Minitrix FM switcher question

[Doug G.]

Ink stamping it on there was entirely possible since industrial pad stamping was well established by that time. Other N scale manufacturers used it.

Why Minitrix decided to use heat, who knows?

Doug

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Ugh... I literally just won a MILW unit too... How bad is the scar after a paint job? Is it still visible underneath?

[wazzou]

It would definitely require filler.

[Missaberoad]

It goes right through every door (and the spaces between) along the entire side. It would be very difficult to repair the damage with filler...

[atsf_arizona]

What's the chance of one of these available on the bay? Spookshows review is that's it's really not a bad runner. I have a Faulhaber motor with nothing to do. Might be a good fit for it?

Joe D

Those motors are expensive.  I don't know that I would make the swap.  Sort of like putting a Porche motor in a Yugo.

The stock mechanism runs well, but is a bit loud with all the brass gears.

Hi, JoeTrain59,

U18B has it pretty right on... the Faulhaber or Maxon are excellent coreless motors, but the very high stock gearing on the Minitrix negates the ability
of those fine motors - i.e. the loco can't run slowly enough to have a smooth creep, due to the gearing.

SP-Wolf's approach to use a Bachmann NW2 chassis seems like a good idea.  Others have used a LifeLike SW1200 mechanism.

But, I did try to put a Maxon motor in the stock Minitrix mechanism.  Not a great outcome, but it runs OK, just not able to do smooth slow
creep.  See here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20151002184854/http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Santa_Fe_FM_H12-44_Zebra_Stripe.htm

and here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20151002184855/http://home.comcast.net/~j.sing/Richmond_Controls_EZ26_Install_Minitrix_FM_H12-44_page1.html

I had Hans Starmans build a kit for me to put a Maxon motor in the Minitrix.  Hans warned me of the same thing that U18B said,
the gearing on the Minitrix is very high thus tends to jackrabbit start a bit and can't creep.   But here's what was done (ignore the
type in the photo, the article / web page of mine these are from are showing installing a Jim Hinds LED light package):





While it runs OK, it doesn't can't creep like a LifeLike SW1200.   But it does look OK, runs OK, and it was fun to do a one-off:

[randgust]

I was just going to post the 'builders photo' of that unit and John beat me to it, that was a fun build.   You MILW guys may have a scar, but the ATSF guys got a powder-blue unit with yellow stripes and sewer-pipe handrails.   Hard to believe that stock shell is as good as it is.   Trix made some truly good mechanisms for their time, but the paint and finishing (along with the milk-white windows) were some of the worst.

My observation on the Trix motors is that the truly older ones - and by that I mean probably anything prior to 1975 - were better made and the tooling wasn't as worn.  I had a couple U28's that had truly excellent motors for 3-pole, you could easily and quietly creep them.   The U28 and the FM, the 0-6-0, U30CG, and the K-4, (I think) all shared the same style motor.   The F-unit motors were kind of a POS, but the U28's could be really good, after they ran in the brushes a bit.  One of my U28 chassis under an F45 convert body actually won an NMRA slow speed contest for like 1'30" to move 12" on a standard DC throttle.  And whisper quiet.

By the time Model Power and Con-Cor got hold of them, the tooling was getting a little ragged.  You could actually see burrs on the edges of the steel stampings, and the motors tended to cog more.  It was hard to see, but they just didn't run as good.   The last couple I got with Con-Cor packaging were noticeably beat tooling on the mechanisms; burs on the gears, flash on the trucks, you name it.   They were downright noisy.

So my recommendation on the old FM's is that if you can find one in Trix packaging it's probably going to be better than one in MP; newer is not better with these, the best motors were the older ones.   I think that's one of the reasons you have such a wide variety of opinions on Trix units as a whole - by the end the tooling was really getting shot.

[nkalanaga]

The early Fs were every bit as good as the others.  I ran my railroad with them for years, until Kato and Atlas started using flywheels.  They actually ran better than the early Atlas/Kato RS3s.

[GimpLizard]

So the obvious question is... why haven't Atlas, Kato, or Life-Like done an FM yet?

[milw156]

Or Fox Valley Models? Come on Matt!!!!!

[wcfn100]

Or Fox Valley Models? Come on Matt!!!!!

Yeah, I would have bet the house on that.

Jason

[tehachapifan]

So the obvious question is... why haven't Atlas, Kato, or Life-Like done an FM yet?

Because I haven't quite finished modifying and detailing my Minitrix unit.

[thomasjmdavis]

I picked one of these up used several years ago, that has some of the body modifications shown by atsf_arizona, and a pretty good zebra stripe (over black) paint/decal job.  So I take it I was correct in assuming it was not a factory issue?

One other question that is probably already answered here, but am I correct that the Minitrix model is one of the very late FM production that is 3' or so shorter than the earlier ones?

On that scar on the Milwaukee units, it oddly almost lines up to where the body mount safety handrail should be.

[nickelplate759]

Yes, the Minitrix model is a late-model, shorter, H12-44.

[u18b]

Following up to my own post about the Fallhauber motor being to much money for this mechanism......

I agree with Ron....

In fact..... if I wanted a modern and excellent performing mechanism for my FM switcher....
I'd just put a modern mechanism under the shell rather than repowering the original mechanism.

IMHO.

[Joetrain59]

Ron, I'm probably going to do that. Someone from here has a black/orange MILW unit, that he customized a bit more, for sale. Trainland/World has Bmann NW2's for $50. We'll see whart happens.
 Joe D