Hi Guys,
I've just picked up a SP GP20 for £50 off ebay & when it arrived i was impressed in my buy. It seems it has never been out of the box but there are a few things i need to address on it.
firstly the ladders on the rear of the hood & the grab rails around the model are moulded in a yellow plastic which look rather bulky & are in the wrong colour so i would like to replace these if it is possible.
Also does anyone do a dcc decoder for this model because the one i have seems to be pre dcc & it needs to be updated to dcc power.
Cheers,
Si
Detail Associates do make wire grabs that can work. You get a bunch in a pack and they are pretty cheap. The legs are pretty long and would have to be cut after they are installed. May have to driil the holes unless they holes are already there for the grabs.
As far as the decoder..Im still old school DC. Im sure someone with more expertise in DCC could help there.
That's great eightyeightfan thanks.
Now comes the task of finding a dealer either in the uk or somewhere that I can avoid customs charges.
Si
Someone in UK makes a bending jig for grab irons - I have one somewhere, but can't find it at the moment - it might be Bill Bedford at Mousa Models - <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.mousa.biz/fourmm/loco/parts4.html">http://www.mousa.biz/fourmm/loco/parts4.html</a><!-- m --> - worth giving him an email to ask
Installing DCC in the model should not be difficult.
I haven't seen the inside of a GP20 in a while, but if I remember right, the model has wires leading up from the trucks to the circuit board, and from there, wires radiate out to the motor and lights. This set up makes it particularly easy to install DCC.
When installing DCC in a locomotive without a plug, you can usually get rid of the PC board, since it usually only has a few diodes or other equipment to cancel out "noise", things your decoder already has. This makes some more space in your model.
Next, you're going to want to solder the red decoder wires to the truck pick up wires on one side, and the black decoder wire to the other. the orange and gray (Fixed!) wires go to the motor. The lighting wires are attached to their respective lights, and the blue wire is attached to each (it is the "common" wire).
You don't necessarily have to worry about the red and black or the grey and orange wires being wired in the correct order, since simple changes to CV 29 can allow you to set the locomotive which ever way you want to be the "Front" (don't know if you have a high-hood or low hood GP20).
...That should be orange and GRAY to the motor.....
Make sure the motor brushes are isolated from the frame, and solder the wires directly to them.
Steamtrains Wrote:...That should be orange and GRAY to the motor.....
Make sure the motor brushes are isolated from the frame, and solder the wires directly to them.
Oh wow, every once in a while, my brain farts!
but yes, if you don't see two seperate motor wires, that means the model is probably using the frame somewhere. If the motors have seperate wires attaching to each terminal, you can safely assume its isolated.