KATO HO D51

[Kusojiji]

I have always wanted a Kato HO steamer since I own a lot of N scale steamers. The D51 is a very popular locomotive in Japan and is known as the degoichi (de-d, go-5, ichi-1). It is a Mikado 2-8-2.

When this was announced, I pre-ordered one and waited for about 6 months. When it came in, I ran it on DC a few days when it developed an incurable, unidentifiable rod knock. I sent that back for refund.

I didn't think I'd get another, but after reading more about it in other threads, I decided to try again.

This one runs fine and has been for a few months. Comes in at 435 grams. It is not DCC ready and only had the headlight. Tail light does not light. Not sure why they do that as that is common on their n-scale stuff.

So, first order of business was to add a tail lamp. The tail lamp has a light path that acts as a fiber, so all that is needed is an led and resistor.

So I printed out a mount and stuffed the led and resistor in. Had to remember the polarity.

 

[Kusojiji]

Next up, firebox flicker. I used two 603 leds that flicker, one yellow and one red with the yellow on top. Printed up a mount that fits in the chassis slot that is right behind the backhead.

Next up was the dreaded hole. Had to do this so that I could take measurements for the mount.

I made the mount so that the leds remain with the body and is not connected to the shell, to facilitate removal in case it is needed.

 

[Kusojiji]

I always wanted to try my hand at cab lighting. Seen a few videos of where someone has done this and I thought it looked neat. Of course you have to detail the cab now.

So, following the no wires theme, I created a mount for an led to be mounted in the shell with contacts to make contacts with the light board. The two slots are where the wires will be run. They'll be stripped, doubled over and soldered to give them some springiness.

Did the playdough test to ensure I had clearance.

Once that was sorted, I had to drill another hole in the backhead and get the led in. This is a 603 on some stiff wires.

Installed two brass runners onto the lightboard for the led leads to make contact against.

This shot is how the mount will come to rest against the lightboard.

 

[Kusojiji]

And to tie it all together, DCC. This one was tough, but a guy on utube pretty much detailed the process from taking the body apart to the lightboard removal and modification.

In order to make this reversable, I bought a new lightboard as it requires that the onboard resistor, jumper and cap be removed. I made a diagram to help ensure I don't screw it up. Or at least minimize the chance.

The runners that connect the rails to the motor needed to be cut. I used the back side of an exacto blade.

Once the mods to the lightboard were made, it was time to solder the decoder on. I used a train-o-matic mini 8 pin as it is wired all the way up to aux 2, which is what I needed. Aux 1 for firebox, aux 2 for cab light.

The decoder is small enough that it fits, wires first, into the body cavity wtih room to spare for the firebox flicker mount. The most difficult part was getting all the wires in place for the body to fit back on. When it didn't fit back on, I shelved this project for a few weeks. I put it back on the front burner today and redid some of the wiring to get it to fit in better. It ended up being the headlight wires needing to be run under a weight vice on top.

Although I don't have a pic of it, I rewired the tender light to insulate the resistor and led wires from the metal chassis and soldered in a 1.25mm JST connector to connect to the loco. The tender also provides rail power to the loco from all 8 wheels via a two conductor drawbar. This thing is just a larger version of their n-scale stuff.

One of the biggest issues with this model is that it has a tendency to short out and was another major contributing factor in me returning my first one. This is a major bummer as it seems Kato took a short cut on the design. It seems they just doubled the blue print and started printing. I had to add separators in to keep these two runners from touching.

So once I had everything all nice and snug, got it to the track.

 

[AuburnCentral]

Nice job looks great

 

[Kusojiji]

Thanks! took a while to complete. I finally decided today was the day.

 

[RhB Michael]

KATO is making HO scale locomotive in this day and age that are not DCC ready? That's archaic.

 

[Kusojiji]

Yeah, it's pretty lame. The weird thing about it is that the previous release did have an 8 pin in the tender. This one was a quick, cheap, don't think too much and just get it on the streets deal. Their excuse was that they put two coreless motors in it, but since they are both tied together with a shaft, there isn't an issue.

Even their EF81 isn't DCC ready. The Kumoha 40 said it was DCC ready, but motor only. And the slot for the 8 pin was inside a metal frame that I couldn't get the decoder in. I sent them an email and they told me to cut the metal frame.

 

[Bruette]

Magnificent work!

 

[Kusojiji]

Thanks! I had to brush the dust off before getting restarted.