Revolution Offering Mk5 coaches

[Roy L S]

Your ability to claim for a burnt out motor may be compromised, but it's not as clear cut as saying it voids any warranty. In the same way that weathering a loco modifies it but doesn't void a warranty. I think everyone understands that you think it's a bad idea. Again, pulling trains puts undue stress on models, but we all do it. I have eleven 92s, I'll happily add weight to some and compare longevity. Could even remove some, they'll last forever then!

IME models have a very extreme bathtub curve failure rate. If they work out of the box they'll likely be fine for ages. I don't believe you get many failures 9 months in, even if you add 10g of extra weight.

I was of course referring to warranty claims in respect of the motor and drivetrain which was the issue under discussion. Quite naturally if something unrelated to that failed like the lighting I would agree that a claim under warranty would hopefully not be impacted.

I am happy to agree to disagree on this and as I have already said a few posts back it is a matter of personal choice if people want to add weight by whatever means, all I was trying to do was make people aware of potential risks of doing so.

[jpendle]

Right! It's time to drag this thread, kicking and screaming, back to the subject of the coaches themselves 

I have just fitted Zimo accessory decoders to my 2 DVT's. What a palaver!

Getting the bodyshells off is hard enough as there is no discernable gap to get a fingernail or "waffer thin mint" into.

Getting them back on again is even harder, I managed to dislodge the driver's console/light pipe assembly on one unit and then when I tried to get it in again one of the side windows got pushed out

It took forever to get the window back in, secured with a drop of poly cement at the edge, my fingers are too fat and pliers don't give the tactile feedback that you need. It then took another age to accidentally find out that the light pipe unit slides in sideways from back to front of the bodyshell rather than from bottom to top.

Once I got both units fitted I also found that the lights weren't as bright on one and further investigation revealed that the chassis was proud of the bodyshell at the front, I fixed that and now the head/tails light work nicely.

BUT, there's an issue with the cabin and coach lighting.
Even with a decoder fitted they still come on when power is applied and then have to be turned off again. But then the Z21 app shows them as being on when they are off and vice versa.

I'll do a bit more playing around today because it also seems that the function outputs need to act as momentary switches rather than push buttons when turning these lights on and off. I suspect this is due to the latching relay that is wired to the interior lights in these coaches.

There's nothing wrong with the head/tail lights as they don't have a relay in the way.

Regards,

John P

[Intercity]

A question regarding the rolling resistance of the Mk5s, I noted that the TPE sets haven't had as many comments about the free rolling (or lack of) nature, is it a general opinion the TPE sets roll better?

I recall someone was going to try TPE bogie on sleeper coaches, did that happen and are they interchangeable?

Sorry if I already missed the answers previously

[njee20]

I suspect that no one wants to run more than 5 is the primary factor. Five sleepers is easy!

[jpendle]

is it a general opinion the TPE sets roll better?

It's not an opinion it's a fact.

The TPE sets have revised axle assemblies with narrower 'muffs' between the wheels and they do roll better than the original sleeper coaches, as a result I have had no trouble pulling or pushing a 5 car rake around my layout, with a Dapol CL68, at speed.

Along with my TPE rakes, I also received a full set of replacement wheelsets for my 16 coach Caley sleeper rake, these also run better than with the original wheelsets BUT pulling more than 7 or 8 coaches is still an issue for my CL92's

Regards,

John P

[Graham]

I agree with John, my TPE sets roll great. I have also received the replacement Caledonian wheel sets and have started to change them, but to date have not had the same success as John, and I don't know why. Will be working on them over the next week to see what I am doing wrong.
Given the amount of time spent on the Caledonian set so far another few hours getting these right is well worth the effort.
As a test I have a 30cm length of track raised at one end by 1cm and see if the coach rolls down, its ok, if not get to work.

[jpendle]

I did some experiments with the lights in the DVT, with the DCC accessory decoders fitted.

When track power is applied the cabin and coach lights come on.

When Function Outputs 1 and 2 are then turned ON, the cabin and coach lights turn OFF.

Then when Function Outputs 1 & 2 are turned OFF, nothing happens.

Turning Function Outputs 1 & 2 back ON again, turns the cabin and coach lights ON.

Then turning the Function outputs OFF again, nothing happens.

Then turning the Function Outputs ON turns OFF the cabin and coach lights.

So turning ON the Function outputs either latches the lights ON or OFF depending on the state that they are already in, turning the Function Outputs OFF has no effect.

Regards,

John P

[StufromEGDL]

I recall someone was going to try TPE bogie on sleeper coaches, did that happen and are they interchangeable?

Hi Gang,

Yes, not had a chance to transfer the TPE wheel sets into a sleeper rake yet. There is a difference in the length of the insulating axle sleeve which may or may not be a factor. Hopefully, I'll get an opportunity in the next few days to experiment.

Later,
Stu from NRSW

[StufromEGDL]

Hi (again) Gang,

Ok, so I went for a quick experiment with a 1 metre test track raised 2.5 in at one end. (I know I mixed metric and imperial there!)

Random sleeper coach....rolled slowly.
Random TPE coach...rolled better.
Swapped wheel sets...
Sleeper coach..rolled as per TPE.
TPE coach did not roll.
Swapped wheel sets back...
Sleeper coach...did not roll.
TPE coach ..rolled as originally.
Swapped one wheel set on sleeper coach with another sleeper wheel set and it rolled better but not as free as the TPE coach or wheel sets.

So I think that some of the Sleeper wheel sets need fettling but not all, and the TPE wheel sets seem to be of a higher overall consistency.

As I said, the experiment is quick and unscientific and I have not yet played with/swapped or removed pickups to try and improve things further.

The recommendations of the Revolution team should be applied first if anyone still has running issues.

Later,
Stu from NRSW

[jpendle]

@StufromEGDL Revolution will send you replacement wheelsets if you ask.

Regards,

John P

[Graham]

@StufromEGDL Revolution will send you replacement wheelsets if you ask.

Regards,

John P

Agree, I asked Simon and the replacement wheelsets were here (in Australia) under 2 weeks later.

[Highlander 66]

I have no interest in the Mk5 coaches, but with this talk of drag from internal bearings it's interesting to note that my Kato ICE 4 12-car set has internal bearings on some of the coach bogies (not all), and those coaches are perfectly acceptable free-running. Stub axles with live bearings ready to take light bars if desired.

We've come to expect nothing less from the technical team at Kato. I have been so impressed with the running quality of my Azuma sets, and fitting the interior lighting couldn't be simpler, a truly quality-centric manufacturer.

[StufromEGDL]

Hi Gang;
Just back from a great weekend and day at the Glasgow show....it certainly had a better selection of layouts than last year and most were operating fairly well. A few operating difficulties for some, but nothing is ever perfect!!

I have replaced all the wheelsets in the CS Mk5s now and most are now very free-running on the test incline. A couple were hesitant at first but a quick 'reseat' of the axles to ensure the bush sits smoothly outside of the 'pip' on the pickups and all seem to be fine. I have also found that repeated handling of these coaches and fiddling repetitively with the bogies has caused some fat finger damage to a few of the yaw dampers , so a little bit of superglue was needed in a couple of instances.

I'll dig the test track out later and do a bit of a haulage test, but I feel sure that the Revolution 92 will now happily pull the Glasgow set (8 coaches) and I will add gradually the remaining 6 Aberdeen coaches to see how it gets on, although I cannot see me ever having the space to run a full length sleeper!!!

Getting the test track out will also give me a chance to have a look at the 59005 collected on Friday too!!

Later;
Stu from NRSW

[jpendle]

I just realised that you are using an ~7% slope!

My metric is a 2% slope they don't roll on that at all!

Regards,

John P

[Brian-1c]

My TPE set runs reasonably freely, but will not run far after a bit of a push, on the level.

New, an individual coach would not run its own length. Now, after about 12 - 15 hours of running, the five car set, when pushed on the level, will run almost two coach lengths.

Clearly it is getting looser as it runs.

There is no problem for the Dapol 68, either pushing or pulling, at any speed I care to use. Except slow speeds, close to a crawl it stalls, presumably from the remaining drag.

Overall, I am delighted with the set.