Revised Post May 11, 2012 My new GS-4

I have revised this post with corrections and updated material.

After many years of wanting a good running GS-4 I finally have one.  I have had to put up with Bachmann GS-4s for over 20 years until now.  Bachmann shells have superb detail but their mechanical side leaves a lot to be desired.

The early Bachmanns were terrible, I sold four of them on E-Bay for parts leaving me with 4 Plus Series.  The Plus Series are a bit better, the motor in a plus is very good.  The driver wheels are only slightly better than the old version.  I have replaced the driver wheels at least once in each one.  I finally sent one of my Plus Series Daylights to Bachmann to repair and they returned a Spectrum Series which has been very good so far, they charged me $35 for the repair which I think is a real bargain for what I received.

I have regressed, back to my subject of my newest GS-4 War Baby.  

Recently I bought two Bowser Mechanisms for Bachmann 4-8-4s on E-Bay and they're Great.

This post is about the construction of one of the kits, it converts a Bachmann 4-8-4 to a reliable great running locomotive using a Bowser Mechanism.  This particular Kit is actually a Bowser Mechanism #205 for a Bachmann Niagara not a #204 for the GS-4, however it is easily adapted to the Southern Pacific version GS-4.

This project took a bit of adlibbing to adapt the older Bowser Kit (late 60s) with a newer Bachmann locomotive (late 90s) but that's what Model Railroading is all about.

I got carried away and didn't take any pictures of the Kit before I started putting it together so the insert below is from the Bowser instructions showing a parts blowup of the frame with part numbers.

As you can see the Bower instructions are very good.  I e-mailed Bowser about parts availability and they still have every thing in stock but the driver wheels.  I placed an order through needtrains.com and Terry got me some spare parts.  The wheels are tapped for 0-80 screws which are pretty common so I put some of the screws on the order.  Bowser also has the Pittman DC-70/71 brush holder insulators in stock (#22206) that isolate the motor from the frame so I ordered several for my older MDC locomotives also.

The picture below is the Bowser frame and driver wheels assembled and running.

 
The Bowser frame needed a bit of work removing the casting spru.  It is very basic, top and bottom frame with four driver wheels held together with 2-56 screws. 

I missed one important piece of information in the Bowser instructions, it said "Do not run upside down".  The reason is that the valve gear will drop down and bind the driver wheels.  If I had permanently mounted everything it would have broken the Bachmann cylinder assembly.  "If all else fails, follow the instructions".

The picture above shows the Bachmann shell with an added 8 ounces of lead weight. The half pound Lee weight has been cut in half for even weight distribution, 4 ounces above the first driver and 4 ounces over the rear driver. I glued the weights in place with GOOP, my favorite glue. With the added weight the new engine weighs the same as the original Bachmann GS-4.




The newer Bachmann parts don't fit the older Bowser Kit so I made my own adapter parts.  It required a ½" x 12" x .032" brass strip.  I measured the distance between the Bowser frame to the rear mount on the shell as well as from the front of the frame to the mounting bracket behind the pilot.  I used a short piece of 3/16" brass tubing as a stand off between the brass frame extension and the shell.  A 2-56 screw goes through the frame/tubing to the shell to hold it in place.





The picture above shows the Bachmann Spectrum rear truck in place.

The picture below shows the DC-71 motor in place, the DC-71 motor is very powerful and has low current drain.



 
I cut the wires and soldered a two pin Polarized connector to them so that the frame can be easily removed for maintenance.
 
 
The picture above shows the Bachmann Cylinder assembly installed and the picture below shows the brass strip frame extension and pilot wheel mounting.
 
The picture below shows the wiring going to the various lights with resistors and diodes for the LEDs.
 
The marker lights are 1mm 1½ volt micro lamps and they require a voltage dropping device so I used one of my regulators.  The regulator supplies 1¼ volts for the micro lamps as well as 5 volts for the number board LEDs. 
 
The regulator fit perfectly between the rear weight and firebox on the shell, I used Goop to glue it to the firebox. 

I illuminated the marker lights myself by drilling out the existing Bachmann dummy's with a 1.5mm drill using the bit in a pin vice.
 
I also drilled three 3/32" holes in the number boards then elongated them with my X-Acto knife.  When the rectangular hole was the correct size I made a white styrene cover plate to glue the engine number to.  The white .02" styrene worked great as a defuser for the LEDs.
 
The number boards look good even without the LEDs on.
 
The front looks real good with the lights on.
 
The number boards look great with the LEDs on too.
 
I just love lighting up my HO trains and accessories.
 
This shows the DCC connector mounted below the cab out of sight.
 
I also love my Alps Printer because I can make my own decals on the fly as needed.  I printed the 4430 decals on my Alps.
 
The pictures above and below show the mods to the Bachmann Tender for lighting and DCC decoder.
In case you can't tell this tender will get a Digitrax SDH164 decoder with sound, the big hole is for the speaker.  I installed the decoder the tender and checked it out, everything works very good as planed.


I had to work at programming the decoder, I had problems getting the decoder to except some of the changes.  The problem was CV29 needed to be set for both 2 & 4 digit addressing plus analog mode.
 
 

The engine is finished and the decoder works Great! 

The Video below is my Bowser Mechanism running 

Click on the button to watch my 15 second video

 

As I stated above I now have a good running GS-4 that the wheels won't fall off.  These Bowser parts are made in the good old USA. Too bad that Bachmann didn't put some research into their plastic axle insulators.  That is a major problem with all locomotives manufactured in China . . . . the plastic cracks and the wheels either fall off or slip on the axles.
 
I will add a video of my new treasure running on my layout after I get it cleaned up and back in operation, I've been working on the wiring interface to my Control Panel.  Cutting over to DCC from an older DC block operation can be very time consuming.
 

February 9, 2012 Farewell Tribute

As mentioned in an earlier post I made a decision to downsize my locomotive inventory.  In downsizing one of my locomotives that is going away is my Bowser Union Pacific Big Boy.  I purchased in kit from in 1963 from Bowser.  Bowser didn't make a tender for the Big Boy, they supplied a Monogram Plastic Kit Big Boy.  It was a non powered static kit for display only.  As I remember it sold for about $6 at hobby shops in the mid 60s.  Bowser supplied a power conversion kit for the Monogram tender for their Big Boy to supply power to the motor.  More on that later.

Before I could let this monster go I had to give it one last trip on my layout.  The picture above shows it returning from the mountains.  It glides along the code 83 track without any problems, my sharpest radius on my Mainline is 28" and it looks really good running along at a scale 30 MPH.

The beast won't negotiate a #4 turnout without derailing, my entire yard has #4 turnouts.  So because the Big Boy was specific to the Union Pacific and because I'm an SP guy and also because of my 13 #4 turnouts I picked it to go on the first batch.  I will miss it very much but I really need to thin out my locomotive inventory.

This beautiful locomotive sat in a display case in a window of my office for over 20 years, it was a great conversation piece, when anyone would visit me my Big Boy would always be one of the topics of discussion.

On this last run it really brought tears to my eyes knowing it was going away.  For almost 50 years it has been a big part of my model railroading.  I never thought about the possibility of getting rid of any of my trains, next to my family it's been my life.  When I listed my Big Boy on E-Bay on February 8th it was a real empty feeling.

This is truly a great locomotive, it's heavy and very powerful!  It will pull over 100 cars on level track, I took it down to the local club one evening in the early 90s and it towed every car that they had.

After I cleaned it up and did a bit of paint touch up it looks as good as it did in 1963.

The Picture below shows the Bowser power pickup kit on the bottom of the Monogram Tender.

I think that I will run it a bit more before I mail it off to it's new home, this has been kinda tough.

December 21, 2011 My Y6b Conversion to a SP MC-1#4002

I purchased three Rivarossi Y6Bs over a period of time on E-Bay about 5 years ago with the intent of Kitbashing them into Southern Pacific locomotives.  The Southern Pacific never owned a Y6B, they had a total of 63 Baldwin built AM, MC & MM series 2-8-8-2s.   I converted two of the Rivarossi Y6Bs to AC-3 Cab Forwards earlier and the last one to a fairly close version of an MC-1 this fall.  I screwed up by not checking all three very closely before I started.  

When I started in on the third one I was caught off guard, when I looked at it closely there was some bad heat damage to the shell.  Had I seen it before I did the two AC-3s I could have used the heat deformed shell for an AC-3 and the heat damage would have been covered up in the conversion process.  I tried to repair the heat damage unsuccessfully, both the boiler/cab and the bottom are badly warped.  Because the shell is too far gone to be repaired I watched E-Bay for a Y6B shell and I finally got one.  

So now on with my conversion from a Y6B to a SP MC-1.

This is a nude picture of my Y6B frame/chassis without it's shell.

The Y6B frame/chassis is in exceptionally good condition and it is a very good runner.  It's a later model as it uses the driver wheels to pick up power from both rails.  I used a chip bridge rectifier to power up the white LED headlight so that it isn't directional and a 1N914 diode for the tender LED backup light so that it is directional.  

I replaced the Rivarossi motor with a Canon EN-22 can motor, the Canon draws much less current than the original motor and has twice as much power.  I'm not going to install a DCC decoder at this time.

The new shell arrived and I have installed the chassis in the bottom half of the shell.

I have completed the top shell by removing a lot of the Y6B details that aren't used on the MC-1.  I installed the 1½ volt incandescent Cal-Scale marker lights and applied the decals. The marker lights are powered from a diode shunt in series with the motor. 

The headlight is a 2mm white LED powered from a chip bridge diode so that the headlight remains on in both forward & reverse.

I covered the engine cab and number decals with Testors Clear Gloss then covered the entire engine with two coats of Testors Dull Coat.  That process eliminates the decal backing from being seen. 

This engine is good looking and a great runner.  The Canon motor has plenty of power and it creeps extremely good.

For any requests about this post please send them to

melsmodelrailroad@gmail.com

Mel

DCC Tender Modifications

Tender modifications are need to complete the Cab Forward for DCC operation also.  I bought most of my Rivarossi articulated locomotives off E-Bay and most of them needed a lot of cosmetic attention as well as mechanical.

I purchased a Casting Kit from Micro-Mark and made molds for the Rivarossi details for future use down the road. Very few of the locomotives had whistles and few tenders had all four steps and grab rails.  I made grab rails from .02" steel rod stock that I bought from Maximum Hobby.

The picture below is a Rivarossi Oil Tender with my DCC mods.  I added an extra weight and glued the weights to the sides of the shell instead of the floor.  The floor space is reserved for a speaker.  I mounted the NMRA DCC connector on a 5/8" diameter styrene tube for easy access.
  


The DCC decoder is attached to the top of the tender shell with double sided tape. 

I made the DCC pigtail 4" long so that it would be long enough for easy connection to the locomotive.  I cut a 5/8" x 5/16" hole for the wires to pass through the front end of the tender to the locomotive.  I started with a smaller hole but the wires would hang up and cause derails.  The larger hole makes for an easier install too, the connector will pass through the larger hole. The wiring harness can be made in advanced then simply installed in one piece instead of soldering on a plug and having to hassle with the shell too.
 

I mounted all of my DCC connectors on my locomotives with the red wire terminal on the lower right and put a dob of red paint on the connectors for easy identification.

This tender had both rear steps missing, those steps are castings that I made with my casting kit.  The Rivarossi tender trucks are not the best trucks in the world by far so I replaced them with Bowser 35107 Buckeye trucks with metal frames and brass wheels.  DCC requires good uninterrupted power and the Rivarossi trucks leave a lot to be desired.

For any requests about this post please send them to

melsmodelrailroad@gmail.com

Mel

November 5, 2011 Rivarossi Cab Forward Wobble

I found a fix to stop the "Rivarossi Wobble" in their Cab Forwards.  The problem is enhanced because of the wear at the rivet that holds the yoke mounting bracket on the lead driver assembly.



I began by breaking the flange off the rivet with a small screwdriver between the yoke and frame.  Next I removed the remaining rivet flange with a small flat metal file.  Then I drilled a #60 pilot hole using the hole in the rivet as a pilot.  I then used a #48 bit to enlarge the hole to 1.95mm so that it would pass the 2mm screw.



The picture below shows the rivet with the 2mm screw in place.

When tightening the screw make sure that the yoke will move freely.  Use some #2 Blue Threadlock on the threads to prevent the nut from coming loose.

Next I pressed a 3mm washer on the shaft of the mounting screw of the rear driver assembly to give the screw more surface area to stabilize the driver frame and eliminate any slop there too.  Again use the #2 Blue Threadlock to prevent it from becoming loose.

Make sure that the driver frame moves freely without side to side movement.

The wobble is caused by the slop in the driver rods on the wheels but the above modifications stop the engine side to side movement.  The dual Canon EN-22 motors help a lot too, probably because the driver assemblies are no longer synced with the drive shaft and allows some freedom between the driver wheels.

October 11, 2011 My MDC Shays

I decided to work on my MDC Shays while I'm in the recovery mode.  I have 3 MDC Three Truck Shays and 1 Two Truck Shay, I assembled one of the Three Trucks about 15 years ago.  It runs but that's about it.  I need to overhaul the drive lines to reduce friction.

I bought the MDC Shay Handbook after I assembled my Shay and the author does a very good job of pointing out places that need special attention.  I opened a second kit and followed the author's instructions and it came out very good.  It will creep at just over 1 volt @ less than 100 ma.  If you are going to assemble a MDC Shay the Handbook is a MUST for proper operation.






I plan to add DCC to all 4 of my MDC Shays, there is enough room in the third truck for a speaker so three of them will have sound.  There is absolutely no room for a speaker in the Two Truck Shay.

The Digitrax DH123 decoder will fit with a bit of a modification to the water tender as shown below.

The picture above shows the Two Truck Shay above and the Three Truck below.  Both have the old Pittman open frame motor.  The stall current is a bit under 1.5 amps, full load is just under 1 amp.

The picture above shows the Digitrax decoder, it has a bump under the text "ax" that requires a cutout in the top of the tender.

The picture above shows the decoder on place with the oil tank cover in place, the third truck tender supplies the water.  The Three Truck Shay is a long haul locomotive, the Two Truck Shay is for moving logs at the cutting site.