It's alive! What a bugger this thing has been and I'm still not done. There is some brass repair left albeit minor and may have to install a power pack as the pickup on this thing is not that great. I may be able to clean up the copper pickups for the main drivers as they do look a bit oxidized. Lower lamps in engine and tender are dual red/white so they go red on trailing end when in pusher ops. The large can motor that fills the cab had me nervous when first I first ran it with the decoder. As soon as I applied throttle the thing surged real bad then randomly surged at speed. The lokprogrammer has a bunch of motor presets for tuning so I went down the list with varying levels of success but nothing that had me happy. I get to the last preset for the coreless motor and she smoothed out real nice. Creeps with the best of them and motors along at speed nice and steady. Whew! Chuffs are synced up and the soundtrax 16x12 speaker with baffle in the tender makes fantastic noise. I may at some point add running gear lights but I've spent a lot of time on this loco and a bit burnt out so that project will have to wait till the motivation returns.
Tonight’s workbench activities had everything to do with old Kato trains. So first off I put decoders in a set of Milwaukee Road E8/9 locomotives. I had 2 A and a B. The B got sound, but the decoder’s daughter board was too tall now the shell won’t fit . The 2 A units were non sound and the decoders fit perfectly. These have had a bit of a rough life before I got to them, the tabs that hold the motor to the frame were broken on all 3, so I had to hold them in with some Kapton tape. So after this part was done I decided to play with my POS Kato TGV Thalys. I really like this train but the one I bought should have been listed as for parts only. The listing said like new…BS. Thankfully I didn’t pay too much and I ended up getting some back due to the overall poor condition of the train. But you know the sucker I am just has to get it to run right, so I tinkered with the locomotive and trailing car a bit, and got it to run much better than I was before. It still doesn’t perform as well as my Duplex, Lyria or Thalys PBA trains but it’s getting better. Right now I have it doing loops on a couple of my modules as a “break in”. Oh I almost forgot, before the decoders or TGV I worked on my Unitrams. I had all 4 out and cleaned them up. 2 now run perfectly, one I wasn’t hoping for much as a toddler smashed it at one point and even a trip to Illinois couldn’t get it right again. The 4th is my favorite which is my graffiti one (it has some anime cats on it) sounds like hell but runs ok. I think it just needs some lube, it sounds like a motor with dry bearings. And lastly since my modules have 2 tracks, and I have never really run this train, I got the OG of TGVs out and of course the expansion pack too and decided to give the Orange TGV a but of rail time. My command center allows me to run DC and DCC at the same time just by flipping a switch. Here is the ESU decoder and offending daughter board. Thalys PBKA train. The Original TGV. No flywheels on this one so it starts and stops really fast! And here is the Command center. Notice the RPC switches… I changed the LEDs to reflect the line they control Red for the outside and Yellow for the inside.
So the chuffs actually match the piston movement speed? Most of the sound tracks from steam locos I've seen that have sound decoders don't seem to match what one is seeing as far as the piston movements. For some reason it bothers me to the point that I can't enjoy it as much as I probably should be. Could this be because I'm only seeing one side of the loco and the pistons on both sides are not timed to move at the same time so maybe I'm hearing one set of chuffs created from the side I can't see which then seems out of sync with the side I am seeing???? I can see this might be hard to actually achieve unless the software can see how many times a minute the drive wheel is turning (needing a possible sensor for that???) Are you going to post a YouTube video at some point. I'd like to see that, Sumner
Sumner, close enough. I don't get too picky about fidelity to real life. I'm just looking for a facsimile sound wise as I am running the thing down the track at different speeds. Lokprogrammer has the base chuff setting that is supposed to be calibrated at speed step 1. So I get that tuned as close as possible to the side I am viewing (right side in this case). In a two piston setup I look for the 4th chuff to sound at the same point every time which I can get reasonably close. This loco however is a 3 cylinder so every 6th chuff. Before all this though I first get the motor tuned exactly how I want it or subsequent tuning after synching will cause that to go off. So once I am happy with speed step one I'll move to speed step 7 and then set the "adjustment at higher speed steps" slider till it's synced up there. I'll post a vid soon. Meantime here is the real life loco.
Thanks that helps me understand it better. I'm now thinking that some of the ones I've seen in videos that didn't seem to be synced up right probably were considering what is going on with the sync of the pistons on both sides of the loco. Also maybe you are taking a lot more care/time to try and get it as close as possible than some of the ones I've seen. I'll look forward to the end results video when you find time to post it. Thanks. BTW since I was born in '44 I have pictures of me beside loco's then but don't remember the sounds from then, only steam excursion trains since then. Sumner
Kind of. It's mostly an approximation. First one times the chuffs at step 1 based on a preset timed interval with a resolution of 1/100th of a second. Two things here: it cares not what orientation the wheel is in when first starting out but the countdown starts when the decoder thinks the wheel is turning. So each stop/start will reset when/where the initial chuff starts. Second is that load on the motor will change the sync. For instance if I time with no resistance on the wheels I will get a completely different result with the loco running on the track or even pulling cars. Therefore fine tuning is done with it rolling down the track. One thing though is it measures bemf which is used to time the chuffs under load. I know this because if I put my finger on the wheels to slow them down the chuffing slows as well and when I release the friction the chuffs surge then go back to normal timing. Volume/intensity also changes with that resistance. I just want an approximation. At this small scale and unless one has super good eyes it's hard to know if timing is off when it's rolling down the track. Once the loco goes on to the main line from the programming track I become blissfully ignorant of timing lol.
Thanks, that explains a lot. You are right about the difference in viewing a YouTube where the person followed the loco around and shot it up close vs. seeing it in normal circumstances. Sumner
Good try, but nope! Hopefully, Moose will be able to show what they really are within a week or so...
Well out of boredom waiting for my stuff to show up from Europe I decided to create another critter using a 34 foot Overton car and a Kato power chassis. 100_1570-1 by John Moore posted Jan 10, 2022 at 10:29 AM
Well have tacked the Kato mechanism to the body using Walther's Goo. The cab end has a steam pilot with foot boards grafted on and the rear has the platform with steps removed from the original underframe. MT couplers at both ends. The window glass was installed upside down which created a place to rest the mechanism on and created a place to install some additional weight from the original car. 100_1577-2 by John Moore posted Jan 11, 2022 at 11:15 AM I kept the roof with both overhangs and attached a headlight to the underside of the roof rather than on the roof. Dual spark arresters are on the roof for the dual engines and a set of two chime airhorns plus a bell are mounted there. 100_1576-1 by John Moore posted Jan 11, 2022 at 11:15 AM The original floor of the Overton was milled out to accept the Kato mechanism. The Kato mechanism had the coupler pockets cut off the trucks and the end parts of the mechanism frame cut off. This evening when the Goo has set I will set the mechanism up right. The Goo allows me to separate the mechanism later for service and replacement. This evening will be paint touch up and placing in service.
An old PRR N6-B cabin car kit by Quality Craft. I got this off eBay and the seller said, “as far as he knew it was complete”. Well, he didn’t know much because it is far from complete. LOL! It’s missing a bunch of stuff… caveat emptor…. On the other hand, does anyone have a set of instructions to this kit… even in HO? If so, I would love if you could send me a copy. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I pulled out my BLI ES44AC for running on the track yesterday and wound up in another project. Issue 1 is I never got it tuned so that needed to be addressed. Other item is the front lighting, especially the ditch lights, are very anemic. First thought was that hopefully it was a simple light piping/alignment issue but not too hopeful. None of my factory ditch lights where they alternate (Intermountain, Rapido, Scale Trains) have ever been as bright as my custom jobs but I tolerate. After I got it apart and a few tests there was no way to get the lighting I wanted with what was already there. I tried some fiber optic in the ditch lights to replace the multi piece light piping to them but not much improvement. I wound up hollowing out the light canisters and putting in pico LEDs. Then for the headlights I used fiber optic making sure to run them long enough inside to butt up against the LED on the forward facing light board inside. Much better! Hollowing out the canisters was tedious as the clear piping was glued pretty good to the casing but with some patience a hobby knife and tiny drill bits I was able to get it all cleared out. Advantage is the casing has already been painted up to prevent light leakage so that task was something I didn't have to do this time. Now the only thing left is to get the motor tuned so it creeps steady. Initially it (paragon 3) cogged really bad at lower speed steps then would speed up and cycle like that. Got most of it cleared up setting KpSlow to max. Would still like to get that cleaned up but the other gain settings aren't documented in a way that I can easily understand their functions so I'm experimenting with them. Anyone with expertise here and willing to chime in would be greatly appreciated. This is my third of the paragon 3 equipped locos and the only one that has been a bugger to tune. I've several paragon 2 locos all of which ran real nice out of the box. I suppose if it bothers me enough I could swap out the decoder with a loksound but really not inclined to do that at this time.
Well I continue to create critters and now have four of my creation along with a galloping goose. 100_1581-1 by John Moore posted Jan 13, 2022 at 6:08 PM Still waiting on my shipment of two tugboats to bash together which are somewhere in this world right now. Not feeling well and danged cold outside I am staying at the workbench and now have my assortment of Bandai parts which came extra in some kits and seeing if I can create one more critter out of those. 100_1582-2 by John Moore posted Jan 13, 2022 at 6:10 PM And I actually have one underway from those parts.
Quality Craft made some nice cars and structure kits back in the day and I miss them. I had their No. 206 Engine House kit (later Gloor Craft Item 288-2005) on my N Scale road from 40 years ago and would like to find another one. I have found a few on eBay, but have never bought them because if any of the many custom castings are missing, the kit is useless. I did find one at a show, but the Seller's price was in the stratosphere. I don't need it that much.
I just received a dynastack 5 unit well car kit and have started assembly. The castings for the frames need a bit of cleaning up so that will take some time. My mitre sander comes in handy again for squaring up the end pieces to each car so with this first unit assembled I am fairly happy with the result. The kit also came with etched pieces so the fine detailing should help to finish off the cars real nice. One thing though is the brake lines which are exposed on the outside of each unit being etched are flat and not very realistic. I've a bunch of phosphor bronze rods in varying sizes that will work perfect to make those details pop but also slow progress. I think the extra effort will be worth it though.
Several years ago I built a rescue and salvage tug named the Wile E. and although to scale it was just too large for the harbor area. So I have tackled the 2nd Wile E. but this time based on a TomyTec tugboat. The tugboat line has been discontinued by Tomytec but I got lucky and found two at the regular price at Amazon UK. Ebay is asking a small fortune for these. I needed to make this an ocean going tug so two were ordered so I could cut the middle out of one to lengthen the other. This resulted when done of a 75 foot tugboat versus the normal tugboat of 50 feet in length. The remaining two end pieces were spliced to make a nice little harbor tug of 43 foot in length. I needed to extend the superstructure on the big tug and found a kit in Japan designed to give the TomyTec tugs a different look and ordered it. Both tugs were stripped down to the hull and then with pieces and parts from the the two tugs and the kit a new superstructure was formed for the big tug The new Wile E. is a ocean going rescue and salvage tug and has a crane and carries two boats for rescue work. Powered by twin Fairbanks Morse diesels it is capable of 20 knot speed. In the photo the Wile E. is front left while the new small tug is front right. The middle row has a raised pilot house for visibility over a pushed load. The tug is based on a standard length Tomytec and is on the middle left. A regular unaltered TomyTec tug is on the middle right. In the rear is a pusher type tug in container barge service. The lifeboat carried by the Wile E. are resin castings I made myself and the outboard motors on them are also my work. 100_1590-2 by John Moore posted Jan 20, 2022 at 11:37 AM The Tomytec tugs should retail around $20 but on Ebay they are going for 2 to 3 times that.
Slight progress on the dynastack. still on the A unit. I fabbed my own plumbing running along the sides. I was able to use the etchings from the PE fret as templates. Bonus was the PE takes solder so I was able to solder the rods directly to the frets then cut out the original "piping" leaving only the ties behind. Still need to plumb the brake detail (valve and reservoir) and add some grabs to the exposed end of the car. I really hesitate to complain about kits like these because of their boutique nature but there are some significant issues that have me questioning if I should invest all this time to make the kit work to my satisfaction. The castings are typical requiring a bit of cleaning and sanding to get things sorted. Even then one shouldn't expect the finished product to be as clean or straight as an out of the box railroad car. I can live with that though as details, filler and paint help to hide a lot of imperfections. The decals are utter poop. Looks like they were printed on a mid 90's laser jet so now I have to source decals from microscale at an additional expense that requires two different sheets and still don't have the big 40' markers that go on each unit. I'll have to make the ones that came with the kit work and hope the fuzziness isn't that noticeable when done. The kit states the proper MT trucks needed that have to be purchased separately which I've done and have. Problem is major modifications are needed to the truck support plates on the end cars to allow them to roll freely and articulate. The hole for the bolster pin is too far back causing the wheels to rub on the container pan with the slightest of truck rotation. The only place to re drill is about 1.5mm forward because too far forward and the body mount coupler (1015) will get in the way if one wants the front of the draft box to align with the front of the car like the prototype. This means running a pilot hole for the new bolster pin placement and hoping the final drill doesn't walk out into the other hole because there is some overlap with the two holes. Then significant carving is needed to get the coupler up high enough for proper height. Most of the mounting plate area for mounting the coupler is gone as a result so I ran some styrene in the void for a place to run a screw that holds the coupler to the car. I also had to file out the underside where the forward 33" axle goes because otherwise the flanges rub. Easiest of all the issues to rectify though lol. This pic here shows after the cutting to make room for the draft box and getting clearance for the forward truck wheel flanges. Before there was a solid metal all across the lower area. I still have to knock out about 1/16th of an inch going up in the center where the plate thickens out. This is to get the height need for the draft box as it sets about 1.5mm back into that area. Otherwise the draft box will stick too far out from the end of the car. Here is the underside of the end plate for mounting the truck. This was my first attempt to re-drill the bolster pin hole where I discovered the issue of going too far forward. I had to clear out the metal between the two holes now there and filled with epoxy where I'll drill out the proper position once the glue has cured. Finally and the one thing that bothers me the most is that it appears things were scaled to 1/148 40' containers. Just way too much excess room in there width and lengthwise. I will have to install some shims in the well so the containers don't slop around in there when on the move. There is only so much width one can sand out and the pan is PE where trimming the runners will result in lots of wing wows which will show when done so I have made the decision to live with it how it is.
@freddy_fo Your build is coming along quite nicely! Thank you for posting such detail in the issues you are having and how you are overcoming them. It's helpful to see, even if one is not building the same kits.
