Review on 🚦 Walthers LED Fascia Indicator - Layout Control System - White for Z, N, HO, S, O, G Scale Models by Chris Hernandez

I was incredibly excited when I saw the release of this product and the easy install video. I was ahead of myself and bought a set of 5 units to test before buying the other 40 machines I need. I like the simplicity of small servomotors and the fact that they don't need a constant low current to hold position. The Walthers system also looked incredibly easy with plug and play layout control accessories. I also read that these machines could toggle Peco's momentary switches without having to remove the spring in the Pecos. However, my experience ended in disappointment and now I have to decide what to do with them as they are unsuitable for me. They are listed as Z, N, HO, S, O, G scale compatible and I believe they are, but all the instructions, videos from Walthers and even the shifter centering ring are all HO scale. It's important that you mount the machines with the switches centered, as machines do just that, so centering clamps for different scales would be an important Walthers addition for us non-HO modelers. Second, piano wire has a much larger radius than I've seen on Tortoise/Cobalt machines. Drilling a decent sized hole in N scale switches is tricky, I'm not sure how people will handle the Z.2 scale. Speaking of piano, it's not long enough to go through 3/8" plywood, 1" extruded foam base, cork/foam base and then through the shift rod. It lasts long enough. Looking at the design of the machine, there doesn't seem to be an easy way to replace the wire with a longer one like some machines from other brands do. This is a serious design flaw IMO. I could not find any instructions on Walthers website to solve this problem.3. Fastening screws are a screw nightmare. They have incredibly small screw heads, I ended up using a jeweler's screwdriver. Even with pilot holes in the plywood, screwing something into the plywood with a jeweler's screwdriver is a chore, especially if you're trying to do it overhead under a table. If you're building a base HO layout on plywood with a total base layer thickness of less than 1-1/2" and have enough room to accommodate horizontal switches (2" x nearly 4"), this can be great. The "Plug and Play" capability with the entire Walther system control and the simple integration into the DCC make it very attractive, but will unfortunately make it unusable for many model builders due to some very fundamental defects.