Japanese Rail Truck Model

Post #1. Card Stock version of the Japanese Rail Truck.

I found this Japanese Model Rail Truck on one of the Train Forums I belong to. I tried to find a way to order one. I wasn't able to so I asked for help and was given a few places to look. I looked all over the companies web site but could not see a way to order a kit. I did find out the Model was made for HOn30. I wanted one a bit larger.

I decided to just wing it, sort of, and make a card stock mockup first. I did a cut and paste on the photo etch picture and this is where I am with it so far. After I get a few detail parts I will scratch build another Rail Truck using the mockup as my pattern. The next one may be made out of plastic and wood.

After I got the body finished I looked through my stuff for away to power it and came up with an HO Bachmann MOW Vehicle. I removed a few parts and the Rail Truck was a perfect fit. I sat the Rail Truck on the MOW frame, put it on my test track and off it went. The scale is sort of On30.

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Post #2. Changing Wheel size from 18" to 28".

The wheels on the Bachmann MOW Car wheels measure about 18" in On30 (1/48" scale) and are really to small. I had 2 pair of some larger wheels that I thought would work better. They are 28" wheels in On30 (1/48" scale). To use the bigger wheels required several modifications to the MOW chassis.

I also had to remove the gears from the other wheel set and put them on the new wheel set.








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Post #3. Chassis Modification.

To fit the larger wheels to the chassis it was necessary to cut away some of the chassis so the top of the wheels would not rub. I first had to remove the electrical contacts Bachmann had installed. After installing the new wheel sets I checked to make sure everything still ran Ok. I used a battery for current on this test. The motor and wheels run OK.










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Post #4. New Look.

The larger wheels give the Rail truck a new look. I am going to modify the Cab and Radiator area and maybe make a few other minor changes.



You can see the difference in wheel size between the small wheels and the new larger wheels in this picture.




Left over parts.



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Ice Service Car - Radio Control Battery Car

Ice Service Car - Radio Control Battery Car

I need a few rail cars to hid my larger battery in that I use on my Radio Control w/ Batteries Engines. Many of the RC Engines are not large enough to hold the Battery so having a few "Special Purpose" cars to keep coupled behind an Engine helps.

I found a picture of a model "Ice Service Car" on a product PDF from Portland Car and Foundry. This is the picture along with the following caption:


"Ice service cars appeared on many railroads besides the GN. The NYC and smaller roads operating in New England also used them. They serviced ice refrigerator cars being loaded away from large icing platforms. Deck is constructed from 4 x4, 2 x 6 and 2 x4 structural pieces."

I had bought a few MOW car kits from Portland Car and Foundry to also use as Battery Cars and called them about the "Ice Service Car". I was told that car was not available. I took a close look at it and decided to do a Box Car Kit-Bash and make my own.

Before I got started and just by chance I found a picture of a real "Ice Service Car" although they called it a "Reefer Service Car". This Prototype was from the Canadian Pacific Railroad and was used in the West Toronto yards where they said the facilities were heavily taxed and it said that it was quicker to run the Ice Service Car alongside the refrigerator cars while still in a train and refill ice bunkers. The caption stated that old box cars were modified with large ice bins built over a reinforced roof.

This is a picture showing two of the Canadian Pacific Railroad "Reefer Service Cars".

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When I first found the picture I thought that the Box Car being used looked like a kit I had. As it turned out I had a Box Car like it but with decals for Canadian National Railroad. This style Box Car came into service with CN in 1929 and some lasted until 1980. During the early years they were painted CN's standard mineral brown with black underbody and after 1943 the the entire car was painted mineral red. I will use the mineral brown and black for mine.


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The Funaro & Camerlengo resin Box Car kit is one of several resin kits I have from them. It also became the first resin kit that I have made. This is not one of their one-piece kits. It is sort of a 5 piece kit.


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This picture shows the Box Car with the sides glued together and also glued to the frame. The Box Car roof has scale wood glued alone the edges to level the Ice Bin.


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This picture shows the Battery and RC Receiver.


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With the roof in place.


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With the Ice Bin sitting on the Box Car roof and waiting to be filled up with ice blocks. I will add side braces like you see in the picture and other details that came with the Box Car kit.


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Same as picture number 6 but from a different angle.

MDC Shay Make-Over

MDC Shay Make-Over - 30 July 2009

I really like the old (USA Made) MDC Shay Kits. I have a small bunch of them, some built and some waiting. I started a Four-Truck Shay and decided I would see how much I could up-grate the kit.

I am installing Radio Control with Battery Power and sound in all my trains. With small Locomotives like the Shay finding a place to hid everything is a real job. The motor for the MDC Shay is installed about half in the Cab and about half in the small Tender behind the Cab. This is a problem if you are trying to install DCC with sound as well as if you want to install Radio Control.

The first modification I made to my Shay was to mill out the metal in the boiler. I am going to install the motor in this new space. The new space is large enough for a new NWSL Can motor. I will turn the gear box around and connect the motor to it. This is modification will free up space in the Cab and small Tender for some of my Radio Control stuff and a good speaker for the Sound Module.

When I installed the NWSL replacement Bull Gear set-up it made a little more noise than I was happy with. I know this gear set will get quitter in time but I have thought about a modification for a O-Ring Belt Drive for some time. I made that modification this afternoon. I found a O-Ring that fits at a local Auto Parts Store. I connected the gear case and motor to my modified frame and everything works fine. When the power is full on I get a hum but when the speed is about "scale speed" for a Shay Locomotive there is about "0" noise. The only cost for this modification was about $0.50 for the O-Ring. Everything else is modified from stock MDC Shay parts. In have a couple of ideas for a slight modification to this first setup and I will be working on that over the next few weeks.

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3a. This picture shows the new arrangement of the motor. The motor is the white looking tube forward of the gear box and now inside the front of the boiler. This change will free-up space in the Cab and small tender for my Radio Control equipment and speaker.



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8. This shows the modification to the gear box to replace the gears with a belt. I have an idea for a much better system and some new parts are about to be ordered. It will still be a belt drive but one made special for trains.


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Baby Shay - Converting to Radio Control

This is from a thread I stared on 10 Oct 2008 and stopped on 27 Nov 2008.

1.Baby Shay:

Several months ago I spent some time looking at articles in back issues of the Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette about the T-Boiler Shay engines.  I wondered at the time why they never made a one cylinder version.

I happened to find the old Patent drawings for the Shay. This is one of them:



I asked at my local train store if their was a prototype for a one cylinder Shay?  The answer was that they didn't think there was.  Their collect thought was that a one cylinder version might work but it would not be very effective.  Two or three cylinder versions, however, were very effective.

Time passed and last week I was looking at the October 2008 issue of Garden Railways magazine.  I look at most of the train model magazines each month and buy a few if they have an article of interest to me. 

To my surprise I found my one cylinder Shay prototype.  A modeler named Jerry Barnes had built a "G" scale  one cylinder Shay for his "Spring Creek Railroad".  I did a internet search for the "Spring Creek Railroad" and found a very nice web site.  Jerry has a really nice "How-To" for his one cylinder Shay. 

http://thescrr.com/shay.html

I discovered also that Jerry had built several "G" scale McKeen's.  He has a brief "How-To" article in the August 1997 issue of the Garden Railroad magazine.  I had bought that issue a year or so ago when I was gathering my McKeen reference material.  Small world.

The McKeens are about 6 down on this page:

http://thescrr.com/rollingstock.html

I was able to talk to Jerry on the phone and he sent me a few more photos of his one cylinder Shay.

Now that I have a prototype for a one cylinder Shay I went to work. 

My "Baby" Shay would be built first in HO scale, one or more,  and then maybe also in HOn3.

The "Baby Shay" will be a combination "Kit-Bash" of a few parts from both MDC and Keystone Shay kits and a big dose of scratch built parts.







To figure out how to make a one cylinder steam thing I first built a two cylinder that came in a Keystone Shay kit I have.  I then took another two cylinder motor and modified it to a one cylinder.  Keystone sold these two cylinder kits and Caboose Hobbies or Walthers may still have some.  I bought 5 or 6 from Caboose Hobbies on sale.  I bought all they had. I made 3 different one cylinder Keystone versions.  They didn't stayed glued together very well. 

I didn't really like the Keystone versions.  I got out all my pictures of two cylinder Shays and found one I liked.  I made a cardboard version to get the size correct.  I started one in Styrene this afternoon.  I think I spent 40 or so hours on the Keystone versions so I hope the Styrene version goes faster. 

 

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2.
Yes, it will be a working model.  Not like Jerry's as his is a lot bigger.  The "working" part is taking a bit of imagination as this Shay is very small.

It will have a Micro-Tsunami DCC with Shay sound, a NWSL motor, one of the new 1" square Bass Reflex Speakers from Railmaster Hobbies and LED's for lights .
 
http://www.railmasterhobbies.com/Speakers.htm 

You can see the speaker in one of my pictures. The RailMaster speaker comes ready to use with a built in enclosure. They also sound great. The speaker will be built into the small oil tank on the rear of the Shay.  I am also building a small tender like piece of rolling stock for extra water and more oil to go with the "Baby Shay".

I have the power unit and speaker and the Micro-Tsunami decoder is on order at my local train store.

I hope to be working on the Shay drive system this weekend.

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3.
I am slowly making a bit of progress on the Baby Shay.  I need a bunch of detail parts and will call an order in this afternoon to Precision Scale Co (PSC).  They have all the parts I need but they are really slow to get an order together and ship.  I know it could  will be several weeks before I see my order.   I got a bunch of PSC parts from Caboose Hobbies this week but they didn't have everything I wanted.

1.  Work Bench.


2.  Making T-Boiler.


3. Making slow progress.  If you look close you can see the top of the small speaker standing up in the cab.


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4.
I added up the cost for the parts I wanted and it came to about $200. I started looking for a way to make some of the detail parts and have looked at my junk stuff to see what I can use.  I could buy 2 Backmann 3 truck Shays (less DCC) for a bit less than all the parts were going to cost.

This picture was with a flash. That was the only way I could get the bell, headlight, generator and the bracket that those things sit on to show up enough to see them. The headlight will be wired for an LED.  I am not sure a generator would or could be put on that bracket by the smoke stack.  I have to check on that.




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5
Here are a few better pictures of the top part of my Baby Shay. 
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I have been working on making the geared side of the Shay.  It took me so many hours to get it made and rolling smooth.  I almost went crazy.  Had to push back and go for a walk to think about what I was going to try next.  I about started over and built in a lot of different ways to adjust the line shaft, geared wheels, gears on the line shaft and two new supports for the line shaft.  I made most of the connectors by taping holes (making threads) and using screws with lock nuts. 
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I will start on the side frames for the other side this week.  This is the side where the wheels just roll so all I need to make are the side frames. 

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have been trying to get my Baby Shay ready for its Tsunami Micro Decoder w/sound.  I have the decoder and with a little luck it should be in and running by the end of the week.

I have been trying to finish up the under part of the chassis and adding a few details.  I still have a bunch of detail parts to add and some weathering.

My little speaker is missing and I suspect one of my cats has taken it and made a cat toy out of it.  I am still looking for it with no luck so far.

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4.  The little white box in the trailing car is the same size as the Tsunami Decoder. 


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7.

I spent the last few days working on the part that no one will see.  The under side of the chassis that holds it all together.  That part is done and I can now pick the Shay up without the wheels falling off.  I started work on the non-gear side frames and have finished them.  I added a few other wire details such as the steps up into the cab,  the ash removal thing and a wire brace, and a wire something on the front bumper thing.  Someday I may figure out the names of these parts.  I made all these parts from thin wire that came in one of my MDC Shay Kits.  I still have a little more detailing to finish and at least one change to something I am not completely happy with. 

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One of the things that I want in the follow along car is a crane.   I needed a few really small pulleys and didn't have any.  I came up with an idea for pulleys that I think is going to work just fine.  These picture are more to show the pulley on the end of the crane. The pulley is 5/32" and will turn but I don't think it needs to for this car. 

I am thinking about writing up a short "How To" for the way I made the pulleys.  I think Warren and I talked about looking for small pulleys one night in Chat.  If someone else has any ideas for making your own pulleys I would be interested in seeing how you did it.  I can make the pulleys in 7 different sizes.  The smallest is 3/32" up to 9/32".

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8.
I needed an air tank and the ones I had were either to big or to small.  I decide to get the "punch" out again and see what I could come up with.  I had a cat medicine dispenser about the right diameter for the tank size and punched 2 holes in my thin aluminum for the tank stands.  I then filed the extra material away till they were nice and thin.  Next I punched two holes in some thin sheet styrene for the tank ends.  I did a bit more filing and glued all the parts together.  Almost,  instant air tanks.

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Current pictures of my Baby Shay.  You may notice a few changes.   I came up with what I think is a better looking power cylinder.  I also will run some plumbing from and to some of the detail parts before it is done.   I have one more day to work on the details till it goes into the shop for some electrinical work.  I am not gluing the details on until all the shop work is finished.

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9.
The last 24 hours has been a "good news - bad news time.

The good news came about 1230 AM this morning when I found my speaker for the Baby Shay.  It was necessary to make an enclosure for the speaker and when I went to put it into the cab it was just a little to big.  I broke the glue bond on one side of the cab.  I had to make a couple of modifications to the cab so it would fit.  About 3 AM I was done, cleaned up and off to bed.

When I got up and went to my train store I got the bad news.  The man that does the electrical work had cut the tip of his first finger on his right hand and could not install the Tsunami decoder etc. today.   This is now put off till next week. 

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Back at it:

1 July 2009

My first Tsunami sound DCC Decoder go lost. About a month ago I asked my local train store to order me another. For what ever the reasons the decoder has been very slow coming. The first one took over two months.

I have been working a lot the last week or so installing Radio Control with sound in several different locomotives. Last night about bed time I decided I would try a test install of RC w/Sound in my Baby Shay. This afternoon I got it all together and using one of the small Team Lois 7.4 volt batteries put it all on my test loop. The battery tested out at about 7.3 volts at the beginning of my test runs.

Everything worked. I was a bit surprised when the sound came on. I had tried this smaller battery before with the sound module and could not get it to work. Now it was working fine.

What you see in the pictures is everything used for RC sort of tied up and looks sort of a mess. This test was just to see if everything worked and the Baby Shay OK on the All-Trol RC System.

Runs fine, sounds great.

I ran the Shay for about 30 minutes. The sound started acting up so I checked the battery and it was down a lot. I put in a fully charged battery and played a bit longer and then took these pictures.

1. My workbench looks like a big mess. I call this Radio Control Central. If you look close you can see 4 or 5 engines in different states of completion in the process of installing RC to them.
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2. The next two pictures show a close up of the Baby Shay with all the RC stuff stacked on it or taped to it.




3. This picture is the Baby Shay running on my test loop.



Tonight I will work on the "follow along" car and see what it will take to make it big enough to hold the Receiver, Sound Module and one of my big 11.1 Eflight batteries.

I want to get it looking a bit more finished so I can take it to my HO Club Thursday night for fun run. The "follow along" car will look like some kind of MOW car.