I posted my initial entry into this Resin kit world here back on March 13th. I purchased the kit on-line from Etsy, seller SWC3DBackshop. I won’t repeat the kit details I described in that post other than to say I continue to be impressed with the quality of the kit. Crisp, substantial, well designed pieces that fit with precision. There has emerged a quiet but intriguing band of 7/8th followers roving the back roads here in Northeastern Washington state in the dark of night. They apparently invaded my otherwise dedicated attention to normal, “G scale.” I think that is how I happened to find myself immersed now in 7/8th. Sneaky, they are. However, I have found myself having more fun with this kit and a few of this manufacturer’s other offerings more than I can remember in a long time. My very first Resin kit, and I found it very easy to work with. With luck, photos will accompany this post. I’ll repost Joe McCummins photo of the kit pieces as delivered, followed by progress photos of my locomotive. I have completed about 85% of it, having only small details to add, some of which are my own pieces. Note that if the kit is built as delivered, it looks very good, “as is.” I did add friction bearing journals box covers. That is because I like friction bearing journal box covers… I also added “tool boxes,” under the running boards in the rear, one on each side of the locomotive. Good place to throw chains, Misc. tools, and various other trappings including the open-end wrench shown in the photograph. This location, both fore and aft, would also be an ideal spot to substitute sanders in place of tool boxes. One sander in each corner of the lokie. Perhaps sanders may become available. A re-rail frog is another possibility, and on and on. That’s what i like about the model - it is easy to dream up simple things to add.
My goal was to operate this locomotive RC, using the new Revolution DCC hand held transmitter and their, “in-the-loco,” receiver. These are their 59xxx series products. The receiver allows me to interface my 14.8V LiPo battery pack with my ZIMO MX644C decoder mounted on the ZIMO screw terminal adapter board as sound extensions of the Revo product. Speaker is mounted just inside the lokie’s grill/radiator, projecting sound forward. Battery pack is split, with one sitting on each side of the interior of the engine compartment. Revo receiver sits atop of battery pack. Inside the cab, the, “instrument/control panel,” is removable, and the empty space within easily gobbles up the ZIMO decoder. Now I only need to tuck the wiring in for a more tidy installation. This arrangement allows the engine hood to be slid sideways, and once off, the receiver can be easily unplugged and taken elsewhere for use with another locomotive application. To power down the locomotive I unplug the battery inside the engine space. A switch for that purpose would be an improvement, - I just have not done that yet, if I do it at all. One photo should show the lokie underside where added weights can be seen. I got the weights from my local tire shop., They are, “tape-weights,” that were removed from customers’ cars and thrown in a bucket for recycling. Flat cars that appear in some photos are also from the same seller, and quite nice. I will try a separate post for them. I am extremely pleased with the result of having spent some enjoyable hours building this kit. I may add some lettering, plus whatever else I think of. For now, I hope this post is useful. At least it shows how far it has come. I like this Kritter a lot and the size makes life really easy when I want to take it and a couple cars to another Club member’s home to run, rather than a large, heavy locomotive and cars.
