Rusty's suggestions are right on. The original belt drive was strange.
I think locally we had 6-8 units all acting the same way. Some of us
converted to a chain drive. That made a very nice running model until I
had sprockets start to crack--the same thing that happens to
universals--if you make them too tight they crack and if you loosen up a
bit they slip!
Since I've had my shells detailed and painted/lettered. I decided to try
a different way to make these things run. I purchased SHS F unit
trucks, I had some brackets custom made by a fellow S guy. I haven't
done the assembly yet but I don't expect any major problems (yes,
fingers crossed). I will also go to a Overland motor to replace the
dual Canons. That will save some room for sound equipment.
Two things about those units--they pulled very well and I think they
might have been the only S diesel made in Japan--not Korea.
Bob Werre
PhotoTraxx
On 2/13/13 9:40 AM, Rusty wrote:
The Sunset GP shell is made up of several pieces. The frame platform
and hand rails are one piece, the cab is another , the hoods are
another, there are 2 flat can Canon motors inside the hood. One at
each end
Take it all apart, solder everything together as one piece, cut out
the metal floor between the hood sides, make a new frame for the AM
drive components. Hook every thing up but be careful which motor you
use! Sunset used the flat can Canons so they would not touch the
insides of the brass shell.
The better way is to acquire a River Raisin re drive unit to rob of
all the parts you need. You will still have to do all the work to the
Sunset shell components and then make your own attachment for the
Sunset side frames to the River Raisin gear boxes, etc, etc.
If you don't have the Sunset GP and/or the re-drive unit it shouldn't
cost you more than $500 to get the parts and I know some one who might
do the work, including painting the model for $750- $1000. That some
one is not me. I don't do diesels.
The Sunsets did not come with chain drives, they came with rubber belt
drives and as they warmed up they would jump the cogs and run
terrible. Some modelers converted them to the Grandt chain drive
system and installed tensioners for the drive chains at each truck. I
made a better running model.
If you do that system I would suggest that you separate the 2 gear
boxes on each truck. The Sunset came with a solid shaft between the
gear boxes at each truck. Ajin at least separated the shafts on their
diesels and came up with a nifty system to transmit power from one
gear box to the other. (Mating half shafts inside a tube)
Should you do any of this I'll send you my address so you have a place
to throw those crappy little dinky motors away. They have Neodymium in
them and that stuff just has to be bad to have around.
Rusty,
Rustermier
>
--- In [email protected] <mailto:S-Scale%40yahoogroups.com>,
"JaniceM" wrote:
>
> My ignorance of this question far outstrips my knowledge of the
subject, so I am turning to the list to help me out.
>
> I understand the Sunset GP-7's mechanism leaves a lot to be desired.
Also, I've heard that changing the chain driven mechanism is not all
that easy. I was wondering if the Sunset shell could simply be
attached, probably with some modifications, to the AM GP-9 chassis.
>
> Has anyone tried this? or does anyone have experience why this
should not be attempted?
>
> As always, thank you for your help, George (Marcopulos)
>
