WHAT’S ON THE WORKBENCH AT THE MOMENT

Just adding details and trim to MTH 19th century cars. A boxcar and converting two flat cars into…well, flatcars. Just waiting for some detail parts….

Tom

In 2010 I replaced/upgraded every speaker in all my engines. It covered TAS, Ott, ERR, TMCC, PS1 and PS2. When I did it there was a feeling of finality to it. Well those 12 year old speakers are starting to get scratchy. So back to the future I’m starting to replace them.

Question - I have some of the extras from 2010 still that I used as the replacements. Do speakers age from use or from time?

Fun perspective in 2010 the Saints won the Super Bowl and Drew Brees was MVP. 🤣

Finished my granddaughter’s Christmas present

@randr posted:

Finished my granddaughter’s Christmas present

Sweet.

@ChiTown Steve posted:

Question - I have some of the extras from 2010 still that I used as the replacements. Do speakers age from use or from time?

Both use and time will allow them to deteriorate.  I'd start fresh for the best result with new speakers.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Both use and time will allow them to deteriorate.  I'd start fresh for the best result with new speakers.

Thanks. I’ll have to get organized for what to order etc. I’ll add it to my summer project list. 🔊🪛

Fixing Rio Grande 53 body.

It has a chipped front, missing window braces and the body is warped.  Using combination of bondo, plastic and heat gun.
Need to find:
1. (1) #4 x 1/4” body mounting screw
1. (1) End Frame 51-60

@Joe U posted:

Fixing Rio Grande 53 body.

It has a chipped front, missing window braces and the body is warped.  Using combination of bondo, plastic and heat gun.
Need to find:
1. (1) #4 x 1/4” body mounting screw
1. (1) End Frame 51-60

Pretty darn ambitious there Joe .

I don't know where I would start a project like you have going on there.     Can't wait to see how it looks on the rails.

@Krieglok posted:

Just adding details and trim to MTH 19th century cars. A boxcar and converting two flat cars into…well, flatcars. Just waiting for some detail parts….

Tom

I'm not sure you should be on this thread Tom.

Is there a Krieglok Locomotive and Car Shop thread somewhere in this forum ?   

Great to see your dedication in time and talent ................and your sharing it with all of us. 

@Dallas Joseph posted:

I'm not sure you should be on this thread Tom.

Is there a Krieglok Locomotive and Car Shop thread somewhere in this forum ?   

Great to see your dedication in time and talent ................and your sharing it with all of us. 

Thanks for the kind words, Dallas!

I am not good enough to have my own thread….lol

Tom

I always like a few of Menards industrial buildings and was looking for a place for one on my layout. I finally "bit the bullet" and purchased the Power Station.

I liked the the animated lightening bolt sign but thought the rest of the building was a bit "thread bare".

To spruce it up a bit, I added an air scrubber and a HO scale animated sign from Miller Engineering.

As fortune would have it....both the new sign and the building require 4.5vDC. It was just a matter of splicing the sign's power leads into the building's power leads. And instead of using a "AC-to-DC brick" I used an AC-to-DC buck converter board left over from another project. The board was connected to the 18vAC power that's all over the underside of the table.

BTW....I dialed in the buck converter board to 4.5vDC out before any connections were made.

I plan on adding a scaffolding deck and access ladder to the front of the HO sign to finish it out and hide the sign's plug.

Easy one this time. The rear steps on my Lionel Union Pacific E7s have bugged me since I bought them. They are short little nubs so the truck can be turned and popped off (Liondrive) and so the locomotive can go around 036 curves.

I don't care if I have to remove the steps to get the trucks off and if these AA units will go around 036 curves, so I replaced the rear steps. I used the rear steps from MTH F units with some 2mm plastic shims underneath. Looks 100% better and they just bolted on.

@Joe U posted:

Fixing Rio Grande 53 body.

It has a chipped front, missing window braces and the body is warped.  Using combination of bondo, plastic and heat gun.
Need to find:
1. (1) #4 x 1/4” body mounting screw
1. (1) End Frame 51-60

When I need a screw for my Lionel projects, I'll buy several at the hardware store and put them in gun bluing, it turns the screw dull black. 

Well, its off the workbench now, but I just finished the recreation of a post war Lionel prototype of a West Pac GP-9.

Check out how I made it here:

Egads, that's a nice model. Were the decals inkjet printed on clear paper?

@Victor Bertolina posted:

Egads, that's a nice model. Were the decals inkjet printed on clear paper?

Thanks Victor.

Yes, clear paper. I also printed the herald on white paper, for a white background, but used those on the clear to better match the prototype

@Dallas Joseph posted:

I'm not sure you should be on this thread Tom.

Me too!  🤔

Ok, I was not going to comment on the comments regarding @Krieglok 's post. His conversion work looks great. But the "not here" comments are mystifying to me.  Since the flat cars appear to have "lobster claw" couplers, the 2R or 3RS forums would not be appropriate - but the 3R traditional is.

I am just confused by the comment, just enjoyed seeing the work. I gather the comments related to which forum, confused in Michigan. 

@ScoutingDad posted:

Ok, I was not going to comment on the comments regarding @Krieglok 's post. His conversion work looks great. But the "not here" comments are mystifying to me.  Since the flat cars appear to have "lobster claw" couplers, the 2R or 3RS forums would not be appropriate - but the 3R traditional is.

I am just confused by the comment, just enjoyed seeing the work. I gather the comments related to which forum, confused in Michigan.

I'm pretty sure it was a joke.

@ScoutingDad posted:

Ok, I was not going to comment on the comments regarding @Krieglok 's post. His conversion work looks great. But the "not here" comments are mystifying to me.  Since the flat cars appear to have "lobster claw" couplers, the 2R or 3RS forums would not be appropriate - but the 3R traditional is.

I am just confused by the comment, just enjoyed seeing the work. I gather the comments related to which forum, confused in Michigan.

I understand your confusion. It’s okay. Dallas had suggested I should have my own thread, owing to the work I do, as a compliment on his part about my creations. Very kind of him to do so!

It’s kind of like excellent modelers such as HarmonYards and Others who have their own, on going threads. I am not that good, I just contribute a lot…lol.

Tom

@Krieglok posted:

I understand your confusion. It’s okay. Dallas had suggested I should have my own thread, owing to the work I do, as a compliment on his part about my creations. Very kind of him to do so!

It’s kind of like excellent modelers such as HarmonYards and Others who have their own, on going threads. I am not that good, I just contribute a lot…lol.

Tom

I wouldn't worry about it.  At all.......

I've got a 73' center beam flat car going on for conversion to two-rail. That will be #6. That leaves one MTH Auto Rack to do for now. Next step is to start unpacking rolling stock to see what I'm keeping and what I'm getting rid of.

Here’s a 3rd rail diesel getting upgraded with ERR

A bottle of microscale industries liquid decal film waiting to thaw out.

@randr posted:

A bottle of microscale industries liquid decal film waiting to thaw out.

.......?......

@Lou1985 posted:

Easy one this time. The rear steps on my Lionel Union Pacific E7s have bugged me since I bought them. They are short little nubs so the truck can be turned and popped off (Liondrive) and so the locomotive can go around 036 curves.

I don't care if I have to remove the steps to get the trucks off and if these AA units will go around 036 curves, so I replaced the rear steps. I used the rear steps from MTH F units with some 2mm plastic shims underneath. Looks 100% better and they just bolted on.

Nice!

My workbench has been busy lately:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...c/169374064469124643

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...c/169374064469330137

@Lou1985 posted:

My workbench has been busy lately:

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...c/169374064469124643

https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...c/169374064469330137

Great job on both engines Lou.

Your parts bins must be a sight to behold. Sounds like you have more parts on hand than Lionel and MTH combined.

Bob

@Lou1985 posted:

Easy one this time...............

I don't care if I have to remove the steps to get the trucks off and if these AA units will go around 036 curves, so I replaced the rear steps. I used the rear steps from MTH F units with some 2mm plastic shims underneath. Looks 100% better and they just bolted on.

Yep ........looks better. 

@RSJB18 posted:

Great job on both engines Lou.

Your parts bins must be a sight to behold. Sounds like you have more parts on hand than Lionel and MTH combined.

Bob

Only ATSF and SP scale steam parts. None of that east coast junk 😉.

Still have a K Line caboose that took a tumble of the shelf layout, a Z4000 with something blown, a Weaver CNJ RS3 that may need a drive chain, and some standard gauge 2 bay coal loads for a friend. 

Cranked out a quickie this afternoon.  I had this A-B-B-A set with three of the four having sound.  I figured it might as well be unanimous and installed the sound board in the trailing A-Unit that didn't have sound.  Now they all have sound and smoke, ready to thunder down the rails.

Currently working on a MTH RPO car. With how they have the interior done it’s more like a combo baggage/RPO. So figured that’s what im going to do with it.

Been working on a MTH PS-1 Baldwin AS-616. Upgraded the lights to 3mm white LED's, I think they look better now. I also replaced the stock 1/2 watt speaker with a 2 watt super bass speaker. Removed the PS-1 boards and replaced with a Soundtrax Tsunami2 decoder. Now it has command control with cruise and the sounds are way better in my opinion. Still dialing in some of the functions but it is running great!

PS1 vs Tsunami2

Mounting plate I made out of styrene.

LED lights

New speaker.

Tsunami2 installed

Test run

@Darrell posted:

Been working on a MTH PS-1 Baldwin AS-616. Upgraded the lights to 3mm white LED's, I think they look better now. I also replaced the stock 1/2 watt speaker with a 2 watt super bass speaker. Removed the PS-1 boards and replaced with a Soundtrax Tsunami2 decoder. Now it has command control with cruise and the sounds are way better in my opinion. Still dialing in some of the functions but it is running great!

Nice job Darrell. The DCC board is much smaller without the need for power conversion. Sounds good too.

Bob

One truck of my Menards flat car with Army Bus that I've had for a few years just fell off when my grandson lifted off the shelf. I'm trying to figure out how to fix this.  You see all the parts in the pic. The truck separated from the rivet (?) the connects the car to the truck.

This Korber Model has been on my work station for several weeks. It's almost ready to take a spot on an industrial spur on my layout. I need to add the steps, some lighting, a sign, and some weathering and it will be finished

@RSJB18 posted:

Nice job Darrell. The DCC board is much smaller without the need for power conversion. Sounds good too.

Bob

Thanks, actually easier than doing ERR since sound and control is on one board. There was enough room left I kept the smoke unit in place, if I want to use the proto couplers I have to make and install a small board to operate them. The same circuit can be used to turn on the smoke also so it is on the list of things to do. I was able to get a Digitrax 8 amp starter set for under $400 and wired it thru a DPDT switch to the layout so I can go  back to DCS/TMCC when needed. The Digitrax throttle is wireless and has 2 speed knobs, makes is really easy to run 2 trains at once and can address over 9000 locomotives! The command station only runs 100 loco's and throttles, although they do have one that runs 400 loco's and throttles. My collection is nowhere near that big so it should cover all my needs in the future.

@Darrell posted:

Been working on a MTH PS-1 Baldwin AS-616. Upgraded the lights to 3mm white LED's, I think they look better now. I also replaced the stock 1/2 watt speaker with a 2 watt super bass speaker. Removed the PS-1 boards and replaced with a Soundtrax Tsunami2 decoder. Now it has command control with cruise and the sounds are way better in my opinion. Still dialing in some of the functions but it is running great!

PS1 vs Tsunami2

Mounting plate I made out of styrene.

LED lights

New speaker.

Tsunami2 installed

Test run

Hi @Darrell;

Sometimes I'm a little slow on the uptake (and I apologize for that)...but please allow me to ask a few questions regarding your conversion.

But before I do that, let me say your conversion is super sweet! And the sounds coming from the engine are really great. Really nice job!

Okay...on to my questions.....

With your success in converting the O scale MTH PS1 to Soundtrax electronics components; am I to understand there is (or has always been?) a digital engine control system alternative to MTH DCS and Lionel TMCC/ERR?

With the demise of MTH and their complete lack of PS engine conversion kits through Parts, and Electric Rail Roads limited sound track availability on their conversion kits; do us model railroader have another avenue for either replacing dead electronics that can't be repaired or upgrading conventional engines to digital?

Also, does your converted engine require another/different controller that's different from DCS/TMCC?

This is very exciting to me because I have several engines that either need to be upgraded from PS1 or converted to Command Control.