WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

@coach joe posted:

Bob she runs and sounds great.  I'm sure you'll get the couplers figured out.

I sure hope so Joe.

Thanks

@ThatGuy posted:

I am just finishing the conversation of a William scale PC GG-1, this one is near to my heart as I ran the bigger version.

Wow, I used to see those black PC GG1s at 30th St., Zoo, and even hauling freight on the Trenton Cutoff when I was a kid.  I would love to hear some stories, but those belong in the Real Trains forum and not on the Workbench thread.  Great job on the upgrade!!

@Ted S posted:

Wow, I used to see those black PC GG1s at 30th St., Zoo, and even hauling freight on the Trenton Cutoff when I was a kid.  I would love to hear some stories, but those belong in the Real Trains forum and not on the Workbench thread.  Great job on the upgrade!!

Thank you and I will post a few stories with pictures.

OGTrains at it again! This time converting a RMT Bang S4 switcher into a Whitcomb 65 ton road switcher.

Stripped the bang down to bare frame and repainted:

Next painted the shell I got from @Trainguy Ken, after my last Whitcomb build Ken let me check out the prototype for the new production model using his new resin printer and I gave him some feedback, so now this production shell is a total winner!

Re-installed the trucks and weight, drilled new mounting holes for the crew:

Made some handrails for the sides and painted them all black:

Added a bell:

Still to do: install LED lighting and the Blunami 4408, this one I think is turning out better. The new production shell is very smooth and fits great, and the fact that the bang has to me very acceptable fixed pilots makes one good looking loco!

Here is my attempt to convert an MTH undercoated "production sample" diesel loco I recently won in a Cabin Fever Auction.

It had geared drive trucks, with the pick-up rollers, protocouplers at each end, the engineer figure, all of the cabin glass, and the horn (all in a little plastic bag ready for assembling), but no motors or circuit boards.

From the many MTH RailKing spare parts I have amassed since the closure of MTH, through the Cabin Fever clearance auctions, I installed two motors, a PS1 circuit board, and a new speaker. I didn't add lights at this stage as I am still trying to figure out where you take the lighting power from on the PS1 board, that will allow the headlights to be directional.

I got it up and running with all sounds and functions (except for the headlights), and then went about painting the shell in Norfolk Southern black. I found the loco was infact an ALCO C628, and was released as a "dummy" in the Delaware Hudson livery. Oh well....I already had the Norfolk Southern decals, and I do like that railroad!!!

I think it come up pretty good, and from a "boy from the bush" down-under in Australia. In my search for something not remotely associated with this loco, I found an original RailKing box and styrene clam-shell for this exact model. I think I got it in an earlier Cabin Fever Auction with something completely different in it.

I added notes to remind me to use the Z1000 controller and not my Z4000 (don't ask me why the Z4000 won't run it.....it's one of the mysteries of life!!!) and that I have replaced the battery with a BCR. I even got clever and printed out a new label for the end of the carton, stating it is a "Norfolk Southern", and was no longer a NON- POWERED unit.

Things are great in the "Sunshine State"- Queensland, Australia.

Peter.....Buco Australia

Darrell, the Whitcom looks great!!

Buco, The C628 looks great!

Thanks Mark.....that means a lot to me.

Peter.....Buco Australia

@Buco posted:

Here is my attempt to convert an MTH undercoated "production sample" diesel loco I recently won in a Cabin Fever Auction.

I added notes to remind me to use the Z1000 controller and not my Z4000 (don't ask me why the Z4000 won't run it.....it's one of the mysteries of life!!!) and that I have replaced the battery with a BCR. I even got clever and printed out a new label for the end of the carton, stating it is a "Norfolk Southern", and was no longer a NON- POWERED unit.

Things are great in the "Sunshine State"- Queensland, Australia.

Peter.....Buco Australia

Quite a remarkable transition from the production sample ,  Buco.   Nice.

Not sure about the Z4000 not being able to run the C628.       Maybe getting in touch with Gunrunner John might help solve that issue.     

I don't have a Z4000 but I thought it would not be a problem if one of the other Z transformers (  Z500 , Z750 or Z1000  )  did work.

Good idea using a BCR.    I've used them a long time with excellent results.

@Buco posted:

From the many MTH RailKing spare parts I have amassed since the closure of MTH, through the Cabin Fever clearance auctions, I installed two motors, a PS1 circuit board, and a new speaker. I didn't add lights at this stage as I am still trying to figure out where you take the lighting power from on the PS1 board, that will allow the headlights to be directional.

Peter, the directional lighting from the PS/1 board comes from the blue (front) and green (rear) molex connectors on the DCRU board near the relays and large diodes.  They're only 1.5V as they just stick a couple of diodes in to generate the voltage for small grain of wheat 1.5V bulbs.

Many of the diesels had a lighting control board that took the 1.5V output from the DCRU and switched a 6VDC output for better lighting.

It's possible to use these outputs for higher voltages, but it involves using an opto-coupler and a power source.  I did a little kludge board to be able to generate a MARS light from the LED outputs from a Legacy board using opto-couplers and buffers for sufficient output power.

<--- click on graphic to expand --->

About two weeks ago I finished the Pizzaland kit from Blair Line LLC.  It was my first craftsman kit, so I took my time with preparing the pieces, painting them, assembling and so forth.  (The kit was also a Christmas gift from my wife, so you know I couldn't screw it up, no matter what!)  Dale Rush, the owner of Blair Line, provided me some great advice by email beyond the great kit instructions and the helpful hints paper on his website.

I detailed the back room by adding a close-to-a-pizza oven from Etsy's Shop Mini Decor and More shop.  Some plain old "rattle can" Rustoleum flat silver and black spray paint worked great to create that "well used" pizza oven look.  The "chef" is the "soda jerk" figure sold by Model Tech Studios.  If you look in the front door or window at just the right angle, you can see the chef and pizza oven through the open doorway to the back room.

In the front room, I improvised a bar and three stools from the same Etsy vendor to create a counter with a stool and two stools in the front window.  The counterman is a "Wally figure" from one of the RMT train cars I purchased years ago.  The two young girls on the window stools and the woman standing at the counter are Woodland Scenics products I purchased from Pat's Trains in Wheeling WV.  The gooseneck lamps in both the front and back rooms were purchased from Model Tech Studios.  I positioned the counterman so when you look through the front door he blocks almost all of the wiring running down the wall from view.  The pizza and sandwich printouts along were the chef holding the pizza were some things I found in my miscellaneous scenery supplies; I have no idea who made them.

The finished building has that "noo-jurzee-gritty" look of many small pizza parlors I was in during my New Jersey childhood.  The two girls with their cell phones in the front window have an uncanny resemblance to two of my grand-nieces or two of my granddaughters--take your pick!

I think the model came out well.

Lesson Learned:  If someone builds a Pizzaland of their own, I'd suggest they add a second interior lamp to the front section to light it up a bit more.

Thanks Mark,  spent 3 days on that one!

Great job Buco!

Here's the completion of the Whitcomb build.

Blunami 4408 installed:

Making and installing the lighting wiring:

Hooking it all up:

Lettered, setup, and testing:

Using the new style shell and the RMT frame over the K Line S2 frame I think makes for a better looking model of this locomotive that has never been done before in O gauge. If you are looking for something different, I highly recommend this kit.

Looks great Darrell!  Are you able to take a video of it running.

Put together the Premier Southern Pacific Alco PA I've had for a bit. It's a PS1 chassis, PS2 shell, and a PS3 diesel kit. Made a custom sound file to announce The City of San Francisco as well.

Darrell, I'm not familiar with Blunami at all and I don't recognize a motor in your pictures.  What drives the Whitcomb?

@Mark Boyce posted:

Looks great Darrell!  Are you able to take a video of it running.

Will work on it,  just started my 8 day hitch of 12 hour shifts. Might take me a few days to find the time.

@coach joe posted:

Darrell, I'm not familiar with Blunami at all and I don't recognize a motor in your pictures.  What drives the Whitcomb?

Blunami is a new Bluetooth DCC decoders from soundtraxx,  no DCC system needed,  just a cell phone.

The motors are in the trucks,  just like a k line s2 or mp 15.

@Lou1985 posted:

Put together the Premier Southern Pacific Alco PA I've had for a bit. It's a PS1 chassis, PS2 shell, and a PS3 diesel kit. Made a custom sound file to announce The City of San Francisco as well.

Looks great Lou. Question- I noticed the lights flash when you powered up the engine. I'm wrapping up a PS3/2 stacker install on a Alco S2 and have seen the same condition with the lighting. Any idea why they do this?
The electrician in me has my OCD meter pinned......

Bob

Thanks Darrell,  I haven't open any of my K-Line switchers in some time and forgot the motors were in the trucks.

I would wire the two motors in series to slow the switcher down.