@Strummer posted:I went back to the NASG page(s) and have come to realize that this is actually their F9. There's a couple of odd mushroom-shaped items on the back end of the roof:
...dunno what these are supposed to be; they aren't on the Enhorning F7, (or any F9 I've ever had in other scales) but do show up on both F9 photos on that site.
There is also a link to a review from the December 1962 S Gauge Herald, which speaks of the pick-up issues and mentions that earlier models had aluminum wheels, while later releases had wheels of brass. My sample has the aluminum ones.
More S scale history...
Mark in Oregon
If you can swap out those aluminum wheels for brass ones I think you'd end up with better electrical pick-up/operation - aluminum is a pretty good conductor, but it doesn't play well with other metal types as it discolors and corrodes. If that's not possible, I'd try pulling the wheels, removing the axles, access the contacts/wipers (whatever is transferring current from the track, through the wheels to the motor) and polishing them til they're as shiny as possible. I've had good luck using Simichrome to polish metal (once the Simichrome stops pulling off black crud, use the contact cleaner to clear off the Simichrome residue).
