This review is on Stewart’s HO scale Baldwin S-12, made by Ajin.[:D]
Stewart did a fantastic job on this S-12, giving it a high level of detail and clean lines all around.[:D] All of the major parts are cast extremely smoothly and cleanly, and I can’t find even the slightest hint of a seam. All of the doors and ventilation are very sharp and clear, and all of the little rivets and door handles are perfectly sized and in line. All of the seperate details have to be installed by the owner, kind of like an Athearn Blue Box kit. 95% of the parts are extremely flexible plastic, and are nearly unbreakable. The little grab irons, handrails, and pilot details press into little holes in the shell, and are snug enough that they don’t need glue.[:D] The exhaust stack and horn require that the owner drill a couple holes in the appropriate locations. The exhaust stack hole is marked inside the shell, but the location for the horn is just wherever you decide you want to put it (I put mine in the standard area). The windshield wipers are very fine etched metal parts, and look great once installed.[:D] They were pretty tight in their holes, so I decided to enlarge the holes and glue them in place to avoid damaging them. The cab has a full interior in it, and the glass is flush fitting. All looks great.[:D] The walkways have very fine safety tread molded on. The paint and lettering is all smooth and sharp as can be, and the matte finish of the lettering matches the main color nicely, instead of being too shiny like what happens with a lot of other models. The LED headlights are directional and constant and look nice, but they seem a little too amber to look realistic. The truck sideframes are single-piece castings molded in color, and they’re as finely cast and detailed as the rest of the engine.[:D]
All of the small Baldwin switchers from Stewart use this same mechanism, with appropriate bodies and details to make a particular model. I have a DS4-4-1000 and it runs identically. The low current draw and smooth running are excellent.
Only thing I don’t like about these switchers (and this is personal) is the need to add all the grabs and handrails…This is hard to do with one good hand and limited use of my once dominate right hand.
In this case I would pay extra to have the grabs and handrails factory applied.
Other then that the Stewart Baldwins are mighty fine switchers…My S8 in T.C & ST.L(the club’s RR) logo is my second choice for working either passenger terminal.My favorite is a Walthers FM10-44 but,that’s another story that deals with some fond childhood memories…[:D]
Very nice and informative review on the Stewart Baldwin S-12s. Thanks for posting it. [:)]
I have two Stewart locomotives: A VO-660 switcher and an FT A-B. Both the Buehler and Cannon drives run very smooth and are strong pullers. The low-speed response on my FT (outfitted with a Lenz Gold decoder w/BEMF) is exceptional.
Darth, you should be able to easily replace the amber-colored LED with another one. I’ve had a couple of those and switched them out for lighter golden-whites. (I think they are actually considered golden-whites but are more “orangish” in appearance. Even so, I like the ones that give off only a slightly yellowish tint to them.) I like the ones that I get from Empire Northern or Miniatronics.
I wish I would add one of these puppies to my roster but then I’d be bumping my era up about 6-7 years.
I’ve bought three Stewart Baldwin switchers so far, and all three have Canon motors. One is a V0-1000 that runs as noisy as an Athearn Baldwin switcher, while the other two are DS-4-4-1000s that run smooth and quiet like my Life-Like GM switchers.
Hello, recently I added Stewart Baldwin S-12 #234 to my small LV fleet. [:)]
I find the modell very nice overall. Details are good, especially inside of the cab, running also, at least on a test track.
I have a few questions for owners of those models, so thanks for any input…
I have changed the X2F couplers for Kadee #5, but couplers droops a little. There is a plastic “cover” with a pin which fixes the coupler (see photo below), but not having a screw is a recipe for drooping. Is there a better way of securing Kadee on this type of Stewart engine?
The chasis is identical to the pic in the original post, Canon motor with a 8-pin DCC plug. Is there a need for a resistor for headlights if I use some standard motor decoder?
Thommo, you could try putting one of Kadee’s .010" (gray) washers below or above (depending on where the coupler is at the coupler height gauge) the shank of the coupler. Or try the “Whisker” version of the #5, which has a thicker shank at the coupler post.
Hmm, mine don’t droop, and the runnign one (I have another still in the box, needs handrails painted and needs to have the detaisl added, just haven’t gotten aroudn to it) was assembled before the whiskers came out, so I know it has regualr #5’s in it. I think I may have put the couler together ‘upside down’ with the brass pan spring underneath rather than on top - I’ll have to pull one off to see how I did it.
No resistor needed, the resistors are already on the circuit board. I put a TCS T-1 in mine and it fit, barely. an MC2 is a better fit. Something else to do, replace the LEDs with golden-white ones, I used Minatronics Yelo-Glo. The stock yellow LEDs drive me nuts. I have some pictures on my web site, I just bent the leads of the replacement LED to mimic the stock ones and slipped them in place using the plastic clips that held the stock ones. No soldering needed, the leads of the LEDs contact the brass strips comign off the circuit board which works great - the shell comes completely off with no wires tethering it to the chassis.
Well, I did not have any “problems” with small details, as mine is second hand, of ebay. Somebody did a good job of putting those parts on the model, including bronze-colored bell. [Y]
Randy, I noticed “ugly yellow” headlights… It will be in the “to do” list, after I put decoder in. I have one DZ123 small Digitrax decoder in the drawer - will see how it works. Hope the low speed running will be good as advertised in this topic! [:-*]
I was never ever able to test mine properly under DC, the only DC power pack I had was an old rheostat type, and because of the low current draw of the motor it pretty much just took off as soon as I cracked the throttle. With a decoder in it though, it creeps incredibly slow, sloe enough to watch the couplers come together and then grab, assuming the car doesn’t roll away first.
I picked up a few more Baldwin switchers since my last post. I now have two VO-1000s, two VO-660s, two DS-44-1000s, and two S-8s. All of them look great and run well.
I installed the decoder in S-12 with no problems. I used ESU LokPilot Basic, which is, I think, maybe 10% smaller than TCS T1 Randy used. So it fit well. This decoder is fleet decoder among ESU non-sound decoders, does not have CV19 for consisting, for example, but it has excellent motor control.
As you all said, low speed has improved greatly, it really crawls!
