How did you improve your rolling stock?

[chadbag]

Someone has too much time on their hands 😉🙂😀

[GCS]

8 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Not done by me but this is surely cool!!!

 

 

Wow, now that’s impressive for N gauge. Imagine a 16 car Shinkansen doing that... 

[railsquid]

Not improving the rolling stock itself, but the way it's stored: a repurposed Kato WaMu wagon case and  some surplus fillers from TamTam bookcase inserts make a nice compact home for my Tomytec ED14:

 

Tomytec ED14-1 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

Edited August 18, 2020 by railsquid

[SuperAzusa]

 

(I wish.)

[Yavaris Forge]

I improved my Wafu 29500 by adding some extra lights. Although it comes with taillights installed I wanted some interior lights as well. I used a rectifier to make the light work in both directions and a capacitor with 470uF to buffer the LED. For future lighting projects I'm going to use smaller LEDs as this one can be seen fairly easy from the outside. Putting the whole thing back together after soldering it was kind of tough and i had to cut some of the window parts in the back of the car but it worked out in the end. For my first attempt at putting lights in a car without ready-made kits I say its a success.

 

This is what it looks like on the inside, but without the circuit board for the taillights:

The finished Wafu:

[roadstar_na6]

I tried doing the same, apart from the interior lights, @Yavaris Forge. However sealing off the tail lights seems to be quite tricky, or did you cut out the "rear glass" and glued it so it doesn‘t touch the other ones?

[Yavaris Forge]

5 minutes ago, Yavaris Forge said:

The hole in the middle is where the red LED for the tail lights goes so it was sealed off already. 

Edited October 6, 2020 by Yavaris Forge

[roadstar_na6]

Oh sorry I guess I missunderstand what you did then 😄 I tried making a tail light for the other end, too.

[Yavaris Forge]

Oh okay😄 Yeah the other taillight is still without function.

[JR 500系]

A little simple upgarde can make quite a huge visual difference on a Tomytec model...

 

 

Original Coupler and hidous spacing, with default plastic wheels 

 

 

Metal wheels swapped, Kato coupler swapped, gangway pieces added. Much better ~~ 

 

 

[Tony Galiani]

While I continue to procrastinate on a new project - somewhat stalled by indecision - I have been working on some of my rolling stock.  Joining my DD-13 for the Nostalgia Train are two Kato ReMu 5000s.  I wanted them to look used but not dilapidated.  They look better in natural light rather than the light from the lamp on my work desk so I took a picture this morning to take advantage of the light through the skylight.

Both cars were given a coat of clear flat then I made a very light wash with some grimy black applying one coat to the sides and ends and two to the roofs (thinking they would be more likely to get more dirt.)  Then I picked out the brake holder and shunter's step edges in white - based on the only color picture of a ReMu 5000 that I could find.  I still need to change the couplers and I might add a bit of dirt onto the underframe when I do the coupler install.  Of course, I actually need to order the couplers one of these days ....

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[Kiha66]

Looks good!  Subtle weathering like that is my favorite way to treat freight cars.

[railsquid]

On 11/10/2017 at 11:43 AM, railsquid said:

Technically not today, but recently I've developed a slight obssession with rewheeling old stock, changing a) plastic wheels, b) older "pizza cutters" and c) bright shiny ones for modern chemically blackend wheelsets.

 

wheels by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

 

Still at it... though I have been slightly flummoxed by Kato driving wheel sets, as seen on this two-car 313 series:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_01 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Non-driving wheelsets already replaced by Kato 11-606 sets (widely available), but the ones with gears on (29-950-5) are sold out everywhere (seems the last batch was produced about 5 years ago). So what is a Squid to do?

 

Well after careful examination it looks like it should be possible to remove the old wheels from the axle (which actually forms a single part including the gear) and add the wheels from a 11-606 set, so with some appropriate-looking tools:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_02 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

the old wheels were removed:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_03 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_04 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

the new ones transplanted:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_05 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

and adjusted:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_06 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

and there we go:

 

kato-driving-axle-replacement_12 by Rail Squid, on Flickr

 

Of note is that the new wheelsets are slightly slimmer than the old ones, so the new wheelset axle is a teensy bit longer than the old one with the axle, which is where the back-to-back gauge comes in very handy to set the correct width between the wheels. I've done a few sets like this and run them round and round my layout for extended periods without any issues.

 

Also of note is that this trick won't work if you need wheels with traction tyres, as there are of course no non-gear wheelsets with those which could be used as donor wheels. I worked around that issue by being lucky enough to discover probably the last few bags of 29-950-6 (blackend wheelsets with gears *and* traction tyres) still available.

 

(I am sure it will transpire that while I was doing this, Kato has just decided to release new batches of both 29-950-5 and 29-950-6).

Edited November 13, 2020 by railsquid

[chadbag]

Isn't there a way to just blacken the offending wheels?

 

Some form of caustic chemical goodness ought to work 🙂

 

[railsquid]

1 hour ago, chadbag said:

Isn't there a way to just blacken the offending wheels?

 

Some form of caustic chemical goodness ought to work 🙂

 

 

I believe there are options, all of which involve varying degrees of time-consuming trial-and-error with no guarantee of satisfactory results (both in terms of looks and electrical conductivity). Not being made of time nor having a desire to mess with possibly caustic chemicals, it seems much easier to expend relatively trivial sums for replacement wheelsets, especially if (as is the case with Kato) the modern versions are slightly thinner 🙂

Edited November 13, 2020 by railsquid

[Tony Galiani]

Funny - when I received my Tomix Hoki 800's this week, one of my first reactions was that I need to do something about those wheels - as they are very shiny and stand out.  Would you have recommendations for replacement wheels for the Tomix stock?

Often, I paint the face of the wheels with a rust or mud color but that does not do anything for the treads so looking for more ideas to improve my rolling stock.

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

[railsquid]

6 minutes ago, Tony Galiani said:

Funny - when I received my Tomix Hoki 800's this week, one of my first reactions was that I need to do something about those wheels - as they are very shiny and stand out.  Would you have recommendations for replacement wheels for the Tomix stock?

 

Good question - somewhere I have a set of those which I never got round to taking out of the box, I'll have a look when I get a chance.

 

Meanwhile if anyone can find a use for well over a hundred old-style Kato wheelsets, let me know...

[Yavaris Forge]

A huge scrapyard maybe or some kind of workshop for freight cars.

[cteno4]

Yeah hit them with some brown markers and weathering as you can have a big row of them next to one of the maintance sheds as old wheel sets waiting to be reconditioned.

 

jeff

[railsquid]

Hmm, with those scale 20 - 30 cm spikes on either side they'll come in handy for my planned Mad Max Railway Workshop diorama 😉

Edited November 14, 2020 by railsquid

[cteno4]

Place for the excess lower sections of hacked figures for passenger seats perhaps? 
 

maybe just file them flat a bit to loose the point. Or just use a bit of styrene or aluminum rod to replace the old axles. You have the wheel popper! 
 

jeff

[railsquid]

17 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

18 hours ago, Tony Galiani said:

Funny - when I received my Tomix Hoki 800's this week, one of my first reactions was that I need to do something about those wheels - as they are very shiny and stand out.  Would you have recommendations for replacement wheels for the Tomix stock?

 

Good question - somewhere I have a set of those which I never got round to taking out of the box, I'll have a look when I get a chance.

 

The internet suggests Tomix 0652: https://ameblo.jp/express1/entry-12258516855.html

 

The somewhat cheaper Kato 11-606 also usable, but bogie modification required due to the thick axle: http://ef8181tetubun.blog.fc2.com/blog-entry-2269.html

[katoftw]

Tomix 0652 are more grey than black. Brought some years ago and was dissappointed.

 

I'd use a black sharpie on the regular wheels instead.

Edited November 14, 2020 by katoftw

[katoftw]

On 11/13/2020 at 11:40 PM, Tony Galiani said:

Funny - when I received my Tomix Hoki 800's this week, one of my first reactions was that I need to do something about those wheels - as they are very shiny and stand out.  Would you have recommendations for replacement wheels for the Tomix stock?

Often, I paint the face of the wheels with a rust or mud color but that does not do anything for the treads so looking for more ideas to improve my rolling stock.

Cheers,

Tony Galiani

Black vs silver tomix wheels.

[disturbman]

After years in the hobby, I finally acquired a Tamiya pin vise and a few fine drill bits. I have spent the past few days drilling holes and adding detailing parts to my KiHa and 115 fleet. It's a nice but somewhat stressful job. 

[here: a picture of 14 KiHa 40, 3 KiHa 47, and 3 115 all neatly lined up next to one another]

Edited November 24, 2020 by disturbman
phone