Turtle Creek Central part Four

John Moore Aug 5, 2020

  1. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    I want a BanDai motor chassis pretty bad. I shouldn't have waited and assumed they would always be around....
     
  2. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    The supply seemed to dry up around the first of the year along with any new Bandai models being introduced. And it is puzzling as the brand seems to be very popular in Japan and England. I may just have solved my problem by doing a little milling of the inner frame and I am close to getting a Bandai 3 mechanism to fit.
    I am still looking but I have come up with these.
    TOMYTEC TM-ED01 and TOMYTEC TM-ED02

    The only drawback is you have to buy their sideframes and of course Bandai side frames are in the car kits
     
  3. PGE-N°2

    PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

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    Look what I found in the yard:

    20200831_184538[1].jpg
     
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  4. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Must be from the Canadian division because the Friday Harbor division doesn't roster any 50 footers.

    Last night I messed with finding a suitable mechanism for my newest Bandai electrics and still looking. Meanwhile I cycled the line car through the Simple Green bath in the ultrasound cleaner then let it sit and soak all night.
    The Simple Green worked very well although I also could have used Dawn dish detergent but I have used Simple Green in the past and it is an excellent cleaner. Using the little ultrasound bath kept me from damaging it trying to scrub it.

    And in a late post started painting.

     
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2020
  5. PGE-N°2

    PGE-N°2 TrainBoard Member

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    Probably an interchange car.
     
  6. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well I have finished painting the line car and now ready to clear gloss coat before decaling. I broke one of the railings at the end fighting with coupler mounting but managed a fix from the parts box.

    The little electric is only 31 feet long as compared to the other Bandai cars at about 35 feet long which is giving me fits trying to find a mechanism and then trying to find someone who actually has the mechanism in stock. I may have got lucky though shopping in Japan.
     
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  7. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well after buying the line car off Shapeways I only have one area to critic and that is the placement of the coupler and the truck design on the separately purchased under frame. Using the dimple to drill out the mounting hole for the MT couplers and mounting the truck over the supplied hole results in a car that can only navigate maybe 20-30 inch radius or somewhere in between because of conflict between the truck and coupler. My solution has been to go to my collection of trucks and choose a passenger type with the extended coupler attached. That will be applied later today after I have finished glazing the windows with Micro Kristal Klear. Otherwise it is a nice product.

    The new line car with the one I built and the B&B gang car that I cut down to put on a 40 foot flat.
    In the back two of my new electrics part of an order of four that are awaiting mechanisms and pantagraphs.
     
    Last edited: Sep 2, 2020
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  8. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Well the first sets of pantagraphs arrived from Japan via DHL and this evening they were put on the converted electrics.

    The new electrics in the rear will have the mechanisms delivered from Japan along with more pantagraphs sometime next week.
     
  9. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Just a note these Tomix panatgraphs are plastic and I have had two now the the tiny pins on the lower arms have come loose. After about an hour on the first and a half hour on the 2nd one I got them back together again. Note to self do not store these in the foam lined car storage box because the pantagraphs snag in the foam.
     
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  10. SP-Wolf

    SP-Wolf TrainBoard Supporter

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    Hey John,

    Wrap the model with plastic (Like from sandwich bags) or tissue (The kind used in gift bags). Will also protect the model in case the foam decides to go bad.

    Wolf
     
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  11. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    It is not the foam going bad but the delicate and sharp edges to the pantagraphs that snag in the fine pockets of the foam. Not the first time I have had something snag in the foam. But I am older now and do not have the delicate touch I used to so great difficulty in getting something loose. Plus I live in a maritime area where the night humidity is almost always in the 90% range except in winter. Thus I prefer to keep items open to air circulation in case the AC fails. The Tomix pantagraphs are very delicate and do not take to handling very well. Kato makes some all metal ones of the same style And they hold up very well since I have a set on the electric passenger cars. I am probably going to order some more sets of those and trash the Tomix. The Kato equipped cars are in the same car box and do not have an issue snagging. The Tomix plastic ones are nice and very detailed but the plastic flexes too much. The Kato ones are also well detailed and fine but being metal there is less flex. Trust Kato to do something better.
     
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  12. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    It looks like the 604 turned out well !! As info , the real 604 is still functioning at the Illinois Railway Museum.
     
  13. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I went to their site to get a look at it and find out if it was powered and it was and still is. So I installed a pantagraph on my version of the car.
     
  14. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I received my 4 new mechanisms from Japan today and after changing the rapidos out for Kato couplers I installed them. I had to remove the pilots that came with the cars and then the mechanism just clicked in. The front of the mechanism is enclosed so a pilot was not needed. The mechanism is weighted and since I run short consists there was no further need for weight. The pantagraphs will be here on the 9th.


    Top scale speed is about 50 to 60 scale mph. And after watching videos of Japanese electrics these have the same electric whine at full throttle. All four mechanism will slow to a creep right out of the box. Kato quality again. And at slow speeds there is no noise other than the click of the metal wheels on rail joints. You have to look hard to see that the mechanism is only two axles.
     
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  15. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    This morning I have been testing some cars and making adjustments with both weight and trucks. While I was doing that I added a little weight to each of the new electrics and then put them on the track to break in some more. As I finished with the cars I added them on behind the locos putting them down on the port track where they had to climb a 1% grade to get to the mainline. I got up to 21 cars before I had to add a 3rd little loco. By the time I hit 31 cars to get up the grade I had added the 4th loco as a pusher. Stopped at 36 cars because of the tightness of my curves I was getting the occasional derailments. My mainline curves are 8.5 inch rad. Right now the 4 locos are running nicely with 19 cars and have been purring around the track now for about an hour. Train lengths on my layout are generally 8-10 cars and 6-12 ore cars at a time.

     
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  16. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    You have a pickle car ? thumbnail_IMG_0239.jpg

    I have 11 of them.
     
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  17. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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  18. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    The short cars are built on Bmann 34 foot old time flatcars.
     
  19. Randy Stahl

    Randy Stahl TrainBoard Supporter

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    Very clever, I am hoping someone does some decals for HJ Heinz, I would add a few more cars. I have one HJ Heinz car but it is pretty plain with none of the copywrited logo's.

    N scale enthusiast did do a truss rod HJ Heinz car in co-operation with N scale architect but the cars were VERY expensive.
     
  20. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I had some unwanted uncoupling last night with the electrics so I had to go back and tediously install springs behind the Kato couplers and that rectified the issue. I could install more weight in each loco to pull more but it is not needed because my trains are limited in length by the passing sidings and the curvature. I have about a quarter ounce of tungsten putty in each loco now.

    Getting ready now to start decaling the new electrics.
     

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