I love in general MicroAce models as they are really exclusive, but I admit I skip many models if I can get them from Kato or Tomix. I feel they are quite tricky to convert for DCC operation. In this case also I found the model not at MicroAce quality level. Seemed too much a "plastic model" to me. Couplers is something to absolutely change and make better, with the standard Arnold couplers the model decreases dramatically its aspect. But let's start with the motor car:
The first difficulty is that it's not possible (I should better say I'm not able) to tin and solder those pad of silver color, like the motor ones. Secondly, you cannot take off the cooper plates from the plastic piece. Finally, there is no place to pass a wire under the seats plastic piece. So you will have to drill a hole in the right positions (check the photo) and solder in the cooper plates without melting the plastic:
The solution for the motor plates is to tin the wires and place them in the right place, under the motor plates, with double sided tape. When closing the shell it will have a good contact, I had no problems in all runs:
And now for the head and tail cars, find a decoder able to switch the current depending on the direction, because Microace light boards are to heavy to modify. I'm not able to flip the led position as you would normally do in any other model. I used a cheap LaisDCC decoder:
I cut the leads that take the current for the light board and solder the motor wires in that place. LaisDCC decoders can be configured in a way that the motor wires can be used for lighting, and depending on the travel direction they invert the polarity so red or white led will light (same principle as if running in analog track). Red and black wires were tinned and inserted in place as you see in the photo, no need to solder them fixed to the pick up current plates:
And the final result, enjoy it!!
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