The people who own and operate Model Power in Farmingdale are terrific and quite accommodating. I live a few towns over and have visited them with good experiences. They exchanged a shaking Pacific, no questions asked and a Mikado that had loose wipers. No questions asked. Now for the problem- Over a month ago, I purchased traction tires for the Pacific and an instruction sheet. I looked at the sheet and saw that Mr. Hoof Hands would be in WAYYYY over his head. I posted on the Atlas forum that I had the instructions and I would e-mail a scanned copy upon request. I did so to about ten people. There was feedback from one person who stated that he successfully installed them. He had to dismantle practically the entire engine and cut off brake shoes, but was able to do it. A few weeks ago, I brought my two Pacifics and one Mikado into MP and asked them if they could install them and to charge whatever they felt appropriate. I figured it was better to pay for the service rather than not being able to operate the engines without slippage on turns and on grades not at all. Now, you may think I was charged an exorbitant amount. Quite the contrary transpired. They tried and THEY were unable to install the traction wheels. If you were planning on doing it - I suggest you don't. Again, the people there were terrific. I just wished the product had been designed to accommodate the installation.
Mark: That's the icing on the cake. If MP "techs" can't put a set of traction tires on one of their own loco's, how do they expect the "average" modeler to tackle the project? Hmmmm, a fitting end to an ongoing story. I'm still going to call them up this week about having MP install traction tires on my 3 MP Pacific's and three 2-8-2 Mikado's. The installation nightmare continues on the Atlas forum with periodic explanations of frustration when this procedure is tried. The end results are not pretty and there are multiple problems with the loco's to get to the end point. I'll pass on this installation. I felt that way after you sent me the info and directions. Stay cool and have fun with a Kato Mikado traction tire installation.....
An astute observation, Fotheringill! I'm not willing to take on anything with the Pacific, despite having fairly good hands. The MP Pacifics remind me of the Maseratis of the early 1970s, of which I was quite fond. I used to enlist my six-year-old daughter to reach her arm into a door cavity and hold the tiny nut that engaged a tiny screw that actually held the door handle on. I cannot imagine how Maserati originally attached the door handle, unless they built the car around the handle--which is not impossible at all. Seeing as my six-year-old is now 28, I think I won't try using her hands to alter my Pacifics.
Pete- You have never heard of the Maserati Midget Digit Manufacturring Team. Bob- The same goes for the MP Mikado. They have also instruction their suppliers that if they attempt to do the installation for a customer, they are on their own and will not be covered. When I asked why it was an easy drop in (Bob-"I did it! I did it!", cried Hoof Hand gleefully) with Kato, the response was "We did not think traction wheels would be necessary and the engine was built without the concept in play". That is almost an exact quote. If any of you are going to purchase a MP Mikado, check the wipers on the engine carefully. It seems that when packing in Korea, they got caught on the foam sponge like stuff and were pulled away from the engine. That one was my Mikado return. Don't bother sending it in to MP for installation. The chief tech spent a very long time on my original Pacific (I saw the pieces, it looked a bad cornfield incident) and they ain't gonna take no mo' for installation.
By the way, the tenders on both the Pacifics and Mikados need weight above the rear truck on 9 3/4" radius turns.
Mark: I just received the first of 3 MP 2-8-2 Mikado's. I looked at it and put it on for a test run. The lights were on, but nothing happened. I took it off the track, turned it over and noticed all the wipers on one side were sprung. It took me almost two hours to reseat the wipers. One wiper is controlling two drivers. When you get one seated the other side pops up. Also noticed there was no stock coupler on the tender and the drawbar was disengaged from the loco to the tender. Once I added the MT 1023 coupler on the tender, attached the drawbar to the loco properly and adjusted the wipers, the loco ran properly.. This shouldn't happen with a new loco at all. Stay cool and buy a Kato Mikado......
I have a question concerning the MP Mike. Is it pretty much the same problem child as the Pacific. In other words is it a b*%ch to take apart for DCC conversion or maintenence? From the bits and pieces I have read, MP may not have learned its lesson with its supplier. I would think Bob would know as much as anyone about the Mikado. Whats your opinion? Len
I was told by MP the problem with the wheels is the same for the Mikado. I never asked about DCC since it is still a mystery to me.
Len: The MP Mikado is the same story as the MP Pacific for decoder installation. However, I did notice that the MP Mikado was a stronger loco in terms of pulling straight out of the box., running it as an analog loco on a DCC system. When you run it with address "0", the Lenz system only allows 14 speed steps. The loco doesn't kick in till speed step 6 and I pushed it to speed step 11. The 2-8-2 at this speed was able to pull 8-9 cars on the long grades of the JJJ&E. It would probably pull 1-2 more cars with a Lenz 521W decoder installed. However, I don't recommend installing a decoder in the MP 2-8-2. Tony's has one of mine for decoder installation and I'm going to send them the other three 2-8-'s that I have. As for traction tires, if Mike in the tech dept. at MP can't install the traction tires in these loco's, I for one won't try the upgrade... See my above post when I opened the box to a brand new MP 2-8-2. It took me two hours to fix 4 sprung wipers on one side. The MP 2-8-2 is good news as far as pulling, but it's the same old story on trying to take this loco apart... Be very wary or you'll damage a new loco... Stay cool and run trains...
Mark: DCC is easier to use than the DC analog system. You can convert your layout over to DCC with very few wiring changes, probably none at all for starters.. You run your railroad easily and operation is a breeze... Stay cool and run trains with DCC...
Mikado DCC conversion OK, you guys talked me out of it. I was researching converting my MP Mikado to DCC but, not now. It runs fine at address "0" and it's going to stay that way. Thanks for saving me all the trouble. :tb-biggrin: Dave
The first one I did took me days to do. Then I got instructions on the proper way to do it and knocked a couple out in 15 minutes each.
I'm confused.....the MP steamers are one of the easiest loco's to put DCC in. Remove the tender shell, motor and pickup wires are right there joined together. Seperate them, solder to the appropriate locations on the decoder, have fun.... The only issue would be if you want to seprately control the headlight and yes, that will require some locomotive disassembly but if you can forego the need of headlight control, it is a 10 minute install.
My first one took 15 minutes, but each of the other 2 only took 10 minutes or so each. All three were done in one sitting. You separate the wires, put a small piece of shrink tubing on each wire, Westinghouse connect (twist them together and spot solder) to the decoder and shrink the shrink tubing.....done...not even enough time to let my beer get warm. I used Digitrax DZ143's.
Fotheringgill, How appropiate, Yesterday and today a friend and I spent 6+ hours with the MP 2-8-2 traction tire installation. If my friend hadn't been so skilled it would have remained in pieces. When I received the engine it came with a traction tire wheelset and no diagrams or instructions. At times we needed 3 hands to hold parts. Watch for the siderod pins (there're included in the traction tire packet) and the 3 tiny screws holding the driver plate. We attempted installation bacause with out the traction tires the engine would barely pull it's own tender up a hill. Believe it or not the engine still runs and pulls much better. I'm just glad I have 2 remotored Rapido Mikados. The Kato engines are nice but too large an engine. I'm still waiting for someone to discover that ten-wheelers were the 3rd most common steam engines.8<)). The Roundhouse products are great but the shell is 1910ish. Seems they could just mold a replacement shell? Take Care, Ernie C
I spent about 8 hours on Sunday putting TTs on a MP Pacific. I ended up with a loco that runs great, but I actually mangled the tender floor soldering a wire back on, so badly that I aslo damaged the rear truck (new to soldering) Anyway, never again. I picked up the replacement pieces from Mike at MP today, He did say they were going to be releasing acurately colored and detailed cars soon. Looking forward to it as I like a metal loco.
My final word on this subject, ever..... I'm gonna post this on the 2 Model Power TT threads. I did it, and I never want to do it again. All who said "It is too hard and not worth the effort" were right. ~!5 hours over 3 different days $25 in replacement melted tender parts, a trip to Farmingdale and a loco that, while it may pull more on my 2% grade, doesn't run as smoothly as it did. piping snapped off that I don't know where it goes and a general augh. Thing is I really like the look and feel of the metal body, don't think I will run this much though. So I here the Kato Mikado is nice.... On a lighter note, the Pacific front wheels are finding all my track flaws, so there is a plus.
I have just recently acquired two Model Power pacifics and they both run great. I have a 4% grade that the GN pacific pulls 6 Athearn GN heavyweight passenger cars up easily with no slipping at all. Bought a traction driver when I got it and never tried to install it as the engine does what I need it to do so I'm glad that I didn't venture into that frustration!
Looking back on this thread, in retrospect, DCC installation of decoders in any MP steamer turned out to be really easy. All four wires needed are in the tender. I could live with the front headlight being on constantly and that isn't an issue. As for the traction tire installation, I've done about 10 since 2004. It isn't easy. The first TT installation took about three hours. I followed my old friend LongTrain's (aka Bob Woods) instructions. Each additional installation took about two hours, and for the average modeler, I don't recommend trying this installation as it will lead to total frustration and a steamer that probably will run erratically if you can re-assemble it t all after your initial foray into this installation. However it must be noted that the MP steamer (whichever one you choose) will turn into a above average performer with traction tires. I still prefer any of my many Kato Mikado's to any MP Mikado. Have fun and plenty of patience if you try this option.
