Hi, I just looked at Bachmann's add in the New 50 ton 2 truck Climax in the Mrr magazine. And I noticed the trucks have very noticeable pickup wipers right ontop of the wheels. Are those wipers? Just wanted to point that out...
Also it says that it comes with metal gears. Are metal gears better than plastic? Do they run quieter?
Thanks
Charles
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Modeling the Santa Fe & Pennsylvania in HO
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Charles,
I haven't seen one, as the new versions/run of this model are just arriving. Some thoughts though...
Yes, they're wipers from what I can see. Keep in mind pics are usually of pre-production samples. My guess is that will be corrected on the production models. If not, looks easy enough to blacken them, perhaps without any disassembly.
The new run has metal gears because the previous versions had plastic gears which split. This is an upgrade. I do not know if the new parts will solve the problems with the older runs or not.
They might be noisier than plastic, but probably very little. The real thing makes quite a racket, so would be prototypical to a certain degree. YMMV
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
Trainman440 Hi, I just looked at Bachmann's add in the New 50 ton 2 truck Climax in the Mrr magazine. And I noticed the trucks have very noticeable pickup wipers right ontop of the wheels. Are those wipers? Just wanted to point that out... Also it says that it comes with metal gears. Are metal gears better than plastic? Do they run quieter? Thanks Charles
You answered your question. They are pickups.
The link below from the Bachmann forum, website shows you what everything looks like.
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/references.php
Others are using NWSL metal gears for the older Bachmann geared models and have not heard of any complaints about noise. Gear locos were not that quiet anyway.
Rich
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
Ok, thanks!
Those old plastic gears were a pain in the duckass to fix. So the switch to metal gears is more expensive but a blessing. Just be sure to keep them lubed or you will wear them out early! Gear lube works well.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
I know little about model steam locos. Is the wiper sytem the most common pick up design amongst manufacturers? I know that it is rare anymore for diesels.
If there is a better system than wipers for steam, is it very common?
- Douglas
Wipers for the most part with steam. Some recent designs, like the Blackstone K-27 and C-19, use a split frame design like N scale locos often use.
For a commercial item, stamped brass wipers provide a relatively robust system. As noted before, even if it wasn't corrected for production models, it's easy enough to get to it to paint (use a Microbrush) or otherwise blacken it.
On my brass installs, I supplement the usual loco/red/right side and tender/black/left side contact by adding wipers made from a small bit of PCB tie material with a piece of Tichy .010" phosphor bronze wire soldered to it; pickup wire solders onto it. Very light touch, so little drag, but this is not something a mfg would typically use. Too much a chance of snags, handling, etc bending them.
I assume that most steam could get the extra benefit of pick up in the separate tender. Not for the climax of course.
Doughless I assume that most steam could get the extra benefit of pick up in the separate tender. Not for the climax of course.
Actually, from the factory most don't, because they pick up only on one side, while the loco picks up the other side.
You can add wipers to the opposite on both the tender and loco and this vastly improves things. That's what I did on my Tsunami installs in my handful of brass locos. The Blackstone locos and tenders come set-up to pick up from both sides, which is one reason they run so well.