Figured I would post this as a way of documenting the recent work I did to my Con-Cor Galloping Goose model in order to convert the model from HO scale to HOn3, to change out a melted body piece, and to replace some of the incandescent bulbs responsible for the melting to LEDs.
I have had my model now since 2011 and I originally got it as Goose #5 with the Wayne Bus body and tourist configuration. Also, as I am part of an HO model railroading club, I got it in HO scale seeing as I had no HOn3 track to run it on but still loved the Goose and wanted to have one.
Years later, I now have started to collect HOn3 equipment to hopefully run on a layout of my own someday, but it just felt wrong to have a goose that wasn't also HOn3. Also, because of the heat generated in such a small cab by the incandescent bulbs, part of the cab had started to melt! So not too long ago I called Con-Cor up and asked if it were possible to order a replacement cab and HOn3 trucks to do the conversion and sure enough it was! Here are pictures to show the melted/deformed cab. It is only slight but it is enoiugh to bother me and want to correct it.
https://i.imgur.com/MrqHICk.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/jEII760.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/C4iRZON.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/3EtDfQq.jpg
After receiving the necessary parts I got to work deconstructing the model and started by replacing the HO trucks with the HOn3 ones. For the front trucks, you could simply replace the axles and wheel sets of the model to make the conversion, but for the middle truck that has power pickups and is motored needed to be replaced all together as well as the rear truck that has pickups as well. I don't believe this process involved any soldering as I believe the wires are run through little holes in the circuit board and then plastic caps hold them in place. Conversion was successful but I mixed up the positive and negative motor wires so now with the model set to "forward" it runs backwards, but I can simply fix that in the CVs. Also, the "chains" that are a plastic detail part didn't come on the new HOn3 trucks so I just transferred those over from the old to the new trucks and used a little super glue on the pins to keep them from falling off.
https://i.imgur.com/1RKn35t.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/iVpGqsh.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/N1OjaKm.jpg
Replacing the cab involved taking the front of the model apart quite a bit and replacing the bulbs with LEDs did take some soldering and glue but it worked out for me! I bought Nano pre-wired LEDs from ModelTrainSoftware.com in the warm white color that matched the original incandescent color well and looks natural for the Goose. I installed them in the similar locations to the incandescent bulbs and for the roof light I used a heat shrink tube in a similar way that was used for the bulb and I put 2 LEDs in the cavity where the incandescent sat to transmit light up thru the reflective plastic part to the hood lights. Glue held these LEDs in place and I just soldered them up to the factory board that sits in the cab and put it all back together. Pretty simple!
https://i.imgur.com/ngaNvCD.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/8lW5vrs.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/Wf6rF8S.jpg
What started as a love of Thomas the Tank Engine has grown into this... a passion for all things railroading!
YouTube: FJX2000 Productions
Insta: hayden_trains_n_fjs
Lets try something else, the photo icon.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
Hi FJX2000,
You did a great job of fixing the damage!
LED's are definitely the way to go. I was amazed that Athearn took so long to convert to LEDs. Does anybody know if Con Cor has converted?
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!