Conversion of (old) LGB and Piko locomotives with ESU XL

MaximDeDonder

MaximDeDonder

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Hi everyone!

I'm new on this forum, let me introduce myself. I'm Maxim De Donder from Belgium. Me and my dad are building on our model train layout since 2001. We are Märklin enthousiasts, but since 2014 we also have an LGB layout in the garden.

I love to do conversions of older loco's, because you can get them 'cheap' and configure them as you like. I always use ESU (XL) decoders.

So enough said, time to show something! In this topic, I will post all my conversions of LGB locomotives. I hope it will help some people or inspire them. Enjoy watching and tips are always welcome!

LGB BR 99 6001 with pulsed smoke, firebox lights, wheel lights, moving door and fireman
(Still has to get some adjustments on the software)


LGB wagon with moving doors and interior lights (controlled by selfmade DCC functiondecoder)


LGB Krokodil with moving doors, panto's, dashboard lights, interior lights


LGB V200 with moving door, pulsed smoke, machine control lights


LGB Mallet with pulsed smoke, firebox lights, servo untkuppler


What do you think? :)

Greetings,

Maxim
 
Look very good, and welcome to the forum.
 
Very good. The smoke generator on the Mallet (and V200) are very effective.

I also like the box van with sliding door, bit disappointed that the latch on the door didn't close (joking). :-)

Nice work. I wonder why you prefer ESU decoders over Massoth or Maerklin or is it just because you were already famiiiar with ESU? I have to say in my OO scale days I used ESU motor and sound decoders for all my locos.
 
Nice work, welcome to the forum. Next job to show us how you did the moving bits on 6001 and the van please?
 
I'm fairly new to DCC decoders. I also favour ESU as I like the automatic motor calibration feature and the ease of accurate chuff synchronisation with steam locos without the need for wheel sensors.
The XL also has a built in buffer that doesn't mess with programming.
The only problem I've had to date is noisy fan motors on the pulsed smoke units, do you know of a fix for this?
 
What do you mean by the 'auto motor calibration' Neil?
 
stockers said:
What do you mean by the 'auto motor calibration' Neil?
Click to expand...
To quote their instructions "Automatic calibration of the motor
LokSound V4.0 decoders offer a feature for automatic calibration of the motor. In most cases this procedure leads to excellent load compensation characteristics. However, due to the infinite number of possible combinations of motors and gear boxes a good result cannot be guaranteed in all cases. But it is certainly worth a try.
Proceed as follows......................"
 
OK - sounds interesting but still no idea of what it's doing.
 
Hello Maxim, welcome to the Forum..

Very nice job you have done there. I to would be interested in how you have animated the doors??
 
Excellent - very impressed with what you have done and welcome to the Forum.
 
idlemarvel idlemarvel I used ESU already for my H0 scale conversions. But by the time I started G scale conversions, ESU had everything I needed for G scale, like pulsed smoke units. That's why I stayed with ESU. I love the way their Lokprogrammer works and the fact that you don't need extra modules for servo's, sound, ... (*Massoth*) I also like that the powerpack is included on the decoder.

dunnyrail dunnyrail I will post some pics soon! Maybe I'll start another topic because of the big interest.

Neil Robinson Neil Robinson ESU has indeed great decoders. About the noisy smoke unit, what unit are you using?
Massoth -> Try to move the print towards the connections. The print can move when you adjust the DIP-switches. When that happens, the fan comes to close to the housing and starts making noise.
ESU -> Check if the fan blade is still perfect aligned. Add a drop of oil between the shaft and motor.

stockers stockers As you know, the motor has some parameters in decoders, like the I and K parameter, regulation frequency, I slow, K slow, and so on. The automatic calibration starts the motor at high speed and stops after a second or so. The decoder will then measure all voltages and current transients and will choose the best parameter values.

However this is not the holy grail. When your motor runs smooth as butter, the automatic calibration will do the job. But when you have an old motor with a new magnet (scale H0), the automatic calibration is a good start point, but adjustments still will be needed.

PhilP PhilP Because of the big interest, I will make another topic for it.

@Everyone Thanks for the compliments! Next on my list is a conversion of a Märklin H0 BR103 with moving panto. But after that, the LGB V100 is next on the list. Of course with pulsed smoke!

Greetings

Maxim
 
Some time ago a friend asked me to convert his old Uintah Sumpter Valley (special edition). Not an easy one to open!
I installed an ESU XL, moving firedoor, moving figure, smoke from whistle, new voltage regulator and so on.

Under this post you'll find the 'before and after'. A video is coming soon!
 

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Looking forward to the video of moving driver, firebox and steaming whistle! :)
 
Thanks for the great feedback!

I'm not done yet, the Piko Ludmilla is the most advanced project I had until now! The newest EXU XL 5.0 with 32 functions, pulsed smoke unit, speaking and moving driver (2 movements), extra lights and much more! Check it out!

 
Not done yet! I updated the Ludmilla even further with automatic curve squeal and sparking brakes when the train has to do heavy breaking:


And also gave a small update to the BR 99 6001, it now has a smoking whistle! I used a selfmade pulsed smoke unit based on the Heng Long smoke generator:


Greetings from Belgium!
 
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Nice set of features created there Maxim, particularly like the Whistle, interesting to give a suitable blast of steam for that.
 
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