0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.
Whichever one runs better I would think. DCC isn’t going to mask a poor running locomotive, actually having sound will make pickup problems even more notable. So I would go with the current generation of the Bachman model.
Hands-down, I'd use the Bachmann. You are going to have to make massive cosmetic changes either way to make this look like a PRR B6 (valve gear, firebox, cab, rods, domes are pretty much all wrong).
Why not just put the Trix shell on the Bachmann drive? That'll get you a lot closer to start from, right?
Hands-down, I'd use the Bachmann. You are going to have to make massive cosmetic changes either way to make this look like a PRR B6 (valve gear, firebox, cab, rods, domes are pretty much all wrong). But at least the Bachmann engine has fine-flanged drivers and a much smoother mechanism with finer gears than the old Rapido one. As for DCC, switch out the tender for one of the Bachmann slope-back tenders with all-wheel pickup. You will have to hard-wire the decoder in there, as there is no board like there is on the other Bachmann "dcc ready" tenders. And you'll have to do some cobbling to make the drawbar work. But all-wheel tender pickup is a MUST in an 0-6-0.If you read the page on Spookshow's review site, you'll note some comments about accessing the motor terminals to isolate them from the frame. You will have to remove the motor and do some frame grinding and insulating so that you can intercept the wiring path to those motor terminals. But again, if you are planning on making this into a B6, I am assuming you are more than up to the challenge since there will be a good bit of frame and body chopping anyway.
Definitely upgrade to one of the Spectrum slope-backed tenders, as Max said. Makes a huge difference in pickup ability. Max, how would you go about changing the valve gear on the Bachmann?