# Piko 2011 items



## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted over at GSC....

http://hetsolderbaantje.nl/PIKO2011A.pdf

...and....

http://hetsolderbaantje.nl/PIKO2011B.pdf

Yes, some repaints, but new items include curved switches, the WWII era E49/BR194 Krok and DB "Silberfische"....


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## Paulus (May 31, 2008)

It state it's a new mold for the Mogul. 

That E49 is indeed beautiful and very reasonable priced (but still to big for me!!!)


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Yes, the steam lok is new, a modification of the 0-6-0, completely forgot to mention it, thanks Paul!


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

I likes the Mogul and its affordable even for me!


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

I'm surprised that Piko is bringing out a mogul considering the large number of different moguls that LGB sold over the years and the number of those available on eBay and other auction houses every day. 
I personally would rather buy a used LGB mogul than that Piko one if I was into US narrow gauge. 

Knut


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## Totalwrecker (Feb 26, 2009)

Maybe my eye is jaded, but that Mogul looks off. I see the switcher in her, but she's too short for an American Mogul. Often the rear driver was set back some to support the weight. 
To me it looks like a Piko kitbash rather than new tooling... 

John


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

Seems like the same song second verse, LGB released MANY variations of their Mogul, instead of making completely different engines. Even though it is not a tank engine I agree I see it in the Mogul and it looks , again a little off!

Piko needs to really thrill us with a completely different engine that has not been offered many times previously! We all thirst for a new thrill and something different! Not so toy looking.









MHO
Bubba


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

The Mogul looks alot like a Glover or Porter built loco. Maybe its the D&RG road label association thats probably throwing people off, to me it looks a great deal like some southern US style logging engines, alot of those were NG.


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## lownote (Jan 3, 2008)

It's just not a good drive--I had one of the 0-6-0s and it never ran right--it jammed a lot and the gears stripped. I liked the loco a lot, and had detailed it nicely, so I actually bought a second one and tried that--that one failed too. It's only fit for _extremely_ light duty--level grades, little or no load. 

It looks to be a robust design, I think it may be that the wheels are too loose in their axle seats, and shift and strip gear teeth


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

I think it is more a matter of what is in the parts bin, you can see the BR80/docksider origins. 

Speaking of Lownote, I am surprised to hear your bad luck with two, I have read on a couple forums in Europe of people adding weight to the BR80 and it being a good runner/puller.....but then, no comment on longevity! 

I imagine the E94 will be on a few RhB outline pikes for the price!


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## Axel Tillmann (Jan 10, 2008)

Everybody cooks with water









What do I mean by that?

There are no secrets to building models, no benvolent manufacturers.........

OK, all the reports in Europe and elsewhere indicate that Piko engines have difficulty to run smoothly. No surpirse here, because if you use a cheap $2 motor instead of a quality Buehler, Faulhaber, Maxxon then you get these results. Motor is not like motor.

So the cheaper prices come from cheaper parts and less detail - no secrets here. While I can accept less detail (you can always detail an engine yourself) it is much harder for the regular hobbyists to modify a gearbox to fit a better motor in there.

If you just put the model on the shelf, that's fine, if you really want to run it...... that's anther question.

So buyer beware and understand - nothing comes for free and nobody offers 1/2 price unless you cut corners. Do you like the cut - that's the most important question.


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## Madstang (Jan 4, 2008)

Posted By Madstang on 30 Dec 2010 11:20 AM 
Seems like the same song second verse, LGB released MANY variations of their Mogul, instead of making completely different engines. Even though it is not a tank engine I agree I see it in the Mogul and it looks , again a little off!

Piko needs to really thrill us with a completely different engine that has not been offered many times previously! We all thirst for a new thrill and something different! Not so toy looking.









MHO
Bubba


In light of the info on the drives they use...never mind what they come out with, like Bachmann bad drives/gears. I will spend on better products!

Thanks for the info.

Bubba


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

I'll rank Piko's mogul with LGB's 2-4-0 in terms of resemblance to prototype. In other words, it ain't, but it's not supposed to be, either. I just find it a bit funny that one of the reasons put forth for UP's insistance of licensing was to make sure models bearing their trademarks were accurate. 

The Rio Grande had steam locos. That's accurate enough...  

(And someone remind them that the "Rio Grande" lettering slants towards the front of the locomotive, so would be slanted opposite what's shown on the fireman's side of the loco.) 

Later, 

K


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## Dave Meashey (Jan 2, 2008)

Well, I was considering the locomotive for the Brandywine & Gondor Railroad, since it exists in Middle Earth anyway. Axel's comments about the motor tossed a large bucket of cold water on those thoughts. I am gratefull for the "heads up." 

I have had reasonably good luck with my Bachmann Indy, so I will either wait for it to be reissued (could happen), or get the HLW 2-6-0. I'd still like to find two good eight coupled mechanisms (with cylinders and valve gear) for my Beyer-Garrett project. Did not get such good reports about the LGB Rugen, but its chassis would still be my first choice, since the motor is down in the frame. 

Oh well, I'll keep looking and dreaming. 

Yours, 
David Meashey


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## East Broad Top (Dec 29, 2007)

The updated Indy should be out shortly. The updated Climax is now on the store shelves, and the Indy (and updated 2-4-2 "Lynn") are also in this year's production queue. 

I've had pretty good luck with my Piko 0-6-0, but it's only seen service under the Christmas tree, so I can't speak to longevity. (On the other hand, a few weeks under the tree with a 4-year-old at the controls = how many years out in the garden?  ) I think their European stuff is rather well detailed. I'd love to see them pay the same attention to some US prototypes. 

Later, 

K


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Well another bit of info over at GSC...Apparently, the later production 0-6-0 chassis had the issues of the first run (wheels and gears) addressed.


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like the Kroc is getting closer....I love the spoked wheels: 

http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...09-0-0-0-3-4-2-0-gatt-gb-p-0/productzoom.html 

Keith


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Cougar Rock Rail on 19 Oct 2011 01:35 PM 
Looks like the Kroc is getting closer....I love the spoked wheels: 

http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...09-0-0-0-3-4-2-0-gatt-gb-p-0/productzoom.html 

Keith 

Its only taken close to a year from the OP to get a it..still waiting to get a look at the Mogul.


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 19 Oct 2011 03:11 PM 
Posted By Cougar Rock Rail on 19 Oct 2011 01:35 PM 
Looks like the Kroc is getting closer....I love the spoked wheels: 

http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...09-0-0-0-3-4-2-0-gatt-gb-p-0/productzoom.html 

Keith 

Its only taken close to a year from the OP to get a it..still waiting to get a look at the Mogul. 

At least they are meeting and exceeding their release dates on products, the Silverfish passenger cars are shipping, and they were another IV quarter 2011 release just like the Krok and Mogul...


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 19 Oct 2011 03:11 PM 
Its only taken close to a year from the OP to get a it..still waiting to get a look at the Mogul. 
But it's still 2011 and that Krok is supposed to be at the dealers before Christmas of this year.
I recall a few other Large Scale manufacturers who took two and three years to finally come out with a model they had announced or even cancel the model completely.

Here are two pics of this Krok taken at the Piko Open House; this Krok was designed in the 1940's to pull very heavy freight trains - it could move a 2000 ton train at up to 85 km/h but occasionally (rather rare) it was also used to pull a few passenger cars (bottom picture).


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Spule 4 on 19 Oct 2011 04:07 PM 
Posted By vsmith on 19 Oct 2011 03:11 PM 
Posted By Cougar Rock Rail on 19 Oct 2011 01:35 PM 
Looks like the Kroc is getting closer....I love the spoked wheels: 

http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...09-0-0-0-3-4-2-0-gatt-gb-p-0/productzoom.html 

Keith 

Its only taken close to a year from the OP to get a it..still waiting to get a look at the Mogul. 

At least they are meeting and exceeding their release dates on products, the Silverfish passenger cars are shipping, and they were another IV quarter 2011 release just like the Krok and Mogul... 

Yes I know.







Dont get me started on Aristo's Connie


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## krs (Feb 29, 2008)

Official introduction of the German Krok by Piko three days ago;

(All in German but the pictures themselves are still nice)


http://www.piko.de/d/wir_ueber_uns/PIKO_Events/RO_G194/RO_G194.php

And here two videos of that event:

http://www.youtube.com/user/spurgblog#p/a/u/1/6kW3Dy5tpCk

http://www.youtube.com/user/spurgblog#p/a/u/0/EPyI69u3l_I


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## Spule 4 (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By vsmith on 19 Oct 2011 04:21 PM 
Posted By Spule 4 on 19 Oct 2011 04:07 PM 
Posted By vsmith on 19 Oct 2011 03:11 PM 
Posted By Cougar Rock Rail on 19 Oct 2011 01:35 PM 
Looks like the Kroc is getting closer....I love the spoked wheels: 

http://www.modellbahnshop-lippe.com...09-0-0-0-3-4-2-0-gatt-gb-p-0/productzoom.html 

Keith 

Its only taken close to a year from the OP to get a it..still waiting to get a look at the Mogul. 

At least they are meeting and exceeding their release dates on products, the Silverfish passenger cars are shipping, and they were another IV quarter 2011 release just like the Krok and Mogul... 

Yes I know.







Dont get me started on Aristo's Connie








I think it is right behind the SD9.....

But then, I had a Bemo H0e engine that took about 4 years from announcement to being in my hands...so good things come to those who wait.

EDIT: the 12 minute mark of the video reminds me of the famous scene from the Von Trier film Europa...


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2011)

The ÖBB 1020 loco:


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## CJGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

I WANT A CROC!


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## Guest (Dec 14, 2011)

Yeah, me too..


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## John Galt Line (Dec 12, 2012)

A review of Piko's BR 194. 
I bought one back in February 2012 arrived in mid March. I converted the loco to Air Wire Battery Power. 

Nice, the model is good, the moldings on the shell is descent and adequate (not Marklin Spur 1 quality) There are two bags of plastic hand rails, and other small fine detail parts to put on your self. ( I have not done this because I handle my trains a lot ( more than I should.)) Bi directional white and red LEDs are good, and really nice if you run at night. ( Cab lighting would have been nicer touch like on the LGB/ Marklin locos.) 
the pantographs are metal (not plastic like on the 1118 Taurus), and moveable; which is a nice touch. Oddly I wonder why Piko put metal pantographs but did not bother with wiring the loco to run off of catenary. The roof detail ( transformers and switching gear) is OK; plastic and easily broken off. I'm not sure on the prototypes configuration so I question the accuracy a slight bit. ( have not been able to find a good top down photo of the real loco to make a comparison.) 
The window glazing fell out in shipping. 

Paint colour is correct for the era modeled DB IV ( Approx mid 1960s to early 1980s) 
Lettering is good, more detailed than I expected for the price of the the loco. 

The loco has 2 six wheeled trucks, only 2 of the axles on each of the truck are driven. The loco is supposedly able to run on 600mm radius curves. ( it can run on perfectly level 600mm curves, but not through any cross over switches that are not R3( 22.5deg) or larger.) The trailing axle of each truck is articulated; thus not powered. The axles ( except the trailing) have ball bearings. The detailing on the side frames is OK, could have some more depth/ crispness in the moldings. Couplers are the standard LGB loop and hook attached to the trucks. 
The wheels are split axle, cast in zinc alloy; couple of the wheels are not round. Not enough to cause major issues. Just some thing I noticed only after dissembling the trucks to remove the power pick-up feet in the conversion to Air Wire. ( If I had access to a milling machine I would turn them.) 

The motor/ drive-train: 
I have other Piko G scale locos ( BR 218, Taurus, and V60) and have never had such a poor drive-train. 
The loco runs great going up a 1.5% grade with string of 7-9 cars. Nice smooth and mostly quiet. On level ground about the same. Down grade is something at together different. Lots of surging and lurching; with and without cars attached. ( almost like a steam loco with the wheels just ever so slightly out of quarter.) I checked all the usual suspects: wires, batteries, lubricated the gears, re soldered the wiring to the motors and the decoders. Ran the loco without the shell so I could see if the articulation between the trucks or the body segments are binding in some odd way only when going down hill. The only thing is when moving at full speed the lurching is a bit less pronounced. I swapped the motors from one truck to the other to see if any thing changed. Still the same; great smooth and quiet up hill, lurching down hill. ( lurched hard in a curve once caused the 4th,5th and 6th in a string of 8 to derail.) 

So to sum it up for $ 479.00 it was an ok buy. Would I get another, maybe. but only if it has Bühler Motors like LGB. 

If any one has any advice I would like to hear it. Thank you,


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## Cougar Rock Rail (Jan 2, 2008)

Interesting--thanks for the review. 

Regarding the surging, is it possible the back-emf or electonic braking (if it has it) in your decoder is causing the problem? If you can shut if off I would try that and see what happens. What kind of decoder are you using? 

Keith


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## John Galt Line (Dec 12, 2012)

Keith,
I finally got hold of someone at VEB PIKO that understood what i was trying to explain to them ( read "speaks advanced conversational English") She asked if when I converted the loco from track to battery power ( which I explained to her entailed taking the power trucks apart to get at the motors to solder the wires to them. ) If I had put all the grease ( That I had clean out to get the power pick-up wipers out and to get the motor out too..) back in the truck when I finished. I told her"yes most of it; because to me it looked like there was way too much grease in there to start with". ( looked like they put couple ounces of grease on each of the axles and gears.) She told me to coat all the gears and axle bearings in a fairly thick layer of grease, and to put it all back in and to leave it there, and not to touch anything inside the gear box ever again. That and also to run the loco at medium speed for 20-30 minutes each direction with no cars attached. If that didn't work call back next week same time..I said OK thank you and hung up. The loco runs much better now, still not silky smooth like other PIKO locos I have; but much much better than before. ( I looked in side the other gear boxes on my other PIKO locos, they put a lot of grease in them too...)
I have an Air-wire G2 as the decoder. I went ahead and reset the decoder to the factory settings. . I remember longtime ago i was messing with the motor bump value/ rate ( CV56 & 57) and the cruise control ( CV 58)...so maybe i got the values all screwed up too.

Thank you for your advice,

Shane


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## kleinbahn (Sep 21, 2010)

Posted By John Galt Line on 19 Dec 2012 06:04 PM 
Keith,
I finally got hold of someone at VEB PIKO....

Thank you for your advice,

Shane 


Wow, a time traveling telephone!! How are things in the worker's state? Any clicks in the background on the phone, remember the Stasi listened to all communications with the West! 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEfY3QagmpY


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## John Galt Line (Dec 12, 2012)

Genosse Kleinbahn,

How can you tell that the MfS has bugged your apartment? There's a new cabinet in it and a trailer with a generator in the street. 
Brezhnev is asked what is his opinion of Honecker. "Well, politically - I don't have much esteem for him. But - he definitely knows how to kiss!"


Tschüs,

„Seid bereit! – Immer bereit!“


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