DCC Conversion 7 Stars in Kyushu (Kato DF200)

This beautiful iconic Japanese Train is a masterpiece of modeling.

For a more in-depth look visit the Seven Stars Website.

Despite the tight space luckily the DCC Mod is not super hard, just a few tricks. Sound … maybe will add that in another car (to be decided).

Opening the case is easy:

The decoder to use is the TCS K0D8 Series. I had the K0D8-B with me. Like the F7 install, remove the grey clip, slide the board to the front of the loco and lift. The LED on the front of the K0D8 is too long, it has to be desoldered and cut to match the size

A piece of Kapton tape marks the orientation of the LED legs, once cut it’s easy to mix up the anode and cathode.
The TCS decoder rail contacts are sized perfectly to be just laid on the track for a quick decoder test. Prefer this to having to remove it after soldering the motor leads.
KOD8 with both LEDs soldered showing size match.
To insulate the pickup rails from the motor clips, I found it best to lift and not remove the rail entirely and apply the Kapton tape. Before seating the decoder I did insulate the motor clips – to which short lengths of orange and gray wires were soldered.
The motor wires have to come out through the slot where the clip would go through, rather than replace the clip I chose to tape down the front end of the decoder, since the rear clip had a firm grip on it.
Profile of the installed decoder, no modification needed in the shell of the locomotive.
The end product ….. maybe till I do a sound installation in a passenger car.

Here we go – sound installed in car 3

Pre programming the Loksound-Micro and uploading a Diesel sound file
Decoder and speaker are concealed in the section of the carriage with no windows. Track pickup from lighting kit contacts.