Piko Union Pacific ‘Mogul’ (Digital with Sound and Smoke) Video
Ken,
You could have used a better example. The one you used is missing the grab rails from the smoke box to the pilot and the middle drivers are messed up. They are not on the rail head! BTW, videos s/b posted in the video forum. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
Joe Zullo said:
Ken,
You could have used a better example. The one you used is missing the grab rails from the smoke box to the pilot and the middle drivers are messed up. They are not on the rail head! BTW, videos s/b posted in the video forum. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)
Perhaps you could send him yours to make a better video from!
Now I see the missing rod Joe was talking about. Or, more accurately, I don’t see it.
The Piko Moguls are nicely done, IMHO. A decent G scale locomotive for what seems to be a fair price. My only criticism would be the chuff sound. I am not a rivet counter by any stretch of the imagination, but I have come to appreciate the sound of four chuffs per driver revolution on steam locomotives. The Piko locos are far from that. Watching several videos of the Moguls, I am still unable to determine how many chuffs their sound system is producing per driver revolution.
Years ago, I believe it was one of the Richters (LGB) was asked the question of why not four chuffs per revolution. His answer was (not verbatem)
"The chuffs would blend at higher speeds and the children would not hear the “chuff chuff”
The Piko apears to me to be 2 chuffs per revolution. And many models only produce 2 chuffs per revolution. Years ago, with an analog sound system, I noticed how, at speed, the chuffs blended together into a constant roar. But with today’s technology, a digital sound system could produce 4 distinct chuffs at speed. Speed like 80 scale miles per hour, not speed like scale Mach 1.
The sound system in the Piko locomotive is made by Soundtraxx (a Tsunami variant). It does not have a cam for the chuff. Chuff rate is based on motor RPM. You can adjust it (CV 116) to better match the rotation of the drivers, but you’re unlikely to get it to remain consistent through its speed range. I couldn’t get my review sample to stay consistent. (Soundtraxx’s latest technology which they’re using in their Econami and Tsunami2 boards is a significant improvement, but I don’t know if that upgraded technology has made it into Piko’s OEM boards.)
The biggest thing to watch out for with the Piko 2-6-0 and 0-6-0 is the stupid “pins” that hold the valve gear in place. They’re cheap plastic clip-in pins, and they break. Often. Oh, how I would LOVE to see Piko put the attention into the valve gear of this loco that they put into the valve gear of their German prototype locos. I can forgive them that these locos are basic with regard to detail, but the siderods have to be robust enough to stay on.
Later,
K