Larry - the project is definitely still "in the works" you could say, and I've been tinkering with it a little off and on... I actually did a little testing on the bench on curved track sections to get an idea of how the reconfigured tether(s) look like they'll work. It looks like I'm going to stick with the same basic concept as the original, that is the two sets of wires on either side of the drawbar from the engine up to the common plug on the bottom of the tender. I'm going to use more flexible wire though, and also think I'll use woven mesh wrapping on them instead of heat shrink tubing. All of this combined with the fact that I'm going to have fewer wires than the original 14 will make the tether more flexible. I had to order different connectors and an appropriate crimper which I didn't have before to create the new tether. With the realization that the headlights come off as easy as they do, I'm also considering changing to the CB&Q style "cuckoo clock" lights and am on the verge of placing an order with Precision Scale to get those. Lastly I'm waiting on some new ring terminals to arrive for the electrical pickups on the tender trucks so I can rewire those with more flexible wire as well. The original wires seemed a little stiff and the trucks didn't seem to swivel as well I'd like, so I figured why not go ahead and try to improve that while I'm at all of this. Hopefully in the next couple weeks or so I'll have more progess and some pictures to share of how things are going together.
|
|
