# AristoCraft Live Steam Mikado



## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

About 3 years ago, I ran my ArisotCraft Live Steam Mikado until the butane valve in the tender stopped working and gas would not flow to the burner. I sent the tender back to AristoCraft for warranty repair and when I got it back, I never fired it up. It sat idle for 3 years until yesterday. 

When I first fired it up, it worked OK, but after 2 hours, the butane valve shut down again. 

I noticed that the archive files on this website have been closed and there may have been some information there about how to repair that valve in those files. Does anyone have information on how to fix that butane valve?

The engine still runs reasonably well. I hate to throw it out just because of a faulty fuel valve. I would never send it back to AristoCraft for repair. Obviously they can't fix it right.


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

Probably will get what you need here, but have you looked at the archive files over on the Aristocraft forum yet? Could be the answer is there too. 

Turn her into a coal fired engine.


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Just take the valve appart and remove some of the intestines,valve was designed to avoid gas splashes on overfill.The problem with the valve is clogging with dirt ,i run my Mike without the valve and it works fine ,if you need to warm up the gastank fill reservoir with _warm water then connect the blow valve with a tubing into the waterbath: make shure you just barely let some steam creep into the waterbath otherwise your gasboiler may bust!!!! 

Manfred


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By iceclimber on 10 Feb 2012 06:47 AM 
Probably will get what you need here, but have you looked at the archive files over on the Aristocraft forum yet? Could be the answer is there too. 

Turn her into a coal fired engine. 
And watch the plastic shell melt off the loco, not a good idea lol.

I guess what you need to do is check from end to end for clogs, Any butane system can get blocked from particulate either from the butane tanks we fuel our engines up to something floating inside that the manufacture left over in the end. 

Tank -> valves -> nozzle It all has to be clear, take it apart until you reach the block, systematically opening the gas until you start to hear it (aka, the block is clear)

The best way to clear a blocked valve (do this anyway if you have it apart), press the butane tank on the nozzle backwards, it should blow out whatever is in there (if that's the issue), I had to do this recently at diamondhead, blocked jets is a semi common problem with any butane system.


Lastly,
You can find someone local to help you fix it if your still having issues (hopefully).


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

Sigh....Andrew. IT was a joke.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I bypassed the fuel regulator, it is inside the tender on the back of the tank. Most people did that. I noticed no problem afterwards, you regulate your fuel flow with the valve on top. Main problem with the Mike is the water bath tank is too small. If you don't want to hook a steam line back to it(I had Bednariks' rig one for mine) then get a syringe and put some silicone tubing with a piece of brass tubing on the end. Use it to inject warm(not hot!) water into your water bath about every 10 minutes. Just feel on top of the tank, it will seem really cold. Drain the tank and inject the warm water, if it is running at the time you will notice a difference in the sound of the burner. Quite a bit of info on Mike problems/solutions over on the Aristo Steam Forum. There are not all that many posts, you could scan over all of them for info. RJ has a lot of experience with Mikes, he has two of them.


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## afinegan (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By iceclimber on 10 Feb 2012 07:32 AM 
Sigh....Andrew. IT was a joke.








REALLY?  - plus my post came from capt obvious, hehe See you at ridge


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## iceclimber (Aug 8, 2010)

Looking forward to it.


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SailorDon on 10 Feb 2012 04:53 AM 
About 3 years ago, I ran my ArisotCraft Live Steam Mikado until the butane valve in the tender stopped working and gas would not flow to the burner. I sent the tender back to AristoCraft for warranty repair and when I got it back, I never fired it up. It sat idle for 3 years until yesterday. 

When I first fired it up, it worked OK, but after 2 hours, the butane valve shut down again. 

I noticed that the archive files on this website have been closed and there may have been some information there about how to repair that valve in those files. Does anyone have information on how to fix that butane valve?

The engine still runs reasonably well. I hate to throw it out just because of a faulty fuel valve. I would never send it back to AristoCraft for repair. Obviously they can't fix it right.

We have repaired and replace many of the gas valves but if you are going to throw it away we would be glad to pay shipping for it...


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Charles,

I haven't given up on it yet.

I've got a few suggestions via e-mail that I'm going to try first.

If that doesn't work, I'll probably get rid of it, one way or another.


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## swanpondwv (Mar 9, 2011)

Please pm me before you discard your Mikado. I may have an interest. Even if broken.

Thanks,
Bill


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

I've got the gas flow working, but now the electronic controls are giving me problems. 

Still working on it.


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Electronics are the bane of the live steamer! but you will get it working one way or the other.


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## swanpondwv (Mar 9, 2011)

I have two suggestions for you. Don't really know what trouble you are having w/ the electronics but try this out. 

If this engine sat unused for a long while it's a good bet your battery is dead. You shouldn't have any problem finding a battery that will work. Try to find a NiMh battery. Any hobby shop should have one. Make sure that your battery plug is making good contact.

Next, make sure that your on-off switch is going to the far "on" position. Mine didn't. And that was the extent of my electronic troubles with my 0-4-0. About 10 seconds with a dremel and it has been great since. I love having the rc stock from the factory.

Hope this helps.

Bill

I'm not the most experienced live steamer. But I've been fooling around with RC for about thirty years!


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## snowshoe (Jan 2, 2008)

That was the one thing I disliked about the Arsito Live Steam. f the electronics stop working you have no way to control the train. I had the 0-4-0. It was a great engine for someone new to live steam. I wish that Arsito had a way to manualy control the engine if the battery went dead or the electronics died.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By snowshoe on 17 Feb 2012 05:02 AM 
That was the one thing I disliked about the Arsito Live Steam. f the electronics stop working you have no way to control the train. I had the 0-4-0. It was a great engine for someone new to live steam. I wish that Arsito had a way to manualy control the engine if the battery went dead or the electronics died. I have to agree with you Shawn, I love running my Aristo 0-4-0 and have had very little trouble with it. But there have been a few times when someone has come over and wanted to see it run that I've had to do a quick charge on the battery. What's bad is when I don't realize that the battery is low and I get everything set up, get the steam pressure up and start the 0-4-0 moving and about that point the battery goes dead enough that I have no control. Then I either just let it go for a while or shut down the fire and charge the battery. It would be nice to be able to run it manually. 
Bob


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Could one make manual controls for it?


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By Phippsburg Eric on 17 Feb 2012 09:40 AM 
Could one make manual controls for it? If someone has done that, I would like to see the design. I would prefer to convert this to manual running.


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By snowshoe on 17 Feb 2012 05:02 AM 
That was the one thing I disliked about the Arsito Live Steam. f the electronics stop working you have no way to control the train. I had the 0-4-0. It was a great engine for someone new to live steam. I wish that Arsito had a way to manualy control the engine if the battery went dead or the electronics died. 

The engine can be rum manually. Just disconnect the remote control server and you have manual control of engine. I removes my r/c form mine sometime ago. I have not run it though in a couple of years.


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## swanpondwv (Mar 9, 2011)

I'd rather NOT have to chase my engine around the track!

Bill


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By gibs035 on 17 Feb 2012 03:25 PM 


The engine can be run manually. Just disconnect the remote control server and you have manual control of engine. I removes my r/c form mine sometime ago. I have not run it though in a couple of years.

Thanks Art! I looked at my AristoCraft Mikado locomotive again and found the throttle linkage. Very easy to access and remove the link bar to the servo. The direction servo is attached to a worm gear and is buried deep inside the frame of the locomotive. I hope it is "stuck" in the forward position. 

I'll try it out tomorrow if this Houston rain lets up. Thanks for the advice.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Houston rain.

I'm anxiously waiting for the rain to stop. I will try a manual run of my AristoCraft Mikado live steam locomotive when the water level goes down.









In the meantime, I am practicing my videography technique.

Houston Rain Feb. 18, 2012


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By snowshoe on 17 Feb 2012 05:02 AM 
That was the one thing I disliked about the Arsito Live Steam. f the electronics stop working you have no way to control the train. I had the 0-4-0. It was a great engine for someone new to live steam. I wish that Arsito had a way to manualy control the engine if the battery went dead or the electronics died. While disconnecting the throttle servo (leaving the throttle wide open) and leaving the direction servo in forward is not exactly "manual control", the AristoCraft live steam Mikado will run without any electronics.

Yesterday I made two nice runs around my backyard circle of track. Those who pay attention to detail will note that my trackwork is so bad that the front truck detrailed on the first 3 or 4 times around the loop. You can hear the sqealing sounds of the derailed wheels dragging along the track. My 5 foot radius curves cause the locomotive to slow down, and sometimes stall.

The biggest issue seems to be that the boiler cannot keep up with the steam demand at full throttle. Maybe it's the burner design, or maybe the butane system. Whatever the problem is, I'm not going to spend anymore time trying to improve the performance of this live steamer. I will run it "as is". 

Here is a video of Sunday's run (Part 1)

AristoCraft Mikado live steam run Part 1


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Here is a video of Sunday's run (Part 2)

AristoCraft Mikado Live Steam Part 2

Notice at about 1:15 in the video, there is a unplanned uncoupling. That is due to my poor trackwork. I'm lucky the train stayed on the track!

When I steamed up the first time, the locomotive had been sitting on the track for a couple of hours in 50 degree temperature with the boiler full of distilled water. I found that it took a tankful of butane to get the water boiling. Not very smart of me. Duh! For the second run, I put the distilled water in a stainless steel pot and heated it to boiling on the stove before filling the boiler. It took a whole lot less butane to get 'er steamin'.


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Don, 
A stronger spring on the front truck will help keep it on the track. Main thing with this is keeping the water bath warm. Have a syringe with tubing on it and a piece of brass on the end. You can easily squirt the warm(not hot!)water in the warming tank with it. A Summerlands Chuffer is a nice thing to install, gives real good bark to your stack talk.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Jerry,

Good idea about the stronger spring on the front truck. The stock spring is very weak.

I didn't seem to have any issue with getting the butane to flow out of the tender to the locomotive. Some have mentioned that they have to keep adding warm water (or steam) to the warm water tank. Maybe that's why my boiler won't provide enough steam for supersonic speeds.









I'm not trying to make a high performance live steamer out of this substandard AristoCraft design. Just enough to get the live steam experience every time I feel the need to go for a "slow ride". 

With respect to adding a chuffer to this model, I'm not going to try to improve on what I've got. If I want chuff, I'll run my Accucraft 4-4-0 Baldwin (Denver and Rio Grande - Col. Boone). It is a much better live steam performer and I prefer the narrow gage models.

Accucraft 4-4-0 Baldwin live steam

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For those of you who watched my AristoCraft Mikado Live Steam Part 2, I'm wondering how many scales are in that consist. I'm guesssing the locomotive and tender are 1:29. The steel boxcar and bulkhead flatcar are also 1:29. (That's typical Aristocraft scale I think.) The RPO is from Hartland, and I'm guessing it's 1:32. The caboose is LGB which is about 1:24 and is probably modelled after a narrow gage prototype. I bought it to match the "modern" Rio Grande emblem on the tender.


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Sailor
Are you saying that both the runs were manual. Looks pretty good to me.
You dont have much to do to get your track to good level.


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By gibs035 on 20 Feb 2012 05:18 PM 
Sailor
Are you saying that both the runs were manual. Looks pretty good to me.
You dont have much to do to get your track to good level.
Art,

Yes, both runs were full manual. The throttle linkage is mechanically disconnected from the servo and the direction servo is locked in forward.

When first steam comes up with the throttle wide open, the boiler pressure never really builds up. The pressure pop off valve never activates. The butane burner can't really keep up a full head of steam with a wide open throttle. And with that low of a boiler pressure level, the locomotive won't fly off the tracks, like an Aster Daylight Express. I think some of those Aster guys tweek their safety valves a little.









To make the videos look good, I waited until the first motion of the locomotive, which would typically be 1/4 revolution and then stall. I edited and cut that part off the video and started with the frames where the speed would continually increase or remain constant. Of course, some of the stalls were due to the front trucks having derailed. Don't you know that causes a lot of friction in the curves.









I suppose I should dedicate some time to track maintenance, but I'm having too much fun with live steam runs, and I plan to spend some live steam time at Zube Park this weekend. All of that takes away from track maintenace time.


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## swanpondwv (Mar 9, 2011)

Sailor Don, Did you even try to fix the electrics? Just curious. 


Bill


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## SailorDon (Jan 6, 2008)

Posted By swanpondwv on 20 Feb 2012 10:08 PM 
Sailor Don, Did you even try to fix the electrics? Just curious. 


Bill 

I tried to get the electronics to work. I wiped some white stuff off the bottom of the circuit board. It scrambled the manual commands and the remote didn't work at all. The ignition worked for a little bit. Then all the electronics quit. Not worth the effort to disassemble and try to fix. I'll just continue to run it manually as suggested by others on this topic. It runs OK for my purposes. I'm sort of partial to narrow gage models anyhow and the only reason I bought this mainline live steam locomotive was because it was cheap. (I really want an Aster Berkshire!)


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## Shay Gear Head (Jan 3, 2008)

But don't you miss the great bell and whistle!


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## artgibson (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Shay Gear Head on 22 Feb 2012 02:15 PM 
But don't you miss the great bell and whistle!


_I am sure you are kidding about the bell and whistle. True "Sparkie" bells and whistles are better._


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## jfrank (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By SailorDon on 22 Feb 2012 12:34 PM 
Posted By swanpondwv on 20 Feb 2012 10:08 PM 
Sailor Don, Did you even try to fix the electrics? Just curious. 


Bill 

I tried to get the electronics to work. I wiped some white stuff off the bottom of the circuit board. It scrambled the manual commands and the remote didn't work at all. The ignition worked for a little bit. Then all the electronics quit. Not worth the effort to disassemble and try to fix. I'll just continue to run it manually as suggested by others on this topic. It runs OK for my purposes. I'm sort of partial to narrow gage models anyhow and the only reason I bought this mainline live steam locomotive was because it was cheap. (I really want an Aster Berkshire!) 



Don, sorry I did not post this sooner. Just get some LPS #1 and spray it on the circuit board, then blow it dry more or less. Should work unless you really fried it. I have used this on numerous boards and electronic stuff and it always works. The worst was my airwire 900 transmitter that I put the batteries in backwards and melted them. I have sprayed it at least three times and it always comes back to life. I also saved the Hals 3119 that someone left out in the rain out at Zube by spraying the control box with it. One of the airlines ran one of their planes off the end of the runway into the bay. They brought out a tanker of the stuff and sprayed the whole plane with it. I don't know if it is still flying but I hope I never end up on it. lol. There is a salesman that always comes to the OTC here in Houston selling the stuff. His demo is to spray an electric drill with it then submerge it in a bucket of water and run it. He is still alive........... You can usually buy it at auto parts stores or hardware stores. I use the LPS #3 to coat battery terminals in my car. Keeps them from corroding.


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Hello everyone, I'm new to the forum as of today 
I got my Mikado about 3 weeks ago, about 40 runs on it already. Definately a break-in period of about 5 runs or so. This is a huffin-puffin monster - when it runs. I'm having basically the same problems as are mentioned on this forum. I've found that fuel clogging issues are almost completely related to fuel freezing. I can only get good performance when using very hot water in the bath, and even so, the water is very cold within 10 to 15 minutes.
First of all, is that funky regulator in back of the tank really necessary? Is it really necessary for the fuel line to wrap all the way around the tank?
I have already done the thermo and electrical calcs to make a dc heater of about 15 watts or so, but I would prefer not to.
Thanks in advance for your consideration!


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

N & D
First of all, is that funky regulator in back of the tank really necessary? No, all the AC Mikes we work on remove it. 












We install valve off the boiler allowing for steam to keep the fuel tank warm.

Enjoy


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Thanks charles, I would much rather use steam than an extra battery to heat the bath. Where can I find info on how to dol this? Is there significant pressure loss when doing this?

Many thanks!


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Okay, I see by your photo that you use the overflow drain fitting, something I never considered necessary anyway.


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

I installed a steam heater for my butane tank and described its installation back in December http://www.mylargescale.com/Community/Forums/tabid/56/aff/11/aft/123115/afv/topic/Default.aspx


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Charles did one for me, works great.


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Eric, that's a great design. I don't have the lathe to make my own valve but I wonder if a fuel needle valve from a model airplane glow fuel engine will work. Only proplem is that it relies on an o-ring for sealing and how would it hold up. Also, I need a flexibe connection between the tender for turns and lateral shifting. Perhaps some silicone tubing would work . . .


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

A globe valve from David Bailey, or Cole's is all you need. Silicone tubing for mine, running back to a line into the water tank, or wrap a copper coil around it.


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I also remove the gas regulator from the fuel tank and then added a hot water system just a little different than mentioned here. Main thing it works and that is a key to keeping the fuel flowing with trying to freeze up thus reducing the heat to keep the boiler temp up. Later RJD


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Removing the regulator was the very first thing I did, that alone made a big difference, the regulator was a haven for fuel freezing. I'm using a ball cock valve that makes it difficult to adjust, just a tiny amount of steam is needed to warm the bath. Thanks for the advice!


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

I'm having a problem with excessive smoke coming out the front of the loco, not just the stack but everywhere. This is an intermittent problem that occurs when the fire has a gurgly sound. Unfortunately, I had a fire on my last run. Minimal damage and everything still works. I've been heating the water bath with steam, keeping it warm but not hot. I'm wondering if the smokebox is somehow getting fowled with steam oil, or if the flue(s) need cleaning?


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## lotsasteam (Jan 3, 2008)

Most likely you have to reduce the diameter of the oil tube going off the oilreservoir(find a tube which will fit inside the oilline and pinch it slightly 1/2 will do)also the Loco carrier is not the best choice to transport the Mikado,unless all the oil and water has been removed(shaking and rolling the box will spill oil+water in to smokebox and upon lighting will stutter and puff all over,will be hard to pop back the fire on the flue! 

Manfred


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## Norfolk&Dave (Mar 15, 2012)

Yes, I had used the carrier recently, but had a good run before the bad one. Keeping her upright just seems to be a better idea anyway. Also, Aristo says to fill with 7 to 8 ml oil every 3 to 4 runs. I wonder if 2 or 3 ml every run would be better . . .


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## Darrene (Jan 13, 2020)

Resurrecting this thread - @Jerry Barnes, do you happen to recall the spec for the globe valve you used? I was going to get one from David Bailey (I'm in the UK) but there are a couple and I wasn't sure which one I'd need?


Choices are 3/32" or 1/8" pipe (3/16 x 40 or 1/4 x 40 outlet thread)


Many thanks!
Darren


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

I really don't recall. I think Charles Bednarik put that in for me.


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