DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

Similar to the previous configuration, but with a worm gear on the motor instead of the crown gear. Due to the worm gear being smaller, it helped give the more appropriate low speed I wanted (and, by extension, higher torque). It also meshes more nicely with the inner part of the uppermost gear. I could also mount it horizontally like this and turn it into a bogie for large diesels/electrics. To cure the side clearance issue without exceeding the gauge, all I had to do was make thinner wheels with wider flanges.



The redesigned chassis. Unlike the first attempt, it was built more logically with the front wheels hot glued to the gearbox (before the running board was added). It took several tries to get the motor to mesh and stay where it should be, but at least it no longer dips. Due to the blind middle wheels, the chassis is now shorter and a bit more compact in general. Despite a terrible "waddle" caused by the malformed driving wheels (like the faulty model that inspired Duck), I'm just happy it runs to begin with and didn't replace them until much later. Then again, it's only my second motorised loco for this track minus the chassis from earlier.



Running board and other details added, including a temporary LED to show how the glowing firebox would look. In addition to the flickering light, I would likely add a piece of clear plastic with flames drawn on it that would be illuminated. There wasn't much room for the 2x AAA pack and the 3x AAA would've been overpowered, so I went with a custom compartment for one AAA. The third smokebox I made was just the right size and only had to be slightly trimmed. This time, the cab is also short enough for a crew to see out the windows. Unlike on 69420, there's no cab detail due to low visibility and the gearbox-firebox. Even when the front wheels derail, it can sometimes clear a section of track like nothing happens.



I somehow found it a bit hard to wire a regular slide switch in a "non permanent" way (no soldering), even though the one I was using had thick prongs. Likely something to do with the wire length or the tanks already being built. Instead, it uses a push button on the side of the left splasher.]

A coupling rod and (very) simplistic valve gear were briefly added on one side. In part due to the length of the driven axle, I didn't prepare holes for crankpins in any of the wheels. I don't want to trim the axle since I intend to reuse the gearbox after removing the electronics. If I did keep the rods and finished the other side, they would've been too wide compared to the rest of the model. Naturally, any further models with valve gear will have two slide bars on each side and not one. For anyone wondering: yes, it worked.




Final result. No reference photos were used, though it somewhat resembles an LMS 3F "Jinty" or an 0-6-0 version of a GWR 1400. Even the battery access is literally "TOMY Oliver" (i.e., the smokebox, boiler and firebox come off in one piece). The red, which I thought would give a more "rust like" colour, turned out a little more similar to LMS Crimson Lake. While it does match the turnout gear on the "driver and fireman", my planned casts of them would still be painted like typical railway uniforms.

All in all, this is quite an achievement for me even though it (ironically) runs worse than the other chassis (which doesn't have gearing). Would've made things much easier if I had the pre geared motors nearly everyone uses.

[Super]

Would be interested in seeing your flickering fire box idea when finished to see how it turned out.

After removing the gearbox and electronics from the tank loco, I tried the horizontal powered bogie idea. All I had to do was glue a bearing with a wheelset under one of the screws, and the height perfectly matched. I then proceeded to make an unpowered front bogie. For the wheel spacing to be equal, I lined up the bearings with the axles on the powered one. I thought it would end up being static (not articulated) with only the front one turning, but cutting a hole in the chassis in the motor's shape made it able to swivel a bit. Only problem is it can nearly fall out when picked up, and only the wiring can stop it. The front bogie had enough room to make a whole 360° until a pilot (cowcatcher) was added (below).



I initially wanted the side frames to have bearings (from a plastic tube), but the frames were difficult to glue, always fell off and even prevented certain wheels from turning. Instead, I just glued them to the sides of the bogies and had them "rest" on the long axles. Even though I never had any, the whole thing reminds me of a LEGO train for a smaller gauge (and with the bufferbeams separated from the pilots).



The main reason why I chose this switch (from an old bump 'n go bus) was due to the additional wires that were already soldered to it, which I thought I could use to power incandescent lights (from the same bus). However, wiring the lights to them caused them to turn on when the switch was off, so the extra wires became totally redundant. Instead, one light was wired to the motor's capacitor and one to the other light. After adding a wall to insert them as headlights, I (naturally) built a whole diesel electric body around it. Due to use of the 2x AAA pack as the fuel tank, the only thing taking up space on top besides the motor and switch is the jumbled wiring for the headlights. Would've looked better if I mounted them sideways or facing up, because the tips aren't really as bright as the middle portions. I opted to keep the lights on the other cab fake.



The body was (very) loosely inspired by diesel electrics made by companies like Alstom, such as the JT 42BW or the AD 32C. White cardboard was used to match the uncovered battery pack. Not very pleased with the bulky roof, but the rest turned out OK for an experimental design. At one point, only the lights still turned on after the body was finished and the roof had to be loosened to allow access to the motor. Funny how the red tank loco sounded more like a diesel than this while in motion (likely because the motor is different).

Update:



Instead of making an entirely new roof to replace the original, I simply reshaped it after cutting down the sides at the top. It can also be lifted up to access the electronics without having to loosen it.

Being proud of the white diesel electric, I wanted a large type of rolling stock to complement it before disassembly. I chose a bogie well wagon and sized it to fit a 1:28 scale 1995 BMW Z3, the longest of five bigger die cast cars I have. For the couplings, I used a bracket from a D-ring picture hanger for the loop and my usual bent paper clip for the hook. It proved stronger, more articulated and more effective than what the tank loco and truck used, mainly due to the hook being able to go through two holes; for uncoupling, it has to be lifted up all the way (which can be surprisingly difficult). The middle is made of two layers to make it a little more firm, though it can still dip even with a small weight on it. Alas, I made it too low and it literally scrapes the rails.



I have this friction road roller that happens to be the same length (+ a matching front loader), which looks more fitting than a car. While not accurate to how they're transported by rail in real life, I like how the roller/loader looks on it. Unfortunately, the well wagon derails due to its crude bogies and the loco painfully struggles to move it, even without a load (much less with one). Reapplying the rubber adhesive and adding O-ring traction tyres did nothing. Maybe the low speed gearbox didn't add as much torque as I hoped it would. Had the loco been more powerful, I would've reused the well wagon as a chassis for a double deck coach, autorack (for small vehicles) or something of that kind.

Now for one of my favourite results to date. Ever since Chrisjo last bumped the thread about the TOMY Chuffing Annie and showed us the origin of its mechanism, I've been really interested in trying to make something like it and not just "wishing" I could (as I did earlier in the thread). For this purpose, I made my own coil spring by wrapping metal wire around the shank of a screwdriver so I won't have to look for one (which might not be available in small sizes like this).

I found that this type of spring can only make the "right" sound if it's stretched from one point to another, hence why the previous ones I made didn't work. I tried testing it with a few different surfaces/anchoring points, but none made it sound very impressive. After that, I remembered an old iPhone 4 box which I thought would be able to amplify it given its size and depth. Sure enough, it did.



After stretching the ends all the way to the top, I made a (weak and unstable) chassis right under the spring. Side supports were added to hold the box over it, making sure they were long enough to reach the top while still exposing the wheels. To avoid making a "partial gear" like on Annie, I instead made a metal cam by cutting a wick sustainer into shape (with a small cut at the end so it would have two "teeth"). Due to the absence of gears, it works more like the ChugAlong Express version where the axle touches the spring directly.

Even though I made the spring myself and it has inevitable imperfections, it still nearly sounds like the TOMY mechanisms (only without the reverb caused by the metal board). In addition, it works on multiple surfaces despite having no traction tyres.

I assume it wouldn't be loud enough for a motorised engine with gearing (hence TOMY using an amplifier), so I might need a metal container to stand in for the board. I'm really happy to finally reverse engineer the main part and get it to function correctly (for most of the time) after so long. Now it's just a matter of finding how to incorporate it in a better chassis for an actual truck, coach or tender.

[Super]

Wow, sounds great LaG, well done!

Immediately after the success of my TOMY inspired chuffing mechanism, I wanted to try adding it to one of the rolling stock from the Union Express set. I made a new spring due to the imperfections in the first one and (temporarily) fitted it to the blue caboose. This time, the cam couldn't be fitted the same way 'around' the axle and was simply hot glued to it. Due to the sliding axles, it was lightly adjustable to allow the caboose to move backwards without jamming. It worked on just about any surface except the track, likely because I didn't add traction tyres or another rough texture. That, and some mild pressure had to be applied since it didn't roll freely.

While it was louder than the iPhone 4 box, it made an inferior sound and the bottom wasn't hollow enough. The coach would've probably given a better result. I also took the opportunity to paint some of its detail black, notably the fake bogies.



Finally made something for the literal Blue Plastic Tracks again. Inspired by TrackMaster Productions 2016's (terrific) Slate Quarry incline, I built my own winding house for use with my (standard gauge) trucks. At the end of each string for the cables, I attached a wire tie hook that can fit into the trucks' loop couplings or be tightened around their hook ones. He did mention it was hard for him to get it to function properly, so I didn't expect it to be easier. It was initially only able to pull the loaded and empty trucks up/down together, but I managed to fix it after several attempts.



Since I didn't measure the span of two risers with one straight on top, it turned out the spools weren't really aligned with the tracks and I had to rebuild the winding house. The new base has skewers along the bottom to fit into the track grooves for a little more stability. As I thought, it does the job better in every way.

The only problems with the new version are the winding house has to be held down so it wouldn't fall over, and the ascending trucks can't really reach the top. The latter might be because the tracks were too short or the grade wasn't steep enough. Either way, it proved successful enough to show the principle worked for me too.



Another thing I've really wanted to make is a motorised transfer table (traverser), also for Plarail. I looked for the easiest way to control a motor's polarity and found this forward/reverse controller by How to Create. It uses two metal rods wired to the power source, with their other ends wedged into a dial so they make contact with three other conductive pins (two wired to each other with one also wired to the motor, and one to the motor only). Not quite as ideal as a regular three way switch, but easier for me to wire. I then made a smaller version with nails for the conductive pins and found it to be more responsive, likely due to them being closer to the wired rods.

Now I'll just have to find how to build the mechanism and incorporate this into it. In addition, it could also work well in a wide variety of other applications.

[Super]

A lot of thought went into this LaG

After I got the hang of how that forward/reverse dial worked, I designed an alternative version that acts more like a slide switch. Effectively the same concept, but with a plastic T shape in lieu of the dial. The conductive pins are now small screws, which help keep the wires in a bit more tightly than the nails do. It does have a little too much free movement, so any further revisions should be more restricted.



For the traverser itself, I measured two straight pieces with room for one riser between them to make the base. Two "trucks" were made to support the platform at the ends, joined by a long, flat beam. The rack for the gear based power unit is just corrugated fibreboard, though it should've been strengthened with wooden sticks in the teeth. The cardboard wheels were eventually replaced with wick sustainers to make them roll better.



My current solution for power is the gearbox I used for my last two engines, but with a gear on the axle to mesh with the rack. The motor is still mounted vertically and could be hidden in a control booth. Since the plastic gear had a little too many teeth for the rack, I replaced it with a cardboard "wheel" gear with the same tread. Didn't stop it from slipping/disengaging, however, especially when going backwards. Two additional rails were added to keep it from veering sideways. It would probably work better if I'd use parallel racks with two gears meshing with them, or simply a belt from one end to the other.

It occurred to me that homemade smoke units are much easier to make than I thought they would be a few years ago. I've found multiple variants of them that use either fire in a tube or a nichrome heating element with glycerine/machine oil in cotton wool. Both types have a fan or a vacuum pump for the smoke to billow. A YouTuber named Quazar made two different steam engines with a hot wire smoke unit, and it would be amazing to have one of my own models with it. Too bad the pump makes them whine like Gordon in "Whistles and Sneezes" and totally ruins the illusion, even though it's safer and more compact.

I initially had mixed feelings about the fire based version, but gained enough courage to build one and risk trying it. The first two tests went well until the fan's blades broke off, but I didn't manage to record until the fifth test (pictured). I had to hold a battery in one hand (while pressing the wires over it) and the whole unit in the other, so a 2x battery pack allowed me to put it down. Just 3V were enough to give a decent effect, which I think might be harder with nichrome wired to the motor. I'm thinking of using 6V (four batteries) to power smoke in an engine, if not a separate 9V battery for it.

At one point, the flame got closer to the fan and even sparked for a bit before I managed to save the unit. The fan broke again and soot got into both halves, so I eventually took it apart. I'm just thankful it didn't go horribly wrong, though it (inevitably) left a nasty odour of burnt tissue paper.