With all the discussion of battery cars recently, I thought I would post a detailed thread on the layout of my FB radio control battery loco. This technique would easily be addapted to almost any type car.
Here are pictures of the battery car I built and ran at Marty Cozad’s Steamup last September.
The body started as a B&O shell I bought on Ebay [for too much]. It was repainted with Krylon and striped with automotive pinstriping. The Warbonet logo was done on lazer mailing label material. [I wish Aristo would sell replacement/kitbash decals too]
Care was taken to make the loco the right height to match protypical locos.
Aristo Trackside TE [27mhz] is used with 3300mah NIMH batteries [9.6v x 2 in series]. The coil wound antenna has range in excess of 70ft. Couplers are Aristo [although the A-units have Kadees], since the streamliners pulled use Aristo couplers.
The chasis is made from aluminum step plate [cut with my reciprocationg saw]. All machine screw holes were drilled and threaded #4s. The TE is mounted with nylon screws. A weight was placed under the antenna coils to insure good tracking.
A set of Bolsters, trucks, and undercarrage c