A couple of weeks back, I purchased a Kusan battery powered set. The seller mentioned that the locomotive, the original battery powered "Beep", wasn't running. I couldn't turn it down for the price, and having done battery powered models for years, I figured this wouldn't be hard.
When it arrived I discovered that the seller failed to mention one very important thing - the gearbox cover and idler gear assembly were missing.
Well, that certainly might explain why it wasn't running.
I managed to cobble together another idler gear assembly from a bag of hobby gears and brass rod I had lurking in my spare room. In the process, however, I managed to break the brittle main axle. This was also repaired (though I don't have pictures of that.
I bench tested the model enough to conclude that the motor needed additional cleaning, so the commutator plate was hit with a gentle wash of WD-40 and allowed to run freely. By the way, there is not a screw or bolt to be found on the original battery powered Beep. It's simply held together a whole lot of plastic tabs, however I must say that it is one of the easiest locomotives I've ever worked on.
The final repair was to make a gearbox cover. For this I used thick styrene and quick setting J-B Weld. Numerous tests were made to see where it needed to be trimmed and opened up. Once I knew it would sit on the gearbox without problems, two long, thin bolts were inserted into holes drilled into opposite corners. These in turn go up into two conveniently placed preexisting slots in the chassis (a little filing was needed for the rear one to keep it vertical and clear of the motor). Once they were in place, nuts were attached, and the locomotive (still sans couplers) was tested.
And it runs. Fast.
Obviously, it's an express switcher.
Not sure how fast an undamaged version is.
Anyway, here are some pictures of the process. Quite a fun little project.
I'll figure out how to slow it down.
