I hafta agree with the Lionel thing. The thing that seems most odd to me is the rear car and the way it seems to sit waaaaay up there on the truck. However, I am by no means an expert or even an apprentice when it comes to these types of things. It is nice to see a manufacturer step up and offer such a nice toy....errr...model. LOL! Now if they could just do an SW1500 for an encore.......
Decoder Mfg. Will the decoder be from Digitrax or TCS? I have two of Fox Valley's GE ES44AC models and the decoder installation was literally "plug-and-run." I cannot wait to get my Hiawatha set delivered this next week so I can do the installation. Thanks one and all for the photos. They make my year-long wait worth the while!
Any 8 pin decoder should work fine. I used a Digitrax DZ125PS. The hard part is getting the tender off. The long grab irons on the back of the tender need to be pulled out of the holes on the BOTTOM of the tender only. Then slip toothpicks or small screw driver blade along both sides of tender. Now gently work it out by prying with screw driver. The tender sides are pretty flexible but there is a lot of delicate piping detail on the tender frame. I was hesitant at first but I didn't break anything. Have Fun!
I don't know anything about this train or locomotive other than the photos posted here, but it looks to me like FVM nailed it beautifully. Definitely a unique looking train for sure! Seeing these, and the ES44's makes me even more eagerly await the GP60Ms and Bs that we've all been waiting for for years. If Matt does as good a job on those (and why wouldn't he?) they are going to be killer !!
Well we did surgery on the Hiawatha after talking to Matt on the phone here is the interior of the FVM N Scale Hiawatha. Looks pretty easy to install a decoder. NICE JOB MATT !!! Take a look at the inner workings. PLEASE NOTE ! Remove or loosen the rear handrails from the frame before trying to remove the shell from the tender. Keith PS It runs again after reassembly
Nice oval cutout for a speaker. Any idea what size? 14 X 20mm? 16 X 25? This looks like it's going to be a cinch to put a Tsunami in. John C.
Good pics. Manufacturers should show us shots like this of what's under the shell. My thoughts too. Pity Soundtraxx don't make a Tsunami with a plug to make it even easier, oh well, a little soldering won't hurt. Anyone Milwaukee experts know which whistle would be closest? The small and medium steam tsunamis each have a different variety of whistle sounds.
Well the whistle is probably the problem. The primary whistle on the Hiawatha's was an airhorn, not a steam whistle. So the problem is trying to find a steam decoder with an airhorn. I believe the airhorn was used because of the high speed running of train. I'm definitely not a Milwaukee expert, but that was a topic of discussion today at the train show where the "guts" pictures were taken. I do believe that you can get a Soundtraxxx Micro with an 8 pin plug. At least that is what Matt said earlier today. Keith
There was a whistle on the loco though, no? I thought they ran horns through high-speed areas and still used the whistle though I don't know under what conditions. I thought I heard a story that some of the "old timers" didn't like the horns and still used whistles as well and drove people along the line crazy listening to both. The Soundtraxx Micro Tsunami Heavy Steam decoder has a horn that was recorded off of SP4444. You *could* use that. You'll need to do some decoder programming to remap the short whistle function (F3) to the horn instead, but Soundtraxx has instructions in the steam users manual. The chuff noise on the heavy steam decoder isn't significantly different than the light steam decoder (plus you can adjust the EQ through programming to suit). The whistle choices will be the only thing that will be tougher as they are more tailored for larger steam. They don't offer a Micro Tsunami with the 8-pin already wired in. They offer the 8-pin socket separately though: SoundTraxx - j
One thing and feel free to rag on me about this: When offering up comments on painting and how things are built, please refer to prototype photos before making comments about how goofy something looks, how the white paint on the drivers doesn't look right, etc. Fox Valley nailed it with this one. I may be biased, but I stick to that assessment. You should see all the extra detail parts applied on both the loco and the cars, expecially given the reasonable pricing. Before griping about stuff, remember what we were dealing with not even 10 years ago as far as N scale quality. I'll take my verbal lashings now....... Nate
Ok, another question then. Did the horn sound like a GS4's? Nothing on the Soundtraxx site about Micro Tsunamis with 8 pin plugs, I tried to get one for my IM Cab Forward but no luck. Maybe they are bringing one out for the Hiawatha, I might hold off on sound and plug in a standard decoder for a while just in case.
I don't know of any existing micro-Tsunami that comes with a plug; adding one, however, is no big deal if you can do even a tiny bit of soldering. As for the horn, as lashedup and Westfalen note, the Heavy Steam Tsunami has an SP4444 horn that you can program to blow off of F3 (what would usually be the short whistle). Unless Soundtraxx is coming out with a Hiawatha-specific version, that seems to be the way to go (and since we don't have any preserved operating Hiawatha Atlantics to record the sounds from, who the heck knows what they REALLY sounded like??). John C.
The question is how do you solder the lead to the 8 pin plug without melting the plastic housing around it. I was having a hard time because the tip of my 30w solder isn't small enough for the micron size holes on the plug.
Amen - I was disappointed with the defense that some had to mount for this outstanding model because some people decided to "leap before they looked"... if you think something isn't right the most important key stroke is "?"... don't just say "it's too high", ask "is it too high ?".....remember; someone will read your comment and look no further, the next thing you know that comment is taken as correct and we've got a thing goin on.... They got a winner here.........let's celebrate that !
People should look up the early streamline era, starting in the mid 1930's. Some very interesting, colorful trains back then, mostly one of a kind experiments. From modern diesel powered trains like the Zephyr and M-10000, to budget rebuilds like the O&W Mountaineer. I doubt anyone will be disappointed. And many might be surprised. Frank
Spencer, I had difficulty with this, too, and then I did this: 1) I tinned all leads. 2) I fed a small amount of heat-shrink-tubing back over each but did not shrink it yet. 3) I set up the 8 pin plug on a "third hands" kind of work stand. 4) I placed a wire with my right hand (YMMV) into the plug and then applied the heat of the soldering iron to the corresponding pin on the plug and waited a few seconds until I saw just a puff of the gases you get when soldering. I would then hold the wire steady for a few seconds and let go, and then give a very gentle test "tug" a few minutes later. 5) After the middle four were done, I think they're pins 2, 3, 6, and 7, I slid the heat shrink tubing down over the plug and applied gentle heat to the tubing with the side of the iron until it sealed around each wire. This method was "discovered" after two failed attempts to get good connections. I started with a fresh plug, the kind with the holes in the top.
