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PROBABLY the right thing. I could have put the decoder in and called it done, but all of these extra spare parts laying around would have eventually pushed me to try it anyway! I think it's all going to work, but I still haven't put this on the track to test it yet, so the jury's still out on the intelligence.... The suspense is kinda killing me...
Found a mounting screw bracket for the hood gets in the way of sliding the hood over one of the flywheels, so that went under the cutting wheel as well tonight. I'm currently working out the mounting location for the decoder and figuring out some wire routings and doing some research on if I need a resistor in line on each of the incandescent bulbs. You know, fun DCC stuff...
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Converting brass models to DCC always seems especially interesting to follow, and especially intimidating.
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Modeling the East Broad Top as it was between 1937-1942
~Amanda
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Well, good news, bad news.
Got humpty dumpty together with my Digitrax DN136 decoder installed - chassis only. Decided to check out the function of the motor and gearing before I get too far down the road. Put the chassis on my programming track and addressed the locomotive successfully. That meant I was getting good power to the decoder.
Stuck it on the main track and was able to operate forward and reverse starting at low speed. As I was progressing through the speed range the locomotive suddenly stopped and all I got was some buzzing from the decoder. Back to the drawing board in order to figure out a "why" - I'm guessing that I may have a sneak circuit even though I believed I'd properly isolated the motor brush contacts. Maybe contact between the flywheel and chassis? I wouldn't think that would backfeed the motor, but I may be wrong. I've ordered a new decoder and will send back the old one to Digitrax.
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More info. The good people at Digitrax (who are going to send me a new decoder out of the goodness of their hearts - their warranty even covers the buyer's stupidity) say that the buzzing decoder is a sign that I did not fully isolate the motor from the track pickups. I think it's more likely that everything was good until the motor and flywheel started moving from its intial setting and I had some unwanted contact between chassis and the motor brush contacts. Regardless, lots of things to evaluate before I get a replacement decoder.
I was up at Niagara Falls late last week spending some vacation time with my wife and had a few hours there in the hotel room between 2 and 4 AM each day (my back was bothering me and I couldn't seem to get back to sleep easily up there) to think about ways to improve the motor mounting and improve the isolation.
When I got back today, I drilled out four holes to interface with the 4 motor mount holes in the can motor and ran some screws in there through the brass plate supporting the motor. It was a lot sturdier than the wrapped electrical tape option I was using previously.
There are still some tight tolerances between the flywheels and the chassis deck, and even if they won't cause an electrical issue, the potential for friction has me thinking that I should make some adjustments. I'll be looking into the best way to make those changes in the coming days.
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More clues found in the death of the decoder. I had cut down the green wire in the wiring harness for my decoder since it has no function in that decoder prior to programming. Unfortunately, that left a short length of bare wire on the cut end that I suspect carried a stray voltage during my first checkout after programming. Upon a detailed inspection of the wiring harness I found that the green wire and the orange wire (the motor brush lead on the right side) were melted together in one spot, which is probably the short that did the little beast in. Repaired said harness and made sure I had no bare spots coming through the insulation on any of the wires in the harness.
A new decoder headed home from work with me and a quick plug in, programming to the correct locomotive address and a test of the chassis.... motor works fine through the whole speed range, forward and reverse. The unit is still on the loud side - primarily due to the noise of the gear towers. Might be a little less noisy once I get the shell installed, but maybe not. I did learn a good deal about these KMT drivetrains and what is possible and what isn't.
I'll try to hook up the front and rear lights tonight or tomorrow night (a 22 Ohm resistor going on the + (common) side of each incandescent) before I move on to the painting touchups and weathering of the unit. As with most of my locomotives, this one's also going to show its age and the EL's propensity for letting things go in the 70's.
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More hurdles. Wired up the incandescent bulbs that came with the locomotive - I didn't have a stash of 3mm diameter LEDs and the old ones worked when I tested them before the conversion. Front one works great after hooking up to the decoder. Rear one didn't come on, and after a little examination, one of the wires pulled out of the bulb and it's hosed. Put in an order for LEDs and I'll convert to them when they arrive.
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Murphy seems like he is having a ball with you on this project. Even so your making progress bringing the loco back to life.
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That darn Murphy is very dependable!
It dawned on me that while the chassis and hood were separated, this was a great time to weather the locomotive.
As handsome as the original paint job was, it's way too pristine for "Rainbows in the Gorge". As usual, the first step in my weathering process is to fade all of the paint on the locomotive. Which is a good thing with this gray, because it's too dark for the Erie Lackawanna. It may take several coats to get a decent enough fade. My fade recipe is nothing but Tamiya X-21 paint mixed with some rubbing alcohol. Slap it on all surfaces, let it dry to a haze and then rub the haze off with a dry stiff-bristled paintbrush. Instant fade, and the byproduct is that with this fade coat on there, all of the washes and dry brush applications just seem to "stick" better. Once everything has been brushed off and enough layers have been applied to my satisfaction, the ugliness starts - rust, dirt, grime, oil, exhaust, diesel fuel.
My guide for prototypical weathering is Charlie's photo of this thing's running mate, 953 that appears earlier in this thread.
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Ugliness in progress....
I went round and round with this one - dry brushing, acrylic washes, Pan Pastels. After a while I decided it was too much and pulled some weathering away with water, alcohol and a stiff brush then added a little here and there... She's now a burned out ghost befitting of her final years on the planet.
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Nasty looking! Great job.
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Nice Job Todd. Here are a couple photos taken in 1976 at Brier Hill. These units worked the steel mills in the Youngstown area. They are RS3s I believe but close enough for reference.
Charlie
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Great shots, Charlie! Yep, those are RS3's and probably a bit newer than the RS2 I've acquired - the standard spotting feature is the battery box located just in front of the cab on the short hood. If they have one, it's an RS3, if they don't it's an RS1 or 2. I was definitely going for rust on the roof and an overall dirty look and some spillover on the sills of the deck. The yellow ends in your photos actually look pretty pristine, so I may take some gunk off of mine.
