TRAINLINE MALLET mods to a Green Trainline Mallet.

[dunnyrail]

I got this beastie from Glendale this Wednesday from Glendal who got one in for me. I have to say that it is a a Superb Machine, better in fact than the Black one though very similar. I am most impressed with the Zimo Sound Chip, the sound being so much crisper and true to the Prototype than the Massoth Chip on the Black one, not that that is bad. The  Smoke Unit is great too, having some kind of Pumping action. I am not so sure if this is only on the Green one as I have never tried it out on the Black one except when it was being demonstrated to me when I got it. Running is prefect with Slow crawl easily achieved and a typical Steam overrun. This engine has to be Driven. It even has a Bump Up when the Coupling Clank is enacted, perfect for well Uncoupling. I did a quick trawl round the net to find English Chip Instructions:-

http://www.zimo.at/web2010/documents/MX695-Eng-V1-07-20-11.pdf

As is usual for me I just could not keep my hands off it. My chosen era for the Locomotive is dated to my first visit to the line in February 1981. Yes there was a Green one back in the Dark days of the old East Germany. In fact there were two 995903-2 and NWE11 present that day, though only 5903 was running together with the Black one 995902-4 and 996001-4 the 2-6-2. So the Green one completes my stud of running Locomotives that day. However just my luck the Current Locomotives appear to have the Colour revised and 5902 is currently Green (2011). The Trainline ones (Black and Green) also represent the Locomotives as they are today and perversely the colour Schemes are exactly the reverse of how they were in 1981. Thus there are a few jobs to do for me on both of my Mallets, including Number Swops.

For reference I have been using my own pictures taken in 1981 (wish I had known that I would be modifying a Trainline one back then, more pics of detail would have been taken!) plus the Dirk Endisch Book on the Harz Mallets and his Two Tome Bible of the Harz Lines. For easy access to these Picture when working, I have taken Pictures of the relevant Pictures and loaded them onto the iPad. This being ideal for reference when on the workbench. I frequently do this when carrying out projects.

So I have created a job list as follows:-
1 Renumbering to 995903-2 4 Points plus Works Number wrong also, HSB to be DR on Cabsides.
2 Rebuild Coal Bunker to replicate fall plate on Boiler and reduce the Height of the main bin. This was also Metal at my period.
3 Rehash High Piping on both sides.
4 Water Warning Transfer
5 Lettering at bottom of Side Tank (? Both sides)
6 Weathering
7 Fire Irons including Shovel on Left Tanks.
8 Piping Run Front Left ? Vac Pipe.
9 Pump Assembly below Cab on Left Side
10 Vac Pipes incorrectly placed at Rear of Locomotive.
11 Small Box with Pipes on front of Cab
12 Bell Dinger Rod points to side, should be facing forwards.
12a Remove Buffer Hook
14 coal Load in Bunker
15 Fix Tank Foot Steps (keep falling off)
16 Driving Crew
This may appear a daunting list of things to do to a Brand New Locomotive, however please be aware they are not a criticism of the beast, just my list of Jobs to back date her.

Thus far I have done Jobs 1, 12 and 12a (I never use the next number in lists for obvious reasons) with some of Job 6 carried out too, plus a start made on Job 3. No doubt as I carry out the work this list will be added to.

First 3 Pics show Loco as bought, wrong Works Number and Raised Lettering to be removed.







Next shows raised Numbering removed and replacement Sticky Paper Printout. I did this with a Flat Ended Craft Knife and some Wet and Dry wrapped round a Coffee Stirrer.

Not quite the correct Number Font, but it will do for now. Can always remove and reprint it I get the correct Font.



The next two pictures show the New Plates as applied and a start on the Weathering Process.





Final pic shows the new Printed Plates that have been applied.



Ignore the small picture it has somehow got Duplicated.

JonD

 

[stockers]

Excellent work. I too need to do a couple of mods on the green Mallet, although nothing to the extent you are going to.
The type face used by DR is DIN1451. free downloads are available from google. I have heard that Postscript type 1 is the same but have never verified this.

 

[stockers]

 

[PaulRhB]

Thanks both of you, most useful

 

[viaEstrecha]

What a super review and such a splendid loco too - a tantalising insight into the Premier League end of the hobby for the likes of me, who can only ever do the window shopping and dream!

 

[Zerogee]

Oh dear, JonD, my wallet kind of wishes you hadn't posted this!

GREAT post, by the way, and I'll really look forward to following the work - but I'd spent a few months humming-and-hahing about whether my black Mallet NEEDED its green stablemate or not, and your post finally tipped me over the edge....
Order just placed with Modell-Land for one of the Zimo-chipped ones! :

I probably won't have either the nerve or the time to do all the mods that you planning on yours - but it will at least get some nice crew in the cab, some chequer-plate surface on the steps, and maybe just a few other little touches.

Thanks again for the great inspiration!

Jon.

 

[Zerogee]

Oh, and in my defence, I didn't get anything G-related for Christmas, so this is my belated present to myself.....

I did however get quite a few railway-related books, mostly chosen by me before the day but paid for by the Memsahib, including a number of lovely second-hand books on the Harz, Saxon, Rugen and other German lines from the now-excellent stock down at The Treasure Chest in Felixstowe.... I'll have to post some details/reviews of them soon if there is any interest?

Jon.

 

[stockers]

I would be interested in the German railway books Jon - any in English?
As for the green Mallet - it needs a bit of coal in the tank top bunker and that's about it unless your going down JonD's route. Oh, and fix the tank side steps.

 

[Zerogee]

I would be interested in the German railway books Jon - any in English?
.......

All in German, with one exception - a lovely little photo book on the Harz network which looks like a visitor souvenir type book, and has both German AND English text.
For the rest, just lots of lovely pictures to look at....

If I can find the chance in the next few days, I'll take some photos and dfo a quick review. Do note, however, that they were all secondhand and many may be long out of print, so it may be a case of trying to track copies down through Amazon or Abe if anybody wants to get them.

Jon.

 

[mike]

a great review, and build/mod log.. very intersting..

 

[Zerogee]

Talking of the green Mallet, Mike, how is yours going since P&S repaired it? Is yours a Zimo decoder or a Massoth?

Jon.

 

[mike]

its fine john, ive lost a brass tap off one side.. but otherwise it good,.. its a massoth babby.. was anolog

 

[Zerogee]

its fine john, ive lost a brass tap off one side.. but otherwise it good,.. its a massoth babby.. was anolog

Yeah, I'm a bit worried about the fragility of those taps myself....

Glad it's running well now; my black version has only got a couple of hours' track time on it so far, plus maybe another hour on the test rollers - so far (touch virtual wood) it's behaving itself, hoping it continues to do so - it's a factory Massoth version, some of which have apparently given TL45 more than a few headaches!
I'm hoping the Zimo-chipped green one will be better, JonD's review certainly makes it sound very good.

Jon.

 

[stockers]

My green one did about 5 hours today

 

[Zerogee]

Nice, Alan!

Did your green one come with a little bag of "real" coal for the bunker, like the black ones did? Of course it's a bit pointless putting it in loose, because as soon as you tip the loco for any reason it all falls out! Must get round to making a little block of wood to fit the bottom of the bunker, liberally covering it in PVA and sticking some of the coal to the top of it.....

Jon.

 

[stockers]

No it didn't, but i think I can manage to find some!

 

[Zerogee]

No it didn't, but i think I can manage to find some!

Haha, yes I reckon so! You didn't miss much, the lumps are quite overscale anyway and need crushing down a bit to look right.
The LGB/Aster Wurttemburg Mallets come with a nice little block with (I think) real coal stuck to the top, ready to drop into the bunker - just need to make something similar for the TL Mallets!

Jon.

 

[dunnyrail]

Thanks for your comments, glad I am causing inspiration and even a bit of Wallet Bending! As some of you appearing to be doing some Coal I will explain what I have done to get it right. Both of my Mallets came with a Bag of Coal. Looking at the real thing in East German days it was not much better than Dusty Slack. So whilst in the Bag I gave it a good hammering. Then I tipped the resultant Coal from the Bag into a Box for the next stage. As I am into Bonzai I have a set of small sifters, there are 3 grades all quite small. The smallest in fact is about Flour Sifter Size. So my set of 3 gives me 4 sizes of coal when sieved. There will be a good mix of probably the smallest 2 sizes used in the Modified bin when sieved. I already also have a good supply of pre sieved Coal.
JonD

 

[stockers]

I just had to go and check the box - but no coal!

 

[dunnyrail]

Since  my last post I have been beavering away with bits of Brass Wire, Copper Tube, Coal, Paint, Heads and a little bit of cussing. The Left Hand Side (Looking out of the Cab Window) has mostly been the target of my toils. It is surprising how many changes have occurred to these beasties over the Years. Even within a Ten or so Timeframe of my chosen 1981. So the changes will end up being a bit of a mish mash based upon that Epoc. Inevitably the more you look at pictures, the more work comes to mind.

Job17 New Job added and Completed.
Remove Tool Box on Left Hand side, Fill resultant Screw Hole and remove Holding Pips. This has been done, a small piece of Plasticard with some embossed Rivets hides the hole. The clean up of the Moulding Pips will be disguised by some Black Paint.

There may still be more Jobs to be added to the original list.

As has been mentioned in a reply (many thanks for reminding me) I needed to use Font Din 1451. So I have reprinted my Numbers and applied them.

Job4 Completed.
Whilst I was at the above I looked for the Water Warning Transfer . I have to say that I was desparing of finding a suitable colour one to rip off from my Picture Sources, then I decided to look at my Locomotives. Lo and behold one of my Harz 2-10-2`s is adorned with them so a quick pic, trim to size and shape in the computer. Install it to my Cad Drawing Package and there it was to size and scale. Printed out and stuck on it looks the part. The first 2 Pics shows my Water Warning Sign  as well as the rehashed lettering. There are other bits that I needed prints of on this sheet. I tend to do them when in Printing mode to save on the Sticky Paper.





Job 3 and 11 Part Completed
Next was to start on the rehashed Pipe Runs (Left Hand Side). The next Picture shows some of the fabrications under way.  These are simply made up by using bits of Striped Mains Cable, 2mm Square Tube and 2mm Brass Tube. The middle one is the Pipe Runs for the Cab Front (Job 11). The flattened Copper Wire is used as Tabs, soldered to the Thin Pipe Runs to then Superglue them in place.



Job 2 and 14 Completed.
Next up was to refit the Coal Bin after I had filled the bottom with junk so that less coal would be required. This can be seen in the next picture before the Coal was added. This was glued in place with PVA let down 50/50 with Water and a little Washing Up Liquid. Oh I also did some filler in the Screw Holes before screwing the Bin in Place, just in case of Drips into the Electrics.



Job 16
The Driving Crew have been started on, do not ask me their make. I have been collecting and robbing Loco Crew of various locomotives for some time now and mash them up to various new Loco Projects. The guy on the left has had a Head Transplant (painful!) using a spare head from a Pola or Piko Kit. Both are in the process of a Repaint at the moment. They will be held in place with Superglue and the Pin that has been implanted within their Feet. The pin will go through a small hole drilled into the Cab Floor, thus ensuring that they do not make a bid for freedom.




The final 4 pics show the effect of placing the new wiring, coaling up and removal of the Tool Box. This was the look at close of play Today.









The last Picture has two sets of Numbers on the Cab, this shows the difference between the Original and the Din 1451 lettering. For me the Din is a bit on the Short side, but there is nothing that I can do about that sadly.

JonD