# Brekina's VW Draisine has arrived!



## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

YES!!! This morning my VW Draisine from Brekina arrived!

I always love these moments, opening the postparcel!!!! There it is!!!










The content of the box. Footsteps are delivered separatly.









Front. The driver opens it eyes and is happy he's on active duty from now on!










Back. 











Footplates installed:


















Arriving at the station:









Along the line.


















Still, can't ride yet. Have to built some RC equipment in it...
For those interested, I ordered this model from: Grootspoor.com (Europe).
Thanks for watching!


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

I am used to my Brekina boxes being a bit smaller than that! Wonder if any other G models are in the works?


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Questions: 

1. Is only one axle "powered", i.e. motorized? The rear one? 

2. Do you only have power pickup on the rear axle? 

3. Any pictures of it opened and tips on disassembly would be appreciated. 

Regards, Greg


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 08 Apr 2010 10:01 AM 
Questions: 

1. Is only one axle "powered", i.e. motorized? The rear one? 

2. Do you only have power pickup on the rear axle? 

3. Any pictures of it opened and tips on disassembly would be appreciated. 

Regards, Greg 


Greg,

1. Yes, only the rear one is powered.

2. I believe it haves power pickup on both but I'm not sure; I have to test it. I did just have time for some quick snapshots in the garden today.
I'll come back on that!

3. I'll try to get it open this weekend. I'll be posting some pictures soon.


Garrett, 

I also hope Brekina comes with more G scale models! 
Actually, I have to admit 1 thing. It's more 1:25 than 1:22,5 (as stated on the box)... It looks very small.
This was slight disapointing, but further it's a beautifull model. And for the price I paid you perhaps get a Revell 1:25 VW van kit and an used LGB motorblock, but than you still have to build it. The model looks very good and well finished.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

I downloaded the manual from their site, I don't believe RJ got that with his. It's 2 pages in German and shows the locations of the screws on the bottom. 

RJ told me that only the rear axle picked up power, and he had running difficulties. 

You are probably going battery right? RJ was told to wire brush off the paint on the wheel treads. 

I went to the Brekina site, could not find anything else in G, too bad that big Bus with the 2 axle trucks at each end is not in G! 

Regards, Greg


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

That is pretty neat.

I can't remember where I saw it, but I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a VW bus Hy-Rail vehicle on the Santa Fe railway in some book, magazine, or other publication. It was painted orange from what I remember.


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm holding out for a transporter version with a crew cab and pickup style back end...but who knows if they will ever make it. 

Greg there is quite a bit of info on the web regarding DCC installations--I think there is a good one (or link to one) on the Zimo site, as well as Massoth shows how to install a sound decoder in their forum. They did a review in Gartenbahn Profi and I think the weak points are the drive gears and power pickup. I think it's definitely a battery candidate or maybe sliders hidden under those side steps? As far as size/scale goes, there was also a fair bit of controversy when they first came out because they look so small. Maybe Knut can give us clarity because it was one of the German forums that was doing all the checking. I think it's pretty darn close to 1:22.5 though--they are tiny in real life too and Brekina has no Gummi history. 

Keith 

Keith


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Oh, the one RJ bought from Axle at Train-Li came with a Zimo MX640 decoder. No problems there and the sounds are very nice, have heard over the phone, and also heard last year at the BTS in person. 

The slider idea is cool, but the side steps don't look real sturdy. 

Well, it would be easy to measure the length and find the actual length of a VW bus on the internet... You measure it, and I will find the prototype length. 

Regards, Greg


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Agree with Keith, a Doka would be nice!


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## Dan Pierce (Jan 2, 2008)

This VW does have power pick ups on the front and rear, and only the rear axle is powered. This is OK as this unit does not pull any cars. 

Wheels must be polished for better pick up. I use the LGB TCL discards cut into thirds for cleaning all wheels on every manufacturers engines.


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Well i finally broke down and ordered a red one from Axel 

Dan, maybe not any full size cars but I'm planning to add a small MOW car to be pulled behind it.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 09 Apr 2010 08:33 AM 
I'm planning to add a small MOW car to be pulled behind it. 

Howzbout this???


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

I finally got around to checking the pick up and all four wheels do have pick up but as mentioned the pick up is poor. The wheels are steel so that could be some of the problem. I buffed and buffed to remove black paint or what ever and after about one run around my large loop it will loose pick up.

The sound is good and all fictions worked on DCC if you like European sounds. Sound is not to loud but one reason can be traced to no real grill opening where the speaker is located. One may be able to make openings in the fake grill opening under the unit about where the speaker is located. If I continue to have pick up problems guess will need to figure a way to add additional pick up somewhere. If you buy one with the decoder and speaker already installed be very careful when removing the body. The wires are very small and are almost wedged in between the decoder and the shell and can be broken easily. I found one loose wire in mine and still so not know if it was one that should be connected to something or not. It is brown so if any one else sees this maybe you can let us know whether it is used or not. Later RJD


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Oops, well I guess I was a little wrong about the Santa Fe Hi-Rail I mentioned above. Turns out it was a Dodge. 

It sort of looks like a VW Doka, so not too far off









Anyway, here is what it looks like (from the book _Santa Fe Heritage, Volume Three_):


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

Matt, 
That Dodge looks great too!








I had as simular thing with a Ford FK 1000 that I believed to be a VW van used by Peru Railways until Garrett pointed out it was trully a Ford (see the VW Draisines on the Rolling Stock forum here on MLS).
Nice pictures btw, thanks for posting!

But VW railcars did exist on US tracks also; see www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirrmow.htm and scroll down to "ïnspection vehicles" for a Long Island RailRoad VW railcar.


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