# PIKO 0-6-0 first thoughts



## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

I got one of these on EBAY for what seemed a very reasonable price, well under $75. It arrived yesterday and I had a chance to strip it down

On the plus side, it has nice proportions, in my opinion, I like the chunky look although I don't think it's quite 1:29. Nice finish on the smokebox, good decals/paint. Some excellent little details, like the headlights and the bell, reasonable plastic whistle. PIko makes all the connections as easily removable pins, so it's easy to take apart and presumably will be easy to wire for a decoder.


Minuses: That terrible running gear. Not sure what I'm going to do about that. And the painted wheels. It was really easy to get the paint off the wheels--I just lightly held a soft dremel wire brush to it whiel the wheels turned. The problem seems to be the axles--the axles are painted with the same stuff, and I'm having a harder time figuring out how to get the paint off the axles.


Power pickup is like in the Bachmann annie--there's a copper strip that presses against the axles of the first and 3d wheelsets. And a set of sliders. 

I plan to add some handrails, some other details, probably some piping, add a pound or so of weight, put a decoder in it and use it as a "pusher." Might add a cab light. I'm not sure what to do about that terrible running gear. I have a set from an old Annie and may try to mod that. 

I'll update as progress is made


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Once I cleaned the paint off the wheel treads I got power pick up from my wheels no problem, have you tried running it on rollers since you cleared the paint off the wheels?


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

Yep--it's running well now, getting power from 4 wheels. I sprayed the axles with crc 2-26 and that seems to have loosened and removed the paint

It's pretty well made. It seems to have exactly the same gearing as an LGB mogul--worms on both ends, double geared. It ought to pull as well as a mogul


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