LocoWorks - RC diesel - ready for the running season...

 A neater 2 x PP3 in series to give  maximum of 18v for the Diesel battery power

The new 'battery pack' into place in the loco.....

reassembled and ready to run....

A quick trial run on the garage layout

Loco kit (2)...a chassis...

The loco kit I acquired recently was for an 0-6-0 tender loco, however it needed a chassis. I had a look in the spares box to see what I had, there was an 0-4-0 chassis and a spare 'pony truck'.  So possibly an 0-4-2 for the loco instead....

A google search for a suitable 0-4-2 loco came up with this as a possible option..

I'll think about it for a while..😀

LocoWorks - RC diesel - rechargable batteries

Working on my RC diesel,  changing over to re-chargeable PP3 batteries.

Sound Card Power

The old PP3 for the sound card was held in with high tack sticky pads, I had to lever it out...

to keep the new battery in place I made up a simple battery holder.....

it fits over the battery and holds in nicely in place.....job done.

Motor Power

The loco is underpowered with one PP3, so I need 'more power'; I lashed up two in series to give me up to 18v - the loco now accelerates quicker and I have got more speed too. 

Now I need to make a neater scheme up to fit inside the loco

Loco kit...

 I bought a old un-made GRS tender loco kit off Ebay ... the plan is to make this up to be battery operated with radio control. I have to source an 0-6-0 chassis for it...

a peak in side the box......lots of bits !

Signalling Department wagon

 I've made up a Signalling Department wagon, using some spare bits and an old LGB wagon.

WagonWorks - Bogey Good Stock finished...

Its nice when projects are finished, the trio of bogey Lynton & Barnstaple style stock now ready for service..

The existing rolling stock shelves are nearly full,  room for a couple of smaller wagons; or possiblly add another shelf ?

Garage Layout - Refurbishing the Signals

 In from the garage, the signals (these are manually operated).  They needed a bit of TLC, so in for repairs and a new coat of paint..

looking good with the signal posts in white....

Back out on the garage layout...

WagonWorks - starting on the new arrivals...

The Brake van gets new under frame detail and bogie wheel sets...

repair to the guards ducket started....

The goods van gets new bogie wheel sets...

The wagon works job sheet for the two wagons....

WagonWorks - Bogey Flat Car ....

 The last build was a kit of a Lynton & Barnstaple  (L&B) bogey goods open, also the L&B had a couple of bogey flat cars, see bottom drawing in the diagram below.

Reference drawing from 'A Portrait of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway' by Chris Leigh  (p91).

I'm going to convert an LGB bogey flat car, shown below...

As I wanted the spacing of the 'uprights' as per the prototype; a bit of cutting and filing was done to the sides and the ends...

The side under frame gets a cosmetic surface of thin plasticard ..........

The 'uprights' now in their new positions.......

Added the holders for the uprights....

added suitable ends ....

bogie wheel sets added with suitable couplings and a visit to the paint shop, all done....

I'll add some transfers for the load in tons and tare weight later.

More for the Wagon Works....

After finding a nice book on the Lynton & Barnstaple railway with a list of wagon types with drawings;  I suffered an attack of wagon-itis 😃 and bought a couple more bogey wagons from Ebay....

New running gear needed and some small repairs and paint work tidy also to do.

Making up a battery pack...

 My Playmobil based RC locos, use a 4 x AA battery pack.  I have a proper one, but thought it would be good to have a spare one with another set of batteries in it; so if the batteries run down during an operating session I can put the spare in and carry on..

I used a standard 4 x AA battery holder fwhich its into the loco as needed with the +/- contacts pressing against the loco ones. To stop it falling out some small spacers 'dots' are fitted; to remove it a small self adhesive wall hook is fixed to the other end. I have to paint the hook black.

RC Diesel (4) - Finally done...

I couldn't get the lights to work at all with the new speed controller; the wiring setup for it was not compatible with what was in situ and also one of the two light LEDs was faulty. So I opted to forego having working lighting (I know when I'm beaten 😭).

So on with finishing off....I repainted and varnished the loco body, then replaced the faulty on/off slider switch..

In the loco I made a couple of cradles to hold the speed controller and receiver, now everything is relatively neat and tidy....

Re-assembled and ready for its first run-test...

Engineering inspection first....

Running with the sound on...

I am so pleased to get to the finishing point of getting the new RC electronics working and the loco running 😀

Definitely a good learning project about how to put battery RC stuff in a loco.

I'm sure I'll do a few tweaks, perhaps a little bit more battery power for running to get a bit more speed and pulling power.

RC Diesel (3) - the new control stuff...

The new receiver, speed controller and control handset have arrived... 

From a quick look the receiver and speed controller appears to be a drop in replacement, after studying the manuals provided I'm ready to plug and pray....

---oXo---

Before starting I exercised some self-discipline and finished tidying up the wiring for the rear and front lights.

The new receiver and controller plugged in, paired with the handset and nothing happened 😡

Back to fault finding mode... receiver and controller with power feed direct from a battery - transmitter paired and LEDs flashed ! so a wiring gremlin in the loco somewhere.

Connected the loco motor 's power feed into speed controller.. hoorah its alive ! 

Connected up everything as it should be, a bit of wire wiggling on the front switches - no effect; jiggled the right front switch and the LEDs on the receiver and controller started flashing. Hoorah it works - all down to a dodgy two way slider switch. This time I put the loco on a 'rolling road setup' for some tests

That damn switch....

So I'll have to replace the switch.  Hopefully I can find one to match.

Impressions of the new RC Fosworks electronics - really easy to setup; I like the nice flashing LEDs so you can see it is connected and working, well worth the cost (and I can get replacements if needed).

RC Diesel (2)... checking things out....

 More tinkering with the recently arrived RC diesel...

I removed the receiver and speed controller so I could label up key wires and check connectivity

I managed to check the lights worked properly, with some flying leads on a PP3 battery.

Finally located some information on the sound card, it is an Acme Multi-Cylinder Diesel sound card (out of production since 2019) - it just has a looped sound with volume adjust but no link input from the loco speed. The sound card works OK as per the info I have.

Next I used up some spare plasticard to provide a holder for the sound card and a simple holder for the battery pack.

 

The Tranmitter Controller, Receiver and Speed Controller are all at least 5+ years old and at least one of them is not working plus they are no longer available. I think it would be a good idea to buy new ones, which also gives me access to support if needed - so I need to identify and order replacements.