Newbie from U.K.

[Tankbear]

Hi all,

Just bought my first g scale train, a Aristocraft SD45.

I know very little about the train but plan to convert to rc as have a reasonable amount of experience in that field.

Ian.

 

[tac foley]

Welcome, Tankbear, to the best UK GR forum. The Aristocraft SD45 is a mean machine indeed, and I have four of them to prove it. However, I've not r/c'd any one of them, in spite of having the likes of Peter Spoerer a few miles down the road, and Greg Elmassian over the way to advise me.

I'll be interested to see how you do it.

Even my AC4400 Dash 9 has a Quantum QSI system in it, via track power, and it's hard to see how I can get better sounds for it without going into severe debt with Phoenix.

tac
Ottawa Valley GRS
Port Orford Coast RR Extension

 

[Zerogee]

Welcome to the forum, you'll find a lot of help and advice, plus plenty of irrelevant banter and some quite odd humour.....

Jon.

 

[Tankbear]

Thanks for the welcome guys.


I’ve a few ideas based on my experience in RC tanks (1/16 scale), RC trucks (1/14 scale) and RC construction equipment (1/14 to 1/16 scale). I normally use the Bedidini micro sound card in smaller models which is good for engine sounds and easy to connect up although is not that powerful.


But before I decide I need to figure out the train, see what is usable or needs replacing.


Ian.

 

[LGB-Sid]

Hello and welcome, I no nothing about RC

 

[Madman]

Welcome aboard Tankbear. And as Tac Foley said, the best forum on the internet.....

 

[stockers]

Welcome aboard, That SD40 could pull some serious amperage.

 

[beavercreek]

Welcome Ian, The SD45 has an Aristo socket for proprietary DCC decoders (like the QSI Titan), or their own 'Revolution' RC system receiver board.
The Revolution system is now being made and distributed by.... http://www.revoelectronics.com/
The system uses one transmitter handset to control up to 99 locos individually. Each loco would have to have a receiver board installed.
It is used extensively in the US so you should get a lot of input from guys over there (including Greg Elmassian)

I have a couple of locos with the Revolution system installed and it works a treat.
I have three others awaiting the install.

 

[Paul M]

Welcome, you'll get plenty of help and advice here.

 

[ntpntpntp]

Nice loco is the SD45. Mine has fully weighted fuel tanks and weighs a ton (I believe the weights were an option, mine was 2nd-hand). My friends with garden lines refer to it as the "track leveller"!

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Arguably the best loco Aristo ever made.

3 additional weights in the tank, 2 pounds each if they are the original lead weights. Less if the zinc ones.

Greg

 

[tac foley]

Welcome aboard, That SD40 could pull some serious amperage.

Oddly enough, I have video of three of mine lashed up running without a hitch from the basic LGB 'signal box' controller and 5A transformer...

So, hardly Amp hogs.

tac

 

[dunnyrail]

Hi all,

Just bought my first g scale train, a Aristocraft SD45.

I know very little about the train but plan to convert to rc as have a reasonable amount of experience in that field.

Ian.

Welcome to the mad world of Model Trains.

As beever says in post #8 the Aristo is a superb system for battery control. But there are others notably that will connect to a DCC Chip. But the Controller needs to be specially ordered for UK Approved Radio Band. A recent tgread on hear will give you many clues.

I would certainly suggest as a newbie with thoughts to Battery Power that you stick to that and do not invest in DC or DCC or MTS Power to the Track. If the battery market was where it is now I would certainly have followed a Battery Power only path as I have a fairly large layout and though track cleaning only takes 15-20 minutes I can live without having to do it.

Let us know how you get on and if you have difficulties finding the Battery threads I can point you to some of them.
JonD

 

[ntpntpntp]

...hardly Amp hogs.

From memory, I seem to remember mine drew about 1.25 amps on rollers when I was checking it out before fitting a decoder. Obviously it could potentially draw rather more than that with a decent load.

 

[tac foley]

Let me know if you ever see another one like it......



Custom paint courtesy of Shawmut Car Shops.

tac

 

[Tankbear]

Here’s some pictures of my loco, excuse the messy workbench

 

[chasaitch]

Thanks Tankbear for making myself feel happier with myself, what a bloody mess and I thought I was bad!

 

[dunnyrail]

Messy work bench, looks positively tidy in comparison. Work in progress is always going to create a busy workbench..

One problem I have with newbies and a lot of longer term members is the lack of location on their profile, only a County would help. That being the case one might contact and say hi if you need more help and would like to see my line and what I have done UR welcome. I understand completely the security issue, but County is pretty undetermined but close enough to make contact worthwhile.
JonD

 

[Tankbear]

Thanks Tankbear for making myself feel happier with myself, what a bloody mess and I thought I was bad!

Too many projects not enough time!

 

[Tankbear]

Messy work bench, looks positively tidy in comparison. Work in progress is always going to create a busy workbench..

One problem I have with newbies and a lot of longer term members is the lack of location on their profile, only a County would help. That being the case one might contact and say hi if you need more help and would like to see my line and what I have done UR welcome. I understand completely the security issue, but County is pretty undetermined but close enough to make contact worthwhile.
JonD

Agree. In another hobby a simple message led to the forming of a club and regular monthly gathering.