I’ve seen a transition. Reading old Model Railroaders from 15 years ago, some of the advertisments were geared tword more DIY electronics, as were now everything is pre-made. A perfect exaple of this is passenger car lighting. I saw a kit somewhere, that contained 2 leds, 2 resistors, and some wire, for well over 10 dollars. I might be cheap but that still seems like a lot. I’m in the process of detailing my SP Daylight cars, while in the process of saving up lunch money for a brass SP GS4 4-8-4, so I can’t spend a lot of money on kits.
A simple solution to my lighting problem was fairly simple. I bought bulk leds, SMT resistors (very small but very nice), and got some old copper PCB from one of my teachers. From there it was as easy as soldering the resistors in series with the leds, (though the resistor-led combinations were in paralell to one another), spending less than 10 dollars for all 5 lighting units.
Small considerations, really. I’m probably going to end up building a seperate control box for all my buildings by the time I’m done…ahhh.
A lot of these things are geared towards folks who “fear” electronics. Pre-built structures are for people who “fear” kits, and products like EZ Track are for people who “fear” tracklaying. I recommend that all new modellers go out and build a Capacitive Discharge circuit to run their twin-coil switch machines. It’s a simple project and the parts only cost a few dollars, but in the end you’ve saved yourself about $30 and you’ve overcome that fear.
And don’t those lit-up passenger cars look nice when you turn out all the room lights and run the train?
I suppose that is true, but I used to see more DIY electronic kits out there. About what time did pre-built structures come along?
Yes, yes, they do look lovely lit up. I’ve only got two installed right now, I’m still modifying the other 3 cars to gather current, which means I’ll be digging for more half plastic half conductive trucks.
Blame it on people’s desire for instant gratification. Assembling any kit takes time, and some level of skill. With all the RTR and drop in electronics available, there’s no need to develop the skills. It used to be that the kits were considerably cheaper than the RTR stuff, if RTR was available. It’s why most of my old steam locos (1970 and older) are from Mantua/Tyco kits, I couldn’t afford the RTR stuff. I can remember when Bowser sold ONLY kits (and they were more expensive than the Mantua/Tyco).
I have the two “Electronics Projects for Model Railroaders” books, and a heck of a collection of the old magazines with schematics and how-to articles. For our train club, I built up six of the Memory Walk Around Throttles from an old article in Model Railroader. I have several cars equipped with working FRED’s that I built up. I’ll be building up my power supplies when I get my layout started early next year. I find it one of the enjoyable facets of the hobby. I’ve even gone so far as to buy and stash some old Mantua/Tyco switcher kits to assemble with my grandchildren when they’re old enough.
I suppose that is true. I really enjoy kit building and scratch building, I wish more people would. The electronics aspect is easily my favorite part of the hobby.
I’m still searching from a reasonably priced On3 Shay kit . My dream kit.
PS: if anyone wants a couple hundread 22k SMT resistors, let me know, I have well over 9900 left.
A large part of the demise of kits for consumer electronic products is the present-day capability to put all but a small minority of parts on a single chip. We haven’t quite reached this point in model railroading, but we’re closing in fast.
Many people cut their electronic teeth on Heathkits, which taught soldering, part identification and careful assembly to a couple of generations of electron-chasers. Unfortunately, Heathkits are now one with the passenger pigeon, the dodo and the mastodon.
Chuck (whose first electronic project used tubes)
And weren’t they sweet! I can only find them in the super-high end audiophile equipment now. The only real problem was the heat generated, oh and the fact that they burnt out so often. I remember many a run down to the local drug store (that always had a tube testor in the back) to try to figure out which triode was causing the horizontal on the TV to drift.
Why you young whippersnappers!
Back in my day we had to push each and every electron around personally!
-Ed
Ahhhhh, a topic dear to my heart. Now you’ve got me going on this thread! Hitsua, I’m glad to see that electronics is your favourite part of the hobby. It’s mine too. Well, electronics was my first hobby, starting when I was pretty young and it’s remained my #1 hobby and was how I earned my living. So many model railroaders seem afraid of electronics, and have an intense dislike for anything electrical, even just wiring a layout. To me, it’s just as much a part of the hobby as building the benchwork, laying track, doing scenery, building structures, weathering, and all the varied aspects of this hobby that make it such a wonderful hobby. Model railroading is not a flat one-dimensional hobby, it’s a multi-dimensional hobby covering many different skills, and that what makes it such a great hobby. Okay, that’s my [soapbox] for now.
I agree with MisterBeasley that an easy and painless way to get your feet wet with model RR electronics is to build a C-D unit. It’s something very useful and just about as easy a project to build as there is.
Tom Diehl, I assume that by “Electronics Projects for Model Railroaders” you mean the books by the late Peter J. Thorne. Actually, he had 3 books published by Kalmbach–I’ve got all 3 and refer to them often for ideas. I don’t always agree with his construction methods, but his projects are all first rate. The only thing to watch for with his projects and also the ones in older issues of MR is that they were published a long time ago and a lot of the semiconductors and some other components may not be available any more. If you’re knowlegable or can get help, you can usually find a suitable substitute.
There’s not one single factor that has led to the decline and almost demise of hobby electronics. I agree with Tom that part of it is due to instant gratification–we now want plug and play devices. Bring it home, plug it in, turn it on, and it works. There’s no
Now HITSUA, you have hit on something that has been bothering my brain for years. How to do economical lighting using up to date techniques? You have mentioned what I perceive to be THE solution to the problem. PC board is readily available. Etching simple circuits on it is easy. With one neg mass production is a breeze.
Now I need the gory details. What circuit did you design? I am envisioning two parallel conductor strips the length of the car inside roof spaced to allow the resisters and LEDs connected across them. What could be simpler?
Could you please expound for all of us who want to get lighting happening. If I can build one prototype I will post the results.
SEAMONSTER: you brought back old memories by mentioning Heathkit. I loved those kits. I even took the Electronics course for Digital TV way back in the 70’s and built the Heathkit Digital TV!! That TV was great and we have it for years until the CRT gave up the ghost. I built their O scope and other test equipment as well, and still have them. Now, do you also remember ALLIED Radio out of Chicago? They also sold kits before Heathkit came on the scene. I built a tube tester, and a transistor radio back in 1954 from Allied. I am in the process of cleaning the 2nd floor of the garage for a train room, and the tube tester still works !!! Ahhh the memories…
Well, I’ll do my best to explain. Accross the roof of the car is a PCB. It’s super glued on, and single sided. The PCB is divided as followed:
One long section for one side of the track to connect to. From there, there are 5 individual sections above that. There is a 22k SMT resistor going to each of the two side sections. Each side section has an LED, that connects into the 5th middle section. That would go back to the positive side of the track. Now, attacthed to the PCB, is colored styrene, with holes in it for the lights. It makes it look a lot nicer. If I ever find a camera I’ll take some pictures.
Most of the MRR’s I’ve talked to feel the same way as you stated. Though, those are also the ones who won’t weather a new loco =]
Did you use the grid leak bias wax to make them slide along smoothly?
Does anyone remember the “Ocean Hopper” kit by Allied Radio? Tubes, plug-in coils, and headphones. Bob Whitten bobandbonnie@earthlink.net
TomDiehl do you remember the date(s) that the walk around memory throttle article was in? Hitsua, I buy 90-95% of my electronis from Demar Electronics. They have an ad in MRR. I think they will send you a catalog with your first order. Its a small one man operation and he has always treated me right.
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Hello Hitsua and all. I am returning to the hobby after 25 years. Not all of us get electronics. I didn’t in the 70s and still dont. If I have a kit that tells me where to put this and that, thats ok, but have i really learned anything? I prefer to buy things already made…then I know they should work. [:D]I’m still trying to figure out why Hitsua needs resistors to light leds…they dont light by themselves? And I can never remember the rules for series or parallel. Those of you who think electronics are easy, should come to my kitchen, and see what I do there. Many if not most of you can’t cook anything that doesn’t say “microwaveable” ( or Radarrange if you remember the seventies)If I told you to boil water with a pinch of salt and you succeed, have you learned anything? Do you know how much a pinch is?[:O]
When I first picked up a new copy of MR magazine…I was surprised…I knew what AC was, and DC, but just what was DCC? And what was the rage in using foam? a walkaround throttle? I thought I knew the basics of wiring, but after picking up a copy of MR wiring book, I realized I had forgotten a thing or two. And the pricesof some things![:O][:O][:O] I have limited budget and very limited space…I envy Hitsuas space. I have decided to stick to DC for my new small layout. perhaps I shall build a larger one after I move, and go with DCC… with the decoders already in the locos!
Galaxy (<- remembers when TVs and radios had tubes ← remmebers getting first color tv in 1971 ← remembers the first “walkman”…and AM transistor ( theres an electronic buzz word) radio to carry in your pocket about 1 1/2 " thick, 3" wide and 5" tall. ← remembers tape recorders had a reel of tape one fed through the machine to another reel ← remembers when the only way a phone could be used was to have it hard wired to the line at the wall, and on a long co
looks like you are getting power from the trucks, will give you a lot of flicker, have you thought of battery and a small micro switch.
[quote user=“galaxy”]
Those of you who think electronics are easy, should come to my kitchen, and see what I do there. Many if not most of you can’t cook anything that doesn’t say “microwaveable” ( or Radarrange if you remember the seventies)If I told you to boil water with a pinch of salt and you succeed, have you learned anything? Do you know how much a pinch is?[:O]
When I first picked up a new copy of MR magazine…I was surprised…I knew what AC was, and DC, but just what was DCC? And what was the rage in using foam? a walkaround throttle? I thought I knew the basics of wiring, but after picking up a copy of MR wiring book, I realized I had forgotten a thing or two. And the pricesof some things![:O][:O][:O] I have limited budget and very limited space…I envy Hitsuas space. I have decided to stick to DC for my new small layout. perhaps I shall build a larger one after I move, and go with DCC… with the decoders already in the locos!
Galaxy (<- remembers when TVs and radios had tubes ← remmebers getting first color tv in 1971 ← remembers the first “walkman”…and AM transistor ( theres an electronic buzz word) radio to carry in your pocket about 1 1/2 " thick, 3" wide and 5" tall. ← remembers tape recorders had a reel of tape one fed through the machine to another reel ← remembers when the only way a phone could be used was to have it hard wired to the line at the wall, and on a long cord<- remembers when I was the “remote control”…when mother or father said change channel, I got up walked over to the tv and turned dials. Then spent the next 8.6 minutes arranging rabbit ear and loop antenae for a clear picture. I swear they increased broadcast power only during commercials, they came in clear![:(!]We had exactly 4 stations: ABC CBS NBC PBS[soapbox]
have fun, keep your train on the tracks</
“Build An Inexpensive Walkaround Throttle” With memory to keep trains moving by Kirk Wishowski Model Railroader January 1986 page 118, with a correction published in the March issue Page 19.