Rapido N-Scale FP9A Wheel Gauge Issue

[tehachapifan]

In my experience, a little misalignment of gears is normal....as long as they're not slipping off each other as you mentioned. However, a wobbly gear sounds like trouble to me! I would try to figure out the cause of that for sure!

[eja]

Well, I've eliminated the pick-up problem on the FP9A.  I buffed up the pick-up/axle contact spots and changed out the wheelset with the traction tires to a regular one with no tires.  Runs all the way around the layout loop like a top now, no hiccups.  Thanks to Rapido for including the tire-less wheel set in the extra parts bag.  I also tightened up a bit on the wheel gauge based on some of the replies in this thread. .

Thanks for all the help with this.

Doug

Aren't you glad you paid all those dollars so you could gain all that locomotive maintenance knowledge through what you have experienced.

Don't get me wrong, Rapido make beautiful models, but they should work when you or I take them out of the box!

[OldEastRR]

Again, I ask --- do HO modelers have these kinds of problems with Rapido engines? There must be some HO guys here who've bought them.

[dangerboy81]

Again, I ask --- do HO modelers have these kinds of problems with Rapido engines? There must be some HO guys here who've bought them.

Rapido had a run of HO engines that had some kind of a problem with the motors burning up I think. I don't remember the exact details. They were pretty good about fixing them once they realized there was a widespread problem.

[martin station]

  Two others that I recall are 1) Jason said the wheels from one supplier for some HO locomotives were "over plated" causing pick up issues and they have since dropped that supplier, and 2) on the new SW1200 locomotives some trucks were packed so full of grease that it caused the locomotive not to run well. After removing the bottom truck cover and cleaning out all the "over lube" and cleaning the wheels, the problem was solved. Rapido does seem to be pretty good about correcting issues once they are found.
Ralph

[thomasjmdavis]

Again, I ask --- do HO modelers have these kinds of problems with Rapido engines? There must be some HO guys here who've bought them.

My recollection is that very early on, they had axle/gear splitting issues with the first try on an HO Turbo (this would have been 15? years ago). They went through a lot of effort (and expense) to improve quality, and I think that had a lot to do with their establishing their own factory in China, so that they could exercise better quality control.

My armchair critique is that Rapido frequently "reinvents the wheel"- that is, rather than adopt the industry standard, they design everything from the ground up.  This can result in a better solution, but it can also result in missing something that another designer/engineer figured out a long time ago.  Peteski has made the point the axle end pickup design that Kato has been using for 25-30 years (and since adopted by many others) is better than the axle wiper pickup in Rapido's current production.  Imagine how many more meat reefers they might have sold if they had used the "industry standard" board gaps seen on Micro-trains or Intermountain wood reefers. (Rumor is out there that a second release of meat reefers is planned with that corrected).

[peteski]

My armchair critique is that Rapido frequently "reinvents the wheel"- that is, rather than adopt the industry standard, they design everything from the ground up.  This can result in a better solution, but it can also result in missing something that another designer/engineer figured out a long time ago.  Peteski has made the point the axle end pickup design that Kato has been using for 25-30 years (and since adopted by many others) is better than the axle wiper pickup in Rapido's current production.  Imagine how many more meat reefers they might have sold if they had used the "industry standard" board gaps seen on Micro-trains or Intermountain wood reefers. (Rumor is out there that a second release of meat reefers is planned with that corrected).

Thanks for a good chuckle Tom, and for letting me know that someone does listen to (and agrees with) my comments and opinions about all those seemingly backwards designs made by some of the model train manufacturers. Athearn, BLI, and Scale Trains also seem to be stuck in the past when it comes to the N scale truck design.

[ncbqguy]

In spite of the old perception that the Japanese, Koreans and Chinese are only good at copying they have talented engineers.
Like engineers everywhere they need to find different ways of doing things and don’t like using a previous design.

I do know that a starting point for importers is to have a base outline specification for each class of product.  Quality of materials, certain engineering parameters and standards should be agreed upon up front and not have to be revisited project by project.  Seems to me that cupped pickup plates and needle point bearing pickup should not be up for discussion as nobody has improved on the system but many have failed with different schemes.

Like full-size railroading our North American style and usage of model trains is far more rigorous than anywhere else in the world.  Many of us have and still run 55 year old locomotives and cars and expect them to perform!  Because no factory test track can incorporate the full range of home, club and modular layout operating conditions it is important for importers to listen to their customers and convey the market expectations to the factories.  Many of those who did not are no longer with us. 

Charlie Vlk

....the NMRA N Scale Standards were set not by HO guys but by knowledgeable respected N Scale pioneers like Keith Edwards (Kadee).  I hope every factory has multiple N Scale NMRA Gauges to confirm their track and wheels meet them.  No product should be designed or packaging created that allows wheels to go out of gauge in shipping no matter how rough the voyage!

[eja]

....the NMRA N Scale Standards were set not by HO guys but by knowledgeable respected N Scale pioneers like Keith Edwards (Kadee).  I hope every factory has multiple N Scale NMRA Gauges to confirm their track and wheels meet them.  No product should be designed or packaging created that allows wheels to go out of gauge in shipping no matter how rough the voyage!

Hear, hear !!

[sumfred]

Noticed another problems with these FP9's:  the supplied MTL coupler copies have stiffer internal springs, causing derailments of the first following car.  I swapped them out for the real MTL 1015 coupler and the problem was gone.  The couplers on my FP9's were also a little to high, a MTL shim solved that problem too.
Fred

[peteski]

Noticed another problems with these FP9's:  the supplied MTL coupler copies have stiffer internal springs, causing derailments of the first following car.  I swapped them out for the real MTL 1015 coupler and the problem was gone.  The couplers on my FP9's were also a little to high, a MTL shim solved that problem too.
Fred

They are MTL clones. Pretty darn close, but no cigar. The molding quality and spring softness will not be as good as the genuine MTL ones.

[w neal]

According to my NMRA guage, the wheelsets are very slightly narrow but otherwise fine. My couplers seem to work well too. There is a slight hop at the frogs on Atlas' 55 switches though.

[peteski]

According to my NMRA guage, the wheelsets are very slightly narrow but otherwise fine. My couplers seem to work well too. There is a slight hop at the frogs on Atlas' 55 switches though.

So it seems that Doug's problem was more severe, as shown in the first post of this thread.  Or do you consider this "slightly narrow"?

[w neal]

This is a crappy picture from a crappy phone

[peteski]

Umm, that looks about as bad (or as little) out of gauge as Doug's.  The photo is a bit crappy while Doug's is clear. You should be able to better tell whether what you see is close to what Doug shows.  As mentioned before in this thread, in my experience other N scale manufacturers produce models with the wheelsets being narrow in gauge.  Like the Arnold SW1 that I reviewed sometime ago.