NW2 vs SW9

[nwline]

Guys

Need some help , I was on the Atlas forum and someone asked if anyone has used a Kato NW2 to power a LL SW1200 . This started me thinking about the 2 SW1200's I picked up a while back and the NW2 I have sitting here waiting to be bashed. Here's comes the help part , if anyone has done this I'd love to see some photo's of the cut down Kato frame before I start hacking away ( seeing how The Kato is $ ).

Thanks
Dave   

[Chris333]

Other than the better looking wheel I don't see why you would want to swap shells?  The NW2 doesn't "suck", but I can get a LL SW to run much slower and it is a switcher after all.

[Iain]

I love the SW1200/SW9 mechanism, and I love the low gearing.  As Chris said, the wheels are about all that sucks, unless you do DCC, and even that isn't as hard as it would appear.

[wm3798]

I've been able to get a DZ125 chip into several SW1200's, and I can keep most of the cab weight, AND put a working headlight over the cab...



To me the worst part of the Life Like design is the electrical pick-up, which is very fragile, particularly in light of how tightly the shell nests over the drive.  It's almost impossible to pull the shell without damaging one of the contact strips.  This can be overcome, though, by running a continuous strip along the bottom of the sill.

Lee

[nwline]

Thanks for your thoughts guy's , by no means do I think the Kato NW2 is junk or the LL SW. I should have given a little detail about what it was I was trying to do . First the 2 LL SW's I have are  complete but they are both completely apart and what I was thinking about was using the drive from the Kato ( for the ease of DCC ) for one and to make a dummy unit from the second .
Lee as you mentioned about the contacts , I agree that's got to be the worst part about the LL sw's and I was really trying to avoid making contacts ( all are missing ) to power it. Here's the real kicker about the whole thing , I've already started to paint the sw bodies ( IHB, who had a huge # of nw's ) and wanted to avoid hard wiring a decoder and making the contacts.
  But now you've got me thinkin , Chris did you use the LL motor or did you change it out( atlas slow spd. ) ? Lee you mentioned you put the decoder in the cab , did you keep the weight or chop it ? And what do you do for lights ?

DAVE

[Chris333]

My LL SW is all stock inside other than some added weight.

Here are some ex IHB units:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/LTEXMcDonaldOH/photo#5080305664111848082

[trainforfun]

My LL SW is all stock inside other than some added weight.

Here are some ex IHB units:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ErieChris333/LTEXMcDonaldOH/photo#5080305664111848082

Nice pictures on your site Chris , must be depressing walking in that yard , seeing all those dead giant .   :-\

[Nato]

  Only Switchers that run as nice as the LL are the Atlas Baldwin VO 1000's .The Kato's are a bit faster ,but if ya gotta have an SW2 that runs slower, then trying  to swap shells would be the only way to go. Nate Goodman (Nato). Salt Lake, Utah.

[wm3798]

You have to trim a bit of the frame down, but not so far that the decoder can foul the worm gear, then I use my magic band saw to cut back the inside of the cab weight.  The provides enough room for the decoder.



Then cut the channel in the top of the cab weight, with a vertical channel on the long hood side of it for the wires.  I use a 1.5v Miniatronics grain of rice bulb with a resistor.  The other trick is you have to pull the headlight housing off of the cab.  It has a clear lens in it, but there's no hole in the cab wall to let light get to it.  So, you have to carefully drill a hole between the mounting holes.  If you have a spare shell laying around, use the nose headlight housing since it has the little clear tab, it will conduct the light better.

There.  I've told you my secret, now I have to kill you... ;D

Lee