I was just thinking, some of the motors in the small slot cars are almost small enough to be HO scale traction motors. I think it might be neat to try to build a model of some kind of diesel with one for each axle. Has this ever been done?
Hornby have been doing this for a while with their little 0-4-0 starter set locos - they share a motor with Scalextric slot cars. It works pretty well as long as there’s enough weight in the loco (the best of the bunch is the little Caledonian saddle tank loco - it has a diecast footplate) but it’s picky about throttles - I found N scale ones worked better than OO scale on this loco as it starts at a very low voltage.
That’s an interesting idea. Just thinking out loud here - the slot car is geared for high RPM and high speed with little torque, so I am wondering if a slot car mechanism put into a loco unmodified would have enough torque to move it. I would think you would have to regear it.
Slotcar motors can be used, but have to make sure that the engine doesn’t take off too fast.
If using the same gearing that was in the engine thta the pinion gear fits on to the shaft of the slotcar motor. Also may have to tuneup the motor for smooth operation.
I am into slotcars, my first one from the early 60’s is by revell and is powered by a Pittman rp77 motor that was used in some mrr engines. Today the 16D type slotcar motor is the most common. If you can find them the early 16D could work.
IF I remember there was a can type motor, called a 23D, it was smaller than the early 16D.
Yeah I want really small ones, and the idea is to mount the transversely just like on a real locomotive. So I would have big gears right on the axle, and a tiny one on the motor, and then some sort of support to hold it in. Imagine the sound system I could put in with all the empty space in the body!
The smaller Mabuchi can motor was a 13-D. The 16-d is a little larger, about the size of a modern train motor.
Most commercial track slot car motors are going to pull too much amps for model train use. A good modern 16-D motor will pull around 2 amps at 5 volts WITH NO LOAD.
Some of the 1/32 scale home set slot car motors, such as the Scalextric motors, my be more suitable. They are only pulling a little less than 1 amp.
If you are looking for a real small motor, you might consider something like a 1/64 scale motor, from something like an AFX or G-plus car. These are available from the aftermarket from manufacturers like BSRT.
Rotor
I’ve got it! I went to radio shack and they have these little RC cars called zip zaps, and the motors look like just the right size. The problem is, if you buy the 3 pack, they all run at different speeds, so I need to find where I can buy 4 or 6 of them that all run the same, and slow.
The problem with the zip-zap motors is voltage. Your train set uses higher voltage than the micro R/C cars do, and I’m afraid you will quickly let the “factory installed smoke” out of the motors.
Rotor
Hmmm… Maybe if you had all 6 of them wired in series it would drop the voltage engough to allow them to run. Its something to experiment with. Those zipzap motors have no torque to speak of though.
Oh, If you are doing DCC you can set up your decoder for the highest voltage you want. That would solve your problem. On analog though I dont know what you would do.
Why not just get a “PDT” or a Tenshodo SPUD? These are pre-made can motors built inside of trucks sized to work with diesel (or electric) sideframes. Less work than weird hacks with tiny electric motors…
A question, are those still made? Or are they something that a modeller would have to hunt up in “New Old Stock?”
Doug, in Utah
I think the PDT can still be obtained from NWSL…not sure about the SPUD. They shouldn’t be too hard to find, though.