I just read where Mashima motors owner has apparently decided to retire. The company Mashima Denshi Industry Co, Inc. does not appear to be up for sell. If I am not mistaken this is the company that Athearn Genesis and Athearn RTR use to power their models. The source says Mashima will accept orders up to September 2009 with last delivery made in February 2010. I don’t know what other companies use to power thier locos such as Atlas, Stewart, and Walthers Proto 2000, but this is certianly not good news for the hobby. It was reported on a Yahoo Groups dealing with HO modeling and repowering
Okie,
Stewart uses Buehler and Cannon motors in their locomotives. I have one in a Stewart VO-660 and EMD FT and both are absolutely terrific pullers, with excellent low-speed response. That’s too bad about Mashima.
Tom
Mashima’s been around for years, going back to slot cars, IIRC, particularly the 1/32 and 1/24 can motors in those cars. Basically that’s all these can motors are - children of the slot car craze. I remember rewinding the armatures of those to either get more speed or torque. Anybody ever take apart one of the modern can motors and rewind them?
Athearn Genesis use motors made by Roco and i don’t know who makes the motors in Athearn RTR, but it’s not Mashima.
/stefan
Really, I guess the original poster on the Yahoo group was mistaken then. Good to know there is not a problem with Genesis and Athearn RTR motor supply
If Athearns RTR’s used Mashima motors maybe they’d actually run smooth out of the box! As it is I had to replace my RTR with a mashima. Now it runs beautifully.
The Athearn HO models may not use Mashimas, but the N-scale models (at least the Genesis ones) do. Mashima has the largest selection of small high quality flat can motors, so it would be a tragidy if they were gone.[:O]
Saddening,
I’ve seen HO locomotives repowered with Mashima components and flywheels. Performance always quiet with very smooth, slow 2mph scale speed ability.
I’m assuming that since model manufacturers, for the most part, are producing locomotives with quality drives, the demand for repowering kits has dropped considerably over the past decade. I’ve see a very large amount of used Athearn Blue Box and older Genesis units for sale at train shows and flea markets. Not surprising that they were not fetching high prices.
I myself had mentioned here, 2 years back, that I was planning on repowering some of my older units. However, with the detailing and drives of the new Proto, Stewart, Atlas, Kato and Genesis units and my limited hobby time…I’m leaning towards getting these newer units.
The Athearn HO Genesis MP15AC uses a Mashima motor. Fairly compact, to fit in the space available.
I haven’t bought an Athearn RTR in a while, but I believe they have the Athearn open frame motors (made in USA), with a modernized drive line.
Open frame? Yipes! Even if it’s RTR, I certainly hope Athearn’s not still stuck in the 1980s when it comes to their drive. I don’t have any of those RTRs but I thought I read on this forum a while back that the motors were updated.
Anyone know for certain?
Other than the hexagonal driveshaft, the motor in my Athearn RTR SD45 looks exactly like the motors in my BB GP40-2s. I’m assuming its the same motor, with -maybe- a couple of minor tweaks to improve performance, if that.
I do know they have improved the performance over the years, the Athearn motor while still of open frame design, is a 5-pole skew-wound motor, with higher efficiency (stronger magnets) than it’s older amp eating brethren. There’s nothing inherantly wrong with an open frame design other than noise, but then most of the noise in the “old” drives came from the truck gears and drive line.