big jim's workbench...onto figures and buildings

[Hilux5972]

The interiors look fantastic.

[big jim]

Thanks, realised I forgot to paint the SGT interior while I was batch painting

 

I'm getting into it now, next up will be the TRC and PLP coaches that I've already converted (1256 and 999550), as it happens they were in my train last night so I grabbed some pics, they also have external lighting so I will add that as well, pretty much the same as the NMT one with train lights the other with milepost lights

 

 

[37409]

Interesting how, despite having a custom interior, they still can't get the seats to line up with the windows.......!

[big jim]

Interesting how, despite having a custom interior, they still can't get the seats to line up with the windows.......!

That's more to do with the modeller than the prototype design! As I say I've had to compromise a touch on the seating layout of the genny coaches

[big jim]

Courtesy of mick Newbryford another 67 for my test train

 

 

Going to remove the drive shafts so it can run on the rear of the train

 

 

So to the workbench, first up got some peg board from the alsager show which I cut into a small strip

 

To fit into the chassis of the coach

 

Then wired the pick ups up

 

And soldered to the board

 

Also soldered the track LEDs to the board

 

And then a decoder and wires to the internal lights

 

And powered up

 

Tidied up the wires

 

Cut a hole in the interior inside the computer bank

 

And in the bottom of the bodyshell

 

To thread the lighting wire through

 

 

And on with the roof

 

All lit up

 

And track lights lit

 

 

So first coach done, only 4 to go

 

One quick question, the decoder has 2 wires for a stay alive capacitor, what sort of thing should I be looking for in maplin?

[GWRPhil]

Courtesy of mick Newbryford another 67 for my test train

Going to remove the drive shafts so it can run on the rear of the train

So to the workbench, first up got some peg board from the alsager show which I cut into a small strip

To fit into the chassis of the coach

Then wired the pick ups up

And soldered to the board

Also soldered the track LEDs to the board

And then a decoder and wires to the internal lights

And powered up

Tidied up the wires

Cut a hole in the interior inside the computer bank

And in the bottom of the bodyshell

To thread the lighting wire through

And on with the roof

All lit up

And track lights lit

So first coach done, only 4 to go

One quick question, the decoder has 2 wires for a stay alive capacitor, what sort of thing should I be looking for in maplin?

I found this kit on railway scenic. Gives a list of parts needed to make a stay alive kit.

 

https://www.railwayscenics.com/4700uf-25v-capacitor-decoder-stay-alive-kit-p-1952.html

 

Hope it’s helpful.

 

Phil

[big jim]

Thanks for that, the decoder has the wires already so if I ask for a capacitor to match the one in the link then it may do the job

 

Would this do or is the 35V part of the spec too much

 

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/4700f-35v-105c-radial-electrolytic-capacitor-n97kf

Edited November 6, 2017 by big jim

[CazRail]

Them 67s look the part

[big jim]

Well I went to maplin and tried to get a 4700 mf 35v capacitor but it was huge, you certainly wouldn’t want to use one as a suppository that’s for sure

 

Ended up getting a 470 mf 25v one to try, will report back with results when I try it

[JDW]

Very impressed with your work here Jim.  Re the 67s though, I don't think you'll be able to get away with just taking out the drive shafts to run it dead, will you?  Is it a new Hornby one or ex-Lima?

[big jim]

Very impressed with your work here Jim. Re the 67s though, I don't think you'll be able to get away with just taking out the drive shafts to run it dead, will you? Is it a new Hornby one or ex-Lima?

It’s a new Hornby one, mick has told me how to do it, once the shafts are removed it will free wheel nicely and I can still add a decoder so the rear lights work

[newbryford]

Very impressed with your work here Jim.  Re the 67s though, I don't think you'll be able to get away with just taking out the drive shafts to run it dead, will you?  Is it a new Hornby one or ex-Lima?

 

 

It’s a new Hornby one, mick has told me how to do it, once the shafts are removed it will free wheel nicely and I can still add a decoder so the rear lights work

 

 

As Jim says, it can be done quite easily.

 

Lever the top of the gear tower off gently - it also holds the bogie in place.

Lift out the drive shafts including the worm gear - be careful not to lose the end bearing and slide the drive shaft from the motor.

 

Clip the gear tower top back on,being careful to line it up with the bogie mounts.

There is room inside the body on top of the chassis to tape the driveshafts in so they never get lost.

 

Fit a decoder and use the lights.

 

For my dead 67 - it runs one particular way round with the yellow set, so I've isolated the lights at the inner end simply by using a small piece of masking tape over the spring contacts at that end. 

 

You can use function only decoders, but these are often similar in price to basic loco decoders and often more difficult to acquire.

I've used motor decoders before now that have had damaged motor circuits.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Hilux5972]

Would it not be too heavy a dead weight? Might just end up derailing the coaches on curves.

[newbryford]

Would it not be too heavy a dead weight? Might just end up derailing the coaches on curves.

 

Not in my case - bogie mounted Kadee couplers on a set of yellow mostly Airfix Mk2's on very sharp hidden curves....................

 

The last coach either a Mk2 or a Bachmann Mk1, has a tension lock with a loop on the loco. 

 

Cheers,

Mick

[big jim]

Into the next coach, this one I drilled a little hole up the centre of the bogie

 

So I could thread the fine wire up the centre of the pin

 

Then onto the chassis, drilled a couple of holes in the sides

 

Squared off and one of the flush mount LEDs pushed into the hole

 

 

And powered from the track

 

Then did the same thing with the PCB board as the last coach

 

Decoder added

 

And interior added

 

Then found out the LEDs I bought from maplin we’re not white and the paint on the roof was a bit thin!!

 

So primed the inside of the roof and once dry i gave it a coat of black too before fitting the correct colour led’s

 

 

And the roof back in place with lights lit

 

 

All coming together now

 

Regards the capacitor, I fitted it to 993 coach and gave it a run round, I thought it didn’t make much of a difference so I took it off then realised it did make a difference, it didn’t stop the lights going out on dirty sections but it stopped them flickering.

 

out of interest I had a look at the stay alive capacitor attached to a factory fit Hornby light bar and that one is 1000uf 16V so I’m going to get similar from maplin tomorrow and give that spec a try in my coaches

 

2 down 3 to go, the last 3 are easier to wire as there are no external lights on them thankfully

[big jim]

And on to the Conference coach, this one is a Hornby one so slightly different set up as the roof doesn’t come off

 

Pick ups added and piece of plasticard to rest the pcb board to as the weight doesn’t come out

 

Now the next 3 coaches I can’t decide what to do as they only need internal lights, there are no extras like the first 2 coaches I did, so do I fit a decoder to just turn the lights off or have them powered from the track?

 

If I don’t use the decoders I will have 3 spare to use on Mentor, PLP and UTU which all have extra lights on the outside

 

I’ve wired the conference coach direct to the track pick ups for now, not fitted the capacitor as I think I need to add a resistor or diode in line to prevent it blowing up

 

Need to paint the inside grey to stop light bleed

 

Looking good now, need to add 3 pieces of laserglaze to one side of the coach though

 

You may notice that the non pantograph coach has light coming from between the body and roof, this is because the roof and glazing are a single unit and with fitting laserglaze I have had to cut the whole glazing part off leaving me with gaps

 

So how to cure it, magnets, tiny magnets!

 

 

Super glued round ones to the body sides and flat squares one to the roof, they are really powerful and once the roof gets within about a cm from the body it snaps shut!!

 

Just needs a touch more taking off what’s left of the old glazing unit on the non pantograph car but you can see how they have closed the gap

 

Finally I painted the Bachmann passengers with hi vis vests

Edited November 9, 2017 by big jim

[big jim]

I’ve just had an idea (dangerous I know) how about using the 2 decoder fitted coaches to power the lights in the 3 ‘internal lighting only’ coaches but still add pick ups to the coaches and feed them back to the decoder coaches to spread the power pick up over all 5 coaches?

 

Basically fit a 4 way micro connector between the coaches, 2 wires to carry the lighting circuit and 2 to carry the pick ups, split the train into 2 separate ‘circuits, I.e decoder in 994 powers the conference car and genny coach and the decoder in 993 powers that and the other genny car lights, it would have to run in a fixed formation and I’d make sure there was no way of reversing the wires by using male and female connectors but I think (in theory) it would work

[newbryford]

Micro connectors between coaches can work, but the pitfalls to look out for are(from experience)

Is the wire flexible enough to allow adjacent vehicles around curves?

More wires = less flexibility

Is it long enough to allow for reverse curve/crossover use?

Will the connector foul on the coach ends and give the same effect as bufferlock?

 

Putting in a U shaped loop will often provide the solution to all three.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[big jim]

Micro connectors between coaches can work, but the pitfalls to look out for are(from experience)

Is the wire flexible enough to allow adjacent vehicles around curves?

More wires = less flexibility

Is it long enough to allow for reverse curve/crossover use?

Will the connector foul on the coach ends and give the same effect as bufferlock?

 

Putting in a U shaped loop will often provide the solution to all three.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

how about just using 2 wires between the coaches for the pick ups, the wire i have is very fine expo stuff i picked up at the alsager show (i think i showed you it) and the connectors im going to try are these...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XSKGT18/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

by my reconing 2 of those should only be about 5-6mm wide, i have similar on a sound chipped steam loco i have where the pickups have been extended to the tender where the sound chip and speaker are located and have had no issues with them

 

i could then simply wire the lights to the pick up tabs, ok they wont be able to be switched off but they will pick up electrically across all coaches

 

another alternative is keep it as a 4 way connector but mount the "female" connector inside the coach (facing upwards on the rear bulkhead maybe) then the adjacent coach (and opposite end of the same coach)  has the "male" connector trailing through the gangway door with plenty of slack to plug into the female socket

 

all ideas until i get the bits and start having a play about  

[luke the train spotter]

Amazing work! Always find you're work very inspiring. I have a quick question about the people you painted with orange high vis vests, is there a specific type/number (in terms of humbrol/valley/revell) of paint you use? I am looking at painting some people with high vises and wondered if you would be able to recommend anything. Thanks.

[big jim]

I just used humbrol railway colours orange on them, first orange that came to hand from the paint tray

[big jim]

had a play about yesterday evening with the micro connectors, didnt have my phone with me so no pics for now but basically a 2 way connector seems to work nicely between the first 2 coaches i did, they now pick up power from each other

 

the female connector is in the left window of the gangway door on one coach and on the adjacent coach the additional pick up wire exits through the right window, the 2 strands of wire are twisted round each other and trailing down to the near bottom of the doorway then back up to the male connector which plugs into the female one, plenty of slack for movement, had it running round the layout for a long time without issue

 

the next job is to do similar on all the other coaches so all 5 are linked up

[big jim]

Pics from the last few days

 

These are the micro connectors I’ve used to connect between the coaches

 

 

 

They clip together nicely but also if they come apart they easily separate without ripping wires out, need to mark up the + side with a dot of paint so I connect them correctly every time

 

So basically the train is picking up electrically across all 5 coaches so it doesn’t flicker at all, it’s curently 2 separate ‘units’ as I’ve not connected the 2 decoder fitted coaches together but as it doesn’t flicker or cut out I may not actually bother, I’ll see how t goes

 

Got to change the LEDS in the outer coaches as they are ‘ice white’ as opposed to ‘warm white’ got a reel of them coming from Amazon tomorrow so hopefully I can swap them then

 

Also the outer coaches need the inside of the roofs painting black to prevent light bleed then paint the insides of all the coaches grey for the same reason also need to add the magnets to hold the roofs down to the outer coaches

 

Looking pretty good now

 

[KeithHC]

Cor with all this lighting your layout may need an ETS index.

 

Well done

 

Keith

[big jim]

And a quick vid of the train running round the layout

 

Edited November 18, 2017 by big jim