DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

Before building a new specialised loco to hold the unit, I temporarily installed it in my existing 0-4-0ST. Only had to take off the cardboard smokebox and torch casing boiler, glue the fan where the boiler was and lead four wires through a gap that was already under the footplate. There was technically enough room for the 2x AAA pack in the cab (not without minor mods), but I wanted to try this without having to remove it as well. Since I didn't give it a battery car or do it with 69420, both packs had to be located on the ground/beside the track. If I made this permanent, I would've made wire couplings and two battery cars like that custom TnA Oliver uses. While the 4.5V made it look half decent, it naturally didn't look as effective as it does with the element on 5V. Would've still preferred something like an 18650 or other such battery/ies for it, but not 9V or 12V.



The unit happens to be similar in size to the OG boiler, so removing the front of the saddle tank allowed it to fit at the same height. Thought I would have to change it into a side/pannier tank, but it "felt right at home" as if it still had the torch case underneath. I deliberately kept the funnel too short since (again) it wasn't meant for an existing model. After the unit was taken out, the loco was reverted as if I didn't do anything. Only the sandboxes it had over the front wheels had broken off and will not be recreated.

Although I won't find much room for one in a model, I made a "puff effect" piston that would be attached to a crankpin and tried it in the smoke unit by pumping manually. Even the very smallest movement of air is enough to change how the smoke comes out, so I didn't have to get a mini syringe or use a rubber/spring based solution. The oil residue helps it slide perfectly smoothly while matching the inner diameter. I have no idea how to connect it to a gearbox that's also driven by a vertical motor at the end. Also thought about connecting it to the valve gear on the inside, but the smokebox would need a groove at the bottom for it to work and the oil/smoke would leak from the wrong spot.



Since it's only my first try at a (new) loco with smoke, the existing fan should suffice for the time being. After gluing a motor to the other gearbox like the one in my last engine, I wired the fan motor to it so both would run simultaneously; one reason why I plan to power it from a 6V (4x AA) battery tender despite it being loco drive. Of course, I made sure the fan spins in the right direction when the wheels move forward. It's the first time I've had to wire two motors to each other, which could also be used to achieve 4WD as I've seen before (if both have the same RPM). Luckily, it will run fine on the track despite having the modded gearbox where I cut the axle too short. The loco to tender connection is planned to have micro connectors that will plug into each other, like on various battery locos with high voltage power tenders. A mockup of a possible configuration with a running board, cab and other details around it:

To make it look like a 4-4-0 when it's really a 4-2-0, decorative front drivers were glued on to make them as close as possible to the actual wheels; real ones would've had to be too far ahead. They had to be cut down at the bottom so they wouldn't touch the rails, and it runs just as fine as it did without them. The bogie is fitted over a glued shaft and rotates (very) loosely, helping it follow the track slightly better than the usual bogies I build (reduced friction). However, its inability to tilt up/down might make it get stuck on gradients.



While I have a bunch of DuPont socket connectors (two wire and four wire), I don't have any plugs for them. I barely managed to make one by cutting safety pin rods and "shoving" them into a socket, but it would've been too fragile or made an unstable connection. These JST connectors were from an old solar power kit, in which they were used to connect a motor to the solar panel or a 2x AA battery pack. That motor died due to heavy rust and/or corrosion and had to be discarded, hence why the plug connector was cut off. I only have one other socket and no other plug for it.



After building a six wheeled chassis for the high voltage tender, I made a working 6V battery pack out of skewers and aluminium strips. To arrange the contacts, I followed this wiring tutorial by Anthony Cartwright. He wired the batteries themselves to each other, but it's literally the same process for terminals. I also checked how it was done in a device with a 4x AA compartment, and they were set up the same way. Only the negative springs and one double contact were from existing battery packs. Both of my soldering irons had to be repaired due to a small fault, so I had to glue the negative springs to the appropriate sides. While it did provide enough power for the drive and smoke motors together, the heating element apparently draws too much current and doesn't get hot enough (despite its small size); even without the drive motor, it's too weak compared to the lower 5V or even 4.5V. I've since broadened the flanges to reduce derailments due to the engine's speed.

There happen to be small, thin power banks that would easily fit in the tender and provide the same voltage as my USB cable, but without external power. If Quazar specified what type of Li-Ion batteries they used for their heating elements, I would've opted for that to power the element only. In that case, there could be room for a 4.5V pack over the rear axle for the motors (which could also add enough weight for more tractive effort).

This year saw a fairly low number of customs compared to the first two; only nine in total, not including the zip tie track and its individual pieces. Apart from the magnetic vehicle and clothespin coupler experiments, none of them have been taken apart or discarded. Only the cardboard Plarail stop/go track wasn't pictured and is in the shed. Looking forward to build another batch of vehicle bodies and (possibly) find how to make my own wheel styles in the right scale for them; ended up doing more of those than I did rolling stock last year, so I wouldn't mind if it will happen again. My new favourite results are naturally the LED signal and smoking 4-4-0, which feel a bit more "fresh" and advanced regarding use of components.

After multiple "light engine" test runs with the Mogul to check how it performs before detailing, I brought back the details it had before the current design and added a few extra ones. The new handrails are half strips from metal zip ties, giving them a metallic texture the old ones didn't have (being made of wood). My usual liquid glue makes them adhere better than I expected; same with the metal wires for the smaller tubes, which I don't really know what they're for but are present on many different classes. Even with the sloppiness of the boiler bands, the spacing isn't too bad thanks to the domes already being there. Since I had trouble centring the light button properly, the whistle valves had to be glued next to it (in a crude attempt to "distract" from the offset).



For the tender, I remade the fake bogies pretty much the same way they were originally made but spaced the wheels further apart, mounted them closer to the ends and gave them more detailed frames. While they don't do a good job at hiding the real wheelbase unlike before, it's still an improvement and they look better than nothing. Too bad it's still obvious the tender is pushing the loco and not being pulled by it. New traction tyres were added in the form of "rubber bands" cut from an old balloon, this time on both sides.



Of the new details I've given it, my favourite has to be the pile of firewood on the battery cover replacing the coal. Ironically, some of it was made of matchsticks in addition to two types of skewers. I won't have to paint it a darker brown/weather it since the natural shades already look good enough. I've since made the pile higher and it can come off more easily to access the batteries and motor. For reference, I looked at Lionel's "1862" numbered version of the General. A bit weird how the firewood takes up the whole tender; it's unclear where the water would go and there seem to be no tail lamp or rear ladder. A black trim was added around the bottom to make the top thinner. The on/off switch was also glued into position with its base repainted black.



This knuckle coupler wouldn't actually work due to its incorrect shape, so it eventually wasn't fitted. I only made it to get an idea of what size the final one(s) should be. Lionel's toy grade Ready to Play trains have a design that "looks" like a knuckle coupler, without the moving parts. They only slot into each other from the top/bottom, but are still perfectly functional and don't cause stalling/derailments. Even a few other scratchbuilders like BumBin Creative have figured out how to make them for Indonesian/Indian rolling stock and other countries that use them in real life.



I then made a placeholder coupling for it to pull the Union Express coach. It has four wheels, no floor and weighs only 67 grams, so I knew the tender would have no trouble pulling it while also pushing the loco (which weighs 79 by itself). My own coaches are planned to have actual bogies and thus more friction, so I'm hoping the same could be said for them.



Having examined the Ready to Play coupler by following manual illustrations, I ended up drawing a G shape on cardboard and gluing a flexible strip over it. I then repeated the process and made another one to try the design, and they actually stay together very well; the only way to separate them is by lifting/pushing one out of the other. Both heads were glued to arms made of four sticks each with a plastic tube ring at the other end, and one was temporarily fitted to the tender.



Sometime last year, I found remains of a vintage ('80s) microwave oven that was being thrown out and wanted to see whatever I could salvage from it. Among the metal components were two interesting brackets that looked very much like side frames of a bogie. Since then, I've been looking forward to the day I might use them for a bogie with proper outside frames. An opportunity came when I wanted to test my new couplers without building another whole chassis, or modding one of my UK style models to fit an oversized US coupler (even if just temporarily). In a highly convenient manner, they also have a third hole in the middle which makes it real easy to build a frame at any gauge that's proportionate to the wheel spacing. I joined them using a skewer in the perfect size and made the wheelsets a bit wider than usual, with the axles protruding to reach the "bearings". Now that I've seen how good it looks, I could trace the brackets onto sheets including the holes and make however many frames I would need for each vehicle in a consist. The coupler was then mounted at the correct height for the one on the tender. Unlike my previous idea with the clothespins, they have a slight range of motion when coupled since they have no spring to press them together. Now I'll just have to find how to cut them out in a smaller scale, mount them higher and make them as consistent as possible. It may not be how they work in real life, but I'm glad to have found a solution after all that time.

Since my "knuckle" coupler design yielded good results in a larger scale, I repeated the same technique for the head(s) at half the previous size and made enough couplers for the tender and three other units; one will eventually replace the dummy one on the cowcatcher. The flexible cardboard used for the large couplers was too thick, so I needed a smaller piece to cut the strips out of. While not fully consistent like they should be, most of them do stay together as good as the large ones. I will have to raise the tender one since it's too low for the coaches I'm building (or rather, "passenger cars").



As mentioned, the metal brackets were traced onto cardboard for the bogie frames, still joined with skewers through the middle holes. Each side frame uses two layers to make them nearly as strong as the originals. The only other difference is the middle holes are now flush with the bearings rather than being recessed. Apart from derailing easily due to the thin flanges, they roll smoothly but may need more weight to help them stay on better. Without the end pieces (below), the cars are the same length as the unpowered loco. The top bushings will be bridged over once the interiors are added. I found the bogies were mounted too close to the ends, so the end (side step) pieces had to be added separately.



While cutting out the windows for the bodies, I initially didn't understand why they came out so rough and were a bit tricky to remove. Some of the frame pieces had also broken off in the process. Turned out the knife didn't reach all the way through and I had to hold the walls up to get cleaner cuts. The "broken" window frames were either reglued or restored before adding my usual "plastic glass" on the insides (which helped strengthen them further). Good thing I still had enough of those left for such long bodies. After that, the walls were glued to the sides of each chassis to be folded up once the end walls are added. Not really proud of the side steps, which may or may not be replaced at a later point.

The passenger cars' side walls were cut down once they were found to be too high when folded up. They now match the height of the engine's cab minus the roof and even their chassis line up with the footplate. More importantly, they scale better with the figures and I've prepared doors for them (not pictured) by tracing a special piece with an oval hole in it (resembling a window). I won't add them until I could find what's wrong with the bogies even after I realigned them. One disadvantage to the way I decided to join the side frames: having a single dowel join them right in the centre doesn't leave much room for a bushing to keep the bogies from falling out. I glued such bushings to the shafts and put them in before regluing the top plates to the frames. They're still not perfectly centred due to the bases being wider at one side, and I don't want to downgrade to four wheels like on the Union stock.



To fit the couplers, I added simple holders at each end similar to BumBin's rolling stock and made sure the couplers were level with each other, swivelled loosely and allowed both cars to form an L shape without decoupling themselves; not that any of my track systems would be 'that' tight, but still. Also raised the loco's tender coupler and added supports for the rear since it wasn't level with the front. It could be the coupler is still too low and that's why the cars keep tipping over; sometimes, one bogie on each will fall onto the sleepers and "leap" while the other will stay on fine. While the tender has enough torque to pull both while also pushing the loco, the train runs laughably badly due to the aforementioned problems. Even if I'll raise the tender coupler again, they still tip over without the loco. If all else fails, the walls could be repurposed for a (larger than TOMY) signal box, station or other similar building.

To fix the stability issue and reduce derailments, the bogie frames have been widened to match the tops and all flanges were broadened with one extra layer (though some became wider than others). One or both coaches can still derail due to one bogie not "catching up", but at least they don't tip over anymore. When they proved to be stable enough, I trimmed the new axles but left enough to keep them from slipping out.



After that, it was time to glue the doors to the end walls. Like on my K6 phone box, the doors are "hinged" by gluing to one side only. Pressing them into the walls will keep them shut fairly well, but they can't really stay open. I might reglue them on the outsides, even though I've seen interior photos that show they hinge inwards. Unlike the windows, they won't really need plastic glass and the hollow windows look fine to me.



The seats were initially made of two squares each with one folded up, which made them look more realistic but too long compared to the windows. I then changed my mind and glued the backrests on top for back-to-back seating. Matchsticks were added underneath to raise them by under 1cm. Some real US cars have one row of seats facing one way and one facing the other, but it seems more common to have both facing both directions. To cover up the bogie pins and raise the seats further, large floor sections were added where the windows start. Only one door on each car has enough room to fully open, hence why they'll have to be moved out.

I'll have to rewire the loco's tender again since the capacitor no longer works, it can now turn on when the switch is off and the motor is now prone to voltage drops. Until then, I'll add the end rails and clerestory roofs and paint the cars somewhat like these:

Reglued the doors to the outsides, added end rails and made roof supports in the form of two layered "beak" shapes at the height where a railroad name is usually written. Didn't want to use beams/bars at the ends to make them look more distinct from UK coaches with balconies. The end rails are shaped a bit like LEGO part #6583, the same reference I used for a 3D pen one on a shell I made for a Plarail chassis. Like the windows, they were drawn on a piece of cardboard with the insides cut out with a knife. Despite being made of one layer and attached with liquid glue, they're more durable than I expected (but still easily breakable).



Both bodies were primed bright red, followed by a thin layer of black (which looked like they were covered in soot) and then a mixture of both to get a dark red with slight tinges of the bright shade and the beige of the cardboard. In terms of brightness, it more closely resembles the engine's green while still giving the contrast I wanted.



For the clerestories, I drew the sides of the curved ends and hot glued a thick layer on top of each pair. It's my first try at replicating this style of car, so they're not quite as "organic" as I would've liked. To make the middle sections removable, two large strips on each side were taped to the bodies while gluing the clerestories to them. Each one is held with two skewers that slot into the ends, and one end has to be (gently) tipped in the opposite direction when removing/inserting the middle. Not a great design since they could eventually break off, but it was mainly done so the ceilings would have the right shape as well.



Since I tried painting the windows/vents on but didn't like the result, I didn't want the other sides to look worse and came up with a low effort solution: scanning the side of one car and cutting out the copied windows, which were then cut into strips to match the clerestories before being glued on like large decals. Apart from being fully consistent on both sides and both cars, they're also more clearly visible against the dark red bodywork. Only had to use a red marker to make the frames more pronounced.



Behind the loco. Now that I think about it, I'd better do another test run to make sure they won't tip over again with the clerestories on. I originally made them even higher and they had to be cut down, so at least I corrected them early.



Lastly, here's one of them compared to the (European) coach from the set (which came with a US style 0-6-0T). Had I known where the original loco is now, I would've liked to use them with it. Even though the plastic coach is more toylike, I'd still like to model some of my future stock after it; mainly things like DMUs, streetcars or commuter trains. Despite the engine's light feature, I don't plan to fit lights in these cars since they weren't built with such function in mind. They're a lot more consistent with each other unlike the Stroudley coaches, since they were pretty much worked on at the same time. Only the roofs are not prefect and the side steps are quite poorly done, but I'm still happy with them.

All my rolling stock (except Rocket) uses wheels made of cardboard "discs" glued to each other with decent results, despite minor imperfections due to rough edges. For other land vehicles (or aircraft), I'd just need the same technique but with discs in only one size; i.e., no flanges. Luckily, the homemade circle drawers I use instead of a compass can make the discs small enough to nearly match the rubber tyred plastic ones I've built my shells for. Each one of these is made of four discs, including the one painted to look like it has a rim. If I had a material with similar properties that could be sanded/filed, I would've been able to smoothen them so they could roll more like the originals. One thing's for sure, I wouldn't cast them in hot melt glue again. Gluing a smooth tread on top wouldn't quite fix them due to the imperfect discs.



While they appear to be the right size for my existing bodies, the aforementioned rough edges will make them get stuck or not move at all. Unlike before, I'd make them in different sizes and widths depending on vehicle type and (for the first time) use 'dual' rear wheels for heavy duty/commercial. Even in a small scale like this, I could still put a little more effort than usual. Some toothpicks happen to be thinner than others, and bearings will have to be appropriately sized for them.