Playmobil Conversion To RC

[duncana]

I have several of the motor blocks from the Express Train range, basically for kit bashing, some work fine and some were are a fix. It is usually the internal pick ups for the Battery packs, or the packs themselves, they are easily fixed by the one central screws on one end of the pack to release the reachargeable, or otherwise, batteries.

Some have holes for connecting rods and some do not on the wheels, this however seems random. I recommend buying a clunker for about £25-30 from ebay, based on pictures, and buying the little connecting rods if you do not have them already from ebay or the Playmobil site.

Also, the motors and gears, if stripped, from a donor are also readily replaceable from ebay or Playmobil themselves for a small cost.

They make a cheap, reasonably controllable RC, model at speeds comparable to an LGB unit at a fraction of the cost.

Regards, Duncan

 

[400heavy]

You're right. I was just very irritated and upset that this seemingly simple conversion has been so difficult. I wish that someone out there would make and sell these Playmobil RC conversions. I am sure that every single conversion that he makes will be sold. Thank you, Philip.

Hello

I would like to be more fluent in English but this conversation needs technical word I don't have
( And I didn't understand the issue was about RC motor, I wrongly understood it was powered track motor )

PhilP and Brian are both right
There is no reason the motor doesn't work because Playmobil made it simple way.
They are known to be robust and strong
They are a lot of things to check : starting for instance the battery block
Is it black or grey ? With rechargeable battery or disposable ? Do they have enough electricity ?
Are battery placed the right way ?

PhilP is right : battery block sometimes takes liberty in the frame, electrical contact is lost and motor stops...

400Heavy, please add pictures.
Then we will be able to help, step by step.
This motor is not so old, it must run.

In case you don't know it, take some minutes to visit this website

Home Page

This guy is very nice, sympathetic and competent
If Im' not wrong, I remember he should have page where it explains about block motor

We wait for pictures for your loco and battery block

Never throw out !
We can show you the second life you can give, and happiness time they can give

Thank you so much for all your advice. I have not had time to visit this site until today. Sorry for the delay!

Great news--I got it to work after cleaning the contacts! By the way, I have the newer battery block that you put in 4 "AA" batteries. I also have the original, re-chargeable battery box that you place into the blue recharging unit, and then you plug that blue unit into your electrical wall socket, but I have never used it.

 

[400heavy]

I have several of the motor blocks from the Express Train range, basically for kit bashing, some work fine and some were are a fix. It is usually the internal pick ups for the Battery packs, or the packs themselves, they are easily fixed by the one central screws on one end of the pack to release the reachargeable, or otherwise, batteries.

Some have holes for connecting rods and some do not on the wheels, this however seems random. I recommend buying a clunker for about £25-30 from ebay, based on pictures, and buying the little connecting rods if you do not have them already from ebay or the Playmobil site.

Also, the motors and gears, if stripped, from a donor are also readily replaceable from ebay or Playmobil themselves for a small cost.

They make a cheap, reasonably controllable RC, model at speeds comparable to an LGB unit at a fraction of the cost.

Regards, Duncan

Hi Duncan.

Thank you for your time and expertise. I agree with you wholeheartedly that Playmobil makes "a cheap, reasonably controllable RC, model at speeds comparable to an LGB unit at a fraction of the cost". I have never owned a train in my lifetime and I can truly say that I am very, very impressed with these Playmobil trains--they are wonderful!

I actually have a "Saved Search" for these RC engine blocks on eBay, but so far haven't found an inexpensive one.

Thank you again!

Regards,

Tony

 

[-bbbb]

Great news--I got it to work after cleaning the contacts! By the way, I have the newer battery block that you put in 4 "AA" batteries. I also have the original, re-chargeable battery box that you place into the blue recharging unit, and then you plug that blue unit into your electrical wall socket, but I have never used it.

I didn't doubt you'd be able to get it working. I think the non-openable battery is the old style nickel cadnium or something. They don't hold the best charge. I was thinking of getting one open somehow and replacing the cells with rechargeable nimh batteries. I know there's a capacitor in there somewhere which would need soldering , but my main concern is that I'm not sure how the blue charger would work with nimhs .. The newer open-able one is the way to go. But maybe hold onto the old one in case you get another train missing a battery.

 

[400heavy]

I agree about the newer battery box--so convenient and safer (I'm afraid to use the old one in case it has a short or something and catches on fire! LOL!)

 

[-bbbb]

I agree about the newer battery box--so convenient and safer (I'm afraid to use the old one in case it has a short or something and catches on fire! LOL!)

The older case looks better in my opinion. So if the insides can be updated with better cells, I might prefer the old one.

 

[400heavy]

Thank you so much! I really appreciate your time, knowledge and help! Everyone has been so gracious and helpful.

 

[400heavy]

Thank you John,

Walt is member within this Forum and may intervene when he has time or interesting news to share

I'm sure we will solve the issue of 400heavy

Thank you, Sir! I am really grateful to everyone who has taken the time to help me.

 

[-bbbb]

Hopefully you'll have the conversion done before Christmas.

 

[400heavy]

Another thought..
Sometimes the 'clips and bumps' which hold the battery pack in the loco can get tired. - Try squeezing the battery pack into the loco. If you get movement then, a strong rubber-band (I use a piece cut from a bike inner tube) will hold the battery pack in the loco.
Beauty of the section of inner tube, is it is black, and almost invisible in use.

Many of these 'toys' are 20-30 years old, and have probably had a number of owners? No surprise they are getting a little temperamental.

Success! It works now! Thank you, everyone, for your advice and help!

 

[400heavy]

PhilP is right again, try holding in the battery like he said. One thing you can do instead of using a rubber band to hold the battery in is to carefully bend the contacts out so they are closer to the battery. But you don't want to be bending them back and forth too much because if you bend them too much they can weaken and break; then you'd have to open it up and solder them back on. Or you can also hold the battery in tight by wedging the tip of a toothpick or something into the edge between the battery and slot, preventing it from slipping out. I don't think that those passenger car repairs were a matter of skill as I've only done a repair like that once before and the results are not entirely perfect upon close inspection. That is a kind offer 400heavy, I'm in Idaho. I think you will be more inclined to fix things yourself the more you see how things can be fixed. Don't give up too easily.

Success! It works now! Thank you -bbbb, for your advice and help!

 

[400heavy]

I've never had a 4051 but I have a couple of 4017's, and from the looks of them I would guess you can swap out the red 4017/4035 RC chasis you've mentioned in place of the one on the 4051. The 4051 has no tender.

This site might help:
4051: https://www.playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showinv.pl?setnum=4051&pics=on
Compare parts with:
4017: https://www.playmodb.org/cgi-bin/showinv.pl?setnum=4017&pics=on

There are more differences between the 4051 and the 4017/4035 than just the red chasis. The RC versions have a hole in one of the domes above the boiler for the antenna(so your RC boiler would be useful there). The rods are also different but I'm not sure if the grey ones and gold ones are swapable both ways. I think the pins that plug into the RC wheels are different from the ones that plug into the electric ones. If you use 4051 grey rods you would probably need to use 4051 pistons, and may have to figure out a way to make them fit to the RC black rods between wheels. I'm not sure if you will have to shorten the grey rods since they would be connecting at a different distance from the pistons than originally, since they would connect to the black rods instead of directly to the wheels. I might be wrong, but I think you may need the black rods on the RC engine block while I know you don't need them on the electric ones. It would be best to use RC pistons and RC gold rods connecting to the RC black rods which connect to the wheels of the RC motor block.

I've converted a 4034 to RC by using the original electric motor connected to a playmobil RC car module stuck inside the train:

Somewhere in this thread: Playmobil Ideas? - G Scale Central Xav204 converted playmobil electric trains to RC by cutting the original electric chasis to make room for the RC motor.

Hi -bbbb,

I want to apologize for this late reply. For me, I find replying to threads on this site not very user-friendly. I thought that I had already replied to you personally, but it seems that I did not. So, thank you -bbbb. Your advice is well heeded.

 

[-bbbb]

Hi -bbbb,

I want to apologize for this late reply. For me, I find replying to threads on this site not very user-friendly. I thought that I had already replied to you personally, but it seems that I did not. So, thank you -bbbb. Your advice is well heeded.

I don't think you need to reply to every single person in a thread individually. no need for apology.

 

[400heavy]

Hello
Brian have explained very well
Don't forget that you have to keep the RC black rods between wheels.

View attachment 259759

You can remove the gold rod
You need to keep the gold pin and enlarge the grey rod hole .
The picture shows that I did paint the gold pin in grey color

Grey rod is longer than gold, it needs to be shortened ( green arrow )
You have to add a hole where there is green arrow ( because the grey rod needs 2 hole and RC only have 1 as gold rod is 1 "bar" )

You need to reduce the height ( red arrow ) to avoid rod to touch the frame and make noise

View attachment 259760

Here I did paint the black rod to grey ( and add electrical wire for the light )
The RC motor is 2 wheels powered ( the powered track is 4 wheels powered )
If you remove black rod, you could have issue in curve, in reverse gear, ....

Hi Xav204 ,

Thank you for answering my question. I'm sorry that it has taken so long to answer you personally--I thought that I had already answered you, but it looks like I didn't (in my opinion, answering threads on this website is not very easy nor user-friendly!)

You did a beautiful conversion! What I thought would be a simple conversion turns out to be not that simple after all! I appreciate all your help and especially your time.

If you have another RC Conversion that you would like to sell (or even this one!), I would be very happy to purchase it! Please let me know how we could do this (I have a PayPal account that I could send you the money). I'm talking about purchasing from you the entire locomotive, not just the engine block.

Regards,

Tony

 

[400heavy]

There is one item of stock missing. the centre car for the white/blue RCE 4018. Hope to get it on shortly

Hi Walt,

Please let me know when you do get another white and blue baggage car AND ALSO the piece that connects it. I believe the baggage car came with a 'dummy' (no motor) bogie.

Regards,

Tony

 

[400heavy]

Maybe so, -bbbb, but I am just grateful and don't mind replying. Thank you again and Merry Christmas to you...all the best!

 

[playmofire]

Great news--I got it to work after cleaning the contacts! By the way, I have the newer battery block that you put in 4 "AA" batteries. I also have the original, re-chargeable battery box that you place into the blue recharging unit, and then you plug that blue unit into your electrical wall socket, but I have never used it.

That is good news, and as for the old battery box, don't bother trying to use it; the batteries in it, even if they are still capable of being recharged, had only a short life before needing recharging.

 

[Xav204]

Hello 400heavy,
We are all glad to hear that the issue is solved.
If I send you some conversion, you will never enjoy to customize by yourself.
To clean the contacts is a good start,
I remember it took a long time before I understand when I had same issue as you
I understood you have some projects and ideas and maybe issue
Do not hesitate to share your thoughts
See you soon with pictures of your train

 

[-bbbb]

Here's what one of my dirty contacts looked like:

But I got it running:

 

[400heavy]

Awesome video! Learned a lot--especially using hydrogen peroxide to clean the contacts. Thank you!