Kato HO Scale P42 DCC Installation
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- Several years ago Kato released an HO scale model of the Amtrak P42 locomotive. At its release, they highlighted what they thought was an innovative design feature of self-contained motorized trucks. These are sometimes referred to as Stanton Drives. Both the front and rear trucks are powered, and the motor is contained inside the truck instead of in the body like most other locomotives.
This seemed like a good idea at first, but then modelers quickly found out that it was terribly inconvenient to install a DCC decoder. Because the track pickup wires don't route through the circuit board, there is no where to connect a decoder.
So what needs to be done in order to install a decoder is: disconnect the motor wires from the trucks, extend the wires from the motors up through the frame to the circuit board, cut some of the traces to isolate the connections needed to interface the decoder, wire the decoder (or an 8-pin socket) to the circuit board, then reassemble the model.
All of these steps are covered in a modification guide published by Kato and available here:
www.katousa.co...
I went one step further and tapped screws to the trucks to keep them from being pulled off of the frame.
One other modification you might consider for your model is cutting the light pipes for the ditchlights, then gluing some very small LEDs to the cut ends of those pipes. Then wiring those LEDs to the AUX functions of the decoder to allow for flashing ditchlights, which is common on most Amtrak locomotives.
![[Kato USA Tech Corner] Installing DCC into the Train Suite Shikishima](/img/n.gif)
Merry Christmas and best wishes for 2024 🎄🎄🎁🎁
Howdy Steve! What an interesting motor configuration. I'm new to the hobby... and I like a challenge... but holy Toledo lol! Going to have to peruse the Kato DCC upgrade instruction and watch your video a few more times before I decide whether or not to tackle this project. I really like the Kato P42 50th Anniversary livery, so if I want it for a DCC layout I'll have to take the plunge. Well done and thanks for sharing 🤠
In my personal opinion, I would not suggest purchasing the Kato unit for a DCC layout. Athearn also produced their own HO scale Amtrak P42 in all the same liveries as Kato. But their's has a normal decoder install process (a 21-pin DCC plug), AND their ditchlights are already wired ready to flash when the horn is blown. The Kato engines have a single light pipe for the headlights and ditchlights all together. You can't even turn their ditchlights off separate from the headlights, without modifying the light pipe and installing extra LED's.
The Kato P42 is perfect for someone who still just runs DC, and has no plans to switch to DCC.
@@signalupproductionsI hadn't thought of looking elsewhere, because I saw the Kato first, and I wanted to see what Kato was like, since so many people like them. After seeing this post, I found both the DCC ready and equipped on Trainworld. Wasn't too easy to find, but it is there under Athearn Amtrak P42.
You should come and visit the Oahu Model Society in Ewa Beach Hawaii.
I've always wanted to visit Hawaii. Someday I will make it, and hope to see all it has to offer!
Awesome job my friend happy holidays
My P42 was junk, and I returned it for a replacement the same day I got it, which the replacement directly from Kato never came. KatoUSA ended up giving me a full refund, because the engine they claimed to send never came.
The front truck fell out in my hand right out of the box, so you do have a real concern there. The rear truck made grinding noises, and would at times spin the motor without the train going anywhere. I have ordered another one from another vendor in hopes of getting one that works, because I liked the safety message on the engine itself. Otherwise I am done with Kato. If I have any problems with the one that is on the way, I am planning on making my own drive chassis and motor system to go under the body with the slogan "See Track Think Trains". The slogan goes along with running HO trains, if you think about it.
I've made parts for train engines before, and making the whole chassis shouldn't be a problem, and then I can also get rid of that bad idea of having 2 motors that can work against each other.
Great video. I also agree with you about making them DCC ready from the factory, and they shouldn't be charging an arm and a leg to go that far. I say that, because I can make some models DCC equipped for about $40 more than the DCC ready with the model that isn't DCC ready. Go figure.
Great work. Don't know what you charge, but it even if it's reasonable, I think in this situation it would have been better to sell this to a DC only guy and buy one with DCC and sound.
I actually co-own a hobby shop. We got a bunch of these from our wholesaler on clearance (go figure, because no one was buying them).
So to cut our loses we decided we would be more likely to sell all the ones we were stuck with if we did the modification. I definitely wouldn't take on any as a side job!
I'd love to send you some business.
Do you have a business that does installations and or repairs to HO-scale locomotives? If so do you have an email address?
I don't have a business working on models. Unfortunately my free time is in limited supply due to the nature of my job!