Northern Pacific (NP) W-5 Mikado Project

[peteski]

It's in the "new" Decoder Manual V2 from Jan 2014 - page 51  So it's only available on the new Series 6 decoders.

CV 61 Value	Transponding	LED or Lamp
00	Off	LED
01	Off	Lamp
02	On	LED
03	On	Lamp

John,
that is apples and oranges. Digitrax finally came into the LED age with Series6 decoders. The finally make them LED FX-friendly. But that is just a setting which makes the effect realistic with LEDs.   The function outputs which drive the LEDs still need resistors (they still have full output voltage).  Before Series 6 decoders, no matter how you adjusted the FX CVs, they would give poor simulation of the effects which dim the light when using LEDs.

We were discussing some CV setting which would put the decoder in some mode which would allow the direct connect of LEDs to the function outputs.  I never seen such functionality

[reinhardtjh]

We were discussing some CV setting which would put the decoder in some mode which would allow the direct connect of LEDs to the function outputs.  I never seen such functionality

Okay, I misunderstood the context.  AFAIK you are correct. There is nothing to enable/disable current limiting resistors on the various function outputs.  They either have them or they don't.  IIRC, some of the Digitrax PnP decoders have pads for extra functions and some of them may or may not have the resistors, but you have to read the specific manuals or talk to Digitrax Customer Service (or make an educated guess based on circuit paths) to find out which.

[mmagliaro]

Hi everybody.

This installment includes painting, the backhead, and final exterior weathering and detailing.
It's finally done!

First, here's a shot of the initial airbrush job on the loco and tender bodies:



Now, the backhead
Thanks to alert reader Jason (superturbine), I did note that there was indeed enough room to model a backhead in this engine.
The original Kato Mikado backhead part was too thick and bulky to fit.  So I decided to just make one, and model
the cab curtains rolled up and open so it would show.  I copied as much backhead detail as I could
from photos of a brass O Scale W-5.





















It is also a good idea to mash the curtain "rolls" at this point with some tweezers or needlenose pliers so that they
don't stay perfectly round.


























And that's it!  The following is a set of photos of the finished model.



















My most sincere thanks to everyone on Railwire who encouraged me and shared
in this project.   

[BobS]

Breathtaking!

[skytop35]

Really awesome work! Thanks for sharing as I know how hard it is to take photos while building a model. Makes me want to try my hand at steam.

[carlso]

Max,

 That is absolutely awesome, you sir, a a true for real artist.

Carl

[hegstad1]

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!!!

[jpwisc]

Beautiful work! I'm hoping Greg makes this into a kit. The W-5 is one steam engine I would love to have for some retro shots on the Skally Line.

[mmagliaro]

Thank you guys!
I really do love how it turned out.   I didn't weather it heavily, because it was just too darn pretty.  So we can
pretend it was recently shopped and washed.
 
Andrew, your work on Greg's W-5 years ago was really the thing that put this project into my head as something I wanted to do.

Now I just have to patch up that little pinhole in the boiler on the fireman's side above the Elesco pump.  Ha!  Ha!
I was somehow blind to that until I saw it in the photo.  Luckily, it will not be hard to patch up.


...
It is probably time to take some sort of "head count" of how many people seriously would buy this kit if Greg made it available.

Remember, as it currently stands, you would have to buy the W-3 kit, PLUS this W-5 kit, plus have a Kato Mikado to build it on.

You can just post in here and we'll take a count after a few days.  And although it may be a useless request, I would ask
that people not say, "Yeah, put me down for one" unless they would really, truly write the check today if the kit were available.
These surveys for product interest are always grossly inflated.

As for pricing, I have no idea.  (Remember, I do not represent GHQ.)
But since the W-3 is about $100, we can guess that you can expect to pay at least that for
the W-5, so you're looking at at least $200 + the Mikado.

Oh!  And one final thing I have really been remiss in saying. 
THANK YOU, Greg Scott, for making the parts available to me so I could do this project and photo essay.

[SP-Wolf]

Absolutely- OUTSTANDING!!

Thanks,
Wolf

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Holy ***** Max, that is amazingly beautiful.

[tom mann]

Nice work, Max.

[garethashenden]

Looks pretty good to me.

[packers#1]

My gosh Max, that's essentially a work of art! To think that's N Scale is unbelievable, excellent job! I always enjoy these threads!

[wazzou]

Great work as always Max.  A real stunner.