Plymouth 001
Now then, heres a little project I "finished" a while ago. Its an Accucraft Plymouth I bought a few years back. The (UK) vendor seemed extremely pleased to get rid of it because it is not a British loco. But, as I do like a little bit of American, it came home with me. It has sat waiting patiently for me to do something with it and last Summer, it was its turn for some treatment.
As I am "on the batteries" some of my stock has solid axles, this obviously precludes the Plymouths use via a rail bourne supply. I dismantled it to reveal a Pitman motor the size of a small wardrobe under the bonnet. This motor requires at least 12 volts to give it any sort of performance. I tried, but was unable to fit a useful battery under the bonnet (I did consider opaquing the windows and stuffing the batteries in the cab, but thought it would look a bit naff.), so I had to use a battery car (This is one of my first purchases in G/F scale, a Bachmann bobber caboose, that I fitted a pair of those bogies that are off one of those short box cars that they used to make, you know, with the moulded in ladders.). I use NiMh batteries as I have not yet plucked up the courage to use LiPo, but this might be a modification later. I dont like battery cars, so we will see.
The Bluetooth (Oh Yes. Very 21st cen!) Radio Control is from a company called Monocasy Trains. I chose this system because it is valid up to 20 volts and, as I have installed 14.4v in the battery car and didnt want to risk a Deltang going bang on me. It was also cheap off Flea Bay. The R/C unit is in the locomotive not the battery car. This is so I can take advantage of the various different lighting arrangements within the Monocasy. I have little idea about American lighting configurations, the loco was rewired to the R/C board as per the instructions. The flick shows both ends flashing, ideal for a shunting yard! The sound comes from the phone, but its the wrong sound, it sounds like some 1950s EMD job, but again, I am not sure and frankly, I dont care, it all looks OK to me.
To SWMBOs slight annoyance however, it will not work on my vintage "smart" phone because the Software on the phone is too old. It does work on hers though. And her tablet. Since taking the film (which I note Yochube has destroyed, quality wise), I have painted the cab roof black in an attempt to calm the yellow down a bit. So thats it really. If anyone has an idea of how to get 12v+ in to one of these I would love to hear from you.
Now then, heres a little project I "finished" a while ago. Its an Accucraft Plymouth I bought a few years back. The (UK) vendor seemed extremely pleased to get rid of it because it is not a British loco. But, as I do like a little bit of American, it came home with me. It has sat waiting patiently for me to do something with it and last Summer, it was its turn for some treatment.
As I am "on the batteries" some of my stock has solid axles, this obviously precludes the Plymouths use via a rail bourne supply. I dismantled it to reveal a Pitman motor the size of a small wardrobe under the bonnet. This motor requires at least 12 volts to give it any sort of performance. I tried, but was unable to fit a useful battery under the bonnet (I did consider opaquing the windows and stuffing the batteries in the cab, but thought it would look a bit naff.), so I had to use a battery car (This is one of my first purchases in G/F scale, a Bachmann bobber caboose, that I fitted a pair of those bogies that are off one of those short box cars that they used to make, you know, with the moulded in ladders.). I use NiMh batteries as I have not yet plucked up the courage to use LiPo, but this might be a modification later. I dont like battery cars, so we will see.
The Bluetooth (Oh Yes. Very 21st cen!) Radio Control is from a company called Monocasy Trains. I chose this system because it is valid up to 20 volts and, as I have installed 14.4v in the battery car and didnt want to risk a Deltang going bang on me. It was also cheap off Flea Bay. The R/C unit is in the locomotive not the battery car. This is so I can take advantage of the various different lighting arrangements within the Monocasy. I have little idea about American lighting configurations, the loco was rewired to the R/C board as per the instructions. The flick shows both ends flashing, ideal for a shunting yard! The sound comes from the phone, but its the wrong sound, it sounds like some 1950s EMD job, but again, I am not sure and frankly, I dont care, it all looks OK to me.
To SWMBOs slight annoyance however, it will not work on my vintage "smart" phone because the Software on the phone is too old. It does work on hers though. And her tablet. Since taking the film (which I note Yochube has destroyed, quality wise), I have painted the cab roof black in an attempt to calm the yellow down a bit. So thats it really. If anyone has an idea of how to get 12v+ in to one of these I would love to hear from you.
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