How did you improve your rolling stock?

[JR 500系]

Finally decided to take a look into my 783 series HTB/ Midori Ltd Express set ... 

 

Got this set listed as junk, and yeah, it was kinda junk indeed.... The front windscreen was missing, the pantographs are missing, basically the motor is also crappy.. 

 

Time to change all that. 

 

I changed out all the dirty wheels on all the carriages (man the wheels are really dirty.. previous owner must have ran them a lot!) with new wheels... that immediately changed how the lights on the front cars react! They light up much easier now, and flicker much lesser!

 

 

 

Next, changed out that horrible connecting coupler of the two end cars into Tomix TN ones! Really sweet looking now! More work on that motor next... 

 

 

 

Sorry to spoil anyone's meal (if anyone is having any while reading this... please turn away!) 

 

But I just had to show how dirty the motor was! This was the first time I fully opened up a motor, cause there were WAY too much hair stuck in there and on the gears that it simply cant run smoothly.... I got a shock when I opened it up... Man the guy must have ran this over a dog or something, there were so much fur and hair stuck in between the gears! 

 

And of course, next was to painstakingly remove all the hairs stuck on all the gears and moving parts... 

 

Tough, yes. but well worth it now that the motor runs smoothly! 

 

Kinda glad I know how to did-mantle and assemble a motor now!  🙂

 

 

 

 

Next is something that puzzles me and I would like to ask... 

 

Why does my 783 lights up both head lights and tail lights together regardless of the direction? Please see pictures:

 

 

It is like this for both of the connecting cab cars... 

 

For the rear end cars, Midori lights up the rear RED lighting regardless of the direction of travel... And HTB lights up the front ORANGE lights regardless of the direction of travel too... 

 

Is there something wrong with the circuits and if I am able to change any of them easily? Thanks for the advice! 

 

Edited May 18, 2018 by JR 500系

[Das Steinkopf]

1 hour ago, JR 500系 said:

 

Sorry to spoil anyone's meal (if anyone is having any while reading this... please turn away!) 

 

But I just had to show how dirty the motor was! This was the first time I fully opened up a motor, cause there were WAY too much hair stuck in there and on the gears that it simply cant run smoothly.... I got a shock when I opened it up... Man the guy must have ran this over a dog or something, there were so much fur and hair stuck in between the gears! 

 

And of course, next was to painstakingly remove all the hairs stuck on all the gears and moving parts... 

 

Tough, yes. but well worth it now that the motor runs smoothly! 

 

Kinda glad I know how to did-mantle and assemble a motor now!  🙂

 

 

 

 

Are you certain that it is animal hair that you have there, I remember seeing a NSFW video on another group showing Tomy Tomica trains being tested between a variety of cleavages until they where finally stopped in their tracks.

[railsquid]

14 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

Finally decided to take a look into my 783 series HTB/ Midori Ltd Express set ... 

 

Got this set listed as junk, and yeah, it was kinda junk indeed.... The front windscreen was missing, the pantographs are missing, basically the motor is also crappy.. 

 

Time to change all that. 

 

I changed out all the dirty wheels on all the carriages (man the wheels are really dirty.. previous owner must have ran them a lot!) with new wheels... that immediately changed how the lights on the front cars react! They light up much easier now, and flicker much lesser!

 

Did it really need new wheels? Usually just cleaning them makes them as good as new, unless they're badly scratched/chipped.

 

The other thing which helps is to clean up the copper contact strips, particularly the holes where the axles fit in (where dirt can build up), and also the top where they make contact with the copper strip inside the body, as this can get tarnished or dirty too. However it can be a bit fiddly reassembling the bogie afterwards.

[cteno4]

Little ultrasonic cleaner works wonders on these parts. 

 

Also these little swabs are great for contact cleaning

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50pcs-Disposable-MakeUp-Lip-Brush-Lipstick-Gloss-Wands-Applicator-Make-Up-Tool/162997802237?epid=4007339080&hash=item25f36d14fd:g:Z28AAOSwvflZSJ6C

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50PC-Disposable-Eyeliner-Brush-Eyeshadow-Applicator-Eyes-Makeup-Cosmetic-Tool/253564856495?hash=item3b09a4a8af:g:RkIAAOSwSY9a1D2v

 

jeff

 

 

[serotta1972]

This is a side of JR500 I have not seen.  The only thing I have seen Sammy do is open up boxes of new trains and buses. 🙂

 

[JR 500系]

16 hours ago, Das Steinkopf said:

 

Are you certain that it is animal hair that you have there, I remember seeing a NSFW video on another group showing Tomy Tomica trains being tested between a variety of cleavages until they where finally stopped in their tracks.

 

The video you described seems very familiar somehow...  ~~

 

I believe the previous owner (I got this listed as junk from Yahoo Auctions) ran it at a layout with pets probably... I cannot image that huge amount of fur/ hair coming from a normal home without pet's fur... 

 

4 hours ago, railsquid said:

 

Did it really need new wheels? Usually just cleaning them makes them as good as new, unless they're badly scratched/chipped.

 

The other thing which helps is to clean up the copper contact strips, particularly the holes where the axles fit in (where dirt can build up), and also the top where they make contact with the copper strip inside the body, as this can get tarnished or dirty too. However it can be a bit fiddly reassembling the bogie afterwards.

 

I was cleaning the wheels initially, and then I bumped into a huge stash of new wheels sitting there in my box of wonders... then I recall getting a huge stash of wheels at a cheap price so I reckon it saves me a lot of trouble cleaning the wheels this way ~~~   😛

 

1 hour ago, cteno4 said:

Little ultrasonic cleaner works wonders on these parts. 

 

Also these little swabs are great for contact cleaning

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50pcs-Disposable-MakeUp-Lip-Brush-Lipstick-Gloss-Wands-Applicator-Make-Up-Tool/162997802237?epid=4007339080&hash=item25f36d14fd:g:Z28AAOSwvflZSJ6C

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/50PC-Disposable-Eyeliner-Brush-Eyeshadow-Applicator-Eyes-Makeup-Cosmetic-Tool/253564856495?hash=item3b09a4a8af:g:RkIAAOSwSY9a1D2v

 

jeff

 

 

 

I have some of the swabs, but the issue is with the swabs themselves shedding fur over to the cleaned parts ... haha ~  I mainly use cosmetics swabs (from my Mrs. stash) to clean the wheels and the tracks, along with acetylene alcohol~~ 

 

53 minutes ago, serotta1972 said:

This is a side of JR500 I have not seen.  The only thing I have seen Sammy do is open up boxes of new trains and buses. 🙂

 

 

Haha   🙂 You know me pretty well~ But seriously, I hit the wall and it's time to build the layout and maintain trains!

 

[JR 500系]

Man I need skills like this!

 

 

 

 

[Pauljag900]

1 minute ago, JR 500系 said:

Man I need skills like this!

 

 

 

 

It s only practice sammy👍😀😀😂

[Das Steinkopf]

2 hours ago, JR 500系 said:

 

The video you described seems very familiar somehow...  ~~

 

 

It would have been much better if they had used Tomy's Thomas the Tank range for that video, it would have certainly brought a whole new meaning to "Bust my Buffers".

[JR 500系]

A little more work on the 783series... Isn't still quite satisfied with it... 

 

Really broke apart my other 783 series for parts... First was couplers, then windscreens, then pantographs, now light units, floor boards etc. 

 

Now the 783 series HTB/ Midori looks and feels much better now! The Midori now has directional headlights/ tail lights! Yeah! 

 

Strange I didn't realise the floor board and interior of the HTB783 was wrong initially... now it is correct, simply by switching with the other 783... not so sure about the colour of the seats though... 

 

 

 

 

 

And must I say, the Ibusuki no Tamatebako looks amazing with interior lights and TN couplers! 

 

 

Edited May 20, 2018 by JR 500系

[Philphil]

Does burning out a Microace motor count as an improvement? 

[JR 500系]

6 hours ago, Philphil said:

Does burning out a Microace motor count as an improvement? 

 

Wow... not exactly, but replacing one is!  🙂

 

 

[Das Steinkopf]

With the arrival of my last 3 Japan Oil Terminal Taki 1000’s I finally get to finish off my 98971 case, I have changed the car numbers so I have no duplicates and I have fitted them all with TN’s. 

 

 

Edited May 21, 2018 by Das Steinkopf

[Kiha66]

Building not one but two Pennsylvania streamlined K4 locomotives for members of a local club.  Boy this will teach me not to volunteer myself, what a pain.  Lots of micro soldering (of course they have to have sound), lots of brittle or misprinted 3d parts, and then a bunch of the parts are faulty and must be entirely scratch built.  And then one of the locos went up in smoke today, one of the trucks was supplied with and non insulated wheel which was fine till a turn meant it brushed up against the frame.  

 

[Pauljag900]

15 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

Building not one but two Pennsylvania streamlined K4 locomotives for members of a local club.  Boy this will teach me not to volunteer myself, what a pain.  Lots of micro soldering (of course they have to have sound), lots of brittle or misprinted 3d parts, and then a bunch of the parts are faulty and must be entirely scratch built.  And then one of the locos went up in smoke today, one of the trucks was supplied with and non insulated wheel which was fine till a turn meant it brushed up against the frame.  

 

Oh no! What a pain buddy,but I m sure it ll be worth the mither,or will it?😂😂

[Kiha66]

Thanks for the kind words Paul.  Turns out the electronics seem to have survived (thank goodness) as a connecting wire took the brunt of the damage.  The heat burned the insulation clean off!  More horrible soldering to replace, but luckily not fatal to the project.  

[Pauljag900]

Wow,that’s some heat to melt the insulation,seems you were lucky to get away with minimum damage there buddy.

[Kiha66]

Yeah, I was watching out for trouble so I pulled the plug (quite literally) at the first sign of smoke.  Unfortunately it seems I wasn't quite fast enough.

[Pauljag900]

4 minutes ago, Kiha66 said:

Yeah, I was watching out for trouble so I pulled the plug (quite literally) at the first sign of smoke.  Unfortunately it seems I wasn't quite fast enough.

Well actually,maybe you were ! Could have been a lot worse if you had nt have been so quick Sam👍😀

[kvp]

7 hours ago, Kiha66 said:

Yeah, I was watching out for trouble so I pulled the plug (quite literally) at the first sign of smoke.  Unfortunately it seems I wasn't quite fast enough.

So no short protection on the booster or the current limit is set way up?

[Philphil]

On 5/20/2018 at 11:07 PM, JR 500系 said:

 

Wow... not exactly, but replacing one is!  🙂

 

 

I've never had to replace one of these before, so I'm kind of worried that I won't be able to find replacement motors for the Tobu 8000-series, and the 50090-series... The 50090 still works, but it runs BEYOND terribly, so at this point it's just going to be yard filler. 🙁

[JR 500系]

Erm... might sound like a stupid question, but why couldn't we get this? 

 

http://www.katomodels.com/product/nmi/uniclean_oil.shtml

 

I was looking at this video:

 

 

 

And I knew this would seriously help me... 

 

I understand about the restriction on shipping liquids, but shouldn't there be another alternative to this? Love that nozzle too for accessing those little gaps in the bogies... 

[Kamome]

This is something I picked up on a trip to Japan. It went in the suitcase along with some Unicleaner and nothing flagged up in security. The mineral oil lasts ages due to how little you need. I find I rarely have to use this unless I have a slightly noisy mechanism.

[Kiha66]

The steam locomotive build continues.  Finally tackling the wheels.  Huge thanks to Junior for a good pair of nippers to cut the center parts out, then pin vice to drill the centers slightly underside and then finally cut the wheels themselves in half, file the remaining axle down to avoid shorts and then connect them all together.  Oh, I also don't have a wheel gauge so a piece of unitrack will have to do.

 

[Kiha66]

And testing one truck set for the right gauge.