Time to improve the electrical contact on that Mantua slope back tender. I'm going to go cheap and use a pair of Athearn (post 2000 vintage) trucks and wheels I cannibalized. (I know they don't look proto, but...). The wheels are metal to allow me to install wipers but the axles and the truck itself appear to be acetal plastic (Delrin). Now, I want to install a piece of flat copper on the truck to which I will solder Tichy phosphor bronze wire to act as wipers on the wheel backs, then run electrical wire thru a hole in the metal frame base up to a brass screw set into the frame as the wiring connection. A couple of questions:
Should I stick with a tiny screw into the truck to hold the copper piece or is there some alternative adhesive that will fix the copper piece to the plastic truck?
Is there any coating on stock Athearn wheels I should be aware of (to be removed from the wheel backsides) because these wheels are colored a dark bronze and I have read that some wheels are electrically nonconductive until a coating is removed. My only experience with wheel electrification is with Intermountain wheels, which don't have a color coating.
Better to find this stuff out now before I proceed further.
Cedarwoodron
If you're careful you can apply a little heat to the bronze wire to "set" it into the plastic bolster. Then give it a dab of sticky glue like GOO to help secure it, then bend them toward the wheel backs before you replace the wheels.
Or,
Try bending up some Kadee #5 centering springs. I've seen them used in pairs and the truck screw can pass through the large bolster hole already provided.
There was a thread here showing how to do it from 2009 but Photobucket and dead links make it worthless.
Here's a more recent link that might help, Mike Lehman has a good method:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/t/257387.aspx
From there, read Mel's link from that thread.
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/256973.aspx
I've never had any problems with electrical continuity through the blackening. Eventually the blackening wears off, especially the wheel tread. You just have to clean gunk off the pickup wipers every now-and-then.
Good Luck, Ed
Go to the horse's mouth:
http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/1879/bachmann_4-4-0/sound/
Shows how to improve the electrics on a truly dreadful loco.
That is the most popular model railroading article on my website.
Thank you if you visit
Harold