Hey!! I like those trucks, they are more versatile than a regular pickup, and can do more than an SUV. About the only thing I won’t haul in mine is dirt or gravel, and that is due to not wanting the dust do come into the interior. It does a great job hauling my trains to shows rain or shine nothing gets wet.
A crew cab pickup suits me better, but different strokes for different folks! I remember my daughter (a 5'1" red head with an attitude) drove my F-250 CC to school one day. She was shocked that people actually made room when she signaled to change lanes! She usually drove a Fiesta, and got no respect!
Hi First- yes, dropping 8-9V across the regulator is converting the excess into heat in proportion to the current demand and internal resistances. You can get small aluminum heat sinks for the TO-220 packages for pennies (and others as well). Lift your regulator off the board to vertical. The back and flag of most T0-220s is metal. Put a little heat sink compound on the back of the regulator, then use a #2 or #4 machine screw and tighten (I forgot which one fits and cuts it's own threads into the heat sink- have to check. The screw that slips through the hole in the heat sink needs a lock washer and nut. Do not over tighten!) You can get the parts at almost any electronics outlet, Tayda, Circuit Specialists, DigiKey, Mouser, etc. This will reduce the temperature greatly. Most modern regulators are protected against thermal runaway, but why beat up the chip?
Working on getting this loco updated to DCC. It's a 1997 release with no DCC option and incandescent bulbs so a bit of removing electrics and insulating appropriate spots. Had a bit of concern after first installing the decoder as the motor didn't rotate and the brushes would arc/spark and smoke when I applied throttle. I saw beforehand when installing the decoder that the commutator was pretty grubby and did a quick clean at that time but nothing more. I bought this used which it tested fine with a battery when I got it and again just before the swap but I've never seen this before after 80 or so installs. I removed the motor and again it tested fine with the battery but the commutator was black again in no time. I did multiple cleans until there was no more carbon trail. Retest with decoder was a success and now it runs freakin smooth. I still purchased a set of brushes as the ones currently in the motor are pretty worn. Although the loco is HO scale it does use an N scale motor since it is so small. Problem now is I mangled one of the steps at the rear deck while handling the thing so I have to rebuild another and now on to cosmetic repairs.
TRAINS on my workbench. Er… a 3D printer on my workbench making stuff for trains. My next module is going to be a simple one with a vehicle overpass set in the desert to go with my Rte 66 set. The road will line up with the Rte 66 set and I needed some abutments. Since the bridge I’m using is concrete, I made concrete abutments for it. Here is one of them with the wings set in place.
One more steamer for a DCC update. JNR class 9600 from Micro Ace. The void midway in the boiler holds more ballast and being a smaller loco all weight counts so going to install the decoder in the void at the front which was where the lightboard and original light resided. I've trimmed the motor brush contacts to minimal tabs so they will no longer touch the frame halves when re-installed then soldered the decoder motor leads directly to what is remaining of those tabs. The incandescent bulb has been removed from the light board (lower left of the decoder in the pic above) which is now used getting track voltage to the decoder. I've used a nano led to replace the lamp and encased it in a clear UV glue blob to create a bulb again as well as add stability to the leads and electrically insulate it. The decoder is an ESU lokpilot 5 micro which is the perfect width to just fit under the shell but I had to remove the shrink insulation to make that happen so liberal use of kapton tape on the frame where the board will rest. I think this is it for my existing fleet of locos. I do have a couple more but one, which is another Japanese steamer from Kato (D51), has been scavenged for parts so not complete and the last is an atlas/micro-ace 2-6-0 mogul where an initial attempt to update it to DCC wound up unsuccessful and a slightly melted tender... ugh! I might revisit the mogul at some point now that I have more experience with doing these but that tender really bothers me and parts locos are hella expensive. Plus it's the civil war era of which I have no rolling stock to mate with it and my wallet has no desire to go down that rabbit hole.
Well awhile back I was unhappy with my brass etchings kit locos with the final color of yellow. Stripped the one using lacquer thinner that I had painted an instead applied a nice coat of black lacquer paint. Much happier with the way the etched detail showed up and went with yellow and white decals. 100_0039-1 by John Moore posted Aug 3, 2023 at 9:35 AM Here is the pair in revenue service pulling a standard 10 car consist. 100_0045-2 by John Moore posted Aug 3, 2023 at 9:35 AM I am very happy with the pair and are probably some of my best performer in that a single loco easily pulls 30 cars of 40 foot length. The locos are designed to be powered by the Kato 11-105, or 11-106 power chassis. Lot of room for a decoder and other equipment. The etched brass body gives weight and I have installed some thin sheet lead weight. The total cost of a single loco was $ 30 power chassis included but not including the cost of detail part paint or decals. That brought it up to about $40 per loco I just ordered two more brass kits of different locos from Japan along with two more Kato power chassis. These instead of center cabs are an offset cab design. Should be here around the end of next week.
John, those little beasts look fantastic. Your idea and effort bore fruit and was well worth your effort. I do have a question, it looks like they are running with the Kato knuckle couplers. How ell do those work with other couplers?
Those are Kato 11-702 a two piece coupler. Kato 11-707 is the black color. They run well with MTs and are much easier to assemble than MTs. These are my standard go to coupler to replace Rapidos. Also work well with unimates.
And here are the next two brass kits. 2022-11-28_18.48.27-1 by John Moore posted Aug 3, 2023 at 1:04 PM 2022-11-28_18.48.27-3 by John Moore posted Aug 3, 2023 at 1:04 PM Some detail parts are coming from Shapeways mainly headlights and bells.
Would you mind sharing your source for the brass kits? I bought a couple of those Kato chassis before I left Japan and have been kicking around different ideas for use. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Look up ARU Models. The site is in Japan and a Japanese vender which I cannot list here because of forum rules. But the site name starts with plaza. They also make mechanisms.
With the roaring success of the first two locos I wish I had stumbled on them sooner. The kits are inexpensive at 17-18 dollars and the mechanisms are too. Fairly easy to Americanize with just some headlights, airhorn, and a bell. The first two I ordered an extra brass part that contained the fan and radiator vents which further contributed to the look. The air tanks are also an extra part and are designed for the Kato mechanism.
They have some cool stuff. Love the 'Rail Truck Car Kit'. I'm confused though on the scale. Like that kit looks to be On30 and I think what you bought is HOn30. So the HOn30 will run on the N scale track but aren't the bodies too large then? Or do they have other kits I'm not seeing? I'd love to get the Rail Truck if it is also in N scale. Sumner
Query by ARU N scale. My little locos scale out at 29 N scale feet and are N scale. In Japan N scale is either 1:150 or 1:160 scale. I have on order from Shapeways fans, bells, and light housings. Already have airhorns and I will probably do my own exhaust stacks.
My workbench is done, but it is still sitting in the driveway waiting for my new workshop to be finished. Finished painting the inside yesterday...debating grinding and coating the floor at this point. Some more wiring to be completed, the garage door and opener to be installed, exterior siding installed and painted and then I can start moving in!
Had one of life's speed bumps earlier in the year (guys get a PSA test), but all good now so back to doing fun stuff. My wife Laura has been away for a while helping her elderly parents, so I've started to put together a few things in our dining room. This post should come under the heading of what's on your dining table! It's a temporary arrangement, once the weather warms up a little (winter here in NZ), this will be moved into the garage. This is the NJ route 10 crossing of the Morristown & Erie in Whippany. Still lots to do, but at least I can start to make some progress. Cheers Steve
Nice scene! "While the cat's away, the mice will play?!" Speaking of scenes... should the cat return early, I expect it shall warm up right smartly in the garage, perhaps even warmer than in the house!
