I recently got a Hobbytown ALCO PA-1 kit, and in mint condition![:D] I’m starting a video series to show my build progress, so here’s the first one:
DSF,
Nice job so far, great video.
I didn’t think that I had the patience to watch a 12 1/2 minute video, but I did and it was worth it.
I admire your willingness to take on a project like this. Kit building a locomotive is something that I have never considered.
I never heard of Hobbytown, but I will be interested in your videos to follow.
I assume that you have built these before because you seemed knowledgeable about these kits.
One question that I do have regards the sideframes to the trucks. The one nearest the camera seemed obviously warped. Any problem with keeping the wheels in gauge?
Also, do you feel that the plastic wheels need to be replaced?
Again, very nice work.
Rich
Thanks! Glad I could keep your interest for 12 1/2 minutes![:D]
Hobbytown came around in the late 40’s, and they were one of the most popular diesel kit manufacturers for a long time. Their RS-3 body remains one of the most accurate ever produced. Many people would buy their chassis kits and put their detailed plastic shells from Tyco, Bachmann, etc. to make the models run much better. I got one of the RSD-5 kits before they went out of business in 2006 or so.
A couple of the sideframes are still a bit warped, so I need to work on them a bit more. Doesn’t cause any gauge problems though.
The plastic wheels are functional, but I am looking to replace them with metal (Hobbytown started using all metal wheels sometimes in the 60’s I think). I’ve contacted NWSL to see if they have anything that will work.
Part 2!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFxSzxscnD8
This focuses on building the chassis. It’ll be a little while before the next one, because I’m going to order some appropriate PRR details. That video will focus on finishing the body.
I have a lot of Hobbytown drives mostly the later flywheel drives. I have always enjoyed building them. I have found the flywheel drives operate very smoothly and you had a choice of different gear ratios for the tower gears.
The nice thing is that in the days of the flywheel drives they came out with a number of chassis that could be made for different locomotive shells as well some of the kits had a 3 piece frame that could be fit to different lengths for more choice of shells of different diesels models.
For the flywheel drives most came through with a DC 70 motor,it is possible to replace the motor magnet with a stack of NEODYMIUM BLOCK MAGNETS .These magnets are much more powerful and result in a small reduction in current ,better slow speed, better control throughout the speed range and a more powerful drive. if you do replace the magnets use a piece of an Xacto knife blade to shim any gap in the stack between the pole pieces,you don’t want an air gap.I used a stack of 5 block 1/2 x1/4x 1/8 magnets
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=B842-N52
You might get a similar improvement for the larger motor.
here is the page for all block magnets
http://www.kjmagnetics.com/products.asp?cat=11
Hobbytown Universals for 3/32 and 2MM shafts and any left over parts are available here
http://home.comcast.net/~bearbon/site/
This site is run by the last owner of Hobbytown
I have enjoyed watching your presentation very well done.
Ron High
I do like the later drives with the big flywheels. Hard to beat the performance of those things!
Adding neodymium can improve many motors quite a bit. I’ve used them in Mantua/Tyco, Rivarossi, and others with good results. The original magnet in the DC-90 motor is still very strong, so I don’t think there’s any need to replace it.
I’m actually considering installing a really big low RPM coreless motor with a large flywheel. That’s a setup that’ll coast more than a well tuned centrifugal clutch! Micro Locomotion currently has a good deal on Escap 26N 58 216E motors, which hit about 5,000RPM at 12V, giving it a scale speed of 80-85MPH, and have enough torque to drive a G gauge train. It’s also got a 9-pole armature, so all that combined should make for an ultra smooth runner with good low speed control!
Now that sounds like a fum project!
Ron High
Hobbytown did not go out of business it was bought out by John English who owns Bowser trains and English model Supply in Montousrsville, PA.
Actually, Hobbytown was bought by Howard Mosley of Bear Locomotive company. He kept it going until about 2006. English bought Bowser, Penn Line, part of Varney, Arbour Models, Cary, and Stewart, but they’ve never owned the Hobbytown tooling.
Howard still owns what’s left of the tooling and inventory. Here’s his website:
http://home.comcast.net/~bearbon/site/
DSF … Great video. Well done.
I have rebuilt some Hobbytown PA1’s of that vintage several years ago.
Here are 3 which I painted for MKT which had a nice paint scheme in my opinion. I only have one remaining among my locos which I ran with a five care texas Special until I converted the layout to DCC. The locomotive has not been converted to DCC and now sits in a glass deispaly cabinet.
Best thread ever…I wish we had more if these and less of the “iwantanumpalumpanowdaddy!” threads. David B
What David said…
Just watched that second video, all 10:40 of it.
That is pretty cool to see that loco moving under its own power at 7:50.
The whole thing is interesting, the building of the kit, the presentation, the videotaping itself.
I just gotta say, Ireallydowantahumpalumpanowdaddy. Just like Darth Santa Fe’s.
Rich
So, what colour/roadname will you choose? And what about the othet project locos you showed us earlier in the year?
I just watched both and enjoyed them very much. I wish more people would edit their instructional/how to videos. Not once did I want to hit fast forward. Great job on the model and video.
Glad everyone’s enjoying it all so far![:D]
snjroy, I’m painting it for the PRR, and it’ll be brunswick green with gold pinstripes. I found that there was at least one prototype painted this way.
I’m working on a lot of projects right now, some of which have needed to be finished for longer than the ones from earlier this year. I’ll be getting those done too, and I’ll bring back the topics as I make progress.
I’ve got the details on order at my LHS, and I’m making some other parts from scratch. The next video will go into more detail of exactly what I’m doing, but I’m coming up with some pretty interesting ideas.[:)]
Darth Santa Fe:
Excellent videos!
Dave
Something I realized while building this is that the entire cab is just a big, empty space. So, I thought maybe I’d put an interior in there.[:)] Problem is, I can’t find any good photos of a PA-1 interior so that I can make one. Anyone have any ideas or clues for me?[:D]
I got some parts in today from Howard (owner of Hobbytown), and my LHS has informed me that my other details are in, so I’ve already started getting to work![:D] What I’ve done so far is turning out great, and I’ll hopefully have the next video up next week.