From LGB tram to Aussie Scrubber Car

[tramcar trev]

Yes its here, I bought it for a song, you know the one; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0odXnKhKBxQ  notice the chap says “let her go Motorman” not Driver, steam trams had drivers (or engineers in the USA) so what are horse tram “drivers” called, first to give me the CORRECT AUSTRALIAN answer can have a prize…. Cable car drivers are Grip men or Grip women…

Anyway the first problem to surface was how to get it apart, easy as it turns out (yes I sought help and an American told me) squeeze the clerestory ends slightly and that pops out and the roof (on mine) fell off. Then I discovered that the Bow collector was too short so the staff at the LVS&ET Workshops skillfully lengthened it. Of course had they checked first they would have discovered that the bow collector interferes with the ornate traction poles in Memory Lane and also fouls the span wires on the curves so it will have to be replaced with a trolley pole, not to worry this will deEuropeanise the car even more. I’ll have an extended spring bow collector to sell off as well.

So looking at it now the Chlorodont signs have gone, the err ahh “fire bell” on the roof will go other bits and pieces will disappear the interior will be stripped, the windows will become solid panels, the clerestory windows will be glazed, the “roof racks” (for want of a better description) will go, the side frames will be modified, brass handrails will be added…

Of course there will be major electrical works undertaken. Radio control will be installed and the  spring loaded skates that are now between the wheels will become the platform for the vibrating pads. I won’t be using the vibrators out of the toothbrush; I discovered these little vibrators as used in mobile phones; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/151233063535?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649ED directional LED lighting will replace the existing incandescent and led mix and an overall total repaint will complete the illusion

 

[KandNWLR]

Great conversion. Looking forward to seeing the finished result. I´ve got a weakness for (steam) trams too ....

 

[tramcar trev]

Found a blue box and labeled it “PROJECT” into which all the bits will go during the conversion. Hopefully none of the small screws will get lost…
I found some screws underneath the body which released the couplers, into the box with them… Another pair of screws let the motor block slide out.

When I got serious about this the second thing I noticed was that the door lock on the controller is exactly the same as the lock on my letterbox, clever these Germans copying good Aussie locks…..

After a bit of poking and unscrewing I managed to get the motor block apart and cleaned out all of the old grease and accumulated muck. Wires were then soldered onto the pins on the end of the motor that will run to the center pins of the reversing switch. To ensure no short circuits can take place I slid short lengths of heat shrink over the brass tabs that normally would connect to the motor.

You can tell this is a quality West German piece of kit; the motor case is Bakelite and provides an excellent bearing surface for the axles. Behind each wheel there is a carbon “wiper” that collects the current from the wheels, these will now provide the ground contact but I have left it all so that if it ever needs to be changed back to 2 rail it can be done with relative ease. It was with much joy and rapture that I found that the motor seems to run very nicely at 6.5V which is slow enough to allow the car to do its scrubbing thing in a single pass.

The skates were also given a clean and without any modification will allow a 3mm slice of abrasive rubber to be glued to the underside. The vibratory elements will lie nicely on their sides on top of the skate part. I can also put stronger (or weaker) springs in if the existing ones don’t do the job. There is more than enough play to allow the vibrations to take place without (hopefully) transferring to the motor block.

Another interesting discovery I made is that there is a real live jumper box on each end of the car I’ll have to source a jumper cable (if anyone has one surplus to requirements...); this would then allow me to provide power to the “Maintenance Trailer” that this car will tow around with great enthusiasm. It will need a tail light and maybe a work light on the tower.

The body stripped down easily now I have the gist of how it was designed, it has massive die-cast lead weights under the seats, and at 600gm total they will give lots of tractive weight also good when you are trying to clean the track.

The roof was really Australiacised (yes it’s in the dictionary) with the removal of the “roof racks” and the resistance boxes, I spose the Germans have to put their resistances up there to keep them out of the snow… There are a few holes to fill and a couple of strange black X’s to come off yet, then I think I’ll do the “Canvas” thing on the roof to add a bit of character. There will be a sign on the roof each end “NO PASSENGERS”


What colour to paint it?

 

[Neil Robinson]

Another interesting discovery I made is that there is a real live jumper box on each end of the car I’ll have to source a jumper cable (if anyone has one surplus to requirements...); this would then allow me to provide power to the “Maintenance Trailer” that this car will tow around with great enthusiasm.

I'm pretty sure I can help there and also the type of connections used from the style of split motor block.
A photo of the jumper box would help confirm my suspicions.

 

[tramcar trev]

Thanks Neil... the jumperbox is in the second bottom pic above. Because I'm converting to led lighting I wont need the PCB but what I am tring to find is the LGB ( or equivalent ) lead that plugs into the 2 brass "eyelets" that go through to the front of the panel. I'll use the polarity of the LEDs to sort out the directional head/tail lights, If I connect the in parallel A to K when the polarity changes either 1 or t'other will glow.... The trailer would have its taillight wired the same...
I think these are maybe what I am looking for but I only need 4.....
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/LGB-WIRE-TERMINALS-50-PCS-L50131-/111097161888?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item19dde828a0&_uhb=1

Alternatley I could simply replace one eyelet with a 1.5mm mono socket and make up a jumper lead....

 

[dutchelm]

The LGB plugs are great big plastic things. Not prototypical. Any 2mm plug will fit. I have used some with the tops removed.
Better still put a small bolt through the hole and permanently fix a jumper on with a small crimp or solder lug.

 

[sparky230]

Trev do you know how much postage from uk to you is I' Have loads of lgb plugs removed from coaches as i use mini battery plugs to interlink my lights

 

[dutchelm]

 

[tramcar trev]

Thanks for those ideas Guys. I think I will use a pair of 2mm round head screws with the leads held on by 2mm crimp on terminals running to a 2 pin "micro" plug with a mating plug on the trailer. I used a very similar style on my Steam Tram and trailer and you know how it is, you pull something apart and find a feature you just have to use.... I`m going to use my own design coupler i.e. socket and tongue made from 2 lengths of rectangular brass tube that slide into each other, drill a hole and drop a pin thru.... If I keep my jumpers the same the trailers will become interchangeable.

This is how I did it there...

​

 

[tramcar trev]

I have been busy with the painting and settled on a colour “botanical green’ which is a deep yet flamboyant green that looks green and not black. It will go very well with any brass details. I had to fill some sink marks on the floor moulding. Sink marks are caused in injection moulded plastics where the thickness of a surface changes from thin to thick resulting in high internal stresses when the part cools. I filled them with some Plasti Bond and sanded it flush.

The roof has been canvassed, as in covered not questioned. I did this on the Steam Tram as those of you who have been paying attention will recall. To recap; to do the job I cut the “canvas” (actually cotton voile –it looks just like G scale canvas - $9/metre at Lincraft or Spotlight) oversize about 12’’mm all around. Set it aside while I filled a small pump pack with Acetone, and then lay the canvas on the plastic surface. Next spray the acetone over it and then gently smooth the canvas down with fingertips or a stiffish brush. I found the acetone dried too quickly so I mixed up some 50 - 50 with GP thinners and this gives a better working time. The solvent melts the plastic and grabs the canvas. I let that dry for a few minutes then nicked the corners with a sharp scalpel so I could do “hospital folds” at the corners... The dampened plastic gets very tacky and so holds the voile in place. When dry, using a new scalpel blade, (it has to be razor sharp otherwise you end up with furry bits hanging off) trim off the excess. Any bits that stick to places where you don’t want it can be either pulled off or sanded off using 240 grit paper. For precise placement of the solvent you can apply it with a small brush and pretend your working with fibreglass and resin, this worked well where I had to stretch the Voile at the ends and around protrusions, let it dry for a few hours the spray with a “coffee” coloured paint and a couple of coats of artists matte varnish…


I needed some glazing for the clerestory windows. The only thing I had at hand was some coloured CD cases with a nice textured finish I really would have likes a deep red or blue but they don`t come in those colours it’s a sickly pink or washed out blue so I settled on some amber. It looks good with light shining through it and like the real thing it’s stippled, very close to the old fashioned “Spotswood” pattern which you all would have had in your double hung sash windows in your childhood bathroom.

The trolley pole bush has been made to the new improved version. I used to just have a flat face for the pole base to sit on but discovered that it only needed two bits of muck to get under it and it would not conduct. The one I made for this project will eventually replace all the other flat ones, the relieved area allows dirt to accumulate but not force the parts apart while the pole base runs happily on the ridge… Trolley hooks have yet to be made and fitted…

I also made up 2 headlight reflectors from brass. A simple job on the lathe and I got the dished shape by running a countersink into the end then with the cordless Dremel and a coarse bullet shaped rubber abrasive bit dished it out while the lathe was running at a moderate speed. A final polish with fine steel wool and Brasso and the job was done. They look nice and will give an old world “golden glow” from the headlights 5mm warm white leds at 15mA…


The vibrators turned up today (in plain packaging). Wow they are tiny. The smaller 3.7V black ones have more “Oomph” than the larger 1.3V ones…. I shall experiment further before I actually fit them.  I still feel they will need to be fitted vertically so they will have the action of an orbital sander. To think the inspiration for this was a vibrating toothbrush…..

 

[tramcar trev]

The directional head/tail lights are sorted; using LED’s its easy. I joined mine cathode to anode i.e. + to -. I wanted a less than intense glare from them so I use this “led resistor calculator” when I need to calculate a suitable resistance;  http://www.hebeiltd.com.cn/?p=zz.led.resistor.calculator  First I used my little LED Tester to see how many mA I wanted to run though the leds then with that I can input the supply voltage, then the voltage the led works at and the current and that then gives me the value of the resistor I needed, in this case 2.7K Ohms. So simple even I can do it.

The internal lights have been fitted, 2 warm white leds in series with a 2.2K Ohm resistor to give a weak glow. The only light that is hopefully seen will be from the doors at each end and the clerestory windows….

Trolley hooks have been fitted after much consideration as to the placement I decided to put the hooks on the roof rather than the clerestory.

The really really exciting news is that I have the scrubbing block system working. As you can see in the pictures the vibrator or OMD (Oscillatory Motion Device) is held in a small cylinder. The O ring is to provide a “grip” on the OMD the small ring is a very light push fit, it acts as both a depth retainer and a heat sink, these tend to get quite hot, I’m not sure whether they are rated for constant use or not….They are removable and easily replaced if they burn out and they wont break the bank at AU$4.80 a pair, though I’d hate to think what these cost if the one in your phone needs replacing. It tried it out using a small button cell and it does work well. Needed some tweaking the retaining screw had to be loosened so that the thing can run in about a .5mm circular motion. The spring pressure is also important, if there is too much pressure on the scrubbing block then not much happens as there is little rotary motion, it’s the rotary motion does the cleaning not the downward pressure.  I will not be using this vibrator though, its 1.3V; I have some similar sized ones on order that are 4.7V which can be powered by the same 5V supply that runs the sound, yes even scrubber cars have gongs. It even sounds realistic from my vague recollections; Let me set the scene, its night, Easter 1968, I, in the company of some of my old cronies are driving a tram from Quarry Hill to Eaglehawk came over the crest of a hill and heard the most unpleasant screeching sound, just ahead was the dim glimmer of the taillights of the Scrubber Car, the motorman was having a wonderful time trying to clean up the tracks anyway we followed till California Gully Loop and the scrubber shunted back into the loop for us to pass. The reason for all the noise was the fact that the rails had over time sunk much lower than the asphalt; this was the cause of a few derailments especially of the Birney cars where the gear casings lifted the wheels off the track when they skidded along the asphalt.

Here is a video of a scrubber car cleaning the tracks, though it would have been quicker to get the concrete skim off the rails with a bucket of dilute Hydrochloric acid and a scrubbing brush; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMT4w2yfuYg and here is a video of the same scrubber car demonstrating why you have to have a “good nerves” to drive a 4 wheel tram at speed on wonky track; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeph2u2zZ8w

I have also made the decals for this car. Red & White safety stripes for the bumpers, NO PASSENGERS signs and some of the new LVS&ET crests which will encircle the car number rampant with a semicircular banner upon which the title of the tramway is emblazoned. Printed in deep gold which should contrast well with the car liveries. Does the design look familiar? It should…especially if you know your Antique Aussie trams. I have found that DIY Decal paper is “patchy’ especially the generic product out of China. The paper sold here is good; http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/5-INKJET-CLEAR-Water-Slide-Decal-PAPER-A4-Sheets-Craft-Transfer-Printable-Glossy-/360695805026?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item53fb253462&_uhb=1  Still a bit of manual tweaking of your printer needed, I crank the intensity up to around 75% and contrast up to 100% to get non transparent image. Has a very long shelf life and good adhesion. All I have to do now is apply the decals and finish the painting, and then final assembly can take place.

 

[tramcar trev]

Just an addendum re the DIY decal paper. Keep it stored in the package it comes in between the pieces of blank acid free paper. I had a half sheet I had left out and when I tried to print on it the ink sort of pooled/blistered and did not take to the surface. Used a sheet out of the opened package and it printed out perfectly. I can only assume that the glossy surface that is printed on may be easily contaminated.... Before printing decals ( or anything important) do a full self clean of the rollers and inkjets. The occasional printhead head alignment is a good idea especially if you are chasing fine detail...Mine is a Canon MG5350 but due to the original inks being very ordinary opacity wise (especially when printing decals on a clear background) I sourced non genuine inks and refillable cartridges and that does a far better job.

 

[maxi-model]

Can't wait to see the finished article Trev. Some lovely work you are doing there. Some interesting tips too. With regards to your celestory glazing have you thought of airbrushing with one of Tamiya's translucent paints ? I assume they are still made. They did red, blue, yellow, green and orange. They might attack styrene though, at least the Humbrol stuff did.
Max.

 

[tramcar trev]

Tamiya still make transparent paint for polycarbonate so it may attack styrene.

There are water based transparent paints for pseudo stained glass available, I have red green and yellow on the shelf but did not think to use it... Of course I could have made "lead light decals" that I have done in the past and they work well.... But a Scrubber car with leadlight glazing to the clerestory?? I would have had to enforce rule 8 then..... It is common though in vintage rail carriages and some early trams. It is a really nifty use for decals. As for the tips, I pass on what I know or discover, I get asked so many times "how did you do that" I rather inform 1 and bore 100 than not say anything.... Knowledge is useless unless you share it.