Build and Quick Review of One of HO Scale's Tiniest Kits - Cosmic AEG Deki 3 

Just a word to the prototype - it was an industrial loco designed and built by the German company AEG (Allgemeine Elektrizitäts-Gesellschaft) in the early 1900s. Both narrow gauge and standard gauge variants were available. A 9mm NG version us available from Hallig/Austria, following a prototype which ran on the Mixnitz to St. Erhard railway in Austria. This type of loco was introduced in the 1890s and became a bestseller world-wide. Japanese kits in general are extremely well engineered. They all fit well and usually require very little glueing or soldering.

Honorable Bonsai locomotive-san! Coupla points 1) The "pantographs"- The one you installed is known as a bow which was uncommon in North America. The other is a trolley pole with either a slider or wheel contacting the overhead 2) There was a US prototype for a tiny 0-B-0 steeple cab the "Joe Cushing" - "Built by GE in 1893 as 650 volt DC only; Built for Columbian Exposition then sold to Manufacturers RR 12/1896; in 1901 rebuilt by GE c/n 1607; Once fell through open draw into the Quinnipiac River when Tomlinson bridge opened unexpectedly; Sold to Joe Cushing RR as #1 in 1905" and "1 was built by General Electric in 1893, #1437, for General Electric for the Columbian Exposition. It was sold as Manufacturer RR 1 in 1893 and became New York New Haven & Hartford RR 1. It was rebuilt by GE in 1901, #1607, and sold as JCRR 1 in 1905. It was purchased by GE for preservation in 1948 and given to National Museum of Transportation in 1964." i.imgur.com/OYOfr7f.jpg i.imgur.com/O9A96BM.jpg 3) Kato makes overhead you can install, Other European manufacturers offer catenary, but in my opinion, its the sort of installation you would have on a heavy electrified mainline. Kato's offering is much more what you would have on a traction or industrial system. You would probably only need one pack for an industrial line. Many power plants used units like this (they already made the juice) to move loaded and empty hopper cars of coal, send fly ash to a dumping site and switch the occasional shipment of electrical gear for repair at the factory or to upgrade the plant. Joe was used to serve a textile plant's power house and to switch loaded and emply box casrs to and from the interchange and loading docks.

Darth, This is just fabulous ! I found this project to be engrossing. Working in such tiny detail. I loved every bit of it. Having the little AEG Deki 3 pull six hoppers and a caboose was the icing on the cake ! All I can say is "Wow !" 5 stars !

Hy . I just find your chanel. I do realy enjoying what I see. Im realy curious of all videos. I'm 62 years old and collecting model railroad for nearly 50 years. But I had also a break, so I can emagine whats going on in your case. Congratulations to find back to this hobby. I live in Germany nearby the baltic see. So excuse my bumpy writing. I restart my layout in dcc, so I have to convert all of my lokos from dc to dcc. That will take a time. And Im realy interesting in maintanace and reparingmethods all over the workd. I've learnd a lot on youtube. And even from your videos. Thank you for getting this chance. Regards from northern germany, Rainer

Total respect for construction using those limited instructions. Way beyond my capabilities !

I just built tis, and it really is that easy. Fantastic kit. A quick note for others who, like me, use Kadee whisker couplers- you must use the no5 box, the new style box will not fit.

Even though I dont run HO instead I run N scale really enjoyed this video so much.

You seem like the kind of modeller that would absolutely be a pleasure to work with and be around. I take my time, think, discuss and double-check slowly and carefully, but more often than not, my fellow modellers are not very fun to be around (know-it-alls). I enjoyed your video very much, subbing. And I rarely use this word, but that little runner is adorable. 👍🏻

As I think I mentioned before here, I would, if you have room, put in a "keep alive" capacitor to keep it from stalling on the frogs or slightly dirty track; and smooth out the starts and stops a little and greater creep performance.

That is a really neat little kit. I wish there were more US prototype kits like this.

Cool little loco, Im sure you could fit a small flywheel in there to make it run just that much smoother, the motor shaft looks the perfect length for it, too

Glad to see someone else take the dive on the Hobby Search rabbit hole! Haven't quite been brave enough to pull the trigger on one of these or the steam kits.

That is a beautiful model! The video is very good and the quality of the shots is great P.S. You forgot to put two washers, one on each side of the worm gears. Washers are included in the sheet.

An excellent job of building and superb videography. as well. Thanks for adding to my modelling education.

Nice work! Since everyone has tips..... Working above an automotive magnetic dish keeps dropped screws from disappearing. The Milwaukee built a similar critter on top of a recycled Fairbanks Morse C-Liner truck. The used it to switch stuff in a yard in their electrified Lines West. After they tore down the wires they ran it on an extension cord.

That is quite tiny! And really does seem to be exceptionally well designed. It would be interesting to compare it in size to the Precision Scale Co. (formerly Kemtron) "Thomas Flyer rail car" kit, which might be smaller but I'm sure doesn't run anywhere near as well as this one does.

I have an older railbus kit of this type and your build of this kit is going to be very helpful for me, thanks! By the way the overhead pick up you chose is called a bow (not common in the US) ! The other one is a trolley pole , the disc at the end being a roller wheel pickup rather than a sliding shoe type!

Great little runner! And I'm surprised with its pulling power. I might have to check this thing out.... Nice work, and thanks!

I have vague recollection of seeing this little loco starring in a Model Railroader article decades ago.

your lettering looks just like to Chattahoochee industry railroad I love your lettering I'm going to have to learn how to make the same ones for my Chattahoochee industry railroad Thank you for posting

Very nice and I love the look!!!! Thank you for sharing, and please keep up the good work!!!

What a great little kit and model! Gosh I wish some of the other brass kit builders would take note of the designed and construction features of this kit.

Pretty sure that DeKi is the Japanese abbreviation for 'electric locomotive' (something like Denki Kikansha). See the history of the Choshi Denki Tetsudō...

Wow, what a great kit and loco. With the trolley pole option this would look great on my little layout. Cheers from Wisconsin!

What a fabulous little kit, well done

Very amazing little engine !! so cute, i love so much !

Very well done. Interesting model.

Wow. That is a wonderfully designed model. Great video.

Really cute engine, amazing product !

The electrical aspect of this was the most interesting- brass etched kits can be treacherous with all the metal and trying to feed insulated contacts to the wheels and thread through to the motor. The fact that this one uses bronze pickups that pass right through the brass frame and contacts the motor without solder boggles my mind.

Outstanding video presentation and excellent thumbnail image. I've been trying to get proficient with Shotcut editing software so I appreciate that level of difficulty. You seem to have no problem with your edits. Thanks for sharing this tiny origami model.

Best way to get around short wheelbase electrical contact issues ... live trolley wire with return path through both rails! 😁

Sweet kit!!! 💯✌️

In my limited experience with japanese models, they are very well made. Especially plastic models. No flash at all and a lot less cleaning up needed

Good job!

Little Buggers neat! Thank You!

Cute little German built E-lok.

The same mechanism is sold by ARU. I use it for some of my models of early steam locomotives.

Might I suggest getting some tamiya side cutters they are excellent at cutting through photo etch

Fascinating to watch. I'm considering the N gauge version of this (by a different company) though - thank goodness - it comes pre-built! :)

The 1/80 Scale, or HOj, is a compromise to Represent Japanese 3'6" using HO 16,5mmTrack....proper 1/87 would require 12mm Track for correct Scale-Gauge relationship.

Thank you for making a Japanese locomotive.

Cute little loco. CIRR must be the Chattahoochee Industrial Railroad

I love it. I can't believe it has enough heft and torque to pull 7 cars so easily. How much does it weigh and I also wonder how many cars it can pull before losing traction.

Long time viewer first time commenter. Would a DCC decoder be possible in this? Love this kit! Great work as always!

When you first tested it, and wondered out loud if it could really haul all that, I almost felt it heard you.

Photo etched - not for the faint of heart.

Nice train

Try the translate function on your phone for the manual, does wonders reading the manual first :)

Now, what kind of fun could the On30 and the Gn15 crews have with it ... 🤔

If you don't mind telling how did you managed to get this thing ship to the US? Proxy shopping service? Or did you get lucky and find it on another site?

Very cool little kit. It looks like the wheels are out of gauge. Too narrow? Thanks for the fun build.

i was exactly in the process of making similar content, i’ll be covering the Aru-Model B tank engine brass etching kit in the near future as well check them out if you’re interested in similar kits to these!

Very cool nice job man I have som questions to ask you about a bowser challenger

I would feel a little mode comfortable if the ends of the drive shafts had a least a collar type bushing.

Nice, although over engineered, kit! Now fit a DCC or similar board in it...

looks like it is based off the old English Electric Type 3B Battery Electric Shunter (some IRL were full electric instead of battery)

How about a Fairmont speeder???

How much did that smalll 25 toner kit cost? I’ve seen the shell but how much did the whole thing cost?

BANZAI!!

you might try a text translator app for your phone that could help you out with the Japanese...

Cutie Pie engine😊

WOW awesome, can you build one for me😂

Hmm, lets see ... if the locomotive scale is 1/80 that makes the 16.5mm gauge HO gauge track equal to 52 inch gauge in proportion to the locomotive.

future layout expansion in the background? :D

I think my freelance Interurban might have found a new design for a “shop built” freight motor…

That small of a motor is wants used in a Xbox controller for the rumble

Darth, WHEN ARE WE GETTING AN UPDATE ON YOUR NEW LAYOUT?

Would. Capacitor help with switches?

Could you put in a N-SCALE 2 amp. DDC decoder in it ?????

What is the knife you use to cut some of the brass tabs?

Here's a challenge for you DCC it

Is there a way to add rivets?

What kind of flux do you use?

Maybe this could be kitbashed to produce a railcar/railcart or some such? Sorry, just pipedreaming.

fit a dc stay alive in it .

This particular model is going for 200 bucks on ebay now...grrrr.