Absolutely Awesome <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgDipA1LSEI">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgDipA1LSEI</a><!-- m --> I really like the weathering,and attention to detail.

Hello!

Sometimes good things came like ketchup out of the bottle. At first a long time nothing comes and then sucessive all together.
So here too, i have searched several years for a GP in Santa Fe zebra stripe livery. By lucky accident i found a pair of Athearn Genesis GP9s in evilbay.de. Both were "buy immediately" and the price was very o.k. Both were sound equipped with OEM Tsnunamis.


They were like new, nothing broken, nothing bend, nothing missing. The only bugbear was the irregular running and lots of stalling of both locos. And the also interrupted sound was not the real McCoy. Not all of the Genesis locos have those problems with current pick up, but often this "mystery" failures are present although the wheels were clean. So here with this locos, one was far worse than the other one.

My improvements:


Remove shell.




Have a look under the hood.




Remove trucks and demount them.





Solder additional wipers. Two locos = four trucks = eight wheelsets = sixteen wheels = sixteen wipers. Getting serial.





One of the trucks of each loco got a special treatment by removing the two moulded on half round pieces.





As replacement on one end of each loco the pivot pin got a package of shims to restore the original height of the half rounds.

As a result both locos run smoothly and now with an uninterrupted sound. One of the failure points may be oil or grease in the axle bearings which have a secondary function of current pick up, causing conductivity interruptions. The additional wipers give a better conductivity. Also the 3-point suspension of the main frame to the trucks will improve a better pick up.

Adjusting CVs and sound is another extensive chapter.

my two cents

Cheers Lutz

edit: misspelling

It feels like a new toy after a sound decoder has been installed

IMG_4896 by faraway52, on Flickr
IMG_4897 by faraway52, on Flickr

I read a lot about sugar cube speakers. They have their origins in todays modern iPhones etc.
This my very first sugar cube installed in Atlas U23B with a Tsunami sound decoder. The sugar cube is made of the speaker (top 1/3) and the baffle (bottom 2/3). The sound is excellent and the small size opens a lot of new mounting option.

I asked for a "new technology" of speakers when I bought my first sound decoder several years ago. The speakers looked like they did when I was a teenager and the small ones sounded as lousy as they did many years ago. I think the sugar cubes are really technology step forward! It makes a difference when big business of smart phones pushes research.

IMG_4894 by faraway52, on Flickr

This is a temporary test mount with tape. I will glue the speaker in place after a test periode.

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at 9:09 / 1:57:54

All Scale Rails Issue #8 May / June 2016

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Included in this issue: The Challenge Answered, What is Scale, How-To Scale Real Life Items Down to the Scale You Want, Artist Bruce Friesch, "Gypsy Trolley Line", How-To Rock Castings from Molds Using Hydrocal, Union Pacific's Grand Canyon Lodge, ES&NA Turntable in Eureka Spring AR Blueprints,News & New Products, Snap Shots and much more!

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Striving to Preserve & Inspire,
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Bonnie & Kevin
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I have been building my own track for years and I was wondering how many other here are doing the same.

Mel

Attached Files

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How my new interchange track works
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