Kato 11-108 critter chassis

[randgust]

Down at the Altoona show I got my mitts on the successor to the Kato 11-104, the tiny 4-wheel critter chassis.   That's what I used to make my trackmobile.   New one is called the 11-108, but it's the same footprint.

The old 11-104 had a great 5-pole motor but was so stiff that it turned into a four-legged stool that was always only touching 3 wheels, and it constantly stalled.   My solution was to pair it up with a Kato pickup caboose truck and a scratchbuilt scale test car, that made it reliable.

So I got the new Kato 11-108 and looked at it, and noticed that the axles have vertical movement at the journals.   That looks promising.

Last night I tested it in my Winslow yard, which is full of old Atlas #4 plastic frog switches.   The old 11-04 was just helpless on those.   This one crept right through the yard, dead silent, and you could actually see the wheels equalizing.    Holy smokes that's a good design.   Slow, quiet, and the best four-wheel pickup design I've ever seen.   I hadn't even cleaned the yard tracks first.

It's got limited application, but after that, I'm seriously looking at repowering my trackmobile body with it, including substituting the smaller 27" wheels.   Very little to risk here.   But this is one of those chassis that seems to have very little recognition, at least want to fix that much.

[Jim Starbuck]

Thanks for the heads up Randy.
It’s  good to know because you never know what critter projects might show up here.

Jim

[Chris333]

Here is one I stripped down for HOn30:


The gears are very fine and the motor is at an angle to cram it in there.

[peteski]

It has a 3-point suspension to maximize contact with uneven track.  Very clever design. And the coreless motor (same as the one in FEF3 which is a large steam loco)  is quite powerful and runs smoothly.

[Kentuckian]

Here is one I stripped down for HOn30:


The gears are very fine and the motor is at an angle to cram it in there.

I like these little chassis too. @Chris333, how to you get this to run in the configuration shown without the plastic clip that pushes down on the motor? When I try this the motor torque moves the worm out of alignment with the worm gear and the motor spins but the worm is not meshing with the worm gear.

[peteski]

I suspect Chris took off the plastic top to better show off the construction of the mechanism, but the side Chris shows is not the one where the bearing/pickup strip teeters for the 3-point suspension.

I suppose the motor could be glued in, but personally I don't like to use glue on any of the mechanical parts which might have to be disassembled for servicing.  If you do use glue, you might have to figure out what to do with the rubbery strip on which the motor rests.

[Chris333]

I did this about 2 years ago now, but I think there is a small dot of gel super glue on the motor. Just pick it away with a knife if I need to remove the motor.

[Kentuckian]

I did this about 2 years ago now, but I think there is a small dot of gel super glue on the motor. Just pick it away with a knife if I need to remove the motor.
 

Ah, ok. Thanks. I probably would have got there eventually, but I was trying to think of some kind of strap or something. I’m at least two years behind.