Finally after 1 1/2 yrs I am ready to paint my Hobbytown RS-3. ? is other than cleaning good with soap and water is there any prep required before priming and painting?
Second ? Anyone built a Hobbytown Loco and wired it up for DCC? How did/do they run. Any probs that I should look out for other than making sure the front truck never touches the frame.
Tks
Terry in Florida
Soap and water alone with a toothbrush has worked well enough for me, but I’ve heard that soaking it in vinegar (not the cooking kind) will help the paint hold better by etching the metal. I haven’t tried the vinegar treatment myself, so I don’t know how much it helps.
For best DCC operation, you’ll want to keep the wheels very clean, since the RS-3 only uses four wheels for electrical pickup. If you can make some extra electrical wipers from fine brass wire for the insulated wheels (keep the wire insulated from the trucks), that would help it to be much more reliable.
Just make sure you’ve got everything exactly how you want it before final assembly. Having to take an RS-3/RSD-5 apart later for extra work can be quite a pain, based on experience.
Tks Darth I was hoping I would get your attention. I think I will stick with soap and water. Good idea with the extra pickups.
Terry in Florida
Darth - After thinking for a bit about elec p/u’s here is what I think I know. ONe side of the loco’s trucks are grounded to the frame. So for those elec p/u’s I could mt them directly to the frame. The other side of the loco is insulated from the loco so I would have to insulate the p’u from the frame and run the wire up to the screw that goes thru the insulated pivot to the rear main powered truck. Does that sound about right? I would also use those two pts to wire decoder L and R track wires. I am trying to figure out how I can put sound in this loco but man it will be a tight fit. I might have to go with a “N” scale sound decoder.
Again tks for your help.
Terry in FLorida
It sounds to me like you’re saying you want to mount the pickups to the main frame? Or do you mean the truck frames? I was thinking of having both pickups truck mounted, like Tiger Valley does.
The truck that’s insulated from the frame would have two wires going to the decoder, the grounded truck would have one wire going through a drilled hole in the frame, and the frame would have the fourth wire mounted to it.
For putting the sound in, you may be able to move the motor closer to the middle of the engine, leaving room in the front of the long hood for the decoder, and then maybe you can drill or mill a large hole in the middle of the frame to put the speaker in.
Darth - OK I see what you mean with the insulated truck having two wires going to the decoder. One from the insulated screw that secures the truck to the frame and another wire from a wiper on the insulated wheels. I am mystified by the other wire from the uninsulated truck. Four wheels are directly connected to the frame so why not just put a wiper on the frame or an uninsuladed wheel. Why drill a hole in the frame and pass a wire thru it. Anywhere on the frame is the same electrical potential as all four uninsulated wheels. Splain it to me?
I was thinking of using a set of tomar shoes I have. There are two holes one above each rail on the bottom of the frame. I could attached one shoe directly to the frame and the other one I would have to insulate and run a wire to either the decoder or join his buddy at the appropriate truck wire. Would that work or am I totally bonkers here? This way I wouldn’t add any significant drag to the wheels. This will be the first time I ever had to mess with additional wipers so bear with me.
Good idea on moving the motor. Hey tks for your help. I guess I need to set down and draw up a schematic so it makes more sense to me.
Terry in Florida
Sorry it took so long to get around to responding. I decided to make a quick color-coded drawing to help explain things.
I had forgotten there was already a big hole in the frame under the long hood, so the wire for the extra right-rail pickup on the frame-grounded truck (which picks up from the left rail) can go through that hole. I hope the diagram helps you to see exactly what my ideas are.[:D]
Wow, the wait was worth it. Great job on the color pic. Looks just like my loco. Tks for going the extra mile. It looks pretty much like I had figured but it’s always good to get a second opinion. I did drill holes for the motor to get it closer to the xmission. That left enough room in the long hood at the end for a nice sized oval speaker. I called the fellow at Hobbytown when I first bought the kit and he was supposed to send my some tigon tubing and some SS rod to replace the system that came with it. Unfortunately he never did so I need to figure out how to couple the motor to the xmission now that it is so close. Any ideas? He said the stock system was really noisy.
I am trying to figure out what the best option would be for a sound/motor decoder as size is important. Plus I imagine this has a little bit more current draw than say a Athearn RS3? I have it down to a ESU 3.5 or soundtrax w/bug. Which ever has an oval speaker of the correct size will win I think. For now I am going to wire up a digitrax 163 I had just to verify it is going to work and maybe break it in a bit before putting in an expensive sound decoder.
Another question is grease. I have the hobbylube light oil and Conducta lube but no grease for the gear box. Does an auto parts store or Wal-Mart carry a plastic compatible grease that you know of. I hate to have to wait and order online.
I put the final coat of Dull-Coat on today and it looks pretty good. I am going with black w/lightning stripes. I have several nice photos to go by. NYC by the way.
Hey Darth thanks a lot for all your help. You really know your stuff. And I wasn’t kidding about paying you to finish my Bowser Mike. The linkage has me all befudled and with my big ole fingers and old eyeballs it just isn’t happening as is. I have the basics done. Everything is assembled up to attaching the linkage to the wheels. I find the pics in the instructions to be poor at best.
Again thanks for your help.
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Good to hear everything’s fitting together OK.[:D] Will you be posting pictures of the finished model?
The guy who ran Hobbytown (and Bear Locomotive) still has an eBay page, and occasionally sells quieting kits using the Tygon tubing and metal rod. You may be able to contact him through eBay and ask about why your order hasn’t been sent (http://myworld.ebay.com/bearbon/). The stock system is still pretty quiet as long as it’s lined up right, so you can use that for now if there’s still room.
The current draw shouldn’t be anymore than 0.15 amps running free, and the stall current is less than 1-amp. Hobbytown used the same high-quality motors as Rivarossi, Broadway Limited, and Lionel HO in their most recent models.
I use Vaseline for the gears in my Hobbytown RSD-5 and Bowser kits, and that seems to work very well.
I’ll do what I can to help you with your Mikado, since you are serious about it.[:D] I’ll send you a PM for details.[:D]