Converting MTH Steam to TMCC

I looked into it a few months ago.  I was about to ship it to Boxcar Bill to have it done for around $250.  He does it the cheapest, just a little bit more then what you can buy all the parts for yourself.   Might want to ask him.  

Nylon screws and electrical tape will allow you "float" the die cast tender shell and use the entire shell as an antenna.  It works really, really well.

Jim, I am pretty much DIY.  I know Bill is good though. I get my parts from him. Chuck, thanks for jogging my memory. I did do a repair on an MTH engine a few years ago that was converted by TAS that used that technique to isolate the tender shell. This tender has no pick up rollers though, another complication that will have to be taken care of.

Pete

See if you can find pickup rollers that can snap onto the tender trucks.  That's what I've done with tender installs where there weren't any power pickups.

Since you're going to need a tether anyway, you can bring the power from the locomotive for the tender. I use the MTH 10-pin tether sets, gives me lots of wires to control most functions I might want in the engine, headlight, smoke, cab lights, classification lights, etc.

I use Kapton tape to insulate the tender shell, it's thinner and very strong, so it doesn't tend to complicate the fit like electrical tape sometimes does.

Good tips John. Are the MTH tethers you are using right angle or straight? i am not a fan of the older right angle connectors.

Pete

Well, I've used both, sometimes the straight ones don't work well because things are too close, but I like the look better as well if I can make them fit.

This is how Train America Studios (aka Mike Reagan) use to do this.

That's where I learned about it.  The second loco I did the conversion on was a RK semi-scale hudson.  Used a UCUB.  The floating die cast tender is one of the best antenna's you can use.

I like adding pickups to the tenders as you now have more points of contact to pick up power, less of an issue of dead spots on switches and cross overs.

I agree that it's desirable to have pickups on the tender, I've added them to a couple steamers that had issues going over switches.  It's just not always necessary if you don't have a problem with your environment.