MTH S Scale NYC F3: Preliminary Report

I spent the morning between laundry loads scalifying my friend's F3's. Conversion is covered pretty well in the instruction book and is exactly the way the SHS versions were.

A couple of quick notes first:

There's plenty of grease lurking in the gearboxes to apply to the code 110 wheelset gears.
It's easier to mount the rear coupler brackets with the truck sideframes off.
The code 110 wheels have a narrower width, it's wise to bend the pick-up wipers out a little before installing the wheelsets.
While not necessary, I reinstalled the screws that hold the Flyer compatible coupler bracket. Gotta put them somewhere..
There's really no place to put the old coupler brackets in the box. The A-unit box has a place for one, but not the other.
I discovered after working on the last unit, there's a packet with the MU hoses for installation on the ends. SHS had these installed. I still have yet to install them.
The green class lights appear to be just that: Green. It look's like they're light pipes that pick up light from the numberboards.
The cab chatter isn't anywhere near as annoying or as loud as Lionel's. No "We're shuttin' her down and going for beans" type talk here.

On with the show...

First up: Mind The Gap, Part 2:

The trio in full scalification:

I've been checking them out using DCC (MRC Prodigy 2) basic consisting (all addresses the same, default 3) and they fun fine together. I haven't gone in and changed any CV's. As Bill pointed out, there are switches behind the rear doors that control DCS/DCC, motor start direction, light direction. I scanned this in from the manual:

While the manual says to leave the switches in the forward position on the trailing unit for DCC, I set them in the reverse position. Seems to work fine and I didn't have to mess with CV's to reverse motor and light operation in basic consisting. I imagine it might affect advance consisting.

A couple of pictures on the road (the cab light goes off in motion.)