Thanks Allen! You are the best and now that you mentioned "the two black plastic washers in the front and rear", I don't even remember seeing them when I took the unit apart so I bet that is or could be the problem........ If they are missing/lost, I will have to go on the hunt for a pair plus since I soldered the motor leads to the DCC board, that will make it even more fun to take back apart.
If those are the plastic frame separators... I have some in my parts box you can have if yours are missing...
Often times they are "stuck" to one of the halves of the frame and you don't even know they are/were there. If you don't remember seeing them on your bench, there's a good chance that there were stuck on the halves when removing and stayed there until you put back the loco. If the either or both washers were missing when you put back the loco, a) you will get a short once you put the loco back on the track and b) your shell will be a little loose as your width dimension will be a bit smaller.
Either way you should be able to tell if they are there or not by peeking between the frame halves, andas others have pointed out, if they were missing, you should have gotten a short, Duh on my part? They probably are there. But double check them and make sure they are seated properly anyways.
I got some decoders in the mail Friday! WooHoo! Here's the thing though, I hope they are okay because they were shipped in a padded envelope and not a box? These are all for Kato hood units so should all be "easy" installs. One a week for the next 3 weeks Install, run, and enjoy!
I do the ease with which these install in the Kato locos. If anything, it takes more brain power to get the body off than it does to get the decoder fitted! Richie
Those are the same decoders I put into my Kato ES44s. The hardest part was getting the kapton tape off so I could use it for the install. The rest was easy peasy.
You guys are so right, the many different Kato engines that use this decoder are all very easy to do the swap on. The only one I have done that was easier was a Fox Valley GEVO that was just a 6 pin plug. Unplug the non DCC board and plug in the DCC board and done.
Over the last several day, I had intended to do nothing. Probably what I should have done but instead, I actually did a few things. Repaired the Rapido caboose. Was a fairly simple matter to glue the broken part back on. Next up I need to try and install batteries in it. Once I get around to that, I'll post some additional photos of it. After getting that task going, I worked on more pipe loads. Resolved the glazing issue by switching to a different type of glue. Takes longer to dry but that's about it. Got all of these done and finished up 2 more (not pictured) last night. I managed a very quick and easy DCC install into this unit. I continued the work on this gon. This one side and the ends are done. Still have the other side to do. Considering I have done very little weathering, I think it is going fairly okay so far. Once the other side is done, some dull coat should kill any shine left. Also worked on decaling this car. Still has a way to go. Also, anyone have or know where I could find a decal for this as it's not part of the set and the car needs two for sure and possibly 3? Other than that, I installed metal wheel sets on 3 older Walther's coil cars and did a tad bit of clean up on the workbench. Trying to see about finishing up some of the open items on the desk before getting anything else out to work on. It's just about outdoors painting season here so there is a line of cars needing clear finishes applied to seal them. That will close out a bunch of things when I can do that.
I wish all locos came that way, especially N scale. The same light board is always used, with either a shorting plug inserted for DC, or a decoder inserted for DCC. For sound, there are other connectorized, standard decoder interfaces. Given the same light board would be in every version sold (DC- or DCC-equipped) the production volume efficiency could offset the cost of the socket and shorting plug on DC models (compared to a DC-only light board).
I've been saying that ever since I bought my first FVM locomotive. I did buy an Atlas S2 that had the same setup. I don't know why it hasn't been pursued !
With postage costs skyrocketing, I am seeing a lot of shippers choosing this method. It makes me cringe, every time I see it happen.
Yes sir. I'd almost want to understand if it was free shipping and the vendor is trying to recoup a little of that cost but it wasn't free shipping and the shipping cost was a little more that what Priority mail flat rate small box is so that's the part that makes it worse. As a follow up, I did use one of the 3 so far and it was good so probably no issues on the others. Fingers crossed.
