Installing a DN163k0a into a Kato Eurostar !

Recently, I came to correspond with a really nice ebay seller who suggested that a Digitrax DN163k0a could be installed into a Kato Eurostar with some modification and that he had done so. Curious as I was, I told him about this site and asked whether he would be happy to provide pictures and a description of his work. He graciously provided the following which I hope you find as interesting as I did:

" Hi,

I am attaching two photos. One is the modified body shell and the other is with the DCC board installed. You can do whatever with the photos.

Since I have done this a while ago, I didn't exactly remember what I did until I opened it up again today. So my description before was not quite complete.

First, on the chasis side, I re-direct the headlight LED to the center, insulating the legs to prevent short circuit. On hind sight, I should have done it with thin wires. I also reverse the polarity of leads going to the motor. I guess somehow I couldn't program the DCC board correctly, so I chose to do it physically. I also insulated the oringal contact copper tabs properly. Oh, as you might noticed, I replace the DCC board's marker light LED with the RED LED salvaged from the OEM board.

As for the body shell, you can see the section with red circles being cut/ removed to create clearance. How much to trim is a matter of being careful and keep trying, since your installation will be different. With sufficient clearance, the body shell will fit back nicely without bulging, etc. I also trimmed away part of the plastic headlight lens to clear DCC board. After trimming, you can sand it with fine sand paper (Tamiya 1000~2000 grid) and then polish it with plastic polish to help improve internal reflectivity. With the ultra bright LED, I didn't have to polish it very much and it's still bright enough when looked from outside.

One final note on opening the motor car. The best way to open it is to first slide back the yellow strips between the upper and lower half of the car. In doing so, you want to be very careful not to break the little tips of the yellow strips and the hooks inside. Once you slide back the yellow strips, you can remove the nose by pulling it slightly down and then forward. Now you can pull the body shell slightly outward and the body shell will come out. I think opening the car without breaking anything is the hardest part of the whole project.

I used to travel a lot to Japan and have acquired many Japanese N scales. I have about 30 Japanese Katos sets, the Eurostar is one of the fineset in fit and finish. Of course the more recent TGV and,Euromed/AVE series are also very nice... Actaully the motor cars are identical. except for the body shells. So, I have also digitalized the Euromed. The newer TGV also have power pickup in the coaches. I was thinking to retro-fit the Eurostar using the new bogies. But since the parts can only come from the European distributors (not sold by Kato in Japan even in its factory store) and they're extremely expensive (For all the bogies and couplers, I can easily buy another set of Eurostar), so I have put off the project indefinitely..

Anyhows, wish you good luck in the hobby.

Jeff"