Piko Taurus: DCC decoder and sound module installation

Decision to run your trains under digital control often doubles the price of adding a new locomotive. It is expensive, but in my opinion, it's definitely worth the money. The ease of control and the extra features make it a good deal for me, despite the high price. Today I'm going to bring another of my engines into the 21st century: G-scale Taurus from Piko.

There are of course different options available when converting a piece of rolling stock to digital protocol. But if you want to make it easy for yourself (and I do!), you just go for the dedicated electronics. In case of Piko Taurus that would be:

• Piko 36120 DCC decoder
• Piko 36190 sound module

These are the two components I will be installing today.

The box the decoder comes in is exactly the same as for all other similar Piko products. The only difference is in the sticker in the right bottom corner.

The content is exactly what we would expect. We get:

• a decoder PCB with cabling
• a set of screws
• a set of instruction manuals

The packaging of the sound module is not a surprise either. The same purple cardboard box with a sticker indicating the type of the item inside.

After opening the box we find the following:

• a large loudspeaker
• a tiny piece of PCB (the actual sound module)
• installation instructions
• digital functions descriptions

First we need to open the Taurus. The schematics provided with the locomotive are very clear about the disassembly process. What's even more interesting, they offer a hint on how to perform that operation in a safe manner.

The trick is to use the original polystyrene mold that came with the model. We can place the locomotive upside down inside the part that normally acts as a top cover. This gives us access to the bottom of the engine while keeping all the roof details completely safe.

And it gets better! Once we remove the 10 relevant screws, we can move the chassis away and place it next to the still secured top element. The cables are long enough to allow comfortable work in this setup. Fantastic solution!

The bag containing the decoder screws holds also a few small electrical connectors. Those confused me a lot in the beginning. Turns out they're needed only in case of some older Taurus models. I will not be using them for my Piko 37428.

Wiring for the upgrade is not difficult but the connectors next to the bogies may be a challenge at first. The pins' functions may not be so clear. The puzzle is solved once we take a closer look. There are clear markings in the plastic but they are not visible right away, especially in poor lighting.

The decoder gets installed in its dedicated space. Fits perfectly.

Once all the wiring is done, we still have some leftover cables. That is fine. And of course we might find them useful one day in the future!

It's time to start testing. And I get a nasty surprise - it does not work. Roco Multimaus has some clear issues programming the decoder. I'm forced to reset it to the factory defaults and start from scratch. Luckily it's a success on the second try. Everything works...

...not. I have obviously made a mistake and wired the engines the wrong way. When one motor goes forward, the other goes backwards. I need to correct the polarization :)

Adding the sound module comes next. There's pleeeeeeeeenty of space inside the locomotive. The loudspeaker goes into its dedicated slot, and the PCB goes... anywhere. It's only important to secure it well.

The sound module requires no configuration. It just works. Here's a demo of the available functions:

Conversion to DCC and adding sound is an expensive procedure. Many people still believe this is not worth the price. From my point of view, the model gains A LOT as a result of the upgrade. I'm very happy with the outcome and I'm convinced my money was well spent. I'd encourage everyone who is still "behind" to take a leap of faith and finally go digital :)

Liliput 95988, G-scale "Porter" beer car

I usually start my review with a photo of the product still in its packaging. This way I try to keep things in chronological order. But not this time. This time I'm kicking off with a photo taken outside in natural light. There are two reasons for that...

Reason #1 - the freight car I will be describing is a dark one. It's not completely black, it's a little on the blueish side. But it's definitely dark enough to make the process of taking good photos much more difficult. So the one below is probably the best picture in this entire blog post.

Reason #2 - the product arrived completely covered by its packaging. You can't really see anything interesting just by looking at the box. This makes the below picture pretty much pointless.

The lid however comes off easily. And... turns out the car was packaged upside down :)

Alright, but let's focus on the important facts. The item I will be reviewing is Liliput 95988 and it's a beer car in G-scale. I got it for less than 50€ from the MSL store. I'm not a big fan of rolling stock in boring colors, but the price was too tempting. And here it is!

The product is well protected inside the box. There's a transparent plastic cover on the front side, and it keeps the car stable and away from any external dangers.

The content of the set is really not that much. The car comes without any couplers installed, and we get two sets to choose from: LGB-style and knuckle ones.

I'm of course going for European couplers. The installation takes less than 10 minutes. A manual is included inside the bag, if anyone needs it.

Let's take a look at the model...


Looks good. What caught my attention are of course the metal wheels. These are really great and they make the car roll really nicely. Much, much better than the plastic sets used by other manufacturers. Big plus for Liliput for using those!

The model features a lot of separately applied details. Handrails and ladders all around. They are very noticeable compared to other product which often offer only molded "bumps" that are supposed to look like iron bars.


A very nice feature are the operable doors. They not only open and close, but the door handle is a functional piece, too. Yes, we can actually lock the door. It's so cool!


An even bigger surprise are the hatches on the car's roof. There are four of those and they can all be operated. They open and close easily. I love this kind of details!


The model is very dark - almost black - which I personally do not like at all. But I have to admit the logos look really nice on this kind of a background. Everything is sharp and flawless.


Can't find anything to complain about. My purchase looks really good!


I have to say I'm very impressed with the model. For less than 50€ I got a freight car with a lot of details, many operable parts and metal wheels. That was one of the best deals I've ever made. Can't wait to see what the next "sale offer" at the MSL store will be :)

Revell 04905, Bell UH-1 "Huey" helicopter in 1:24 scale

Some time ago I've finished assembling a helicopter model plastic kit. A friend of mine, Eryk, keeps nagging me to share the results of my work. He's right, the blog post covering this particular topic is now very, very late. But... better late than never, right?

The product I will be describing is Revell 04905, and it's a 1:24 scale reproduction of a very well known aircraft: Bell UH-1 "Huey". I got the set as a Christmas gift, and I hope to use it on my garden layout. Its size seems to fit just perfectly. According to the box, the model is around 50cm long and wide.

The kit is marked with a "skill level 5" tag, which indicates the highest tier of complexity. Well, we will see...

Many of the provided parts are dark green. This seems like a good color choice for people going for the default, military look.

Two pilots will be in control of the helicopter. And what a coincidence - they're identical twins!

Some parts are silver or transparent. And again - in many cases that's exactly the color the model is going to need.

The manual is a long and detailed one. I would never expect less from a "skill level 5" set.

Two sheets of decals are included, too. They look perfectly fine, but personally I do not like them that much. They imply a war-themed model, which is not something I'm after.

The build starts with the interior. And that means we have to begin painting the parts right away, since later we won't be able to access them. Here's my attempt at coloring the pilots and the cabin.

From here on it's just many, many evenings of work. It's a lot of painting, waiting for the items to dry, painting again, and then finally gluing parts together. Personally I would not rate the difficulty as the "highest possible", since everything is so large on this model. Yes, it's a lot of work, but very little of that is really challenging or frustrating.

I really did not want any military aircraft. And so I've skipped adding the guns and painted the helicopter in "happy" colors. It's a civilian aircraft now. Here's what it looks like...

My colleague, Eryk, frequently commented on my painting technique. He warned me that too much paint could make some of the details disappear. He was obviously right, but I really wanted the model to be nice and shiny and I needed a good coat of paint. Some fine details are indeed gone, but there's still a lot to admire.


The very last photo is my biggest accomplishment. I have not used any of the provided decals and instead painted a custom registration number. A dedicated cut-out produced with my wife's cutting plotter was used here to help my artistic skills. The result is quite good, I think.

Of course I'm aware that identifiers starting with "ST" are reserved for Sudan. But those also happen to be the first two letters of my last name...

I'm in the process of preparing a helipad platform for my model. It will feature some strobe lights, and it will be installed on my garden layout. The helicopter will go along with it. I'm hoping for some spectacular effect :)