Lighted Mi-Jack Progress Here is the progress as of Friday evening, Oct 12th, 2007. All Mi-Jack castings are assembled to create the main body. All of the frames have had a small hole drilled from the bottom of the back left tire up thru the top of the beams on 9 of the MiJack's. Thru this hole the wires from the LED lighting will go to hide it. All 36 white LEDs have had long wires soldered to them and tested for function. All pass QC standards "They Work"!!! The 100 ohm resisters are awaiting the LED assembly. I can go no further till I etch the required sets of brass details and attach them. Once they are attached I will airbrush all of the Mi-Jack's yellow. Then comes detail painting, LED assembly and testing, and decals. Trust me when I say this but, I can't wait till these Mi-Jack's are in the mail!!!! Soon, very soon!!!!! Yipee!!!!!! Have a wonderful weekend! Hobo Tim
LEDs Without knowing, I once paid $$$$$$$$$$$$ for a few key LEDs from Ngineering.com. Ngineering does have the magnet wire and other key items for small components. They have some minute(that is tiny, not 60 seconds) of electronic circuits like FRED, Flashers, and others. www.ngineering.com Michael Hilliard has a discount source in China. He once gave me the www.address for it but I found little LEDs I could use. My source for LEDs is the Electronic Goldmine www.goldmine-elec-products.com is the address. They sometimes have invaluable deals. I wish I would have bought more of the white LEDs when they had them. They were super cheap. I happened to buy just enough to cover this Mi-Jack project. Another source of LEDs is www.us.kingbright.com They have a good assortment but most of the desired are usually not in stock. Some require a order of 2000 or more. You can also find a good supply at www.mouser.com Their website is sometimes hard to negotiate, so I suggest requesting a catalog from them to help you research what you want. Mouser also has a huge supply of electronic parts. Pretty darn cheap too!!!! Ok, now time for you to do your research!!!!! Hobo Tim
Latest Update!! Almost finished with them!!! Just need to attach the LEDs & run the wiring, apply the decals, and paint the detail parts. Once all is finished will give it a flat clear airbrushing and all will be finished and ready to ship! Thanks to those who have amazing patience!!! Hobo Tim
Tim, Great to see the photos. Glad you are almost through with these. I'm sure it will be nice to have them off of the workbench. Can't wait to see mine all lit up! By the way, would you possibly have any extra Mi-Jack wheel guards etched? I have evidently handled my one Mi-Jack a bit too roughly, and I've lost one of the small flat wheel guards. I think it was the one that came off during original shipping that I had glued back with CA. It would be wonderful to get a replacement if you have any! Thanks for all you are doing!
Hi Jacks what does a kit cost for the Hi-jack?? please let me know. I would like to build one. Thanks Chris
Never saw this posting! Chris, I never saw this post or I would have responded. I do not have any more parts to make any more Mi-Jack's. I was lucky to get the parts to make the one I did. I hoped I would be able to get 20 good castings from one set of molds. I planned on making some of the molds twice. I actually made most of the molds three times. That is what happened. Lots of work in making these. ----------------------------------------------------------- I do not plan on making these is bulk in the future as RTR, maybe as a kit, but don't quote me on that. Hobo Tim
Last Mi-Jack Update They are almost ready. From the photo below you will see 9 Mi-Jacks. 8 of which are only needing a spot of black paint, 4 wheel guards each and decals. The 9th is awaiting the whole LED and Wiring!!! All of these, plus 3 of the Non-Lighted Mi-Jacks will ship out of here on Tuesday (I believe Monday is a holiday and the USPS will be closed). Note: All of the LED lighting is set for 9 volts ONLY. If you put more than 9 volts to this circuit you will surely Blow the LEDs. Power Hook Up is thru the wiring that protrudes down thru the left rear wheel of the Mi-Jacks. I secured this wiring but if you pull on it with any force you will damage the smaller wiring inside and the LEDs will no longer work. I will send a 9volt battery clip with each Mi-Jack. Remember this will be a static model and something you will want to permanently mount. If you must remove it from a scene for storage I suggest adding a set of alligator clips to the battery clip wiring and just attach the alligator clips to the Mi-Jack wiring. This would be a temporary connection and allow easy dis-connect of power and also be able to remove the Mi-Jack from your scene for easy storage. Will only leave a small hole in your layout/module where the wiring goes. ------------------------------------------------ Any questions???? This is the Last Update for this Project. I apologize for taking so long getting it completed. Again, these will all be shipping out on Tuesday, unless Monday is not a holiday. Have a Great Weekend!!!!! Hobo Tim
They are all taken. I am sorry to say that I do not have enough parts to make any complete Mi-Jacks. Maybe in the future I will re-mold and cast more parts from the masters. Nut not right now. If/when I do I will only sell as a kit. The brass walkways will be pre-bent for easy, non-hair pulling/cursing Hobo Tim, installation!!!! Hobo Tim
A kit would be fine. Put me down for one when/if you make a kit. Would be great addition to my layout that I will hopefully start soon.
One Lighted Mi-Jack, Never Claimed!!! Greetings fellow Z scalers!!! For the past 6+ months I have been waiting for Danny in VA to contact me. I've put out several APB's here and in the ZCS forum, but no reply. I've even asked Rob Kluz, Mr Ztrack if he has any Danny's who subscribe to Ztrack living in VA. No such luck!!! Well, I think I have searched quite long enough so as of right now I am calling off the search. What Danny had reserved was One Lighted Mi-Jack Translift Crane when I was taking orders last year. The Mi-Jack has been boxed for the past 6 months awaiting an address and payment. I just recently opened the box and took a few new photos of the Mi-Jack to post. I hooked up a 9volt battery to show all 4 LEDs are shining bright. The Mi-Jack consists of 11 cast resin parts and 14 etched brass parts along with four 2mm x 3mm white LEDs and resistors and wiring for 9volt operation. The Mi-Jack is airbrushed in yellow and has been decaled. I have decals that I can apply to the Mi-Jack for either BNSF (Circle/Cross or Swoosh), UP Shield, CSX, and NS (Horsehead), or can leave with just Mi-Jack decaling. This Mi-Jack is available to the first person who wants it. The price is still the same as when I offered them last year. $250 includes shipping to your destination. If you are seriously interested in getting this last Mi-Jack please email me at sgt_tim1@yahoo.com Thank You! Hobo Tim
Zscaler, you are one lucky dog. I have one of the cranes, and they are absolutely the greatest thing if you run intermodal trains. Its amazing that Tim has been able to do a short production of the Mi-jack, because they are so detail.
Hobo Tim it looks just as good as the real deal. I saw 2 today in the old port of Montreal, well actually in the container terminal. We were on the train doing a guided tour. You really did a good job!
Outstanding!!!! Wow!!! The Postal service is either getting more quick on their toes with deliveries, or you live very close to one of their terminal/distribution points!!! I use the CA gel to attach all brass detail parts. I don't recommend it, just that I use it. Gives me a bit more time to make sure a part is in its correct position before it hardens. Please let me know if you have any problems!!! One note, the black shrink wrap tubing on the brass rod/LED wiring, handle with care. This is the most delicate part of the Mi-Jack. Enjoy !!!!! Hobo Tim
Wow! Difficult to believe it has been almost 6 years since I last made these! Where has time gone???? Hobo Tim
