NYO&WMANHas anyone attempted to add a Tsunami Current keeper to the Gold Series Dash 8-40B ? I want to but have no idea where to make the electrical connections.
The Atlas Gold series locos come with QSI decoders. To make your connections some careful soldering will be needed. The photos and discussion at this site it may be of help. http://www.members.optusnet.com.au/mainnorth/alive.htm
Joe
Wow, ten years, must be a first for reviving a thread.
Mike
My You Tube
James, Brisbane Australia
Modelling AT&SF in the 90s
This review is on Atlas's newest version of the Master Silver Series HO DASH 8-40B. Atlas's 8-40B is so far the best detailed and best running engine I own. It comes well packaged, with a plastic window, plastic wrapping and two pieces of foam to protect the railings. There are only four parts that need to be installed-the end railings and the sunshades. All of them press in very tight, and I had to enlarge a few holes to make them go in easier. The paint is perfectly smooth, and there aren't any signs of over-spray anywhere. The only problem is the white Conrail markings and stripes, which are a little shiny and don't make it into all the door handles. Other than that, the paint is perfect, and has every little warning lable printed on the hoods that the real ones do. All the colors are brighter and better looking than what's in the picture. I tried using the flash, but that turned the blue extremely pail, so I used the no-flash picture. All the main shell castings are very smooth, and there isn't a single seam to be found. All the windows are flush with the shell, and the front and back windows have black gaskets neatly painted on. There are also silver windshield wipers installed on both sides, and they are done very well. The railings going around the engine are the finest I have ever seen, and are very flexible, so they aren't easy to break. The grab irons are very thin wire, and look much better than the plastic ones you'll find on P2K or Kato diesels. They're also much more durable. the two vents on the left side behind the cab are now painted black, which is a good improvement over the unpainted ones on the first and second runs of this engine. The walkways all have safety tread detailing, and are painted black. The large rear vents on the back of the engine are etched metal, and look very good. The headlights are now bright amber LEDs, and shine nice and bright. The number boards are also lighted. The pilots are fully detailed with MU hoses, red MU cables, lift bars and cut levers, and the front pilot has a snowplow with molded on grab irons. The fuel tank is well detailed, and there are very well detailed air tanks at both ends. There is a small brass chain on the right side of the engine going from the cab to the truck, and it looks very nice. The trucks are well detailed, with shock-absorbers and airbrakes, and the front left sideframe has a speed recorder cable added on. There are sanding lines coming down from the frame, but they aren't connected to the trucks. They look like they're connected to the trucks if they're bent in just right, and end up looking very good. There is also a detailed crew in the cab. The 8-40B ran very well right out of the box, but the trucks were excessively greased, and I cleaned most of it out. (There was enough grease to lubricate 10 engines ) The engine runs very, very smoothly and very quietly, and starts right up at the minimum speed most of the time. At 12 volts, it ran at 71 scale MPH and drew 0.12 amps of current. The lowest speed it would run at is around 3 scale MPH at 1.6 volts. The maximum stall currnet at 12 volts was 1.5 amps because of the very powerful motor. Some of the weight was removed from the engine so sound could be installed in the Gold Series engines, and there are two large holes designed to hold two speakers, incase you want to install sound later. It still has enough traction to pull around 45-50 cars. I could get it to pull 24 free-rolling cars easily. The wheels are blackened nickle-silver and have RP-25 flanges. They are exact copies of the wheels used on P2K diesels. There is an 8-pin DCC socket on the PC board. The gears are all black platic, including the worm, and are silent at all speeds. The gearing is an exact copy of Kato's 4-axle gearing. Atlas has done an excellent job with their 8-40B, and most likely one of the best modern diesels available in HO. The retail is $120, but they can be had for much cheaper, and are worth every single penny.
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