BROADTRAIN1979 Posted November 12, 2009 Share Posted November 12, 2009 hi, Does anyone own a dcc ready 73? how good a runner are they? as i would like to purchass one.I do own a 73, it is Dapol but, isnt dcc ready. When i ran it on my ez, it used to get very hot and the body slightly melted!around one of the roof grilles. This also has lights. It still runs but i dont use it, as i only use my chipped locos. It is a shame, as it is a nice model Regards Mark. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium PaulCheffus Posted November 13, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 13, 2009 hi, Does anyone own a dcc ready 73? how good a runner are they? as i would like to purchass one.I do own a 73, it is Dapol but, isnt dcc ready. When i ran it on my ez, it used to get very hot and the body slightly melted!around one of the roof grilles. This also has lights. It still runs but i dont use it, as i only use my chipped locos. It is a shame, as it is a nice model Regards Mark. Hi Its not too difficult to chip the older chassis (I've done two now and will be doing a third one shortly). Shows the modifications to the chassis. The cutout that houses the resistor and capacitor is enlarged and the plastic spacer modified. Shows a side view of one of the chassis halves after modification including the mods to the plastic spacer. Shows the motor installed. The brass strip was made from a scrap piece of etch and the black wire is soldered to this. On the other side there is another one but this was made from the existing brass strip on the Dapol motor (see the picture of the Dapol motor lower down). The strip was then moved up to the top pair of pegs and the red wire soldered to it. Shows the top view. The grey wire is soldered to the motor terminal (just visible under the red wire). Shows the orange wire soldered to the bottom motor terminal (note the capacitor visible in the 8th picture below has been removed). Shows the chassis ready for testing. Note the lights have not been wired in at this point as I find it easier to test the installation without as it is easier to get the body on and off. Shows the chassis ready for testing from the side. Shows the Dapol motor as it comes. Shows the light units left unmodified, right modified. The resistor goes to the chassis and the wire (yellow or white to the other leg of the LED). Shows the light unit modified and the resistor painted black. The free end of the resistor is folded back on itself as this will touch the end of the chassis to provide the negative feed to the LED (note the blue wire is not used). Shows the light unit modified from a different angle. There is also the guide from the Modern Railway Modelling magazine available on the Dapol website. http://www.Dapol.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=32 Cheers Paul Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 hi, Does anyone own a dcc ready 73? how good a runner are they? as i would like to purchass one.I do own a 73, it is Dapol but, isnt dcc ready. When i ran it on my ez, it used to get very hot and the body slightly melted!around one of the roof grilles. This also has lights. It still runs but i dont use it, as i only use my chipped locos. It is a shame, as it is a nice model Regards Mark. The DCC ready chassis is a good runner, its an easy decoder fit and it picks up power nicely. The down side is its very much under weight so you need to load it down to get good traction. The lighting arrangement isn't quite the same either so you have to redo the lighting feed to mix and match. Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steadfast Posted November 14, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 14, 2009 Alan have you added any weight to any of the later DCC chassis? I've got the GBRf pair, and though a beautiful runner light engine, add a load and it's just not funny... cheers jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted November 14, 2009 Share Posted November 14, 2009 Alan have you added any weight to any of the later DCC chassis? I've got the GBRf pair, and though a beautiful runner light engine, add a load and it's just not funny... cheers jo It helps a bit but there is very little space unless you are willing to replace the big lighting blobs with something much smaller. You can get a little bit of weight behind the lighting unit of not and two thin pieces of weight each side below the cab windows if you file down the end parts of the plastic chassis which normally fit into the gaps. The right way to do it I suspect is to replace the big lighting blob with a cube of tungsten or similar and drill holes in it for small LED lights Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steadfast Posted November 15, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 15, 2009 Thanks Alan, I will have to investigate it further. A thought I had as well was to explore whether the motor completely fills the tank area - I'd heard that a different motor was used on the light weight DCC ready variant, dunno if it's right though, so will take a look cheers jo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BROADTRAIN1979 Posted November 15, 2009 Author Share Posted November 15, 2009 Hi Its not too difficult to chip the older chassis (I've done two now and will be doing a third one shortly). Shows the modifications to the chassis. The cutout that houses the resistor and capacitor is enlarged and the plastic spacer modified. Shows a side view of one of the chassis halves after modification including the mods to the plastic spacer. Shows the motor installed. The brass strip was made from a scrap piece of etch and the black wire is soldered to this. On the other side there is another one but this was made from the existing brass strip on the Dapol motor (see the picture of the Dapol motor lower down). The strip was then moved up to the top pair of pegs and the red wire soldered to it. Shows the top view. The grey wire is soldered to the motor terminal (just visible under the red wire). Shows the orange wire soldered to the bottom motor terminal (note the capacitor visible in the 8th picture below has been removed). Shows the chassis ready for testing. Note the lights have not been wired in at this point as I find it easier to test the installation without as it is easier to get the body on and off. Shows the chassis ready for testing from the side. Shows the Dapol motor as it comes. Shows the light units left unmodified, right modified. The resistor goes to the chassis and the wire (yellow or white to the other leg of the LED). Shows the light unit modified and the resistor painted black. The free end of the resistor is folded back on itself as this will touch the end of the chassis to provide the negative feed to the LED (note the blue wire is not used). Shows the light unit modified from a different angle. There is also the guide from the Modern Railway Modelling magazine available on the Dapol website. http://www.Dapol.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=32 Cheers Paul Thanks paul, still seems out of my league but think i will wait for the dcc ready version. Thanks again. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
apj64 Posted November 18, 2009 Share Posted November 18, 2009 I have also chipped an original class 73 and have modified the lighting. My version now displays red lights to the rear of the loco achieved by grinding/cutting out the old LED then replacing it with a bi colour 3mm led, This was not the simplist of tasks and I managed to fry one chip (luckly it was a goof proof TCS)in the process. I still have some work to do as I need to loose some wires which cause the body to sit about 2 mm too high at the moment, But having read this post I can now see that I can dispense with the blue wire which will help. Does the real class 73 have a red blind position on the head code panel? Edit: Just managed to answer my own question from the "London Bridge Photo's" thread And testing the new Gatwick Express stock (with a 73/1, before the 73/2s were adapted) in 1984: Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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