Oh boy, oh boy!!! I am getting really tired of these seniors' moments!
I was trying to program one of the pusher engines tonight but nothing was working. I could get the locomotive to run if I applied power direct to the motor with the decoder removed, but when I put it on the programming track with the decoder installed it was totally dead in the water.
Here is where the seniors' part comes in. After about an hour of futtzing around, I looked down at the programming track and realized that the track wasn't plugged in!!!
Guess what happened after I plugged the track in?!? The locomotive ran just fine!!
Your condolences are greatly appreciated!
I need another drink.
Cheers!!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
tstageIt's "DCC-ready" but "has the sound decoder in it"??? I'm guessing that's not what you meant,
Hi Tom,
Yup, another seniors' moment! I'm working with two Bachmann 4-6-0s at the same time so I got my wires crossed!
Only one of the locomotives will have sound. If I am lucky, I will be able to figure out how to transfer the sound from a Youtube video of the Cumbres and Toltec rotary plow train to the sound decoder. The Cumbres and Toltec uses two pusher engines in the video so, if the gods favour me, I will be able to play the sounds of two locomotives and the rotary plow all at once from one decoder.
I have the first locomotive DCC Lokpilot partially installed but I ran into a problem trying to figure out how to get the headlight to work. Almost none of the wires on the original light board match standard DCC colours. It took me a while to sort that out. I have the track power wires and the motor wires figured out but the headlight defies me. It really won't matter if the headlight doesn't work because the locomotive will be in the middle of the train so I don't think the headlight would be on anyhow.
I initially plugged the sound decoder into the original board on the second locomotive, but I may go back and hard wire it in order to eliminate any possible complications.
I haven't done any DCC work for a while so I am a bit rusty.
hon30critterOne of the two pusher locomotives is a Bachmann 4-6-0 that was "DCC Ready" (Bachmann #52205). This is the locomotive that has the sound decoder in it. I decided to leave the original circuit board in place and just plug the Loksound V5.0 decoder into the eight pin socket.
It's "DCC-ready" but "has the sound decoder in it"??? I'm guessing that's not what you meant, Dave, since you installed a Lok 5 decoder into the board. And now I see you've removed that and will hardwire it. That's a good plan.
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
hon30critterI have read about capacitors causing problems with DCC in some locomotives. Can I leave the capacitors in place or should I remove them?
Hi folks,
The message that I got from the Electronics and DCC forum was to remove the board and wire the decoder direct, so that's what I'm going to do.
I managed to get the decoders and one speaker installed in the two pusher locomotive tenders tonight. It was rather fussy work but everything eventually fit into place.
I have a question for the DCC experts. One of the two pusher locomotives is a Bachmann 4-6-0 that was "DCC Ready" (Bachmann #52205). This is the locomotive that has the sound decoder in it. I decided to leave the original circuit board in place and just plug the Loksound V5.0 decoder into the eight pin socket. However, I noticed that there were a couple of capacitors on the original circuit board, and I have read about capacitors causing problems with DCC in some locomotives. Can I leave the capacitors in place or should I remove them?
Thanks,
Edit:
I decided to post this question on the electronics forum as well.
PruittHow many hundreds of hours do you think you have invested in the plow (so far)?
Hi Mark,
I would guess that I put about 250 hours into the plow. I think more than half of that time was spent fixing the numerous problems that I encountered like the paint issues and getting the gear box to run reasonably smoothly, to name just two. I didn't work at it every night and often I only spent a few minutes on it, so it's my own fault that it dragged on for 12 months.
Very nice, Dave!
How many hundreds of hours do you think you have invested in the plow (so far)?
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Dave,
that looks great - THX for posting the video
Guy
see stuff at: the Willoughby Line Site
Tom and John: There has to be a liquor license at the snack bar!
Here is the as promised video of the plow in operation. If you look carefully you can see the gauge light and the lantern hanging inside the plow. Pardon the shaky hands:
It gave me a bit of a scare because it started to make crunching noises but they went away. I'm pretty sure there is some debris in the gears. If it continues I will take the shell off and use a syringe with alcohol to flush them out.
I had to do some touch ups to the paint. They stand out because they haven't been Dullcoted yet.
tstage hon30critter The original plow (only one was built) was used to promote the design so I suspect that it would have been kept in pretty good condition. Canadian Pacific actually used the plow for a while (probably less than one season). The plow was scrapped after it suffered a major engine frame failure. Cheers!! Dave Tom
hon30critter The original plow (only one was built) was used to promote the design so I suspect that it would have been kept in pretty good condition. Canadian Pacific actually used the plow for a while (probably less than one season). The plow was scrapped after it suffered a major engine frame failure. Cheers!! Dave
hon30critterThe original plow (only one was built) was used to promote the design so I suspect that it would have been kept in pretty good condition. Canadian Pacific actually used the plow for a while (probably less than one season). The plow was scrapped after it suffered a major engine frame failure. Cheers!! Dave
Well, that begs the question, Dave: Why did you bother to fix all of your mechanical issues with the snow plow? It would have been prototypical to just leave them as is.
trainnut1250.Make us a video of it with the blades spinning....... Are you going to weather it??
Hi Guy,
Thank you for your kind comments and your interest in the project.
I will make a video tonight.
I'm not going to weather it. The original plow (only one was built) was used to promote the design so I suspect that it would have been kept in pretty good condition. Canadian Pacific actually used the plow for a while (probably less than one season). The plow was scrapped after it suffered a major engine frame failure.
Great job on this build. I have been lurking the whole year watching the process unfold. Very inspiring and always entertaining. This build reminds me of some of Jack Burgess' projects he has built over the years....Make us a video of it with the blades spinning....... Are you going to weather it??
Darth Santa FeThat looks awesome!
Hi Darth,
Thanks for the kind words.
Somehow I don't think it will ever see snow, either real or artificial. I just hope it will continue to run properly. I have put about 6 hours on it at speed step 12 (out of 28) and it barely makes any noise. I think what little noise there is may be coming from some bits of debris in the gears. I did flush the gears with alcohol a couple of weeks ago but there have been a few adjustments to the rotary blade enclosures since then.
That looks awesome! Will you also be putting some scale snow on the layout to really test out the plow?
_________________________________________________________________
Attuvian1Hold on, Dave! You can't conclude just yet.
Hi John,
Don't worry, I have no intensions of quitting just yet! I have a long list of things that I need to do to complete the whole rotary plow train. I have listed them a couple of times in recent posts so I won't repeat myself here, but there is still much to come!!
Hold on, Dave! You can't conclude just yet. We need another 3500+ views to get to 50,000!
What a fabulous string this has been. We are all indebted to you for the journey. I wonder if there's a model railroading equivalent to strings of tour buses starting to drive by your house or folks arriving at all hours and asking if they can come in for a personal look-see.
Attuvian John
That's awesome Dave! Congratulations!
Mike
Blade rotation problem solved.
It turned out that the roof of the shell was pressing down on the decoder which is mounted on top of one of the blade enclosures. That in turn pushed the blade enclosure down just enough to make contact with the rotary blade, thus preventing the blade from doing its thing. A little judicious work with my Dremel cured the problem. The plow has now been running for about two hours without making a sound.
All that's needed now is a little touching up of the paint and the plow will truly be finished!
I ran into what I hope is a minor glitch. After I mounted the shell on the frame, the rotary blades would not turn. I discovered that one of the blade enclosures was in contact with the top of the rotary blade. I'm going to go after that problem later tonight.
I forgot to install the weather curtains at the rear of the plow. Here is my first attempt. I think they are way too badly soiled so I'm going to try to lighten them up by drybrushing some of the beige overtop.
PM RailfanLooks great, when does it go into production? Now if we could just get about 8' of snow.
Hi Douglas,
Production can start just as soon as you buy yourself some styrene car siding and a motor!
PM RailfanWhats next Dave?
I still have a lot to do to finish the whole plow train:
- Paint the locomotive tenders;
- Set up the decoders including speed matching the two pusher locomotives and figuring out how to get the recording of the Cumbres and Toltec rotary plow train in to one of the Loksound V5 decoders;
- Finish building the auxilliary water tanker;
- Choose a suitable crew car, maintenance car and caboose and decal them appropriately.
At some point I want to install at least one loop of track on my stalled layout so I can test the plow train as well as all of the rest of my locomotives and cars.
As for what my next 'new' project will be, I haven't decided. I have a tiny HOn30 industrial tow motor which I would like to finish. I also have a 10 wheeler that I started to modify several years ago which is languishing in parts on the back of the workbench. Neither of those will be anywhere near as challenging as the rotary plow was.
Looks great, when does it go into production? Now if we could just get about 8' of snow.
Douglas
Whats next Dave?
Thanks guys!
That's a Big Wow!!!
Perseverance with a rewarding payoff. Some rather Impressive modeling right there Dave. A functional one of a kind piece of Excellence indeed
TF
gmpullman An amazing piece of art, Dave! It would be a spectacular model alone but the fact that you made it an operating and functional piece of machinery is in itself a masterful accomplishment. Bravo! Cheers, Ed
An amazing piece of art, Dave!
It would be a spectacular model alone but the fact that you made it an operating and functional piece of machinery is in itself a masterful accomplishment.
Bravo!
Cheers, Ed
For better or for worse, the plow is assembled:
I still need to add some details like the whistle cords, and I have to Dullcote the rotary blade housings, but the plow and the tender are pretty much done.
There are a few gaps here and there and one major piece of the plumbing is crooked despite numerous attempts to get it straight.
Much of the work is a bit crude if you look at it up close (like the crooked pipe), but I make no apologies. I didn't bother to add any controls in the cupola. They would probably not show anyhow. Call me lazy.
It has only taken a year! Thank you for your patience!
Plow crew in place:
Darth Santa FeYeah, that's why I've decided against using liquid windows for most of my projects. You get the clear film, but it look too unnatural on anything but very small windows or lenses.
After further consideration, I have decided to not use the window maker precisely for the reason that Darth states. I also tried cutting the window glazing out of 0.050" clear styrene a while ago, but I ran into a similar problem. The canopy cement that I used to glue the styrene in place left a buildup around the edges which didn't look natural either, and I couldn't cut the individual panes accurately enough to avoid small gaps.
There is one other option. That is to cut a single piece of glazing to cover all five windows on the front and back of the cupola, but I'm not sure that I can get it to fit close enough to the frames to look correct.
There are only a couple of other details to add to the plough in order to finish it. One is the controls for inside the cupola. I haven't a clue about what they should look like, other than a couple of whistle cords hanging from the ceiling. The other detail will be to add a crew. I have lots of WS figures to choose from.
The plow tender needs to be Dullcoted. I should have done that before gluing in the coal load but it won't be too difficult to mask the coal off.
The tenders for the pusher locomotives need paint, decals and coal loads. Then the locomotives need to be renumbered and programmed. One locomotive has a red roof. I'm not sure if I will keep that.
After that, I need to finish the auxilliary water tanker, crew car, tool car and caboose but I'm not in any hurry to do those. I want to get a loop of track laid so I will have some place to test my locomotives and rolling stock.
I may also do a summary thread so that anyone who is interested doesn't have to wade through pages and pages of glop to see the process.