Yep-it was beautiful. I bought my first FVMs over the last couple of months and I’m a big fan. No soldering, no isolating, and no “wiggling/fitting” things or wondering what I missed. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I own 5 ES44 GEVOs; 4 of them are Fox Valley and one is Kato. So 80% of my GEVOs are FVM. I just love how the FVMs look (and the decoder installation ain't too shabby, either!). Now I'm thinking of buying a 6th - a BNSF in H2 scheme (Even though I'm a UP guy - I'm starting to consider trackage rights on my layout).
Nada, follow by, nothin and nope, well, okay, a *little* design work on the skyscraper I'll never build but maybe some variation on it after the move a year or so from now.
Maybe BNSF owes UP some horsepower hours from time to time-and you can put that BNSF in the middle of a UP consist Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Look ma! I'm a big boy now! After 9 years of DCC, I finally bit the bullet and did my first real wired decoder install (I did a wired decoder install of a Tomix Thomas the Tank Engine loco in 2017, but it didn't involve any lights, so that didn't count...). Several years ago, a longtime beloved local hobby shop (The Roundhouse in North Hollywood, CA) closed down for good, and my last purchase there was this Walthers/Life-Like GP38-2 in Southern Pacific scheme. Even though I model modern-era Union Pacific, I still have a small amount of legacy SP locos and rolling stock to honor my modeling roots (I modeled modern-era SP back in the '80s and '90s when I was in HO scale). I bought a Digitrax DZ126 for this and put it in the loco's jewelbox where it sat on a spot in my layout for many years. I finally mustered up the courage to do the deed, once I acquired some small heat shrink tubing this past week. After that, I was able to move the loco around, shell off, on default address 03! It was not a smooth process. I found a website that detailed the wired DCC installation with a similar decoder that involved cutting traces and removing components from the default analog light board. But I got lost and just gave up, opting to only use it for power pickup and wire my own LEDs. But the resistor took up more space in the shell than I thought so I had to cut a hole in the middle of the board to accommodate it. Things took a comical turn when I lost the black cab light shield. Then I found it on the floor - BROKEN IN THREE PIECES. So I had no choice but to glue it together haphazardly with plastic cement. At least it kinda works. When I put the shell back on, I discovered the loco would not operate. I got real frustrated and felt like giving up. I was about to ditch the analog board and opt for drilling screw holes in the frame so I can secure the wires to them. I also gave up on the rear headlight since that would mean more wires and even less shell space. So I snipped the wires the rear headlight called it a night. The next day, I came back with a fresh mind and attitude and decided to secure the decoder and all wires to the frame with Kapton tape. I mean, I have more that I need, so might as well use it. That actually helped and I was able to put the frame back on without the dynamic brake section popping up, and power pickup was intact. I DID IT, I FINALLY DID IT!
Finally got around to taking the photo as promised in my earlier post. One of my HOn30 critters, now ready for dullcoat and possibly a very light weathering:
I have a Bachmann critter I fried about 20 years ago.Have no idea why I keep it? Found it when cleaning up my train stuff! It's DC I don't think it works, but not sure. I do know I fried the top of the shell with the light bulb. Notice the black electrical tape on the front top Sorry about the out of focus picture. I need to see if it runs?
Thanks. I'm not entirely happy with what I created for a spark arrestor. Am keeping my eyes open for something which looks a lot less like an inverted bucket.
Either it was Diesel Details, or Details Associates that made good switcher types, bot round and square ones like on logging road units. I think I may have some in N-scale somehwere in my mess!
