big jim's workbench...onto figures and buildings

[luke the train spotter]

Micro connecters work really well. Might try it on my own stock some time.

[big jim]

Back to Mentor

 

Wired up some led strips

 

Attached to some pcb with connections to another pcb

 

The other pcb has the opposite connections on

 

Added tabs to it

 

Then wired a decoder to the other side (complete with stay alive)

 

Can’t do anything more with the decoder until I fit pickups to the wheels so I moved on to some tiny LEDs

 

Fit through tiny holes in the roof

 

I will then glue them to some u channel pushed into the holes

 

And quickly wired to the track

 

And the internal lights wired to it too

 

 

Got to tidy the wires up, also paint the insides grey and add glazing

 

 

When the decoder is wired up I will have one function for internal lights, one for the roof spotlights and when fitted another function for the milepost lights

[big jim]

ive ordered a set of dcc concepts wheels with spring pickups for mentor instead of using the wiper method as i have on the NMT as there is a heck of a lot of friction/resistance on the NMT while it trundles round, if i have more success with those i may well replace the pick up wheels only on the NMT for the same product

 

there are 12 wheels in a pack, enough to do mentor, plp and tru

[big jim]

Started a quick ‘in the house’ project earlier, 37423 from 37405 using ‘rainbow railways’ nose ends

 

 

Donor loco, 37405 picked up from Topp trains a few months back for £65

 

Coloured the wipacs and jumpers using sharpie pens

 

Nose ends off

 

The nose ends come complete with a pcb for the working wipacs which I glued in place

 

To be honest I’m not that impressed with them for what they cost, marketed as a direct replacement for the existing nose ends but they took some fettling to get to fit and the bottoms are quite a way out from the body

 

 

When I glued the top of the nose to the body (which Really I shouldn’t need to do if they fitted as promised) the bottom ended up well away from the body

 

And width wise was out too

 

Anyway a bead of superglue applied with a brush and low tack masking tape to hold the ends in place and I got them to fit ok, one end is better than the other but still not perfect

 

I found some DRS class 20 decals in my stock box which quite handily only had the 2 and 3 left as individual numbers so I can use them to renumber it, ordered the nameplates from railtech

 

Got more to do to it like fold and fit the supplied brass top headlight mount, refit the multi jumper cable sockets to the nose, OHLE flashes on the nose, fit the lenses to the wipacs

[big jim]

Couldn’t be bothered in the shed tonight so I decided to finish off 37423

 

Fitted the extra light on the roof, wired through the cab light tabs, I’ll have to adjust the decoder CVs so the cab light comes on with the headlight

 

 

After I fitted them up using the supplied LEDs and fibre optics I found a pair of Bachmann class 66 top light assemblies in my stock box which I could have used instead!

 

Added the last of the decals, Fox 2 and 3 and railtech 3D nameplates which are very very good indeed, also added OHLE flashes and multi working sockets to the ends, I was going to add all the pipes and couplings too but they kept fouling on the ploughs

 

 

 

I’m gonna have a go at weathering this one at some point

[SWT442]

Liking the 37 conversion Jim (and pretty much everything else you've done!), have one on the go at the mo to do the same loco.

 

Surprised you had issues with the noses not fitting properly, my 37423 is being done exactly the same as yours, including donor loco! Had no issues with the noses, fit like a glove. Wonder if it was a dodgy print?

 

It'll be the second one I've done. First time round, the noses were changed on the Cheltenham Models Ltd Ed of 37038. Went on fine then as well.

 

 

 

(Must remember to put the top light on at some point!)

 

Andy.

 

 

 

[big jim]

Finally got in the shed for a few hours tonight

 

Inspired by philMCs workbench I decided to give Layouts 4U anti flicker lighting units a go, fitted the first one to one of the coaches that Just had the lights wired to the pick ups (cross wired between coaches) and it worked beautifully so I went on and tree them to the rest of the coaches, I even removed the decoders for 2 of them and replaced them with the units, it’s also eliminated the need to cross wire the coaches

 

 

All completed

 

And a quick video

https://youtu.be/zCC9NyMLGi0

 

I then went onto mentor, I’d already wired this up internally, just needed to add pickups to it, I got some DCC concepts sprung pickups on 10mm wheels, I didn’t realise that the wheels on it were actually 14mm

 

Which are far too big

 

So switching to the 10mm wheels makes the buffers line up nicely

 

To fit the wheels I had to drill a hole in the bogie

 

Wheel with spring pickup, you can see one side is insulated

 

Both wheels fitted, opposite sides insulated on each axle

 

Bit hard to see but the wire then poked through the holes

 

And wired up

 

Same the other end and wired up to the circuit board in the coach

 

And powered up

 

And as I’ve used a decoder I can control the lights

 

Just roof lights

 

Just internal lights

 

Still more to do, tidy up the internal wiring, add tinted glazing and general bits of small detail such as the grille over the roof windows and decals

 

Ran it round the layout and I must say the spring pick ups are also brilliant, very little friction compared to the DCC concepts wiper pick ups, I’ve got 8 left so am going to add them to a few other items of IM stock that I’m planning on adding decoders to, May well also added a set of larger wheels to add pick ups and lighting to my mark 1 charter rake

Edited January 13, 2018 by big jim

[Guest eddie reffin]

Nice work Jim.

 

I'm in the middle of doing 423 myself and found that the nose ends wouldn't sit flush but I discovered the problem was still some glue left from removing the original ends. Quick clean up with a small file did the trick.

Quite like those axles with the contacts on them. Might have to investigate them a bit more.

Edited January 17, 2018 by eddie reffin

[luke the train spotter]

Looks great and the complete lack of flicker is amazing! Convenient that leds dont draw much current so you dont need massive capacitors.

[big jim]

Despite having a load of unfinished projects on the go and bits lay around to start other jobs I have decided to start something new!

 

Got this from Stafford show from modellers Mecca for £75

 

And stripped

 

a couple of days in dilute IPA and a quick scrub down ready to be turned into a GBRf 73/9, I was going to have a go at the RVEL ‘minion’ 73 but that involves a lot lot more work

 

Marked up roughly what needs doing and it’s not too much really

 

 

 

Basically reduce the size of one grille, increase the size of another and one extra grille and add a fan and exhaust to the roof as well as half a dozen grilles which are similar to EWS class 56 cant line grilles, one of the biggest (but also the most subtle) changes I spotted is the raised guttering along the bodyside is totally removed on the real thing between the cabs

 

The end needs wipac lights adding and moving round the multi cables a bit

[big jim]

Couple of hours on the 73 earlier, the main area of work is actually the roof as you need to add an exhaust and new fan as well as blocking off the old ones

 

The exhaust is a cut down Bachmann class 66 one mounted on a piece of plasticard and the fannis actually a shawplan etch, don’t know what it’s off but it fits nice

 

The fan is also sat on plasticard with a recessed shaped piece over the top but slightly below the roofline as there is then a piece of etch grille over the top of that too!

 

Need to blank off the old exhaust, going to do that with a thin piece of plasticard over the whole roof panel between the exhaust and fan

 

I’ve also made the grille holes bigger on both sides, ready for the replacement panel to sit over, thankfully on the real thing it’s not flush so it’s just a case of another piece of plasticard over the top with the holes cut into it

 

Then it’s onto the front for the wipac and roof lights which I’m hoping to get working

[virginhst539]

Watching this one with interest! Would look every nice in cally blue.....

[big jim]

Sorry it’s gonna be ‘normal’ GBRF livery, thing is like most things test trainy I really need 2 of them!

[luke the train spotter]

Looks like another great project. Look forward to see how this progresses.

[big jim]

Did the side grille (on one side)

 

And attached

 

New grille

 

Blanked off 1/2 a bodyside grille and added the cant rail grilles

 

Filled the old fan void with smart putty as well as the old exhaust and around the edge of the 1/2 grille which I’m hoping will run down to a nice smooth finish

 

Drilled a hole for the 3rd light

 

I happen to have a few Bachmann class 66 light assemblies that fit in nicely

 

Light guide poking through

 

And inside

 

Then before I came back indoors I sculpted a wipac light assembly, I’ll check it size wise against some shawplan ones I have (somewhere!)

 

Another grille to do the other side then rub down the putty before a coat of primer i recon

[big jim]

So back to the 73, cut out holes for the wipacs, instead of sculpting plastistrip to the contour of the body I thought it would be a better option to glue/weld the rectangular blocks into the front of the loco as they will be more secure when I drill them for lights and it’s a lot simpler than trying to get the profile right

 

 

And did the 2nd grille

 

Then gave it a coat of grey primer

 

 

The roof is so so where I’ve filled in the old fan and exhaust, I may revisit them and fill and smooth a bit more

[luke the train spotter]

So back to the 73, cut out holes for the wipacs, instead of sculpting plastistrip to the contour of the body I thought it would be a better option to glue/weld the rectangular blocks into the front of the loco as they will be more secure when I drill them for lights and it’s a lot simpler than trying to get the profile right

 

 

And did the 2nd grille

 

Then gave it a coat of grey primer

 

 

The roof is so so where I’ve filled in the old fan and exhaust, I may revisit them and fill and smooth a bit more

Looks good. It's coming along very nicely.

[big jim]

Bit of orange (and yellow) on the 73

 

 

Hand painted it on, another coat to add then mask off for the blue which I will see if I can get as a spray can

[big jim]

2nd coat of orange painted and masked up

 

 

Roof panels and exhaust painted, I may paint the exhaust black yet though

 

Refitted the etched grilles to one side of the body, this one was one of the old ones from the lower body side which luckily by pure chance fitted in the big grille hole I had reduced in size with plasticard

[big jim]

Another quick job, Hatton beilhack snowplough, fitting working headlights

 

 

 

Dapol tail light from the freightliner hopper wagons, drilled out the ‘lens’ I know headlights are larger but I have plenty of these to hand!

 

Tiny led

 

Attached to the rear of the lamp with glue ‘n’ glaze with another blob added to the front as a new lens

 

Front of the plough pulls off easily

 

Next job strip down 2 wheels, only one side is insulated which makes the job so easy

 

DCC concepts pick up springs

 

Over the axle

 

Gauge checked

 

And back in the clips

 

Making sure the opposite end is the other way round so opposite wheels are insulated at each end of the plough

 

Length of pcb stuck to the underside of the chassis with the pick up wire from the axle/wheels soldered to it

 

Back to the plough, headlights glued in place

 

Wires run down the rear

 

I then spliced the wires together so only a single wire for each side ran back from the plough to the body, then reattached the plough

 

Soldered those to the pcb and hey presto!

 

 

Going to give the lamps a coat of primer and black paint before redoing them white as the led also shines out of the back of the lamp as well as the front

 

May well even add a decoder to it at some point, next up is the flashing tail lamp fitted one

[Tangoman69]

Jim,

 

What is the source of your LEDs?

They look superb on the Beilhack!

 

Regards,

 

Karl

[big jim]

They were off eBay, I’ll have to find the link to them but I think if you search 12v SMD led’s You should find them

[big jim]

And back to the 73, sprayed the blue, the airbrush was playing up and I couldn’t get it to work so I bought the big guns out, literally, i poured the paint into my full size car spraying gun, turned the pressure down and used that, 2 passes and it was sprayed!

 

Starting to look like a 73/9 now

 

 

 

Roof grille added

 

Next job, tidy up the orange round the cabs, maybe thin the can’t rail stripe as I used 1mm masking tape to do it and it’s a bit thick

 

Then put it all back together

[86902]

Superb work Jim

Was good to meet you at demu

Kind regards

Bob

[big jim]

Had a look at the 73 last night with a view to the working wipacs, didn’t take any pics but after 4 hours tinkering I’ve managed to come up with a solution to get them to work but I won’t be able to turn the reds off (I think) the problem I have is the donor loco doesn’t have any rear lights (tail or headcode marker), just need to refine the finished item before posting pics as I’m on version ‘about 6’ so far

 

It doesn’t help that Dapol use some weird roof mounted PCB plate to get power to the lights so I’ve had to work from that

 

I’ve used the nano LEDs like on the ploughs which fit lovely in the drilled holes for the wipacs (when I work out how to secure them) then of course there is the extra roof light too!