Big Blue has inspired some purchases

[jim currie]

just a hint for toning down Led's is scuff them with 400 to 600 grit sandpaper.
Jim

[TMo]

Wow! Never would have thought of that, but great tip Jim.

In this case I wanted the center headlights to be nice and bright, but I wanted the number boards to be legible rather than washed out.

[jim currie]

when i do headlights, t don't sand the front lens just the sides also sanding the sides gives some tooth for paint to hold on to which I often paint with silver.

[TMo]

Back for one more try with the brass Erie Lackawanna RS2... (pages 5 through 7 on this thread). After doing a little correspondence with Charlie, I got up a bit of gumption to try to install a DCC decoder that will last more than a minute or so while running on the layout. Put in another order for a Digitrax DN136 early this morning. Once I get it I'll be doing some additional work to further isolate the motor pickups from any potential contact with the shell and frame and doing a lot of resistance checks along the way. I've sorta fallen for some of this 70's Japanese brass and figure it's a good challenge that is worth trying.

[jim currie]

fixed one brass for boy so he could run it dcc that I did was to silicone a can motor to frame making sure of the aliment then letting silicone set up making sure of no frame contact.
Jim

[TMo]

Good tip, Jim. When I tear her apart again I'm going to look at the points of contact on the underside brushes as well.

[jim currie]

on the frame contact i coated the contact points with liquid tape.
Jim