Large Scale Central

On30 Outdoors

Other Scales O / On30
#1

It’s going to be long winter so I’ve got time for imaginegineering. It won’t be too long before Mama and I will be considering downsizing and moving into much smaller digs. That’ll probably also mean a much smaller yard. So it occurred to me that On30 outdoors might be just the answer to having a decent sized railroad in a small space. I believe that Piko has track that’s UV resistant and there are some plastic structures that if properly built and painted should survive the great outdoors, during the warm months at least.

So, has anyone had any experience with On30 outdoors?, or perhaps can suggest where I might find more info on the subject.

Thanks,

Walt

#2

Surprisingly enough…RC and battery gear is coming of age and can be fitted to On30 locomotives…just ask Tony… I have been considering it myself…I suspect that it might be possible to make HO track UV resistant with an appropriate overspary, especially if pesky track pickup is no longer a problem…

#3

Here is how small 3 amp ESC’s are getting:

RCS BASIC-3

They are for smaller large scale locos. I have one going into a Big Hauler 4-6-0 Annie.

Also available are 1.5 amp ESC’s half that size that are ideal for 0n30".

#4

How about batteries? Waht are we talking $$ wise there?

#5

Hi Bart.
As I understand it the only viable type are Li-Po which the H0 and N crowd seem quite happy to use.

Can’t help on prices just yet.

The 3 amp combined 2.4 Ghz RX / ESC shown in the pic will sell for about US$ 65 ex UK.

My version will be a little more expensive because I will include stuff not in the UK version. US$75. Compare that to my OMEGA-3 + RX = US$109.
The ultra small RX/ESC’s for 0n30" will be cheaper than US$65.

#6

I haven’t been running On30 or On3 outside… but I see no problems and I am planning outdoor ops.

I recently had the opportunity to install the following in some MMI On3 locomotives (K-27, K-28, and three K-37s):

Airwire CONVERTR - Tsunami sound decoder - Li-Poly 11.5 volt, 1150 mAh battery pack.

Continuous run time with lights and sound exceed the time we have had for testing… operating 4 plus hours at a stretch. I expect a good deal more out of a charge.

Results are excellent. Radio range, sound quality, operational reliability

The battery packs I selected run $25