Atlas N Scale SP SD9 Sound Decoder Install

[amato1969]

Really clean install!

  Frank

[Spades]

Russ

Awesome and informative modelling as always.  I am sure it has been asked. Who made the the headlight castings.  Are the lens fiber optics?  Paint Tru- Colors? Easy to use?

If you want to add a second ladder the micro trains ladder from the wood caboose railing is a perfect match.

G

[tehachapifan]

Thanks, guys!

The headlight castings are the plastic ones from Detail Associates, the backing plate for the gyralights is from an SP light set from Miniatures By Eric, the lenses are fiber optics and the paint on the light castings is Polly Scale acrylic.

Thanks for the tip on the second ladder! I've been looking for a good match but hadn't found one.

[jdcolombo]

Terrific work, Russ.  The headlight arrangement is ingenious, and one I need to copy for my NKP diesels, which also had the Mars light above the regular headlight just like the SP units.  This should work not only for the SD9, but the geeps, as well, although there is less length to work with in the geeps.  It does mean taking off the jewel headlights and drilling through the Detail Associates part, but that should easily be doable.  Thanks for working this out!

John C.

[tehachapifan]

Thanks, John! Glad you like the light sandwich board idea. This was a departure from my previous norm, which was to glue the LED's in-place inside the shell behind the light castings. With everything self-contained on the drive, removing the shell for maintenance on this unit is much easier without having to deal with all the LED wires, dangling shell, etc.

[sp org div]

Terrific work, Russ.  The headlight arrangement is ingenious, and one I need to copy for my NKP diesels, which also had the Mars light above the regular headlight just like the SP units.  This should work not only for the SD9, but the geeps, as well, although there is less length to work with in the geeps.  It does mean taking off the jewel headlights and drilling through the Detail Associates part, but that should easily be doable.  Thanks for working this out!

John C.

Ya Russ,
That idea is going to get put to good use here too!   ...with due credit no doubt. 

[carlso]

Russ,

I got my hands on a new, never been run, Atlas/Kato SD-9 and am ready to make it a typical SP unit. This unit is so old that it has Rapido couplers on the trucks, the wheels show no wear at all and it runs, not messed with, out of the box, like any new Kato on analog. I am really pumped as I got two of them. I have the new Wutter's vertical light clusters that look very nice and very small. I have my sites set for a Black Widow and a Bloody Nose unit. The fun is about to begin. Being the Atlas/Kato unit I will have to do some work on the frame halves to access the motor tabs and apply quite a bit of Kapton tape, but I have done that successfully on some old pre DCC F7 A&B units. Worked very well and those units will pull stumps.

However I did not see any mention in your thread regarding any type of keep alive being installed. I use ESU sound decoders and have two in steamers and I never hear a breaak up in the sound. I think that I have seen John Columbo write that he does not experience a break in sound with ESU. I shall find out for sure.

Would you happen to have a jpeg of the rear of 4409 ?

Any suggestions or hints from anybody is appreciated.

Carl

[jdcolombo]

However I did not see any mention in your thread regarding any type of keep alive being installed. I use ESU sound decoders and have two in steamers and I never hear a breaak up in the sound. I think that I have seen John Columbo write that he does not experience a break in sound with ESU. I shall find out for sure.

Would you happen to have a jpeg of the rear of 4409 ?

Any suggestions or hints from anybody is appreciated.

Carl

Hi Carl. 

I have not used keep alives for my road diesels (e.g., those that I use in 3-unit lashups to run trains from a staging yard to the main classification yard then back to staging).  I don't experience sound dropouts with these units running at track speed or pulling into the yard.   But, I have experienced dropouts doing slow-speed switching moves with ESU-equipped locos, even with track that I keep meticulously clean and switches that all have powered frogs.  The interesting thing is that my Atlas/China (not Atlas/Kato) SD9's are the worst offenders here, and you'd think they would be the best with the six-wheel trucks and extra weight.   So, my standard operating practice now is to install at least one 220uf 16v tantalum chip capacitor with a LokSound.   With the SD9, you should have enough room for two of those wired in parallel.  I'd go ahead and do this just to ward off possible issues later.

The chip caps I use are from Digikey, made by AVX, Digikey part # 478-8257-1-ND.  They are only 3mm thick, so a package of two side-by-side is 6mm.  $2.30 each, cheaper in multiples of 10.  If you need instructions on how to wire the caps to the LokSound, e-mail me at my gmail address or PM me here.

John C.

[tehachapifan]

Looking forward to seeing your progress, Carl. I will try to grab a pic of the rear of my SD9 today. As far as keep alive devices go, I do not have one installed in my unit yet. I do have to keep the wheels and track immaculate or I will start to experience some sound dropouts. I may try to add one at some point too.

[craigolio1]

I've been looking for LEDs (other than the 0402s I've been using) for lighting and number boards and what you've done here is just the ticket.  I love the sandwich board.  I was trying to come up with a solution much like you have and you nailed it with the simplicity I'm after.

Craig

[tehachapifan]

Glad you like the sandwich board idea, Craig!

Carl, do you still need a pic of the back of the 4409? I did install a full light package there too, although I only illuminated the headlight, if that's what you're inquiring about.

[carlso]

Russ,

no it is not necessary. I was pretty sure about the package being on the rear end but just wanted to confirm.

Thanks
Carl

[tehachapifan]

OK, sounds good. That said, it seemed to be pretty hit-and-miss on what units got full light packages on the rear to start with and what units had them removed off the rear only. Best to refer to photos of the particular unit you're modeling.