Initial testing

The first part of the plan was to run an as received set of tests after running on rollers for 15 minutes.  I know that is not the typical break in time, but I want to get some data incase there was a problem.

The engine is shown below:

The results of the testing are shown in the next few figures:

The three Rapido engines seem to be relatively consistent with each other.  More or less an expected engine to engine variation.  Overall the RS-18 is a little worse, but not alarmingly so.  More later.  

After ten hours

The activity has been focused on putting the RS-18 through severe running conditions to see if there is any performance degradation.  To do this, the unit was first run on rollers for three hours, both forward and reverse.  Then the engine has been tested to determine the maximum grade and train length.  This has put over six hours of testing at or near wheel slip conditions.  This requires the motor to operate near the maximum operating power.  This equates to heat and stress on the motor.  

The grades examined range from zero to 9 percent.  The car length examined include the weights of zero to 20 four ounce freight cars.  

Thus far a complete map has been defined at 2.5 percent grade.  The engine will pull the weight of 15 car up that grade.  The wheels were slipping over most of the power range.  The engine would not pull 16 cars up that hill.  

Interestingly, the engine alone runs up all grades tested so far.  That includes 9 percent.  

I will post a video of the 15 car weighs on the 2.5 percent grade in the next day or so.   There is some more of this work to finish, then the flat engine only tests will be repeated to identify if the motor has been impacted to this point.  Another ten to twent hours of severe running will are part of this evaluation.  I hope this interests ou as much as it does me.

The problem I have found is with Curve to Straight transitions

All the voltage and traction graphs are fascinating - thanks for doing all this research.

I’ve discovered that the brake hangars at the end of the truck foul the frame when trying to return to straight from a sharp curve, resulting in a full and instant derailment of both trucks.  My earlier RS18 is home at the farm and so far I only have straight test track there and long turnouts.  

I’m not going to Dremel a $360 perfect model.  The RS18 underbody details approach prototype perfection.

But basic operations through a 18" radius S-Curve are a fail. Funny, my 6 axle Bowser M630 goes through the exact same stretch of track with zero issues. But then it has big gaps between trucks and underbody details.  The S-Curve was temporary - I only put there with temporary True Track to avoid the foam incline between an old and new section that I hadn’t yet had time to cut away.  I will now use this RS18 as my track testing locomotive as it seems very capable of finding imperfections.

And of course while staring at the truck interference problem, I clutzed and managed to bump the hood and damage both the radio antenna and the horn cluster.  Sigh.  

I’m more upbeat today than when I wrote this last night as, thankfully, Rapido Customer Service is first rate, and replacements for my gaff are on their way.

Their advice re the truck/frame interference was no tight S-Curves, which is probably reasonable.

My only issue

With my two RS-18's at this point is that I bought Scale Sound Systems speakers to put in them, but for the life of me, I can't get the long hood off.  Those two clips are so well hidden, I can get at them, but I can't really see what I'm doing.  I thought the more I try, the more likely I was to eventually get the pushed through, but I've tried countless times and can't get them unclipped.  I'm pretty frustrated with that, and as part of doing this so much, I'm bending handrails and risking damage to other details.  I understand why they designed it this way, but it is very irritating.  I'm to the point where I might send them to someone to pay them to do it, which is a bit ridiculous for what should be a fairly straightforward fix.

Aside from that, both locos run beautifully for me.  I'm definitely interested in seeing your results, Larry.

Dave,I had the same issue

Dave,

I had the same issue with the shell on my Rapido FA2. I couldn't get the shell off because of metal detailing protruding inside the pilot area on both sides that was catching on the chassis. I eventually forced the shell off and sniped and filed down the protruding metal wire. Obviously at the factory they applied these details after the shell was put on.

Dave,

IMO the recent offerings from Rapido must be considered "DO NOT OPEN FOR ANY REASON", and "SEND BACK TO MANUFACTURER FOR REPAIR"; very few are adept enough to open, modify/fix, and close up these things without undue risk.  Which, of course, is ludicrous.  From the FP9 offerings onwards, they have made user-access a low priority; instead, one or two staff members have become proficient at repairing units, sometimes to the point of repairing stuff that wouldn't have happened if the thing were just made a little more user friendly.

But, we are our own worst enemies.  They wouldn't be designing and building these intricate little beasties if they didn't sell so well (i.e. demand is high), so who's to blame?  The incessant drive for more detail (a niche hobby which used to be the playground of a few incredibly talented modelers) has led to this; they're just satisfying a market demand.

If we could inspect these things on the store counter before buying, with the intention of figuring out how risky opening them up is going to be, they might sell a lot fewer (particularly to those of us who want to either buy a DC loco to upgrade, or change out the decoder that was factory installed), so I don't know.  Maybe, in that sense, their rise reflects the demise of the brick-and-mortar stores and must-see-before-buy attitudes?

Blair

Blair

I talked to them about how to get it off and they explained it and said their warranty staff is as frustrated with it as I am but have done so many they have a handle on it now.  They designed it this way so they could offer so many variations in the cabs, hoods, etc., otherwise they wouldn't have been able to do those variations at a reasonable enough price point.  

I should say they did a slight redesign on the FP9.  I had several of the originals and one of the new ones and I had no problem getting into the current model after giving up on the original ones.  I replaced the speaker in the FP9, my GMD1 and my RDC in about 20 minutes each, so those are pretty straightforward.  

Blair, It has always been a

Blair,

It has always been a hit and miss for me when it comes to Rapido and will only buy their product if I can inspect it at a store before purchasing it. Every product before that, that I have purchased or got as a gift always needed some tweaking or sent back because it was crap. 

As I remember

The long hood is the last off.  I believe there is a you tube video on how to take it off.  I no longer have the one I started this thread with or I would make the video.  I believe the long hood came off pretty easily after the cab & short hood was off.  There are several places where the hand rail have to be disengaged.  I found a picture of the three segments.  The long hood is attached to the floor of the cab and it extends to the short hood. Pictures of the three shell pieces are shown here:https://www.llxlocomotives.com/?p=2161.

the center part of the roof is supposed to be removable to allow decoder work, when needed.  The concept of making it hard for the end user to get under the hood is just bad.  You have to be able to do routine maintenance on these models.  After doing that on mine, I saw a noticeable performance improvement.   Take some pictures of the area & that will likely

Larry

I've watched the video several times.  Getting to the long hood was pretty easy, but getting the two clips to release that hold the long hood to the chassis above the rear truck is very challenging, at least it has been for me.  The one is almost completely hidden by the truck and you're never sure if you are actually pushing it at all, let alone the right way.  Mine has also been weathered and sealed, so it may be the sealer seeped into the crack between the hood and the walkway and has given it a firmer hold, I don't know.  Still pretty frustrating as there are so many delicate parts to damage, you need to be careful, too.

What your looking for is

Two rectangular slots between the rear wheel & the center of the truck just under the truck.  You have to rotate the truck on the chassis to see them.  In the video he appears to be pushing down rather than unclipping the tab.  I would put the unit upside down in a cradle.  Then use a flash light to see these rectangles.  I believe there was a slight recess, with the shell tab slightly below the plane of the bottom of the chassis.  It is possible that your units under side paint is hiding the slots.  You know they are there.  You may have to scrape a little for them to become visible.
This only raises the rear part of the long hood.  You have to gently pry the shell up in several places after you get the rear started with these tabs.  The front fits snugly on the weight under the short hood.  In the video he fiddled up there, so the may be under a lip on the weight.  These pieces have to be prayed open slightly and up.  The movement is small on each point until it becomes loose enough to lift off.  I believe there is a slight interference between the shell & chassis weights.  Each time you remove the shell, some of that interference is eliminated.