Cool video man! I slightly disagree with you on these. Once you figure out the smoke you're good. You gotta get a syringe and load the chamber from the bottom. IT also states in the manual that these do not come out of the box with smoke. Most of the ones I have sold have had a little smoke but not enough to say wow!! Haven't seen any signs of melting the due to no fluid out of like the 250 +ish i've had and sold. I personally have had a great experience with the ones I have and have sold. I have however, Had a very poor experience with the paragon 3 series. These are neat they have a lot of weight (besides the pilot truck) so electrical connection is much better on a sensitive layout. IFYKYK with Paragon 3 lol. Keep making videos like this Cheers!
Every Paragon 3 that is not the L1s or J1 I have has had their motors replaced with the latest motors from BLI. And of course, I do the hard wiring TCS WOW treatment to all my BLI engines even the diesels by BLI. Motor control becomes a lot more smoother and therefore a more dependable model. I personally have no care for smoke. People are luckier than others and that is really the main issue with BLI is that compared to the best manufactures for HO, their consistency in terms of product quality has been wavy ober the last 20 years. On the basis of smoke, I generally do not want to deal with potential problems hence why I gut the smoke units out and install my decoder of choice and add additional lighting features to the model if I am able to do so. That is me and some others in the hobby. When you hang around car mechanics in a train club, you tend to get their itch about wanting minimal problems to happen over the years and not waste money. Sure, there is the warranty, and I have never had to send any of my new engines I have bought to BLI to send them in, because after I do the decoder conversion, I never had any issues. The only issues I came across are of my own doing during the conversion process and I have only had total failure twice. The most I had to pay was 30$ for a brand new motor for the model and do the repair work myself. Now before I do any conversion on any Paragon 3 model, I would buy a new motor first before the conversion. Reason why is motor failure. Paragon 3 really was early Paragon 1 days 2.0. Paragon 4, was a better step in the right direction although, I have seen early Paragon 4 engines with jerky motors, but no issues with what comes out recently and even now. Back to smoke, I am glad BLI brought back DCC ready amd even more happy that I do not have to take out smoke units amymore. I have yet to get my first DCC ready BLI engine from the returned stealth line as of yet. Still waiting on my RF-16's and the new tooling Q2's I have pre-ordered and soon to be pre-ordering DCC ready B6 switchers. I think it is great to have more consumer choice. Some people may disagree, but I much rather there be smoke for the smoke fans and DCC ready no smoke for modelers like me and others who want a more customizable offering. Anyways, that I am glad tp see different views on subjects such as smoke, DCC ready, and quality of products. Helps me get a better understanding of other people's experiences and broaden's my knowledge. Have a great day!
Every Paragon 3 that is not the L1s or J1 I have has had their motors replaced with the latest motors from BLI. And of course, I do the hard wiring TCS WOW treatment to all my BLI engines even the diesels by BLI. Motor control becomes a lot more smoother and therefore a more dependable model. I personally have no care for smoke. People are luckier than others and that is really the main issue with BLI is that compared to the best manufactures for HO, their consistency in terms of product quality has been wavy ober the last 20 years. On the basis of smoke, I generally do not want to deal with potential problems hence why I gut the smoke units out and install my decoder of choice and add additional lighting features to the model if I am able to do so. That is me and some others in the hobby. When you hang around car mechanics in a train club, you tend to get their itch about wanting minimal problems to happen over the years and not waste money. Sure, there is the warranty, and I have never had to send any of my new engines I have bought to BLI to send them in, because after I do the decoder conversion, I never had any issues. The only issues I came across are of my own doing during the conversion process and I have only had total failure twice. The most I had to pay was 30$ for a brand new motor for the model and do the repair work myself. Now before I do any conversion on any Paragon 3 model, I would buy a new motor first before the conversion. Reason why is motor failure. Paragon 3 really was early Paragon 1 days 2.0. Paragon 4, was a better step in the right direction although, I have seen early Paragon 4 engines with jerky motors, but no issues with what comes out recently and even now. Back to smoke, I am glad BLI brought back DCC ready amd even more happy that I do not have to take out smoke units amymore. I have yet to get my first DCC ready BLI engine from the returned stealth line as of yet. Still waiting on my RF-16's and the new tooling Q2's I have pre-ordered and soon to be pre-ordering DCC ready B6 switchers. I think it is great to have more consumer choice. Some people may disagree, but I much rather there be smoke for the smoke fans and DCC ready no smoke for modelers like me and others who want a more customizable offering. Anyways, that I am glad tp see different views on subjects such as smoke, DCC ready, and quality of products. Helps me get a better understanding of other people's experiences and broaden's my knowledge. Have a great day!
A few notes on this model, I even have this exact same one, they are still using the same tooling from the PCM days. Funny that back then the pilot wheels were painted. The older versions however had more weight in them because it did not have a smoke unit and were DCC/Ready with a 21/8 pin motherboard. This particular model is based on her 1980’s/1990’s appearance. Her current look on the prototype is mostly Rambler with R&N lettering. Only the front is gunmetal grey, the rest of the smokebox is black.
Thanks for the info! Yeah, after talking with a fellow friend of mine, they told me that this particular version is based off her earlier appearance. I think stuffing tungsten putty or adding more weight in the boiler when I do the TCS conversion will help with traction pulling freight trains.
Perhaps Broadway is modeling it earlier in the Prototype's career, when she was a work-a-day engine. I do agree they should've painted or anodized the pilot wheels, but they should've done with the trailing truck and tender wheels too. I guess I don't want too much money be spent on fancy packaging unless it is to protect the product. Otherwise a plain brown box with a photo of the loco on the box is fine with me. I know the box is part of the experience of quality for a lot of people, but not me so much. Save on the fancy packaging and invest the money on better protection or cutting the price a few bucks.
Fantastic Video! You did an amazing job of removing that GOD AWFUL Smoke Unit and replace Paragon 4 Decoder into TCS Wowsound! I do have one question. Will you be able to get BLI's No. 4014 Big Boy and replace that Paragon 4 or Paragon 3 into TCS Wowsound?
At some point, I would like to do engines from railroads that I am normally not interested through a fundraiser like Patreon or Subscribe Star. Then do a review/TCS WOW install and then sell it as a bid on eBay. Then recycle those funds on another BLI requested engine. Until then, doing a review on a big boy is not on my priority list as of this moment however, if people want to send me theirs to review and do a TCS WOW job, I may do in the future too. I have a whole bunch of engines in my fleet that I will do reviews for. Some I cannot do, because I already put TCS in some of them already. Finally, the TCS WOW job on this T1 will be sometime this month.
Cool video man! I slightly disagree with you on these. Once you figure out the smoke you're good. You gotta get a syringe and load the chamber from the bottom. IT also states in the manual that these do not come out of the box with smoke. Most of the ones I have sold have had a little smoke but not enough to say wow!! Haven't seen any signs of melting the due to no fluid out of like the 250 +ish i've had and sold. I personally have had a great experience with the ones I have and have sold. I have however, Had a very poor experience with the paragon 3 series. These are neat they have a lot of weight (besides the pilot truck) so electrical connection is much better on a sensitive layout. IFYKYK with Paragon 3 lol. Keep making videos like this Cheers!
Every Paragon 3 that is not the L1s or J1 I have has had their motors replaced with the latest motors from BLI. And of course, I do the hard wiring TCS WOW treatment to all my BLI engines even the diesels by BLI. Motor control becomes a lot more smoother and therefore a more dependable model. I personally have no care for smoke. People are luckier than others and that is really the main issue with BLI is that compared to the best manufactures for HO, their consistency in terms of product quality has been wavy ober the last 20 years. On the basis of smoke, I generally do not want to deal with potential problems hence why I gut the smoke units out and install my decoder of choice and add additional lighting features to the model if I am able to do so. That is me and some others in the hobby. When you hang around car mechanics in a train club, you tend to get their itch about wanting minimal problems to happen over the years and not waste money. Sure, there is the warranty, and I have never had to send any of my new engines I have bought to BLI to send them in, because after I do the decoder conversion, I never had any issues. The only issues I came across are of my own doing during the conversion process and I have only had total failure twice. The most I had to pay was 30$ for a brand new motor for the model and do the repair work myself. Now before I do any conversion on any Paragon 3 model, I would buy a new motor first before the conversion. Reason why is motor failure. Paragon 3 really was early Paragon 1 days 2.0. Paragon 4, was a better step in the right direction although, I have seen early Paragon 4 engines with jerky motors, but no issues with what comes out recently and even now. Back to smoke, I am glad BLI brought back DCC ready amd even more happy that I do not have to take out smoke units amymore. I have yet to get my first DCC ready BLI engine from the returned stealth line as of yet. Still waiting on my RF-16's and the new tooling Q2's I have pre-ordered and soon to be pre-ordering DCC ready B6 switchers. I think it is great to have more consumer choice. Some people may disagree, but I much rather there be smoke for the smoke fans and DCC ready no smoke for modelers like me and others who want a more customizable offering.
Anyways, that I am glad tp see different views on subjects such as smoke, DCC ready, and quality of products. Helps me get a better understanding of other people's experiences and broaden's my knowledge. Have a great day!
Every Paragon 3 that is not the L1s or J1 I have has had their motors replaced with the latest motors from BLI. And of course, I do the hard wiring TCS WOW treatment to all my BLI engines even the diesels by BLI. Motor control becomes a lot more smoother and therefore a more dependable model. I personally have no care for smoke. People are luckier than others and that is really the main issue with BLI is that compared to the best manufactures for HO, their consistency in terms of product quality has been wavy ober the last 20 years. On the basis of smoke, I generally do not want to deal with potential problems hence why I gut the smoke units out and install my decoder of choice and add additional lighting features to the model if I am able to do so. That is me and some others in the hobby. When you hang around car mechanics in a train club, you tend to get their itch about wanting minimal problems to happen over the years and not waste money. Sure, there is the warranty, and I have never had to send any of my new engines I have bought to BLI to send them in, because after I do the decoder conversion, I never had any issues. The only issues I came across are of my own doing during the conversion process and I have only had total failure twice. The most I had to pay was 30$ for a brand new motor for the model and do the repair work myself. Now before I do any conversion on any Paragon 3 model, I would buy a new motor first before the conversion. Reason why is motor failure. Paragon 3 really was early Paragon 1 days 2.0. Paragon 4, was a better step in the right direction although, I have seen early Paragon 4 engines with jerky motors, but no issues with what comes out recently and even now. Back to smoke, I am glad BLI brought back DCC ready amd even more happy that I do not have to take out smoke units amymore. I have yet to get my first DCC ready BLI engine from the returned stealth line as of yet. Still waiting on my RF-16's and the new tooling Q2's I have pre-ordered and soon to be pre-ordering DCC ready B6 switchers. I think it is great to have more consumer choice. Some people may disagree, but I much rather there be smoke for the smoke fans and DCC ready no smoke for modelers like me and others who want a more customizable offering.
Anyways, that I am glad tp see different views on subjects such as smoke, DCC ready, and quality of products. Helps me get a better understanding of other people's experiences and broaden's my knowledge. Have a great day!
A few notes on this model, I even have this exact same one, they are still using the same tooling from the PCM days. Funny that back then the pilot wheels were painted. The older versions however had more weight in them because it did not have a smoke unit and were DCC/Ready with a 21/8 pin motherboard.
This particular model is based on her 1980’s/1990’s appearance. Her current look on the prototype is mostly Rambler with R&N lettering. Only the front is gunmetal grey, the rest of the smokebox is black.
Thanks for the info! Yeah, after talking with a fellow friend of mine, they told me that this particular version is based off her earlier appearance. I think stuffing tungsten putty or adding more weight in the boiler when I do the TCS conversion will help with traction pulling freight trains.
Perhaps Broadway is modeling it earlier in the Prototype's career, when she was a work-a-day engine.
I do agree they should've painted or anodized the pilot wheels, but they should've done with the trailing truck and tender wheels too.
I guess I don't want too much money be spent on fancy packaging unless it is to protect the product. Otherwise a plain brown box with a photo of the loco on the box is fine with me. I know the box is part of the experience of quality for a lot of people, but not me so much. Save on the fancy packaging and invest the money on better protection or cutting the price a few bucks.
I agree with you. Personally, as long as my models are safe, I am fine with the new packaging.
all three whistle sounds it comes with are Ok but not great. And the out of sync chuff it has a higher speeds drives me insane
And firebox flickers works but its very random. it can be changed in the CV’s
Fantastic Video! You did an amazing job of removing that GOD AWFUL Smoke Unit and replace Paragon 4 Decoder into TCS Wowsound! I do have one question. Will you be able to get BLI's No. 4014 Big Boy and replace that Paragon 4 or Paragon 3 into TCS Wowsound?
At some point, I would like to do engines from railroads that I am normally not interested through a fundraiser like Patreon or Subscribe Star. Then do a review/TCS WOW install and then sell it as a bid on eBay. Then recycle those funds on another BLI requested engine. Until then, doing a review on a big boy is not on my priority list as of this moment however, if people want to send me theirs to review and do a TCS WOW job, I may do in the future too. I have a whole bunch of engines in my fleet that I will do reviews for. Some I cannot do, because I already put TCS in some of them already.
Finally, the TCS WOW job on this T1 will be sometime this month.