Thanks for that – I got interested in Japanese models after a stint living in Tokyo and have about 6 Kato EMUs which I have converted for DCC – but that was a couple of years ago so I’m a bit rusty and was wondering if there were any special twists to the Microace motor cars. As you say, the cab cars may require some thought – if I get around to doing this I will do some pictures.

DCC installation looks…well, mixed. But this model is low on my list of conversions to complete, so I can’t say for certain. If you take apart the motor car, you will see that all the things you need to solder to are readily exposed, and there is even a piece of plastic to help you isolate the motor. Yay!

The cab cars are a different story. There are two sets of headlights, one of which is only activated when you push a lever forward (the one that ejects the headlight covers). So, the installation has to be sensitive to the workings of this physical mechanism. Thankfully, there does appear to be a nicely sized cavity for hiding the decoder in, but I suspect that this part of the conversion will be a tad messy.

I strongly recommend taking some time to take the motor car and one of the cab cars apart to have a look at their inner workings. Perhaps this weekend I’ll post some dissection photos of my own.

Cheers

Okay, Tenshodo is amazing! Its like Tiffany’s with model trains??? Wild!