lifelike n saddle tank

APV105 Apr 25, 2014

  1. APV105

    APV105 TrainBoard Member

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    Does anyone know how to remove the weight in the shell of a Lifelike Saddle Tank?

    Thanks.
     
  2. APV105

    APV105 TrainBoard Member

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    ok got it out!
    add the decoder and now on to the lights
    woohoo!
     
  3. Spookshow

    Spookshow TrainBoard Member

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    Wow, you are very ambitious :)

    Cheers,
    -Mark
     
  4. APV105

    APV105 TrainBoard Member

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    decoder wasnt bad.....fit right in there.
    waiting on LED's to arrive for the lights.
     
  5. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    Somebody here did a topic on improvements that he made to one of these. It was educational, to say the least. He does quite a bit of nineteenth century modelling. He posted several You Tube videos on the improved 0-6-0T. There are several sequences of it at the head of a train full of Bachpersonn nineteenth century wood passenger cars. He also did a topic on sound and DCC in Athearn/MDC 1880s steam locomotives.

    Do not be turned off by some of the anachronisms in his videos. The guy does really nice work and obviously enjoys his hobby.
     
  6. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    I have messed with a few of these over the years and the last time was to create a cab forward out of one and equip it with a tender which solved the pick-up issues. I sort of took a page from the Pacific Coast which had the first cab forward as my inspiration, A Kato caboose provided the pick-up for the tender. While I improved electrical pick-up it still had the occasional herky jerky issues with the mechanism at times. The fabricated tender was direct wired to the motor leads.
    [​IMG]

    And while I did do a thread here on the construction I believe that most of the pictures are now gone and no I am not the guy that Brokemoto was referring to since I did nothing on the Tube. This was my 2nd go around doing one of these the first was way back in time in the early years with a little 0-4-0. The application of DCC should tame the speed demon characteristic of these but I would be interested as I am sure others in whether you do any mods to the mechanism to cure the occasional cogging and binding that does occur.
     
  7. APV105

    APV105 TrainBoard Member

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    John,
    That is just a fabulous model. I love it! My original inspiration for this project was Mark Watson's "Ultimate Saddle Tank" but this photo just add fuel to the inspiration fire.
    I started with a new 0-6-0 that had never been run. My concern was whether the wheel flanges would clear the ties on my Atlas code 55 track. All seems well so far. I ran the engine for a bit in DC mode then again after I installed the Z-2 decoder and have not had any pick up issues. I always use NO-OX on all my new engines and track was done quite some time ago. I dont have a whole lot of running time on the engine so I havent experienced any binding or cogging issues with the mechanism as of yet. Perhaps that will occur down the road. But as of now the engine runs just fine.
    The Z-2 decoder fit without any mods to the shell. It was the smallest decoder I could find.
    This is my second decoder install. My first was a Plymouth Switcher which required some mods to the split frame to fit the Digitrax decoder in the Cab.
    my layout is tiny and these critters just seem like the right size on the layout. My 0-6-0 with tender seems almost too big by comparison.
    Once the mailman arrives with my LED's and resistors I will tackle the lights for the little guy.
    thanks for the photo and inspiration.
     
  8. John Moore

    John Moore TrainBoard Supporter

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    Thanks for the kind comment. Over the years I have messed with my share of steam projects some with the narrow gauge flavor or logging type as the inspiration. I had one more version using this chassis as a 2-6-2T version. Old picture but gives the idea.
    [​IMG]

    It may very well be that the newer LL versions of these have better performance maybe due to different gear materials and motor, plus maybe just a little better quality than the earlier versions. My earlier versions of tank type locos all died due to the notorious Bmann gear splitting from which the donor chassis all came for those versions. So as you run this little guy it will probably be a good test to see if they have improved in that area. I have also pretty much decided that the majority of my turnouts will be Peco just due to the powered frogs.
     
  9. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    I see that you have already looked at Mr. Watson's work. This was the guy to whom I was referring.

    And John, nice work on those 0-6-0 and 2-6-2T bashes.

    The main problem with these is the pick-up, but there is the motor cogging problem, as well. I have had the most success with these when I hardwire them to a cheater boxcar powered by the old LL plastic frame FP-whatever, FA-2 or either split frame FA, I do like the split frame FA the best. The hardwiring takes care of the contact problems and even provides an extra set of live legs for the cheater's power chassis. To be sure, the cheater is the main source of contact, and those chassis are all pretty reliable, but they will stall, on occasion. The cheater's power chassis is strong enough to push the tank engine and make the wheels start turning, again when the motor does cog. In addition, as the aforementioned chassis are real stump pullers, you can put the tank engine in front of thirty cars and turn heads as it goes around an N-TRAK layout.
     

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