DCC in Backwoods Miniatures 009 Garrett?

[petersmith1942]

Friso
I am just wondering how Pete McParlin will answer your question. If its a kit it depends how you build it even if you follow the instructions to the letter. Its unlikely that any kit will be designed not for DCC but ensuring that the motor or motors connections are isolated is your problem as is decoder wiring for pick-ups , lights etc
In building a complex kit such as this for DCC it is concerning that you need to ask the kit manufacturer. If you understand the fundamentals of DCC then you take them into account before you start the kit and at each stage of construction
I hope you are not offended by these comments but this thread has had naivety running all through it
and it can be very expensive
Peter Smith

[Allscales]

Hi Peter,

No offence taken!

I didn't just ask about easy of DCC conversion, I had a number of other questions as well, such as minimum radius it can handle. Much more important!

Cheers,

Friso

[rod335]

Oh Dear. If you are seriously considering (building) one of these complicated and sophisticated models, together with the installation of DCC, surely the resultant model deserves more consideration than 'what is the minimum radius I can get it round?' You may well be able to get it to go round 12" radius curves, but it will look horrible if it does and surely deserves a more realistic setting.

Rod

[JulienW]

Hi Peter,

No offence taken!

I didn't just ask about easy of DCC conversion, I had a number of other questions as well, such as minimum radius it can handle. Much more important!

Cheers,

Friso

Ian Turner's NGG 16s will get around a 9" curve - but then he has modified them to do so and "Roestock" is a very realistic setting with the small radius determined (I think) by the Peco points that were available at the time Ian built the layout.

To some extent though I'd agree with Rod in that any 009 loco looks silly going around inappropriately tight curves even if it is capable of doing so.  As an example I have a 2-8-0 Baldwin tender loco built from an American HOn3 kit (chassis modified to get it from 10.5 mm to 9 mm gauge) that I know will go around a sub-9" curve.  She looks very silly when she does this though and on the layout I'll build for her and her planned siblings (a second 2-8-0 and a pair of 2-8-2 saddle tanks using the same chassis) I'll be aiming for a 12" minimum.

[petersmith1942]

Julien
what you are doing in HOn30 sounds very interesting and I hope you might tell us more in due course
Someone in the HOn30 Mail Car yahoo group has done HOn3-HOn30 conversions using the Roundhouse kit as the basis. I have a kit but havent done a conversion yet because it will still be a mighty big loco and most of my HOn30 uses N scale chassis which produce small locos
A 2-8-2 tank conversion sounds really good and I might think about that myself
Sorry about the thread drift but any reference to US modelling in our scale grabs my attention
Peter Smith

[JulienW]

Julien
what you are doing in HOn30 sounds very interesting and I hope you might tell us more in due course
Someone in the HOn30 Mail Car yahoo group has done HOn3-HOn30 conversions using the Roundhouse kit as the basis. I have a kit but havent done a conversion yet because it will still be a mighty big loco and most of my HOn30 uses N scale chassis which produce small locos
A 2-8-2 tank conversion sounds really good and I might think about that myself
Sorry about the thread drift but any reference to US modelling in our scale grabs my attention
Peter Smith

To momentarily continue the drift (sorry)

The model comes out at 4 mm scale (so is 009, not HOn30), especially after I rebuilt the cab to scale(!) and is based on some drawings that appeared of a 30" gauge loco supplied to Cuba in NG&SLG.  "Victoria" is a big lass, but with lowering the boiler as far as it would go (cut out most of the smoke box saddle and the inside of the boiler to clear the motor, also rotated by 90 degrees to get the boiler down) helped create a powerful looking loco rather than something standing on tip toes (as the unmodified Roundhouse loco tends to be).

The 2-8-0s are the later kits with the plastic side frames which make milling the chassis block down easier.  The 2-8-2ST will be made from the Moose Jaw 3-in-1 kits which use the older style 2-8-0 chassis block with the frames cast on.  I'm not sure whether to cut the frames off and re-attach them later to make the milling easier, or try to do that with the frames in place, but I have the motorising set (essentially the gear upgrade for the 2-8-0) from NWSL.