Thank you for your persistence Rick!  Given your era of modeling I'm happy to see that you are still eagerly anticipating this model as much as the rest of us!

Hope to see you at Springfield!

You can use a TCS T-1 for both the powered and dummy unit.  You won't be able to program the decoder in the dummy unit on a programming track without a motor so you'll have to program the dummy unit on the mainline.

Go to the Bachmann online store parts section and look for acela parts.  There should be some in stock.

Kyle

See page 2.

http://resources.bachmanntrains.com/nmra2016_brochure/

sounds like a metroliner to me.  The only amfleet-style, self-propelled passenger cars which ran in married pairs.

Unfortunately this is an issue that NO manufacturer has been able to avoid (Walthers or Bachmann)  except in the case where Bachmann was only cranking out Amfleet I coach cars.  I don't know why Bachmann never did the cafe car version in their older run of Amfleets. 

I've been putting the bug in QSI's ear about getting sound files for the Acela.  Last I spoke with them, they actually recorded the sounds but when they demonstrated it to me, it didn't sound quite right but I was informed that a number of adjustments had to be made.  Essentially I didn't hear the "howl" of the AC traction motor that I'm accustomed to.  They were also able to determine the correct horn for it.  The good thing is that they only need to record the sounds of EITHER an HHP or Acela as one sound set can satisfy both!

All my after-market sound decoders are QSI.  None of them start up as soon as they touch the track.  I usually have to hit a function button (any one while the loco's addressed is called up) for the sounds to start up.

My Soundtraxx equipped Athearn Genesis locomotives automatically run whenever they're on powered dcc track.


With QSI decoders, you can actually go through a three-stage shut down.  You have to press F9 twice for each stage.  After the third double-tap or sixth (total), it will actually go through the shut down sounds including the sound of the cab door opening and closing.  From that point forward, whenever you put the engine on the tracks, it will not start up automatically.  You'll have to hit F6 to start the locomotive up again.  It will go through start up sequences.  Failing to do so will render the loco inoperable (not permanently, just until you hit F6).

I actually started a discussion on this on a number of forums.

The second run of road numbers for the HHPs (651, 656, and 663) have a different board from their predecessors.  This is because the new boards are optimized for DCC.  The previous run ran slower as the board wasn't optimized for DCC.  I got around this issue by bypassing board and hard wiring the motor leads from the decoder.  This optimizes the loco's performance.

I did not take the time to notice if there were any differences between the older Acela runs and the latest run beyond the fact that the newer locos use LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs.  What are the locomotive's road numbers?

If the Acela is operating slower, you may want to consider what I did with the older run of HHPs.

Kyle

Quote from: Blink_182_Fan on December 29, 2011, 11:21:46 PM
I received a Bachmann Phase V (actually should be IVB) for Christmas, and had a few questions about them.
1. The shade of blue almost seems too purple. Is Bachmann using the correct shade of blue for these Amfleets? And has anyone else noticed this?
2. The diaphragms are silver. Shouldnt they be black?
3. There are dents in each door of the car. Is this a manufacturing defect of my car, or is it a known problem?
Thanks in advance.

1.  Not too many people other than myself and occasionally a few others, have noticed or acknowledged this openly on forums but it is recognized by Amtrak modelers out there.  The blue is not correct for this scheme and is (I believe) the exact same blue they used on their phase IV Amfleets (This is not the case on their respective prototoypes). 

Ironically, the blue they used on their initial "Acela Regional" amfleets (A production error) with the dark blue band was slightly more appropriate for this phase.

2.  Yes but all of Bachmanns Amfleets have silver diaphragms.  Only Bachmann can answer to why they decided not to make them black.  You can easily paint them with a brush yourself though.  Takes no more than two minutes to do both.

3.  I haven't seen dents in the doors on these cars.  I find that odd.  Do you have pictures?  That sounds more like an isolated defect but until I actually see what you're talking about, I can't make that call.

In all honesty, these Amfleets are completely new tooling from Bachmann's original Amfleets and (unfortunately) less accurate in dimensions and detail compared to their predecessors.  You should note however that these Amfleets are part of a different product line, seperate from "Spectrum" which is Bachmann's top notch product line with respect to accuracy and level of detail (i.e. the Acela Express and HHP to name a few related Amtrak models done by Bachmann in the past).  The "Silver Series" is a bit more generic in nature and I believe these Amfleets fall into that line.  They're great starters for newcomers.

Quote from: highdust on January 06, 2012, 10:56:43 PM
I would like to disassemble an Acela passenger car to rewire it for overhead pickup through the engine. How do you disassemble one? Thanks.

Dis-assembly can be tricky but not impossible.  First you have to remove the diaphragms at the car ends.  Use small tweazers to squeze the lock tabs together in order to remove them.  I think you can access these tabs from a small opening in the chassis.  You then GENTLY have to pry the shell from the chassis.  A small flat head screw driver should work fine.  Be carefull when removing the shell.  Remember that the wires are fastened to the roof and connected to the trucks so you won't be able to completely separate the shell from the chassis until you disconnect the wires.

Hope this helps! 

Sounds like an interesting project.  Will you post pics?  Sounds like if you were to connect power via the engine itself (more like the real thing) once that bad boy's on the tracks, you need to keep it there.  Taking the thing apart sounds like it would be a nightmare.

Good Luck!

I believe they can but I wouldn't run them on tighter curves than that.  Most Bachmann passenger cars are pretty good about running on 18" curves (although not recommended).

My acela cars (inherently less forgiving than the Amfleet Cars due to their tilting capabilities) managed pretty well when the max I could work with was 18"-19" radius curves at the time.

Sounds like it might be a bad board.  What I would also do is before I send it in, I would test it in DC mode (without the decoder).  Use the jumper pins that should be included with it.

If you have the same problem then it will definitely be an indicator that the board is bad.  I had a similar issue with one of my HHPs and it was the board that was faulty.  It worked fine in DC but only the lights worked in DCC.

Hi rodmason67,

Welcome back to the hobby!  Thanks for the compliment!

Trim film works like any other decal.  It comes in a solid sheet.  You cut strips to the width you want using a straight edge and an exacto-knife.  Then you apply it like you would any other decal.

Quote from: Amtrak X995 on June 29, 2011, 02:09:58 PM
Hi

there`s another Marc outside in Germany....
enjoy the pic

My inspiration and final nudge for the project   (I forgot what S/N you go by on this forum so I generalized my credit in my initial post.  You'll note I credited you by name in the Atlas forum )

Here's a recently finished project. Something for the NEC portable layout perhaps?  I thought it would be appropriate to post here seeing as how Bachmann's release of the HHP-8 made this possible.

A special thanks to a friend of mine for his assistance with the project. I'm proud to say we've been able to go back-and-forth assisting one another with various kitbashing and painting projects. He did an excellent job with his model! When doing a project like this, I try not to replicate the number that the person assisting me modeled out of my own personal sign of respect (except in the case when the person models all numbers on the prototype OR happened to model the same number that I wanted to model for sentimental/personal reasons, lol)







I used PolyScale Stainless Steel for the silver as I felt it was the best mix. It had the stainless steel feel but also had a bit of the Floquil Platinum Mist feel to it as well. The future floor polish did not take away from the luster (something I had been nervous about).

I used straight PolyScale D&H blue and trim film for the orange stripes. The MARC markings came from a friend of mine that had a few leftover custom decals. The blue numbers came from a CSX set but it only has two "1"s in the set which is kind of a bummer.

Is there an official reason why Bachmann has not run this particular paint scheme with its HHPs?  General thought in the community (amongst consumers anyway) is that more roadnames/colors are better for a particular product in terms of sales.