Let There Be Light!

[ATShinkansen]

So my Kato D51 not only has the honor of being my first Japanese steam locomotive, it’s now also the first to be converted to DCC.  However, I also decided to take this opportunity to finally convert the dummy headlight into an operating one.

 

I drilled a #55 hole through the headlamp into the feedwater heater.  To my surprise, the feedwater heater turns out to be a separate part that popped off, so that made the second hole easier to drill, which is straight down under the feedwater heater (the smokebox prevented drilling upward).  The new light pipe was fabricated from a leftover sprue that I purposely set aside for this project.

 

 

 

The boiler weight required extensive modification to make room for the LED, wires, and resistor.  The resistor is centered under the dome on the boiler.  The wires are routed up between the frames either side of the drive shaft.  After everything was reassembled, I painted the exposed light pipe between the headlamp and feedwater heater.  It's barely noticeable between two components.

 

Before and after shots: