DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

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Seeing repair videos of early Fisher Price Talking engines confirmed most of them (including Salty) have what is basically a retooled Flat drive unit, with the sound board replacing the battery terminals and switch. It even still has the rear screw hole and front bottom tab in the same spots. Unlike Talk 'n Action engines, the more complex half of the circuit is in the battery truck/tender. In some cases, the unit can be taken out without having to open the battery car as well.

I've been wanting to do this mod for literal years, and it even has another advantage in the form of a third "general purpose" chassis for my own engines. Who knows, it might even become an "Online Selling Shocker" one day since the only other one I know (by Megahedgehogx) wasn't motorised and (probably) no longer exists.

I did that with Percy once

Assuming it was a pre-2014 FP Talking Percy (dark red battery+speaker truck with coal cover), he originally has a different drive unit that's shaped more like the Thomas type (also in the Thomas and James from that range). I don't know whether a Flat drive could fit in that chassis without mods, so how did you do it with him? You probably gave him a Thomas DU like a regular Percy would have. The Flat type also needs a different gear on the driving axle, meaning the one from a Thomas drive engine may not fit.

behold, the power of cutting materials, and gear swapping!!!

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before you ask Abt swapping, I used Custom Trackmasters technique

Last May, I managed to put together a decent wooden prototype for half-sleepers with M-F connectors. Two matchsticks glued to each other were the same thickness as my two-layered zip tie sleepers, so I knew they would fit in properly. After marking the connectors, I cut out one mark on each side with the rotary tool and superglued a piece of a third matchstick at the end of the other one, reshaping it until it could fit into the hole. It resulted in a fairly good connection that wasn't too tricky to separate.



I then tried moulding the half-sleepers in hot melt glue with the aim of casting them in a better material, but the mould wasn't oiled very well and the wooden prototypes broke when released. While not pictured, I then tried another design with hole punch pellets for the connectors (which should be twice as reliable due to my aforementioned reason). It was made by cutting a plastic sheet to the size of a full sleeper, punching the holes in the middle and then cutting in half. Part of my inspiration for this came from a couple of woodworking tutorials that showed how to make this type of joint using a dowel in a specially aligned hole for the male connector. It might also be best to modify my two-layered rails at each end so they could fit next to each other to reduce gaps at the joints.

Update:



I now have my own punch for making these connectors and joints with thin materials that aren't (regular) paper. Even though it's smaller than the older punch, the holes and pellets it makes are very similar in diameter. I didn't actually show my previous tries with the technique, so I've recreated it for illustrative purposes. Like before, the only real problem is it's hard to see where the holes are being made or predict exactly where they will be, even if marking them on the piece itself before punching. Other than that, I could see it working quite well for a few other applications besides track systems.

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Another crude yet functional switch design for the transfer table. Like some of my previous tries, it used four contacts wired diagonally with a live strip touching one of them on each side. The contacts were initially going to be made of metal zip ties, only to find they wouldn't accept solder even with more flux applied. Since I no longer needed the stand that came with my first two soldering irons, I found it was also conductive and much more "willing" to accept it due to its rough texture. After cutting out all the contacts and soldering wires to them, I glued the two "strip" ones under a flat piece with only the power wires and a toothpick to hold it down. It seemed more responsive going in one direction than the other, but otherwise worked nearly as well as a proper one.

Nice!!

It seemed hot melt glue wasn't quite strong enough for making custom track using certain materials. It works great for the likes of cardboard or wood, but the sleepers break off too easily and the curves don't keep their shape well.



The majority of homemade systems I've found that aren't cardboard use superglue to attach the rails, whether they're made of PVC, sunboard or even automotive curtain tracks glued to wooden sleepers. Decided to try it out to see if it works better, and it does. One of Miniature Vehicle India's earlier techniques involved "sewing" the rails to the sleepers by making holes at the sides and threading strings through them. I was initially going to take advantage of the moulded teeth on the zip ties by drilling equally-spaced holes between them for something similar, which would've been more time-consuming and not necessary. The superglue holds the track together just fine by itself. While it can still be torn apart easily if needed, it no longer breaks unintentionally like the hot glue did.



Prior to this, I made several (unpictured) attempts at cutting out curves and getting them to meet at the ends, which were all unsuccessful due to incorrect angles even though I made them consistent in shape. After giving up, I simply traced an existing curve from the Junior Train set and found it takes six of them to make a full circle. I then reused one of the traced curves to make a new BumBin-inspired jig, since the old one was worn and not precise enough. Later tried hot-gluing rails to them similar to the OG piece, though I don't plan to use that gauge in the near future. Very oddly, using the traced curves as a guide 'still' didn't give the right angle for the (wider gauge) parts to line up and form a circle.



The wire tube connectors I used before were not the best idea, so I tried the pin method upon seeing it on DIY with Z's car curtain H0 track. A thinner zip tie was used to make the pins to ensure they won't be the same height as the rails, with the teeth facing each other to help strengthen the joints. I only put the connectors on a straight to try the design, and later attempts will (naturally) have them on every piece. To overcome potential clearance issues, I could go back to the previous two-layered rails to make the inner sides level with the inner pins. The cardboard wheelset I tried it with happened to have very broad flanges, hence why I didn't need an inner layer for this attempt.

Thought about going back to Quazar-like angled spacers for curves, but at a sharper angle than before to get a better radius. The quarter/half-circle bending method used by Abhilash and Housing Tech worked fine too, so I'll just have to find which one will work best for me.

Seeing Ghostbusters: Afterlife - a worthy sequel to the original 80s classics even if more serious in tone - led me to take a break from my concepts for zip tie track and build my only new road vehicle for this year; one that has been on my itinerary from the start, along with other famous machines like it.



My (current) rendition of the Ecto-1 was originally built for the smoothened cardboard wheels I made earlier, so I could repaint the tyres/rims white and make the silver hubcaps a bit less prominent. However, their (still rough) finish caused too much friction at the front and I only kept the rear ones so I could have them on a shorter axle behind the side panels. Unlike the previous chassis designs, which were all-cardboard save for paper roll bearings, this one has the bearings on a wooden skewer to prevent the long chassis from bending. Only the floor and bumpers are still cardboard, and additional wooden supports were made to hold up the sides.



All eight headlight and front indicator casings were made from aluminium tubes and crammed into the small space I "had" to work with. Many corners had to be superglued due to how fragile it is. A round edge from another tealight casing was glued under the headlights. Part of the front bumper was folded up to recess the licence plate. Part of why I wanted to use custom wheelsets was to make the whole thing wider than this and avoid the mistake I made with the Routemaster bus. There will likely be a second, wider version like I wanted this one to be.



Since the Ecto-1 is (of course) an emergency vehicle, I recalled having two different PCBs that allow LEDs/other lights to flash or stay solid, which I've kept for the day I might put them on a level crossing. Until now, only three locomotives and a signal have had actual lights in them. I previously dyed these blue LEDs with a blue marker in case I'd build such a vehicle and use the (exposed) lights as the lenses, which looks quite good in this scale. Both PCBs were originally from light strings powered by 2x/3x AA battery packs. The OG terminals have since been removed and replaced with wires for new ones.



Because of the electronic function, I prepared for the possibility of having to remove the roof to access the batteries and/or PCB. I marked four screw holes and drilled them out, but only ended up using two since it went wrong on the other side. What I knew for sure was the light bar would be made by soldering the anodes and cathodes to each other to form a single component. The windscreen and side/rear windows were made with my usual packing plastic technique.



And here's what I currently have yet to decide: there are several mounting options for the PCB and battery pack and they all sound good in theory, so I'm not sure which one will work best. The OG on/off switch will not be removed and should ideally be somewhere on the roof; either under the rack or between the screws. Both the board and the batteries could blend in with all the weird gadgets, though I would like to protect the board from dust, corrosion or other elements. The 3x LR44 pack could look like either a ghost trap or the white box with a fan that actually is on the roof, and the board even has a small ledge where the pack could be glued to it. Another option I have yet to explore is to mount the LR44 pack on the undercarriage and do it up as a ghost trap that could be seen through the windows.



To solder the LEDs to each other, I held them together on a skill stick (wooden sticks with notches) while ensuring their leads were on the right sides for it to work. I then glued a piece of a zip tie between them for insulation, making sure the superglue only touched the tips and not the leads or power cord. Although they flash simultaneously rather than alternating, it still looks cool and really helps bring it to life. I could also make more light bars like this in other colours like red, blue-red and orange/yellow (municipal, construction, etc.) and use JST/other connectors to make them interchangeable, or simply a white/incandescent one with removable lenses in those colours. The rear light bar will be a dummy, but the planned redesign will (probably) have both working.

Update: Demonstrations are back, although not in the same form. I've found a (not really) new GIF hosting service called Gifyu and set up an account for it after two successful test uploads without one. From this post onwards, new projects with electronic/mechanical features - but not the previous ones - will be demonstrated with linked or embedded GIFs. If I feel they might cause loading issues or slowdowns, I'll only leave links to them like I did when Gfycat existed. The only problems are "GIFs with Sound" (actually videos) are a premium feature and there are file size/bandwidth restrictions, but I could look for workarounds if needed.

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I went with the last mounting option I showed. The way I built the chassis didn't leave room to mount it upside-down for the ghost trap idea, since the middle skewer the bearings are on supports the bulk of the model. I glued, wired and soldered the LR44 pack to the PCB and punched holes in the roof to guide the wires for the light bar under it, which were then soldered to the pads that control the LEDs after improving the contacts on the pack. The light bar had to be resoldered since the wires came loose when I pulled them through the holes, and I'm currently unsure where to wire a resistor for them. My other, wider PCB has its own built-in resistor that looks to be 300 Ω. Another screw was added where the board's screw hole is to keep it down without strapping it.



To my surprise, it can actually clear the rear entry of the Take Along Sodor Engine Works - which, amusingly, very faintly resembles the GB firehouse but if the garage were side-entry - even with the added height of the battery pack. While it's too long to be parked facing the entry, it 'can' be parked facing the narrow side where the blue locking tab is. Crudely edited to remove original markings for illustrative purposes.

Finished. As I thought, the battery pack blends in well enough to look (99%) proportionate and provide decent support for the roof rack. Apart from some rotating dishes and a few other devices that should be where it is, it had room for most of the major details around it. The front antenna is a wire tie superglued into a hole so it wouldn't break off. I considered thickening the real light bar with tube pieces to match the dummy one, but (A) the effect didn't look as good since they aren't translucent enough and (B) only the tips of the LEDs fit in them and they kept falling off. I'm also unhappy with my attempts at drawing the No Ghost Sign since they all look too different, inaccurate and rushed.



The roof rack was drawn in sections and traced with the 3D pen, which was also used to make the side ladder by tracing the grid on a cutting mat. All parts were sanded to remove imperfections before painting, assembly and mounting. Saving the black and white filaments for last since my own paints tend to have nicer shades; most of the other colours look dull and don't match the ones shown on the box they came in. Likely because I traced the parts on a clear, flexible sheet, I found it easy to bend the ladder without need for a heat source.



Close ups on both sides showing the details more clearly. All that, and the screws and light switch can still be handled without breaking/warping anything. The green tube is intentionally flattened to make way for a screwdriver, and also shortened so it wouldn't block the light switch. To un/screw the PCB, the fan and T.U. antenna ("sniffer") have to be popped off to reveal the screw holding it down (though I have yet to try it because the light bar might stop working). Like the dummy light bar, the oxygen tanks are made from the same type of plastic tube, with a toothpick between them for support. A commutator from a DC motor represents the anti-collision strobe near the (fake) red light. For the small blue lights at the ends, I initially used more accurate hole punch pellets but replaced them with rings to make them less fragile. On the real unit/s made for the films, the blue tubes contained the wires for the light bars and everything else on the roof, which were powered from inside the vehicle. If I'd known their purpose when I made the chassis, they could've had the same function since I used real copper wires for them; ideally with connectors to make the battery pack removable.

Big thanks to Code 3 Garage for their super informative guide to every detail on the Ecto-1, which made this a lot easier for me to make and told me what the "weird gadgets" are for, what each one does and how to make or acquire it for models and full-sized replicas alike.