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Author Previous Topic: 2-6-0 Shifter Topic Next Topic: Life Like Twin Peaks Overpass SEALED  

bnsfIA
Big Six

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  08:43:06 AM Link directly to this topic  Show Profile  Add bnsfIA to Buddylist
Are LL steam engines any good???
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Autobus Prime
Hudson

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  09:28:18 AM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add Autobus Prime to Buddylist
quote:
Are LL steam engines any good???

Originally posted by bnsfIA - December 16 2014 :  08:43:06 AM



Which one? LL has had a lot of steam engines so it's hard to give a general answer.

They had the Proto line which is expensive and presumably good. I know nothing about it because it is over my budget.

They had a few small steam engines that kept coming back.

The thing to understand about Life-Like is that it's made from pieces of Varney plus whatever Sanda Kan or Mehano could make for them to sell. Sol Kramer, the president of LL, had an earlier company called Silvine.

Dockside - Somewhat cruder version of Varney plastic dockside. Worth $5 used. Runs, nothing special.

Teakettle - Plastic version of Silvine metal Teakettle 0-4-0. Worth $5 used. Newer ones have an idler gear drive with a cheap can motor. I have one. It ran with the original motor, but was nothing special. I remotored it and it makes a decent little switcher.

2-6-0 - Weird Prussian design vaguely disguised by American tender. Rather crude. Worth $5 used. Runs, but even less special than the above 2. Also sold by model Power and Playart.


Shifter - Mantua 0-4-0 visual knockoff with cheap fat can motor and high gearing. Worth $5 used. Runs, nothing special. Also sold by Life Like and Model Power.


At one time they sold a 4-6-2 that I think was the same Mehano loco later sold by IHC. They also had a very weird PRR G5 on the running gear of a German 4-6-0 that was in the Varney line as a poor excuse for their "Old Lady 4-6-0" at the very end of the long Varney decay (just before the Varney leftovers were sold and became Life-Like). These are mostly ancient history, but you may encounter them.


Edited by - Autobus Prime on December 16 2014 09:33:24 AM
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Redneck Justin
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The Young Dr.Frankenstein!

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  11:47:25 AM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add Redneck Justin to Buddylist
The 0-4-0 tank engines are a joke. Lotta slop in the drive. I own one and it's fussy. If it ain't Proto 2000 steam from LL, it's garbage. Except the 4-6-2. It's a Mehano and they're ok runners.
" Heck with counting 'em rivets, TRAINS ARE FOR FUN! Not called the Mad Scientist for nothing either!"
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Autobus Prime
Hudson

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  12:06:45 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add Autobus Prime to Buddylist
quote:
The 0-4-0 tank engines are a joke. Lotta slop in the drive. I own one and it's fussy. If it ain't Proto 2000 steam from LL, it's garbage. Except the 4-6-2. It's a Mehano and they're ok runners.

Originally posted by Redneck Justin - December 16 2014 :  11:47:25 AM



RJ:

The Teakettle I have at least has all axles geared, which takes the sloppy rods out of the drivetrain. I'm not sure when they started using this mechanism, or if the Docksider ever had anything similar.

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scsshaggy
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scsshaggy

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  12:39:58 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add scsshaggy to Buddylist
quote:
The Teakettle I have at least has all axles geared, which takes the sloppy rods out of the drivetrain. I'm not sure when they started using this mechanism, or if the Docksider ever had anything similar.
Originally posted by Autobus Prime - December 16 2014 :  12:06:45 PM


The Dockside I had did not have all axles geared. It had one geared. The drivers were plastic wheels pressed onto steel axles and they slipped out of quarter at the drop of a hat. I suspect that they would also drop the hat, themselves, if no one else did. Qualify this with the fact that I call my layout the torture track and that some people may have better luck than I with delicate mechanisms.

Carpe Manana!
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Autobus Prime
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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  12:59:18 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add Autobus Prime to Buddylist
quote:
quote:
The Teakettle I have at least has all axles geared, which takes the sloppy rods out of the drivetrain. I'm not sure when they started using this mechanism, or if the Docksider ever had anything similar.
Originally posted by Autobus Prime - December 16 2014 :  12:06:45 PM


The Dockside I had did not have all axles geared. It had one geared. The drivers were plastic wheels pressed onto steel axles and they slipped out of quarter at the drop of a hat.


That is about the same experience I have had with the LL Dockside. What sort of motor does yours have, and does it have an idler gear?

The Docksides I have played with in the past were all powered by angle-mount open frame motors that looked like a KTM with a plastic brush holder; the same motor as in the LL 'uni-drive' diesels, crude and not well balanced. These directly drove a worm gear on the axle. Drivers had crude plastic centers and metal tires.

However, I saw a different design in this thread, which I presume is a later revision, with better-looking driver centers, and a big fat can motor driving through an idler gear:

http://www.tycoforums.com/tyco/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=12783

Someone on Another Forum made an 0-4-4-0 Mallet out of 2 of these, and said that the mechanism ran "strong". I wouldn't define any quality of the earlier mechanism as "strong", so this made me curious.

Which type drive is yours?

quote:

I suspect that they would also drop the hat, themselves, if no one else did.




Edited by - Autobus Prime on December 16 2014 1:01:15 PM
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bnsfIA
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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  2:52:48 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add bnsfIA to Buddylist
I'm talking about those 0-4-0's with the tenders.
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Autobus Prime
Hudson

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 Posted - December 16 2014 :  3:32:39 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add Autobus Prime to Buddylist
quote:
I'm talking about those 0-4-0's with the tenders.

Originally posted by bnsfIA - December 16 2014 :  2:52:48 PM



Those are the same as the one sold by Model Power. They have a fat can motor with a brass worm, driving a rather small axle gear. My son has an "Old Time Fatboy" which is a different superstructure on the same mech.

They run. They aren't silent, they have a bit of a whine. Top speed is high. Bottom speed is not as low as it should be for a switcher. Visual design is a copy of the Mantua Shifter (a very burly loco as 0-4-0s go) and while the mechanical design doesn't lend itself to slow-mo creeping, it's simple and doesn't have much to break.

Decent basic Christmas-tree loco, but don't pay what Walthers wants, they are all over train shows and Ebay.

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raysouthernpac
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 Posted - February 05 2015 :  11:48:50 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add raysouthernpac to Buddylist
quote:
Are LL steam engines any good???

Originally posted by bnsfIA - December 16 2014 :  08:43:06 AM



Proto Heritage are amazing steamers. The regular line LL , not so much.

If you are not having fun, you are not doing it right.
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dmoney2015
Switcher

devinbaker

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 Posted - August 27 2015 :  11:56:47 PM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add dmoney2015 to Buddylist
quote:
The 0-4-0 tank engines are a joke. Lotta slop in the drive. I own one and it's fussy. If it ain't Proto 2000 steam from LL, it's garbage. Except the 4-6-2. It's a Mehano and they're ok runners.

Originally posted by Redneck Justin - December 16 2014 :  11:47:25 AM

what about the 260

devin "give me the ugly steam none of that streamlined stuff"
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thesiding
Big Boy


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 Posted - August 28 2015 :  12:18:31 AM Link directly to this reply  Show Profile  Add thesiding to Buddylist
My experience with Life Like locomotive wise is NOT that spectacular

Am familiar with the Proto line but as others stated it is expensive (one of the problems with hobby today)Thankfully enough second hand merchandise is out there

I generally stay with Athearn (geared) Atlas (when it's cheap) Tyco (before 1976)
AHM before 1986

The Walthers Trainline seems to be good picked up a Pennsylvania diesel at flea market recently (boxed) for ten dollars

(YES I KNOW THEY SELL FOR MORE WHY DO YOU THINK I BOUGHT IT?)

Got it home ran flawlessly

Basically Life Like scenery is their best prouct or some of the freight cars
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