Parts list
Athearn Trains Genesis FP7 Black Widow (out of stock)
SoundTraxx No. 828040 AT 1000 Tsunami decoder
Miniatronics No. 12-310-05 Yeloglo white LED
Tony’s Train Exchange No. HB 110 QSI speaker/enclosure
Miscellaneous ¹/₁₆″ Dia. optical fiber Brass tubing: ⁵/₃₂″, ³/₁₆″, ⁷/₃₂″ and ¹/₄″ dia.
There is room at the rear of the chassis for a speaker. Mark the casting and use a cutoff wheel to make the cuts. Two FP7’s are waiting at Bakersfield on the La Mesa Club’s layout in San Diego (below). The 6446 has two air horns, while the 6458 has blank number boards.
The next task is to make room for a speaker at the rear of the chassis. (My model did not come with sound.) I used a QSI HB 110SB “High Bass” speaker, as it has good bass response and comes enclosed in a tight air box for the baf- fle. Using a cutoff wheel, cut the chas- sis as shown in the photo, also remov- ing the nubs at the rear so the speaker will sit down low enough, practically touching the gearbox.
Headlight housings
Twist out the upper headlight hous- ing from inside the body using a pair of needle nose pliers, then push the bulb out from the front and ream out the opening from the back with a ¹/₈″ drill bit. Finally, glue the upper headlight housing back in place, making sure it is fully seated in the body casting.
On the lower headlight housing, first pry out the clear cover from the lower housing (dual sealed beam light) so you can access the front of the bulbs. Set the lens aside to install later. Care- fully push the bulbs out from the front and tease out the silicone on the back. Ream out the two openings with a ¹/₁₆″ drill to later fit a ¹/₁₆″ piece of fiber optic “light pipe.” Now get out the soldering iron and pieces of ⁵/₃₂″, ³/₁₆″, ⁷/₃₂″ and ¹/₄″ brass tubing. Don’t cut them yet. Nest the four pieces together, flush on one end except leaving the ¹/₄″ piece extending about ¹/₃₂″ beyond the others. (This will allow it to surround the back of the dual sealed beam housing for a firm joint.) Solder all four pieces of tubing together.
Using a razor saw or cutoff wheel,
cut the assembly to an overall length of ⁵/₁₆″ and clean up the ends. Finally, file one side flat so it will clear the chassis when the body is seated. Take this as- sembly and glue it inside the body us- ing cyanoacrylate or epoxy behind the lower headlight opening with the flat side down. (See the photo on page 66.) You are not done yet. You need to in- stall short pieces of ¹/₁₆″ fiber optic ca- ble to carry the light from the LED. File the end of a piece of ¹/₁₆″ fiber flat and polish it with very fine sandpaper. With the heat from a soldering iron, mushroom the end very slightly, then score the fiber ³/₃₂″ from the end and snap it off. Again, polish the end. Do this twice and test fit each in the dual sealed beam housing. Push an LED into the housing from the rear to assure that it clears the back of the fibers. When the fit is right, “glue” the fiber optic “light pipes” in place with Microscale Kristal Klear and then re- install the clear headlight lens.
BILL SCHAUMBURG
RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
65
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