Balboa C&S #74 (Micro Cast). This model has a chrome plated brass worm driving a brass axle gear. The gearing will quickly wear out so substitute a steel worm or better yet sell it and get a WS #74 or #75 which has a great drive.
Balboa (Custom Brass) D&RGW C-21 2-8-0 (Kumata). A marginal model but there are a lot of them out there. One run of Balboas has brass axles which will quickly wear out in the brass bearings, sell and get a CB then it is the next owners problem. The second run had steel axles, test with a Kadee magnet. The gearbox needs better axle bearings for long life. FM-1224 and flywheel may not have enough power. We have developed a complete gearbox and motor conversion that will be available when we receive motors from Germany, See K-21 Super Glide Drive kit.
Balboa DSP&P Mason Bogies 2-6-6T & 2-8-6T (Kumata). Both have a brass worm driving a brass axle gear. Substitute a NWSL steel worm.
Far East Distributors/ Spartan Series 4-4-0/2-6-0 (Sugiyama). See our K-2 Super Glide Drive . This will make these poor runners into your best runners.
Key C&S 2-6-0 #22 (Samhongsa). A very nice model with sprung drivers. Unfortunately it also has a brass idler gear rotating on a brass shaft and a Sagami 1225 motor with poor slow speed performance, much noies and a very high 12 volt speed. LocoDoc had NWSL make a replacement delrin idler gear that just screws in place of the original. See Key #C&S#22 Idler Gear Also available is KC-92 Kit + Conversion. Installation requires sending the old motor and motor bracket to LocoDoc for boring to fit the larger 7400 RPM Faulhaber 1319T7.4K motor and FW-130915 flywheel and the whole assembly is returned to you with the custom delrin idler gear. The improvement in low and high speed, quietness and flywheel coast is truly remarkable.
Key C&S 2-8-0 #58, #60, #65 & #69 (Samhongsa) Very nice models with sprung drivers. Unfortunately the Sagami 1230 motor only allows 15 to 70 MPH speeds and the brass idler gear is noisy. LocoDoc offers a NWSL delrin idler gear conversion Key C&S#58 Idler Gear. A full upgrade kit K-11 Super Glide Drive with idler gear, smooth and slow Faulhaber 1319T7.4K motor and flywheel is available, just mount the old worm on the new motor and glue the motor to the gearbox for smooth 1 to 30 MPH running with smooth flywheel coast.
Key C&S #71 2-8-0 (Samhongsa). Has a copy of the WS C-16 HiGrade drive with brass worm, brass idler gear and a motor that often fails, See Namiki Motors. Shortly we will have KC-93 Kit + Conversion to cure all the problems and give a slow, smooth, quiet and flywheel coasting drive to this locomotive.
Key RGS #42 C-17 2-8-0 (Samhongsa). The same as C&S#71 but the conversion is KC-94 Kit + Conversion . Available soon
Lambert C&S 2-6-0 (Nakamura). These models need the brass idler gear replaced by Delrin Idler Gear conversion. A Mashina FM-1224 just barely fits, a 13mm flywheel won't fit the firebox.
PFM Benson/ Cowichan/ Herrington/ MichCal #2 (etc.) shays (United). Biggest
improvement is adding wheel wipers for 8 wheel electrical pickup. I do this by
pre-tinning some double sided PC board and cutting 2 3/16" chips and soldering
them to the truck bolster between the insulated wheels (but the top side must
not touch the truck or pivot screw. I take 2 Kadee #5 centering springs and bend
the spring ears out 90 degrees then tin both sides of center portion and cut off
most of the center portion with the hole. Now adjust so the ears touch the back
side of the insulated wheels and solder to the PC pad. Test that the wiper is
insulated from the truck. Solder a PFM "Mini Connector" to the top of the
spring and wire the connector pin to the proper motor brush, this allows easy
truck removal.
The open frame
motors has a 2mm worm and shaft. Motors that fit have 1.5 mm shafts. The easiest
remotor is probably a FM-1224 motor with FW-130615 flywheel. Cut the old motor
shaft off even with the end of motor and use ST-15 to couple the shafts.
Haven't done it. A
Faulhaber 1319T12.2K and FW-131615
would be smoother but probably not
enough to justify the cost. Later models had a Namiki 1220 bell armature motor
hidden in the tender (much better) but some motors run tight because they were
built with hardening grease, SeeNamiki Motors
PFM D&RGW K-27 and K-28 2-8-2s (United). Great model with 30/1 gearing. Silicone in a RM-1630 can motor with a ST-20 surgical tubing connection to the worm. Easy and effective. Be careful adjusting the motor mounting plate for motor alignment to the worm, the solder joint to frame sides is a little fragile. The K-28 just has room to add a FW-131620 flywheel.
PFM Sumpter Valley 2-6-6-2 United)(no backhead). GlideDrive C-16 is an easy conversion
Sunset D&RGW C-16 2-8-0. Some of these models had real problems. They were made out of thin and soft brass and some frames were skewed, set it on glass to test if it rocks on diagional corners. If so remove the boiler and reverse twist the frame. Mount the boiler and retest. Remove boiler and run the model on test leads. If the model runs well thank your stars and go to last comment. If model runs with any problems watch the idler gear, the pivot shaft was soldered into the frame and this sometimes melted the idler gear and made it eccentric. If so contact Sunset as they brought in spare idler gears (glue the shaft in). Since the motor mounting plate on the frame has a hole for the motor shaft smaller than the worm, the worm must be pulled from the motor which takes some effort. Open this hole bigger than the worm diameter for easy future adjustment. When you have the mechanism running smoothly with an index finger powering the idler gear, install the motor (a very good Mashima FM-1224 that does not need any fixes) and test run. If everything runs well the last step is to put a support between the back of the motor and the frame. The frame bracket the motor is mounted to is too flimsy and under load will flex and allow the worm to disengage from the idler gear. Some C-16s had a long screw up through the retainer plate pushing up the back of the motor but there was no length adjustment so usually the motor was not properly supported. If all is well, lubricate the gears with a heavy oil and keep lubricated as this model has very fine gearing that will just barely handle the load and you don't want to strip any gears a few years from now. NWSL has no replacement gears. All this should make you want to follow my advice and buy a WS Kodama C-16 which is a much better model.
Sunset D&RGW K-27, K-28, K-36. These reasonably priced models were good buys but I have found most of them had overly thick driver flanges which caused the "back to back" wheel gauge to be too tight. I laid the model upside down in a modelers cradle and with a hand file thinned the back side of the flange and contoured the flange up to the tip where the missing plating will not be a problem. This cured the gauge problem and is better than regauging the wheels out. If you are going to run a lot, save the idler gear by replacing the soft brass worm with a NWSL #1334-6 polished steel worm.
Westside (Balboa) D&RGW T-12 (Micro Cast). There were at least 3 production runs, the first by Balboa is better because it has a white nylon idler gear. The second Balboa and the Westside runs had brass idler gears which will quickly wear out the reverse cut brass worm . In addition all of the runs had the axle slots cut too deeply in the frame and they "teeter totter" on the middle driver that is pushed down in its slot by the idler gear. We now offer a custom conversion for both versions, see our K-3 Super Glide Drive . This will cure all the problems and produce a great running 4-6-0.
Westside D&RGW C-16 (S. Kodama). The one with motor out the back of cab- see our K-1 Super Glide Drive..
Westside /PSC D&RGW C-16 "HiGrade" with cab interior (S. Kodama) A great model but with no flywheel action and some of the motors have seized up or run poorly due to the factory using a lubricant that hardens with age, See Namiki Motors I have developed the KC-91 Kit + Conversion . that includes a Faulhaber bell armature motor and flywheel all installed in your boiler.
Westside D&RGW C-25 (Nakamura). Brass idler gear MUST be replaced with Delrin Idler Gear conversion. and a NWSL #1312-6 polished steel worm. The can motor used was very fast, our RM-1626 can motor will just fit and will slow it 50% but is still does 60 MPH at 12 volts. We offer a full conversion kit K-22 Super Glide Drive. with a Faulhaber motor, flywheel and custom delrin idler gear that makes this model run smoothly with a 25mph top speed with lots of flywheel coast. Included are washers to keep the siderods from scraping the paint off the counterweights.
Westside D&RGW K-27s (Nakamura). Compound and original slide valve (also check modern slide valve) MUST have Delrin Idler Gear conversion if original is brass and NWSL 1312-6 steel worm is recomended. Our RM-1630 can motor runs considerably smoother and slower than the motors in most of these models and is an easy conversion. Faulhaber1524T9.9K motor and FW-160815 flywheel adds smoother starting,lower top speed, lower noise, smoother operation and flywheel coasting for an extra $50
Westside D&RGW K-28 and K-36 (Nakamura). These superb models came with a fine (for a C-16) Namiki 1230 coreless motor that is so weak it cannot spin the drivers at 12 volts. The easy conversion is our RM-1630 motor and FW-160820 flywheel (a very tight fit in the K-28) but the 24/1 gear ratio produces 60 MPH at 12 volts. A better conversion is our K-31, K-32 Super Glide Drive Kits with very low speed Faulhaber motor, large flywheel and worm all mounted on a bracket that just screws onto the gearbox trailing arm. Included are side rod washers to keep the paint from bring worn off.
Westside K-37 (Nakamura). Fine model. MUST have Delrin Idler Gear conversion conversion (brass gears will wear out the worm). Use GlideDrive C-19 . Cut the shaft off the front of the old motor and add a NWSL #230600-6 worm. Insert the shaft in the front gearbox bearing and use Roundbell ST-20 surgical tubing to couple the rear of the worm shaft to the front motor shaft. Glue the motor to the gearbox trailing arm adjusting the heigth to get the best worm mesh to the idler gear. A great runner.
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