I'm sure several of you have seen this awesome tutorial from Mike Reagan:
I just thought I'd add a few of my own notes and observations having just performed this on my Lionel 28052 Class A. This was exactly the type of locomotive this technique is aimed at - TMCC 1 locomotives with anemic fan-driven smoke units. In my case, my Class A didn't even put out smoke at all unless holding the boost button, which eventually charred the old wick. After performing the upgrade, here's some additional notes:
1. First and foremost, cut the new gasket hole larger than the diameter of the fan. The old hole was small enough to clear the fan blades on the inside perimeter, but cutting it larger so the rim sits on top of the fan blades themselves will cause the fan to bind. I'm sorry I forgot to take pictures to show what I mean more clearly, but the point is to remember to cut the new gasket hole larger than the diameter of the fan so that the blades spin clear of it. I spent an hour looking for pinched or broken wires until I figured this out.
2. Replacement wicks for Postwar locomotives also work. I just had to take several of them and wad them together to make it the same size as the old one. Since I am only here for the weekend from school I didn't have time to wait for the official one from Lionel.
3. JT's Megasteam further enhances the smoke output.
Now that the smoke unit was "breathing" far more freely than before, a solid stream of smoke now poured from the stack. Thanks again for that tutorial Mike!
