Model Power Pacific / Mikado with Vanderbilt Tender

Scale:
N Scale


This installation uses the following decoder:

MC2



This installation is for N Scale Model Power Pacific or Mikado uses TCS MC2 Decoder and was performed by Jeffry Maurer.

Difficulty: 3 out of 10 1. Gently remove the tender shell by lifting up from the rear 2. Remove the shrink wrap from the red and orange wires and the black and grey wires 3. Unsolder the orange and grey wire 4. Solder the red wire from the harness to the red wires in the tender and cover with shrink wrap 5. Continue soldering the orange, black and grey wires on the harness to the same color wires in the tender and cover with heat shrink. 6. Plug in the decoder and reattach the tender shell 7. Test engine
That is all that is needed to install the decoder to control the speed of the locomotive. To be able to control the headlight, you need to do the following: Model Power Headlight Control Difficulty:6 out of 10 8. Turn the engine over and remove the two screws shown in the photo. Caution: Do not loose the spring under the pilot truck. 9. Use a small flat blade screwdriver to release the clips holding the engine cab located under the engine on the firebox. 10. Remove the engine cab by gently pulling it towards the rear of the engine.
11. Remove the boiler by pulling it up from the running gear. Note how the red and black wires go in the groves under the firebox
12. Cut off the brass tabs that provide power to the light from the drivers. 13. Feed the yellow and blue wire through the front of the tender next to the drawbar. 14. To help hide the yellow and blue wires, I used a black permanent felt pen to color the two wires black. 15. Solder the yellow wire to one side of the light and the blue to the other and insulate the solder joints (I used a liquid plastic normally used for dipping tool handles) 16. Partially reinstall the boiler on the running gear. Note: do not reinstall any screws. 17. Route the yellow and blue wires up under the running boards. One wire will go above the power reverse on one side and the second can go above the air compressor on the other side 18. Using a flat blade screwdriver, guide the red and black wires back into the grooves under the firebox. 19. Route the yellow and blue wires into the same grooves making sure neither wire is rubbing on the rear driver. 20. Reattach the tender drawbar to the pin on the running gear and complete reinstalling the boiler making sure that no wires are being pinched. 21. Reinstall the pilot truck with the spring and the screw as well as the rear boiler retaining screw. 22. Plug in the decoder and reattach the tender shell. 23. Test engine. Arrow points to wire leading to headlight.

Important Soldering Tip

Please do not use any flux either liquid or paste on the mother board. Over time, the acidic properties of liquid or paste flux will begin eating away at the fiberglass PCB and will damage it. Use only Rosin-core solder or no-clean flux approved for electronics use.

TCS recommends the use of Kester "44" Sn63 Pb37, .015" diameter Rosin-core solder. Kester part number 24-6337-0007.

You can order this solder from the following retailers:
Digikey - PN:KE1110-ND
Techni-Tool - PN:488SO6775

Other solder tips

When stripping wire, only strip a tiny little bit of the insulation. Strip no more than a 1/32 of an inch. When the wire gets tinned with solder, the insulation will shrink back more. Try to not expose any more wire than half the length of the solder pad at most. In no case should solder or exposed wire wire ever be outside the boundary of the the solder pad you are attaching a wire to.
Click here for important information on properly Stripping and Tinning wire