Modeling business cars for the C&O and Pere Marquette Bridge rectifier
To the short lead on the LED
then installed the side, rear and front windows, the “light pipe” for the rear beacon, and the left and right power pickup plates (bus bars).
2200 Ohm resistor
I test fitted the body to the frame, soldered the LED leads to the correct track power leads and then insulated the solder joints with shrink wrap. While holding the left and right power pickup plates in place, I carefully pushed the excess wire from the drum- head into an inconspicuous space at the rear of the car and snapped the body to the frame. All that was left was to place a porter on the observation platform of the C&O car and the bride and groom to the observation platform of the Pere Marquette car. In addition to my home layout, the cars operate on the modular HO scale Four County Society of Model Engineers (FCSME) at the Great Scale Train Shows in Timonium, Maryland, and other events. See the website at
FCSME.org for information.
Bill of Materials
Kato U.S.A. No. 35-6008 B&O Budd business cars (2) No. 7-501 Passenger car lighting kit w/bulb No. 7-502 Passenger car lighting kit w/LEDs
Power for the drumheads is taken from the pickup strips in the frame. The circuit consists of a resistor. rectifier and color-coded wiring hidden under the car. Everything was soldered in place, working upside-down. Electrical tape was placed on each weight to prevent a short.
the bottom for wiring. I used it on one drumhead. On the other I drilled a new hole in the rear of the casting. In both cases I inserted the drumhead and wire leads from the exterior of the ob- servation platform and glued the cast- ing in place with cyanoacrylate ce- ment. The red and white wires go to the track power and were soldered to the correct LED leads later when the body was re-united with the frame. It is important to keep track of the long and short leads from the LED. The long lead from the LED goes to the white wire, then to the 2,200-ohm re- sistor, and then to the positive (+) side of the bridge rectifier. The other side of the rectifier is connected to the track power on one side of the car. The short lead on the LED goes to the red wire, then to the negative (-) side of the bridge rectifier. The other side of the rectifier is connected to the track power on the opposite side of the car. To ensure good electrical contact, I ran the resistor and rectifier wires from the copper pickup strips in the frame to the Tomar drumhead. Be- cause the weights and the interior sec-
56
tion sit directly on top of the copper pickup strips, I soldered the connec- tions at the workbench upside down, then turned them over to install them in an open cavity under the interior section. I added electrical tape to the end of each weight to guard against a short. I then ran the wires from the frame up through the interior section and around the existing light, towards the observation platform. To complete the drumhead, I press fitted the diffuser (a piece of white plastic) into the casting and glued the drumhead logo to the drumhead cast- ing with three tiny drops of cyanoacry- late cement, making sure the logo was level when installed on the car.
Final assembly I installed the trucks and couplers to make sure they were working properly, then I filed two small openings under the rear door to the observation plat- form for the wires from the LED. Before I completed the final assem-
bly, I took an inventory of the pieces that needed to be reinstalled before putting the body and frame together. I
Tomar Industries H-170 Pere Marquette Resort Special drumhead H-327 C&O for Progress drumhead
Microscale Decals No. 87-47 C&O Cab Diesels, 1946-1955 (2 sets, includes PM)
Miscellaneous Pink Pearl eraser Frogtape* or equivalent masking tape Clear Polyseamseal All-Purpose Adhesive & Caulk in One (or equivalent)
Polly Scale Paints No. F414260 C&O Enchantment Blue No. 414137 Grimy Black No. F414308 Dirt No. 414275 Roof Brown No. F414326 Oily Black No. F414323 Rust No. F414113 Reefer White
Testors Paints No. 8824 Universal Enamel Thinner No. 1160X Dullcote Lacquer No. 1159X Lacquer Thinner and Brush Cleaner
Floquil Paints No. F110004 Crystal Cote
Badger Air-Brush Co. No. 16-604 Model Flex Ready-to-Use Cleaner
APRIL 2014
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