TOMY Henry restoring, and fixing.

okay, so i bought a TOMY/HiT Trackmaster lot of eBay and i got a duplicate engine (a TOMY Henry), well not technically a duplicate (my "TOMY" Henry was actually a HiT Toys Trackmaster Henry but that's besides the point) but anyway, i was asking my friends what to do with it, and one suggested (not going to say his name, let's just call him "Mark") to make a Black Five out of it, so i looked up the black five and decided on the Black Five (with the number 5000). so, first thing to do is to fix up Henry, make him good as new. so first thing i did was give him siderods (his was missing) from my Talking FS Trackmaster Henry (which of course didn't fit and keep falling out, what should i do?), then take it apart and dust out everything, then the wire split (you know, the one from the tender to the main engine, and on the coupling. also he didn't work when i got him[/size][/font]). what should i do?

my next plan is to make him more unique, give him the voltage upgrade mod, then paint. (3 coats, to get the shiny black color i want).

what should i do? scrap the idea or continue?
(i know it seems more like a mod question, but it's supposed to be a repair question)

i included a photo of the model, and a photo of the real Black Five        

[Super]

Hello WF72 and welcome to our Forum community.

Sounds like a good plan to me. Besides if it doesn't work out quite like you invisioned at least you have gained a lot of experience!

Id do it ! I'm in the making of doing an E2 out of Thomas, so I'd say go for it! Be sure to be careful as rushing it can ruin the final product as I have done before, so be sure to take your time. Everything wrong sounds like a simple fix. The side rods can be fixed with a dab of plastic glue just be sure not to get it anywhere else in the wheel, as it can get the rods stuck. The coupler from Henry to the tender can have 2 ways of being simply and cheaply fixed. One is electrical tape surrounding the whole coupler. Next try normal couplers, but one preferably larger than the normal ones, like Trackmaster Scruffs who's coupler is large than normal ones as collision of the tender or car to the engine can cause slower movement on turns and constant derailments. Hope it works out

thank you all.