I took a small piece of very thin wood, 1 .25 square and 1/8" thick and made the fit in the bottom of the car. I then glued 1/2 of a pickup roller from a 1666 ( the pickup roller was trashed ) on the piece of wood, soldered a wire to the pickup rivet, ran that wire inside the care through the hole that was already in the body. Then I took a pop can, cut out a small piece of metal, bent that at a 90 degree angle and soldered a bulb to it, and soldered it to the body of the car. This was a very simple process with nothing permanently altering the Observation Car. It did no damage at all to the car. Jake
I once daisy chained wiring and mini plugs to a set of cars from one with the pickup already on it . That way I could add lighting to any and all of my cars and unhook them randomly . Then just add a mini light to the interior and walla ! I ran the wires right beside the couplers … you never knew they were there . I even lit up bunk cars and any car I wanted cheaply without having to install any other pickups . Let’s you add a smoke unit to any also very easily and safely .
Can you explain Daisy Chain? For those of you thinking it out there, don’t even say it! Jake
Jake, did you really solder to a piece of an aluminum can?
You install wiring with mini plugs … one going in the front of all the cars you want power to … and one set of wires coming out the back with mini plugs . Off the main car with the power pickup you just solder the wires to the power connection to what is inside it and run them out the back or front … or both … and back with mini plugs . Run them out near the coupler and they will be darn near hidden . Homeade pickups are a bit hazardous and won’t last long . In other words you will have all the cars wired and unhookable … I used a little block of styrofoam for the light mounts … or any appropriate spot . Make sure to leave some extra wire inside for future jobs . It works great … is extremely safe and good looking . I used silicone adhesive at the holes to insulate the wire from rubbing and holds them in place . You’ll have all the cars with mini plugged wiring on both ends and alot more useful and neater looking on your setup !! You can unplug and move or take any off anytime . I don’t advise … sorry … homeade pickups . So you’ll need only one powered car of any type and then you will have as many powerd cars as you want and can add more or take away . You can get a whole pack of those mini plugs at radio shack . Heck your buddies may want some done … mine did . You can even install smoke or sound and lights in any car then without the expense of them already in there . Even exterior lanterns/lights can be put on them making them exceptionally great !
Yes I did Bob, unless it was light gauge steel and I thought it was aluminum! Can a person not solder to aluminum? If not, I guess I used a light gauge steel. It’s a can lid, the pull type from Dole Pineapple if that helps. Jake
It’s extremely difficult. The aluminum likes to oxidize so quickly that the solder can’t get to the metal itself. One trick that sometimes works is to scrape the aluminum while it’s under a puddle of molten solder.