I'll post some info on this HO doodlebug, which I acquired knowing it would need fixing because of a cracked gear. I called NWSL and discovered my options were to change the gears, buy a front, powered Stanton drive or buy the kit with dual Stanton trucks (rear unpowered) and the front hardware (spacers, etc). I bought the kit and followed the instructions and the following prior thread on the drive conversion:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/217394.aspx
Like Garry, I did not bother to replace the rear truck since the Bachmann truck included soldered wire pickups. With the front self contained drive truck, the original motor and flywheel are removed, which left tons of room for speaker enclosure and decoder. I chose to use twin 13x18mm sugarcubes, facing out the bottom of the frame after drilling some holes in the frame to let the sound out. The enclosure is fairly large (why not?). The decoder atop is a LokSound Select 6Aux. A V4 would have offerred more sound file options (e.g., Euro diesel rail cars) but I had a Select on hand and chose not to add nearly $50 more to the project for the V4. I installed a Baldwin VO-6 old diesel sound file, which suits me fine for now. I have a couple of related photos, prior to soldering the wiring:
On getting running, I turned the master sound volume CV63 down to 40 (from 170) for a start. Running on defaults was a problem for the particular motor drive. It would slow to a near stop, then lurch to a full stop when dialed down or reversed at speed. But running the auto BEMF procedure described in the Select manual solved that problem. It's not as smooth running as some of my diesels but satisfactory. Tweaking CV2 and the BEMF CVs further did not provide further improvement. Here's a video demo:
Paul
Modeling HO with a transition era UP bent
Hi Paul.
That's nicely done. I've always wanted a Doodlebug but haven't bit the bullet yet.
Maybe some run in time will smooth the drive out a bit more. I also suggest considering investing in some Nano Oil. In my experience what it can do is pretty amazing, especially on new drives.
http://nano-oil.com/
You only really need the 10 wt. and the 85 wt.
Please read the next post.
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
hon30critter I also suggest considering investing in some Nano Oil. In my experience what it can do is pretty amazing, especially on new drives.
WARNING!
Nano Oil may destroy plastics. Please read this:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/261415.aspx