New Model Power / MRC Steam

[mmagliaro]

MRC's website and BLW both list the C&O version as having a vandy OIL tender!  Blasphemy!  Sacrilege!  The photo does show a proper coal tender.

They are going to sell the 4-6-2 with "Pennsylvania" painted on it, so being prototypically accurate obviously
does not weigh into their thinking.

[victor miranda]

Considering the bad reputation of MRC decoders (deserved, IMO), that might not be such a big incentive. Unless the buyers are unfamiliar with that bad reputation.

hmmm.

please add a little more emphasis to the word 'may'

the guy who alerted us to the model for sale has one on reserve.
I really do not want to suck the joy outta that.

... one very real possibility is that the tender will have all wheel and axle point style pickups.
and that the sound MAY well be improved also.

let us hope.

victor

[SkipGear]

There has already been one unannounced revision on the Model Power locos. The locos that came in the Microtrains sets recently had pickup "improvements".

The 4-4-0 had traction tires installed and added pick up power from the rear wheels of the pilot truck. The tender pickups were changed from flat wiper strips to a fine PB wire wiper but were still half axle pickup.

I just worked on the NYC 2-8-2 for a friend and it had the same tender truck changes. Nothing else noted though. He gave it to me because it stopped running. It turned out that the brush spring had corroded and gummed up the upper motor brush. Once I cleaned it out, the loco ran very good. Slow speed was good, it was very smooth running albeit a little loud at speed but these always seem to be that way because the motor mounted to the metal boiler.

[peteski]

hmmm.

please add a little more emphasis to the word 'may'

the guy who alerted us to the model for sale has one on reserve.
I really do not want to suck the joy outta that.

... one very real possibility is that the tender will have all wheel and axle point style pickups.
and that the sound MAY well be improved also.

let us hope.

victor

Victor, after the last debacle with MRC decoders (in Athearn Big Boys), there are many modelers who shay away from them. It is not about the electric pickup (or even about the MRC decoders smoking). The MRC sound decoders are rather basic and the sound quality is sub-par compared to the more expensive sound decoders (like QSI, ESU, Zimo or Soundtraxx).  Just stating the facts.  Same goes for Digitrax plug-n-play sound decoders for N scale locos. Those are also not the greatest - not very feature-rich and the sound is not as good as the "better" brand decoders.

Even Athearn decided to use another brand decoder in their second release of Big Boys and Challengers.

[SkipGear]

The MRC 1900 series decoders are at least acceptable. The BEMF chuff matching works very good, speed control is a little loose but for the average person, they do a fine job. You just can't be too picky about what sounds you want because the options just are not there. Feature packed they are not but they work well for the price point they are aiming for.

[peteski]

The MRC 1900 series decoders are at least acceptable. The BEMF chuff matching works very good, speed control is a little loose but for the average person, they do a fine job. You just can't be too picky about what sounds you want because the options just are not there. Feature packed they are not but they work well for the price point they are aiming for.

We all have our standards I guess . . .

I guess the old adage that you get what you paid for applies.

[mcjaco]

^ Yeah, if you want sound on the cheap, go MRC.  If not, pay more. 

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? 

I have a 2006 version of the MP Pacific.  I haven't decoderized it yet, but it runs quite well, and I may add sound since I haven't done DCC to it yet.  Interested to see if there are any improvements.

[peteski]

^ Yeah, if you want sound on the cheap, go MRC.  If not, pay more. 

Isn't that how it's supposed to work? 

Yes it is. But some manufacturers force you to buy their version of a sound decoder (by only offering sound-equipped models).  If you want to upgrade you have to pay extra for the factory-decoder model then spend even more money on a better quality decoder (which often goes for more than $100).  So you basically throwing away the factory decoder. But if a manufacturer offers either a DC or non-sound DCC model for sale then this makes the upgrade much easier and cheaper.

[mmagliaro]

Yes it is. But some manufacturers force you to buy their version of a sound decoder (by only offering sound-equipped models).  If you want to upgrade you have to pay extra for the factory-decoder model then spend even more money on a better quality decoder (which often goes for more than $100).  So you basically throwing away the factory decoder. But if a manufacturer offers either a DC or non-sound DCC model for sale then this makes the upgrade much easier and cheaper.

I do give MRC a point for this.  They are listing all the new runs in both DC only and DCC.

[basementcalling]

While BLW has good prices and service (I have been a customer from long before the website was up), the website is very poorly maintained.  Lots of non-cross-referenced links all over the place.  It would take a long time to get things in any sort of an order and indexed properly.  It is too bad (compared to MBK for example), but I also understand that unlike MBK, BLW is mostly one-man operation.  No time to get the website fixed up.

I disagree. I find little wrong with the BMW website.  MBK. drives me nuts showing every road number of car releases. Scrolling through 24 pictures times 6 road names after they are out of stock is no fun.

[Chris333]

At MBK you can click N scale. Click locomotives. Click steam locomotives. And then drop down the mfg list to find what you want.

At BLW you can go to their online index and find MRC, but no Model Power. Clicking MRC just gets you a page of decoders. Although there is a page with these MRC/Model Power steamers at BLW there is no way to find it on their site.

[mmagliaro]

Okay, I took this as a challenge, like an Easter Egg hunt!
I did manage to find the Model Power engines on the BLW site.

Go to the main site: http://www.blwnscale.com/
Click on "Locomotives" at the very top of the page (there is a strip of categories across the top).

Then in there, you can click on "Model Power".
Then click on, for example, the 4-6-2, and you get the listing that has prices for taking reservations on the new models,
and the description of the improvements they expect.

I agree, however, that it is very unintuitive and arduous to find.  But what do I know?  I remember buying
from BLW when they sent out a monthly paper catalog with an N Scale auction list in it.  Those were the days.
(Rawr....)

[Chris333]

Ah that worked for me.

Pilot pick-ups. Are you kidding me    Now the tender wheels won't be the only ones dragging along.

[jdcolombo]

I could use a couple of light Mikes for the NKP, but after my recent experience with the Bachmann Berks, I think I'll wait until someone actually has one of these in hand and can give a report.   If they are good, a couple of DC units that I can convert to DCC/Sound with the ESU LokSound and repaint for the NKP would be on my list.   

My past experiences with MRC decoders have been terrible.  It's not so much the sound, which was acceptable (when paired with a decent speaker), as the motor control, which was awful.  Plus, it's become painfully clear to me that the steam manufacturers haven't yet learned the "better speaker = better sound" lesson.  Bachmann put a 15mm lousy round speaker without a sealed enclosure in the bottom of the Berk tender, and the result was typically awful: tinny and weak.   Athearn did the same thing (except that they sort of have an enclosure in the form of a steel weight) in the BigBoy and Challenger, which have tenders as large as whole diesel locomotives.  Until they do better, I'll roll my own.  But there really isn't any excuse for this - the techniques for good sound are well documented: a good cell-phone-type speaker in a sealed enclosure mated to a decoder capable of good sound output.   If you're going to charge me significantly more for a sound version, it should be at least as good as what I can do on my own.

John C.

[Palouse51]

Until they do better, I'll roll my own.  But there really isn't any excuse for this - the techniques for good sound are well documented: a good cell-phone-type speaker in a sealed enclosure mated to a decoder capable of good sound output.   If you're going to charge me significantly more for a sound version, it should be at least as good as what I can do on my own.

John C.

At the risk of irritating a friend of mine who thinks some of us bitch too much, I have to say I agree with your assessment.