example I probably spent a few weeks preparing this (and most other locos) for this repaint. My Kato NW started life as a CB&Q unit.
Trust me though I have had more failures than successes doing decalling / repainting but each one gives me a bit more confidence
Steve

 

I'd love to see the interior and frame mods as I'm thinking of repowering an E-L SW that didn't convert well to NWSL low profile wheels/axles.

 

I as well. I have a couple of CN SW units that it'll be a long time before kato ges round to producing.

 

I too have a CN SW9/1200 and the TH&B ( I think it is becoming a rare item ) version.

Jacques

 

Here's the shots. As you can see, I didn't mod the mech at all.



But glued up and then dremel'ed the crap out of the shell: