Digitising LGB Fortuna Flyer

[notofthiscenturyTim]

I have an LGB Fortuna Flyer which I would like to digitise. See attached product photo. It's basically a flat bed wagon with a motor and propellor on top. It's from the 90s and its manual predates LGB's decoder recommendations.
The slightly more modern Mars Flyer, which has an identical motor and propellor setup, was designed to take an LGB 55020 1.5a decoder.
The main challenge with the Fortuna is that space is incredibly tight inside the housing which contains the motor. An alternative location is under the frame above the axles, but it would be exposed to the elements.
The most promising decoder that I have found is the Digitrax DH465 at 52x15x3mm which has been successfully used to digitise the Mars Flyer, though that has lot more space in the housing. So my questions are:
1. Has anyone successfully digitised the Fortuna Flyer?
2. Are there any really other compact decoders which can take 22v 1.5a or higher that I should be considering?
3. If I end up having to mount the decoder under the frame, what methods have people used which work well for weatherproofing decoders without compromising cooling?
Thanks! Tim

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Get an HO decoder, there are several that have 2 and 2.5 amp capacity

 

[notofthiscenturyTim]

Thanks Greg. I'll cast my net a bit wider.

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Zimo has high current (for HO) decoders in a very small format. I'm assuming you want sound.

Greg

 

[notofthiscenturyTim]

Thanks Greg. Those Zimo ones do look promising. Unusually I don't want sound as the propellor noise is good by itself - like a very angry bumblebee!
The question of what current is going to be needed is quite perplexing. I've now tracked down the Bühler spec sheet for the motor in the flyer and it includes the attached graph.
I reckon that the motor driving the propellor is likely to be running at very high rpms but low torque which is quite different from usual train motor operation. The graph seems to suggest this could mean a continuous current draw of around 2.8a to produce peak power and rpms at low torque.