On SRman's Workbench

Discussion in 'Workshop Benches' started by SRman, Feb 27, 2016.

  1. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Hi Tom. The GW vans are a Mink D and a Mink. The Mink D is the long van.

    Gary, I have now painted the roof on the clerestory coach in white. Once I do the others, I'll do some in white and some in grey (weathered).
     
  2. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Further up the timescale, I have been fiddling with a Bachmann Wickham trolley to convert it to DCC. Visually, there is no difference compared to an out of the box example, but the conversion method I chose involved removing the PCB from the unpowered trolley and replacing it with a TCS Z2 decoder hard-wired in. To fit the decoder in the space, I had to remove the metal "finger" that previously retained the PCB; it is now quite a snug fit lengthwise, with plenty of room to the sides for spare wiring to allow some free play for maintenance purposes.

    I identified which wires were doing what by desoldering the outer pair of wires and connecting test leads to them; nothing happened, so I then tested the remaining two wires, which (as I expected) powered the motor through its brush connections (it's actually a coreless motor, so probably doesn't have real brushes!).

    Having connected the decoder to the correct wires, I tested on the programming track and all worked properly. I ran it on the main lines but it was a bit hesitant. Further investigation showed that the PCB also had two contact pads for the pickups from the trolley, so I had to dismantle it and solder two more wires on to get all-wheel pickup again.

    That was successful, initially, (including on the programming track) but after some running, I found the rear, unpowered axle on the motorised trailer was very hot, so there is a short-circuit somewhere. Possibly, due to the light weight of the trolley and trailer, the pickups were not all working at once, but after the running had bedded them in a little they have a dead short - I'll have to check that the pickup wires are all connected to the correct side.
    Further investigation revealed that there were two possible causes for the short; one was a piece of heat-shrink insulation had slipped, exposing some bare wire, and the other was one of the rather delicate springy pickups had got caught up when I reassembled the trolley, allowing it to contact the wheel back and the chassis at the same time.

    It has now been sorted and runs nicely, although slightly hesitantly over my third and fourth rail in places (clearances?). Overall, though, it runs well and will be even better when I put some white metal figures in it.

    Assembling the trolley and trailer is quite fiddly, but having succeeded, I'm feeling quite satisfied with myself now!

    :avatar:

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  3. Gary

    Gary Wants more time for modelling.... Staff Member Administrator

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    I hope you get browny points from Bachmann for showing them how to dcc the trolley ! Makes me wonder if the BIG manufacturers peruse forums for ideas...??

    Cheers, Gary.
     
  4. Keith M

    Keith M Staff Member Moderator

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    Just shows that there's more than one way to skin a cat Jeff. You put the decoder in the trolley, I put it in the trailer, but the result is the same, a DCC'd Wickham! As to manufacturers perusing forums for ideas, I really wish they would, and maybe then we'd get the kind of models that DJM and Dapol are turning out, ie those that have had more thought at the design stage so that we, the buying public, don't have to work around the manufacturers lack of foresight in this area. At the kind of prices we're expected to cough up nowadays, it shouldn't be too much to ask, and lets be honest, DCC is here to stay, so to turn out a model that is (to quote Bachmann), "Not DCC compatible" is unforgivable in my opinion. I've now been awaiting my first DJM Class 71 for about 18 months, but it seems that Dave Jones insistence on 'getting things right' is the important thing, and having seen the first liveried samples at Loughborough's GCR event, I was sufficiently impressed to order a second, followed by a Hatton's order for one of their "Golden Arrow" versions. Speaking personally, I'm content to wait for a model that's had the time taken to design what modellers want, rather than a headlong rush by a competitor to get a model out into the shops, leaving the 'aftermarket' to sort out how to fit a decoder in, let alone sound fitment. If Bachmann/Hornby etc are reading this, then it's about time they listened. Politicians in several countries have recently found out what can happen when they ignore what the public wants!!!!
    :avatar:

    Keith.
     
  5. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    What a result ! First class Jeff.

    The manufacturers should be watching. Obviously too much bother for them to go the extra mile ....... The quick buck is all they are after.

    Well done Sir.

    http://www.click
     
  6. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Thanks for the compliments, guys.

    The DCC conversion is not for the faint-hearted; not so much because of difficulty (it's not that difficult in principle), but more because space is so tight, there is very little room to manoeuvre. When you have fat fingers like me, that makes it awkward, trying to join four wires and protect them, insert the decoder in the space, add the axles and their square bearings that pop out if you bump anything, then clip the base plate back on while holding all the rest in place, wires out of the way, and threading the springy pickup tags behind the wheels.

    :mad: :facepalm: :headbanger:

    I found that a lot of cursing and swearing helped immensely!!

    :avatar:
     
  7. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Still on a roll with soldering, I have now fitted lights to a third car of my 6-car Underground S Stock train. I added an extra resistor into the wiring for this one, so the lights are slightly toned down compared to the first two cars, although still bright.

    Please forgive some slight disjoints in the photo; it is actually a blend of three photos with different focal points, to compensate for the lack of depth of field in each.

    [​IMG]

    Now, only three more to do. They aren't difficult, but they are fiddly to do, seeing as I am running wires from both bogies and then running them under the seats via a resistor, and up one end of the coach to the lighting strip.
     
  8. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Fourth car lighting fitted on the S Stock. Two to go!

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  9. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Very impressive, fiddly or not, you're making a good job of it! :tophat:
     
  10. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    I had a bit of a session with the soldering iron again today, adding a 470 Ohm resistor to each of the S Stock cars in turn, plus wiring the final driving motor car for the lights.

    The first photo shows two of the cars (nos 3 and 4 in the train) for comparison of the before and after; the one on the right has the extra resistor in the line.

    The other two photos show the entire 6-car train with "tamed" lighting fitted. I am much happier with the result now.

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    This last photo in the dark shows that there is still a bit of light show-through in the car bodies, so a coat of paint along the insides may be in order for the future.

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    I suppose the next job will be to paint the seats, now that the interiors can be seen so clearly, and perhaps tidy up one or two stray wires.
     
  11. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    Nice job

    You may need to use two coats of paint - matt black to block the light, then whatever interior colour you prefer, as a pale colour may still bleed through as well.

    Paul
     
  12. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Yes, that matches up with my thinking too, Paul. Not having been in the S stock myself, I have to rely on what I can glean from images and videos on the 'Net, but I believe the interior walls may be a cream colour, and the seats possibly colour-keyed to the lines they operate on with a grey base colour ... but I definitely need to do more research before choosing the final colours.
     
  13. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    A job I have been putting off for ages and ages is to glaze the various London Transport Q Stock cars. Part of what slows me down is that I like to paint matt black (or dark grey) into the window rebates.

    Anyway, I tackled the first two cars of the five car set yesterday, with a Q23 DM and a Q27 Trailer now done. I chose to flush-glaze the windscreens on the DM, and the glue (Krystal Klear) was still wet on the centre screen in the photos - it starts of like a white PVA glue but dries clear.

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    The close-up shows every blemish in the finish on the Q23 car!
     
  14. Toto

    Toto I'm best ignored Staff Member Founder Administrator

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    Nice set, something a bit different there.:thumbs:
     
  15. paul_l

    paul_l Staff Member Administrator

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    I don't know if I have the patience, but it certainly improves the model.

    How big a window can you do with the krystal klear ?

    Paul
     
  16. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Hi Paul.
    Krystal Klear is not good for glazing anything more than small windows, in my opinion. Larger ones can be done, but they won't dry flat and even. However, for larger windows, Krystal Klear makes an excellent combined glue and gap-filler.

    If you look carefully at the windscreen on this converted EFE Leyland National 2, you'll notice that I have re-used the original National mark 1 windscreen but angled it outwards at the bottom to match the replacement white metal mark 2 front; the resulting gaps at the sides were filled with Krystal Klear and are almost invisible under normal lighting and viewing conditions.
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    I have also used Krystal Klear to glaze some curved corner quarter lights on another coach. I blew on it from the inside while it dried, so it successfully adopted the curve, but dried a little cloudy, so the technique can best be described as a mixed success.
     
  17. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Yet another project which has been sitting on the back-burner for a while is my Bratchell Models class 319. The pantograph, salvaged from a Bachmann class 350/1 being converted to a class 450, should sit on quite a substantial framework.

    I have a good photograph of the pantograph well, kindly supplied by another modeller, so used that as a guide to make up something resembling it, albeit rather cruder. Some of the plastic sections I have used are not only too big, but also the wrong cross-sections, but I had to use what was available. The insulators are from Somerfeldt. There are still a few finer details to add, but I think I have captured the effect, if not quite super-detailed.

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    And after adding a couple more details and painting:

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    The pantograph is sprung and capable of being used, but on my layout it will only ever be in the down position, because it is all on third rail!
     
  18. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    Some minor additions to the "wiring" in the pantograph well. There should be more of it, but even the bits I have done are not entirely clear in the photos I have. I know one of my runs has no obvious purpose, but I could say the same about what I can make out in the photo of the real one. What I have done is tried to get something that looks representative, rather than being slavishly accurate (beyond my skills!).

    I have also disabled the pantograph springs, to prevent any possibilities of it accidentally springing up in the tunnels. This is reversible if I ever need a working pantograph later.

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  19. SRman

    SRman Full Member

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    And here it is in service. I have painted the pantograph a light grey to match the photos of the real one. It sits a little higher than it should, but I can't do much about that. Maybe later when I can get some supplies of smaller plastic sections I can redo the major parts of the support framework and lower it a little. For now, it looks the part. Once gain, this is a blended photo with two different focal lengths because of dim lighting , which is not conducive to good depth of field.

    At a later stage I will be fitting working head and tail lights to the driving trailers.

    [​IMG]
     
  20. Ron

    Ron Full Member

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    Looking good mate, are you fitting overhead wires at some point??:)
     

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