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So I’m playing around with leds some more, here’s another GRJ designed pcb.  He uses it for ground lights.  But it surely has many more uses in any number of applications you can think of(buildings, backyard lighting, out buildings, etc.).  The pcb(6 per board)is from OshPark at $2.30 for batch of three, shipped(12 cents each).  Way cheaper from off shore sources.  I bought the 3528 smt led from the bay at $8 for a hundred.  So I have 20 cents in each light.  They run off 3-5vdc(however you get there is up to you).  A resistor from around 220ohms to around 1k can dim them out a for a variety of lighting applications to suit your taste.  One tip, I put a tiny drop of glue on the pcb, place the led, then after it’s dry, solder them.  Stops me from pushing them around when I try to solder. Try em’ out if you have a need.  Click for larger image.

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Last edited by TedW

I had some time to spend in the Train Room this morning so I decided to rebuild the motor in my Marx M10000 streamliner. It's been sitting on this shelf since it smoked up and broke down at the beginning of the winter.

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With about 4 hex nuts and 2 machine screws (plus some encouragement with a wheel puller), the entire motor assembly came apart. It's very similar to some of the other prewar Marx motors I have worked on.

Motor disassembled

My M10000 set has an early manual reverse unit rather than the more typical 2-position E-unit. The ancient wires were crumbling and were in desperate need of replacement. I took this photo so I could remember what went where befoe cutting off the old wires.

Marx manual reverse unit wiring

I soaked all of the parts in my favorite general purpose metal cleaner, WD40, and spent an hour scrubbing off 85 years worth of grime and surface rust off of everything.

Cleaning all parts with WD40

I rewired the locomotive with heavier-gauge modern wire.

Replacing crumbling wire

I put the electrical components back together and tested the armature on the bench to make sure I had wired it correctly. The last step was to polish the wheels on my bench grinder and press them back on with my table vise.

Polish wheels with grinder

Here's the rebuilt motor, freshly lubed with light machine oil and ready to go back into the locomotive shell.

Motor ready for reassembly

The set runs a whole lot better now, check it out on my Marx / prewar Flyer table!

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Sorry for not having Pic;s  But for the last couple of weeks ,  Its been Flat cars , 2 AllNation cast aluminum , 2 LaBelle Stick built) a Walthers refurbish (From the late 1930's early 40's) and a very unique  Scratch build That hade scale details in a set of  late 1930's lionel tinplate trucks, (I have about 10 reefers and box cars done the same way)

Have a Santa Fe F3 from 1948 bought as junk and needed a good home once again the famous x is on the shells I have one other 2333 with the X on both powered and dummy units, I also have a pw Wabash  2240 AB unit no X along with a PW 2344 NYC ABA no X on either powered or dummy. Have some Greenburgh's Lionel books and nobody can figure out what the X is for Anyone have a PW Lionel F unit with the X other than Santa Fe. Thanks



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Working with solder paste:
I’ve been playing around with small flickering led boards designed by GRJ.  Hand soldering 0805 smt resistors on these boards is not easy.  An alternative would be using solder paste for mounting the resistors.  Having no experience what so ever, I promptly ordered some from Amazon.  A 15 gram syringe was around $15 shipped(wife’s Prime account).

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Comes with directions and a couple of tips for dispensing. I couldn’t get the plunger to clip into the barrel, and some of the paste eeked out around the seal.🤷‍♂️ No matter, forged ahead. The stuff comes out of the syringe in little globs making it fiddly to place on the pcb pads. But there again just go with it.

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Placing the resistors on the paste was much easier.

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Put the boards on a piece of 3/8” plywood for heating.  Then came applying heat with a pretty cheap heat gun.  Took about 20 seconds at about an inch+ away moving around the board for the solder to turn silver.  After cooling all seems well, and I think a neater looking end result.  The electronic experts may opine on the length of the heat effect on the resistors.  I simply don’t know if they are impacted or not.

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Over all, solder paste does a neater job but is kinda messy to start with. Experience might make the process easier and neater. My research revealed the paste has a shelf life of 6-12 months, the syringe I bought being a lifetime supply. So I’m sure some will be wasted. YMMV… Give it a whirl if you aren’t sure soldering with an iron is the best method.

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A little experiment with a glob of paste, much bigger than needed to solder the resistors, placed on a strip of brass with an instant read thermometer.  It takes more time for the blob to flash to silver; thirty seconds instead of ~20 for the pcb.  The temperature is around 437 degrees F.  Not very scientific, but is an example of what to expect.


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Last edited by TedW
@coach joe posted:

D&H LOVE NY WE 2207 ebay 22 [3)

Steve, it appears as if there is texture to the rust above the heart as there would be with such advanced rusting on the prototype.  Is that just the excellent blending of colors to obtain the rust or do you add something to give it actual texture?



Texture depends on how much paint is applied. Using 4 basic colors gives you the look and texture. 7 colors is needed for freight car roofs.

Here’s one just about to leave the workbench at last!

I had this old K-Line Pennsylvania L2S Mikado for years that I bought off a fellow forum member for a low price, and I finally upgraded its insides:
- New LED headlight
- Fan smoke w/ John’s Super Chuffer board
- 4 chuffs per wheel revolution with a 3D printed cam by Sid’s Trains
- 100 speed steps w/ ERR Cruise control
- Replaced the generic audio board with a Lionel RailSounds 5 board with the correct road name and number specific CrewTalk

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Needs a bit more TLC here and there, plus a dash of weathering, but the insides are fully finished and up to date for my usage.

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There is still much to do on the two observation cars.  A major fix on the Frisco obs was to get rid of the full diaphagm.  The major fix for the FW&D obs was to blank out windows on the forward left side where a galley was located.  Still need to shorten the rooftop antenna and apply vents over the galley.  Maybe in September I can work on it some more.

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Just finished making this McKeen passenger trailer for the Virginia and Truckee.

McKeen 48ft Passenger Trailer

As with many of my creations, everything is 3D printed in sturdy ABS plastic except the wheels and axles.

Trailer assembly

That includes the trucks and couplers by the way!

Long shank trucks for McKeen 48ft Trailer

Still some refinements to be made (need to add some weights to the inside and repaint the rooflines so they match better), but the opening doors work alright.

Opening doors

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Just finished making this McKeen passenger trailer for the Virginia and Truckee.

McKeen 48ft Passenger Trailer

As with many of my creations, everything is 3D printed in sturdy ABS plastic except the wheels and axles.

Trailer assembly

That includes the trucks and couplers by the way!

Long shank trucks for McKeen 48ft Trailer

Still some refinements to be made (need to add some weights to the inside and repaint the rooflines so they match better), but the opening doors work alright.

Opening doors

Interesting, I have STD Gauge, a O Gauge McKeen and today I got an H0 kit in the mail.

Steve

@coach joe posted:

I've got a lot of projects in the works but no real work bench to work on.  Here are a few that have been dragging on.  Hopefully I'll get them done this year.

First up is an LIRR BEEP that I want to convert to USAF.  I picked up two of these LIRR BEEPs when they were being cleared out.  The idea was to repaint one of them and dress it up in USAF decals.  Never had the heart to do the repaint so I started looking for donor shells.  I bought a NOS Conrail one, thinking I could remove the lettering and decal it.  Then along came this Kusan/Williams BEEP shell with PRR keystone stickers  under the windows and white Pennsylvania above the fuel fill.  Stickers peeled off and Mr. Clean Magic Eraser made short work of the lettering.  The only issue is the handrails.  I would love to use the metal RMT handrails instead of the plastic K/W handrails but Kusan/Williams has round holes and the RMT handrails have rectangular tabs.  I need to figure that out before adding the decals.

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Now I'm the rare bird that actually likes the GN Big Sky Blue paint scheme.  I've got a MPC U36B and could never find any of the MTH engines that wear the BSB.  I could never ring myself to splurge on any of the Lionel U33Cs.  I found one of the U36B shells and fitted it on a Williams GP9.  I had to alter the handrails but that's another story.  I came across this GP7 shell.  Found pictures of a prototype so I'm going to add the rooftop air tanks and the winterization hatch.  I've got the decals and three possible donors for the chassis.  Once I figure out which chassis I have to make a placard to attach to the hand rails for the road name.IMG_0859

Another BSB project.  GN did have electrical operations.  While they never had anything remotely close to the E60 I intend to dress this guy in a Fantasy Great Northern Big Sky Blue paint scheme.  I've already peeled the red, white and blue stripe off.  The repaint will be ambitious for me but I'm going to give it a shot.  The Williams pantographs are a little sad but not in as bad shape as I remembered them to be.  I would like to change them but finding these guys is impossible.  I have one Atlas AEM 7 pantograph and would love to find another for this project.

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Okay so it's time to tackle the BEEP shell.  I wanted to use the new metal handrails instead of the plastic, especially the one broken end rail.  As stated above the stanchions are flat, not round like the holes in the shell.  I was thinking of trying to bend the flat tabs so they would fit into the round holes instead of elongating the holes to accept the rectangular tab.  The ends of the handrails enter the last holes for each rail to lock the rails in place, however the diameter of the metal handrail is smaller than the plastic therefore it pops right out.  I don't want to damage the stanchions only to have the project fail because the ends will not stay in place.  Any ideas for a solution?

@coach joe posted:

Okay so it's time to tackle the BEEP shell.  I wanted to use the new metal handrails instead of the plastic, especially the one broken end rail.  As stated above the stanchions are flat, not round like the holes in the shell.  I was thinking of trying to bend the flat tabs so they would fit into the round holes instead of elongating the holes to accept the rectangular tab.  The ends of the handrails enter the last holes for each rail to lock the rails in place, however the diameter of the metal handrail is smaller than the plastic therefore it pops right out.  I don't want to damage the stanchions only to have the project fail because the ends will not stay in place.  Any ideas for a solution?

Joe- How about if you grind the tabs down until they fit the round holes and then glue the stanchions in place? No need to remove them ever again since the shell snaps on and off the chassis.

Bob

I'm starting to work on another item I picked up from that NYE Cabin Fever MTH warehouse auction. I pad $65 for this GS4 locomotive and tender shell.

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I've picked up a bunch of Premier GS class parts on the cheap in the past couple of years. A little bit of rummaging in my parts box last night and I came up with this.

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The locomotive is a Frankenstein combination of PS1/PS2/PS3 parts powered by a rare Earth magnet 9243 Pittman with 6mm ball bearings. I'm just going to blacken the driver tires and axle centers and call it good. I've got to assemble the tender still but all the components are in my parts box. Plan is to use one of the PS3 steam kits I have on the electronics side, but I probably won't get around to that till the weather gets cooler in the fall.

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Last edited by Lou1985
@coach joe posted:

Alex do you still build Korber models for Korber to sell assembled, or is this for an individual?  I'm assuming that façade is 3 pieces glued together, therefore all the weights and clamps to prevent warping as the glue dries?

Hi Joe, this is a individual model build for someone.  The clamps and steel flat stock are used to keep things flat and tight until everything dries



Thanks, Alex

Working on the K-Line A-5, it's getting the full upgrade, TMCC, ERR Cruise, ERR RS Command, fan driven smoke, Super-Chuffer, Chuff-Generator, and all LED lighting.  The fit in there is tight, no room for the Chuff-Generator, so I had to use a little sensor extender on the bottom of the motor where there's a little space.  With that in place, I can remote the Chuff-Generator and just shrink-wrap it.

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It's currently holding for some connectors to come in to build a tether for it.

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Working on the K-Line A-5, it's getting the full upgrade, TMCC, ERR Cruise, ERR RS Command, fan driven smoke, Super-Chuffer, Chuff-Generator, and all LED lighting.  The fit in there is tight, no room for the Chuff-Generator, so I had to use a little sensor extender on the bottom of the motor where there's a little space.  With that in place, I can remote the Chuff-Generator and just shrink-wrap it.

20220528_164524

It's currently holding for some connectors to come in to build a tether for it.

I have the same engine John. I'll be taking notes....

@RSJB18 posted:

I have the same engine John. I'll be taking notes....

This one started life as a conventional model, so I had to do stuff like swap out the couplers, and I have to come up with a better tether, the conventional models only have a 4-pin tether, two pin positions are blank.  I just got in some matching 6-pin connectors to the locomotive tether connector as the K-Line 6-pin tethers are very scarce.  I'm also using one of my remaining Cruise Commander Lite boards.

This one started life as a conventional model, so I had to do stuff like swap out the couplers, and I have to come up with a better tether, the conventional models only have a 4-pin tether, two pin positions are blank.  I just got in some matching 6-pin connectors to the locomotive tether connector as the K-Line 6-pin tethers are very scarce.  I'm also using one of my remaining Cruise Commander Lite boards.

Mine's a conventional model too. I've got several diesels up next for upgrades, and I just bought a pair of MTH S2's from the last Cabin Fever auction (a powered chassis and a dummy) that I want to do also.

And MAYBE I can get the F3's off the bench soon.

Bob

Took a couple of my post war 3474 WP shells to the sink to rid them of 50 years of collected gunk ( well maybe 5 years of gunk and 45 years of accumulated storage ) . Now in the cold light of day, I can tell their earlier years of active play now need a little bit of silver you have up. Anybody know a close match to the Lionel Silver? Product name and color number would be appreciated.
rich

The holes are why I own this bench.  It’s actually made in Sweden.  Primary use of my bench is for woodworking and the holes really help when clamping boards for my hand tools.  This is a pic of the other end of the bench with cherry pieces ready for finish and assembly into a arts and craft style book cabinet.

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Last edited by jstraw124

Installed a side frame to a Lionel GP9 I picked up on the cheap, because it was missing the side frame.  Ordered one that Trainz had as part of a bigger order, but did not look close enough.  Pic 1 is the power truck sideframe, and that is what I got.  It has more metal that extends up and over the edges of the motor plate.  I had to cut out a bit of metal, Pic 2  to make it look and fit like the non-power truck, drilled and tapped it for 6-32X 1/4 screws.  Once the metal is removed, it is very easy to place the truck on the frame using the other side as a reference to position and mark for the screw holes.  The side frame metal is quite hard, I would have thought the drill needed for tapping the 6-32 hole would go through like butter, but it did not.  Had to drill a pilot hole first.  Tap went in no problem, Pic 2a. A bit of Sharpie black added to help hide the cut area and screws, but I need to do a bit better on that with some paint Pic 3.  None of this is visible so was not too concerned.   Pic 4 is the truck installed, and looks just like the original on the other side.   Pic 5 is the coupler spring and new retaining washer which was missing on the truck.  One of the best deals around is the Harbor Freight 'Box-O-Springs' for about 5 bucks.  All kinds in there, and one fit this situation with just a trim with wire cutters.  you will be amazed how many times you will go to that box of springs to fix something, not realizing how many things with springs you have in your life.

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Sometimes, a break from the loco (muy loco, at times) project is needed. I had some late 50's A-N aluminum kits. Those "Tin Plate" trucks and couplers were great. Too bad Progress goes the wrong way, so, so often. Except for the brake details underneath, there is not one bit of plastic in this car.

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My K-Line A-5 is off the workbench!  It's alive!

It got the works, fan driven smoke, TMCC cruise, RailSounds, Super-Chuffer, Chuff-Generator, and all LED lighting.  For the astute observers, you'll note that it has two chuffs/rev, that was deliberate.  I want to triple head it with my other two that don't have the Chuff-Generator, so they only have two chuffs/rev.  Until they get upgraded, I figured I could just run this so it matches, I can reprogram it anytime for 4-chuffs.

My K-Line A-5 is off the workbench!  It's alive!

It got the works, fan driven smoke, TMCC cruise, RailSounds, Super-Chuffer, Chuff-Generator, and all LED lighting.  For the astute observers, you'll note that it has two chuffs/rev, that was deliberate.  I want to triple head it with my other two that don't have the Chuff-Generator, so they only have two chuffs/rev.  Until they get upgraded, I figured I could just run this so it matches, I can reprogram it anytime for 4-chuffs.



Runs great John. You made quick work of that upgrade. I need to find time to get to my bench......

My K-Line A-5 is off the workbench!  It's alive!

It got the works, fan driven smoke, TMCC cruise, RailSounds, Super-Chuffer, Chuff-Generator, and all LED lighting.  For the astute observers, you'll note that it has two chuffs/rev, that was deliberate.  I want to triple head it with my other two that don't have the Chuff-Generator, so they only have two chuffs/rev.  Until they get upgraded, I figured I could just run this so it matches, I can reprogram it anytime for 4-chuffs.

Cool John !!!

I thought my walls were saturated with train shelves, but I needed just a little more near my display of 26 postwar 6464's, I outgrew it with my last two purchases. I found a little space next to it - enough for a mini-display that can hold four 6464's.

On my workbench this morning was this mini-display case/shelving unit:

shelf1

I finished it as the day went on - here it is on the wall:

shelf2

My train room' walls, as well as under the layout (like skirting) are covered with display shelving all made the same way. 4 inch furring strip wood sanded and stained an oak color. This new unit cost me less than $3.00.

Here are a couple other pics of this inexpensive shelving:

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Panoramic view

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Last edited by Lionelski
@Lionelski posted:

I thought my walls were saturated with train shelves, but I needed just a little more near my display of 26 postwar 6464's, I outgrew it with my last two purchases. I found a little space next to it - enough for a mini-display that can hold four 6464's.

On my workbench this morning was this mini-display case/shelving unit:

shelf1

I finished it as the day went on - here it is on the wall:

shelf2

My train room' walls, as well as under the layout (like skirting) are covered with display shelving all made the same way. 4 inch furring strip wood sanded and stained an oak color. This new unit cost me less than $3.00.

Here are a couple other pics of this inexpensive shelving:

IMG_7437

Panoramic view

Looks like you had room for one more shelf (one more 6464) on the bottom John.

@coach joe posted:

Looks like you had room for one more shelf (one more 6464) on the bottom John.

LOL Coach Joe

Yea, I really only needed space for 2 recent purchases, but bult the four 6464 one to allow for future purchases!

Still need 6464-325 B&O Sentinel but not for the $600 plus price I see them going for.

I'll be patient and, sooner or later, I'll get one at a super bargain like the rest of mine. I refuse to pay more than $250 for a stupid boxcar!

Last edited by Lionelski

Like this thread so much. I'm contemplating kitbashing a failed k-line bash into a scale dimensioned prr B70a baggage car. So far I have (1) dismanteled the first kitbash, (2) sketched the dimensions of the B70a based on prr equipment diagrams and measuring dimensions of a ggd prr B70, (3) relocated the truck mounting holes on the first k-line baggage bash car frame to account for a scale length car and (4) started work on a scratch wood round roof. If I can get close to an excetable looking roof, I will continue with the project. I plan to the use one of the k-line baggage car ends and scratch build the unique large tall door for the other end and scratch build all of the side doors.  I wish I could find a good scale model with the unique design elelments, but they are rare and expensive. Norm C  with many talents has a great youtube of his acquisition. Cheers.

FWIW, I typically test the lighting at this stage just connecting to individual wires.  I hate to get something all together and find out I have to rip it all apart again.

Were you looking over my shoulder last night John?

I tested everything before installing them in the shell. Wouldn't you know that when I tested everything again, the headlight didn't work. So now I have to figure out what happened.

Little more parts box rummaging and I've got a complete GS4 tender. Little trick to use a PS3 wireless drawbar tender frame with a metal drawbar is to rummage in your parts bin, find a scrap Rail King tender frame with a drawbar pin, cut the front of the frame off, drill two holes in it, and bolt it to the front of the PS3 tender frame. Take da, instant drawbar pin. I didn't hook up the tender truck chains yet as I'll be removing the trucks when I install boards/speaker/etc to drill mounting holes. It's cosmetically all together except for blackening the drivers. I'll do that when it gets cooler out in the fall, along with wiring and installing a PS3 kit.

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