More Questions Regarding German Models

[strummer]

I recently picked up an Arnold #0201 V100 on eBay. It's a nice little model, and after a good cleaning of the wheels and re-set of the traction tires it runs quite nicely.

Now for the questions:

Who is a good US source for parts? I think some new traction tires are in my future, as the originals are a bit tired.

The first thing I noticed on this model is that it has plastic gearing. I have a couple of #0216 FP9s from the old days, and they have brass gears. The plastic gearing makes for a quieter running engine. I'm assuming these are all about the same vintage, so I wonder if this model always had the plastic gears, and if the US models always had brass. I did have both an Arnold FA and Geep 9 at one time, and I think they also had the brass gears.

A quick check of Spookshow's site does not mention any of this, so I'm just wondering...

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

Getting parts for any European model is a real pain in US.  Nowadays I go through DM-Toys as they have direct contact with all the manufacturers.  I just email them my parts request (you need to provide part numbers and descrptions) and they email m back the price. When ready they send me Paypal invoice.

Locally reynaulds.com can supposedly order some manufacturer's parts but I still find DM-Toys better and faster.

Also remember that there is old and new Arnold. Old was Arnold/Rapido and the new one is Arnold/Hornby.  You can't order the older model parts from the new Arnold.  There is a company in Germany specializing in stocking the old Arnold parts. http://arnold-ersatzteile.de/ . You can order from them through email/Paypal but it is a slow process.  No English webpages (you need to translate it in your browser) but they are able to communicate with you (emails) in English.

As far as brass/plastic gears go I don't have any timeline and whether they changed from brass to plastic or if they used both types.

[strummer]

Thanks for the info, Peteski.

 I have already checked out those options, and a fellow "Railwire" member may have what (I think) I might need, so it's all good.

Further checking of various sites, including listings on eBay, doesn't seem to shed any light on the brass
/ plastic question, so perhaps we'll never know...

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

I found a page which lists all the V 100 Diesel models ever produced.  From the stock number it looks like yours is the older one, (first run) produced in 1970-1974. So, even at that time they used plastic gears on some models.

http://www.modellbau-wiki.de/wiki/V_100

[strummer]

Say, that is a resource I had yet to find.

Very cool, thank you!

Mark in Oregon

[strummer]

Just as a kind of "post script" to this thread, as there seems to be little interest:

There are several V100 /211's (both 2010 and 2010) currently listed on ebay/ebay.de: some have the plastic gears, and some are brass.

This leads me to believe this is not a question of when the model was produced.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

While there are few of us here, there isn't much interest in European prototypes on TRW.

What do you mean by 2010 and 2010?

[strummer]

OOPs...

I meant "0201 and 2010"... 

Good catch.

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

OOPs...

I meant "0201 and 2010"... 

Good catch.

Mark in Oregon

It seems unlikely that both types of gears would be used in the steam same model during the same run.  Or that they would go back and forth between plastic and brass. But I really don't know.  Maybe some of the eBay models have simply been placed in the wrong boxes (thus have a wrong stock number)?   

[strummer]

Yea, maybe you're right...

What do you mean by "steam model?"...(sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

Yea, maybe you're right...

What do you mean by "steam model?"...(sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Mark in Oregon

Good catch - corrected.  I don't even know if it was a spell checker thing or a Freudian slip on my part. 

[gdmichaels]

Besides Reynaulds and DM-Toys, are there any other good sources for European prototype engines that will ship to the US.  I am hunting for a nice steam engine to pull the Kato Orient Express set.  I was advised that a Minitrix BR18 is an appropriate loco, so now the question is where to search....

Also some of these stores mention "digital interface in tender".  Does this translate to "Easy to put a 6-pin DCC decoder in the tender"?

[strummer]

Not sure about your first question, but there's an Arnold #2542 BR 18 available on eBay right now, from a seller I have purchased from.

The engine looks pretty nice, and I can speak from experience that the seller is A-OK.

Dunno if this helps, but...

Mark in Oregon

[peteski]

Besides Reynaulds and DM-Toys, are there any other good sources for European prototype engines that will ship to the US.  I am hunting for a nice steam engine to pull the Kato Orient Express set.  I was advised that a Minitrix BR18 is an appropriate loco, so now the question is where to search....

In early 2000s I used to deal with https://shop.lokshop.de/  but nowadays DM-Toys is my preferred German N scale dealer (they also sell and auction models on eBay).  They also clearly show what is in stock and the website is easier to navigate.

The currently have BR18 in stock (from the 1950s era) but it is rather pricey.
https://www.en.dm-toys.de/produktdetails/items/Trix-T16187.html

The Kato model represents the Orient Express of the mid-80s (not the original from the '30s).  Just like the US models, European models are all limited runs nowadays. You need to reserve one or hope to get one when the run is produced. Most sell out quickly and if it is sold out at one dealer, the other dealers are usually out of them too.

BR 18 is a fairly small 4-6-2 loco and I doubt it will be able to pull the full 15-car consist.  I don't know if it was ever used to pull this particular Orient Express consist.  If it did, it might have been for a run-by photo-shoot.

  But since this model depicts the '80s consist, you can pull it with one of several diesle or electric locos from the '80s era.  BRAWA actually produced an electric loco in the the appropriate Orient Express livery, but those are sold out.

Here is some info on those models:
https://www.reynaulds.com/products/Brawa/63011.aspx
https://www.reynaulds.com/products/Brawa/63013.aspx

I often pull my set with a dual-unit Swiss electric Ae 8/8 (all 8 axles are driven by a single motor):
https://www.reynaulds.com/products/Kato-HobbyTrain-Lemke/K10601.aspx

Or, either of theses would be appropriate (should be available in N scale):
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Note: the above two are from the '90s (and that Orient express), but it was very similar to the '80s version. Most noticeable difference would be modernized trucks (of you bother to look).

Also some of these stores mention "digital interface in tender".  Does this translate to "Easy to put a 6-pin DCC decoder in the tender"?

That is correct.
Most have the 6-pin (NEM651) socket, but more and more new (or re-released) models have the NeXt18 (NEM662) or maybe others like PluX12 (NEM658) or MTC14. You need to verify which plug they use, or be ready to find the right decoder after purchasing the loco and reading its manual sheet.

And you thought this was easy... 

[chicken45]