illuminated cab, More pics up!

[dcs077]

i have just finished my model of chessie system Sd 50 8556. i have installed a full cab interior with a false roof to hide the headlight wiring. the cab has front and rear walls and the whole inside is painted with a surface mount led for a cab light. there is 2 figures as well as the control stand. here is a pic of the cab but i will post decent pics of the whole model as soon as i get a chance to shoot some in good light. the model has traction motor details from detail west as well as some traction motor wiring. the sanding lines are connected to the pipes on the frame as well as to the sanding brackets on the sideframes. big thanks to jay for supplying the elusive sideframes for me. i have fitted full draft gear boxes on the inside of the pilots with NBW castings as brian explains on his site . lifting eyes have also been fitted as well as frame rails.

[RunningExtra]

WOW......Now that is impressive, hurry up and post more pics!!

[Raeder]

The LED appears to be a good brightness also, not too bright, not washing out the interior. Very nicely done!

Kevin

[Christopher]

Wow, I really like that. Please post some more photo's.

[mrlfan]

That is very cool! I am looking forward to more photos myself.
Glenn

[blasterman]

Very nice effect, what resistor value did you use to dim the LED?

[spud7378]

looks awesome, nice job

[dcs077]

there is no resistor on the led it is running straight of the led out put of an a4x TCS decoder.

[dcs077]

ok here are the other photos as promised. i am unhappy with the handrails as the paint just would not take so i have ordered a set of chessie sd 50 handrails from athearn so please disregard the crappy handrail paint.

here is the draft gear boxes i made i think they fill the void in the pilot well. i am not a total purist so the look good enough for me but they may not be accurate.



The finished model is not weathered and i am not sure if i want to yet.



here is where the plot thickens...
The sd 50 itself is fitted with a tcs a4x decoder ... i wanted sound in this unit but i only had a tsunami decoder that i have had lots of problems with the motor control so.... since the sd 50 will be permanantly coupled to my dummy sd 40-2 i fitted a small speaker into the SD50. the sd 40-2 has the tsunami decoder fitted with a large speaker with an enclosure that takes up alot of the long hood. the tsunami has a 100 ohm resistor wired to the motor outputs so i can get aknowledgements back when i program as well as all the cv's in the manual speed table set to 0 so it will not power the motor in any way. it is set up for manual notching. the address for the tsunami is 8556 ... exactly the same as the sd 50 so when i use the sd 50 the tsunami does what i want without having to consist. this required me to remap the output on the tcs for the cab light. the speakers are wired in series so not to strain the decoder. the physical connections between the units was made with the pins from an 8 pin dcc socket flush mounted into the pilots


both the units are fitted with dummy knuckle couplers as they will always be together. i used small sections of NWSL flexible wire to represent the mu connections which i think looks close enough.

i also have a friend with another dummy sd 40-2 with a speaker in it so we can hook all 3 up as a consist and have 3 locomotives with individual prime mover sounds.

the results are amazing as utilising the empty space in the dummy for a large enclosure has had an amazing effect on the sounds. its awesome to hear all the locos notching


Dan

[sarge]

Nice work!! I did the same thing with a MRC (I know, I know) sound decoder that had motor control issues. I put it in a dummy SD40-2 as well. I like Your idea of permenatly coupling them and using the same address, I am going to have to give it a try!

[dcs077]

i feel using the same address gets rid of the need to have the units in a consist all the time. as they are always used together it works out great.

Dan

[RunningExtra]

Now that is pretty damn cool!!

[antlorch]

Awsome idea.... And to have sound in each dummy was a smart idea... I might have to see about that in the future....

Jim did you do the same thing?

[railfan1354]

Excellent!
I like the SD40-2 wreathed a bit and the SD50 a little cleaner. It reminds me of when they first came rolling past the station in White Sulphur Springs WV on the double track main many years ago when I lived there!

Paulie

[dcs077]

thanks i have decided to do another sd 50 so i can use the 50's together and i am also cannonizing 2 sd 40-2's that will be chessie as well. so the 40-2's will be the helper set.
same is going to happen with sound. the only catch is i will be linking all the wheels pickup in the same fashion as the speaker connections. will work out to have the 6 hoses between locos.

[torikoos]

Tsunami's can indeed sometimes prove to be very time consuming to set up, but once done, they run like a dream! You must however take the time, and download their full manual, and go to the CV's that deal with the motor control: Here's an exerpt:
changes should be made in small increments (+/- 10 or so) until the desired performance is attained. The default settings should provide satisfactory performance when used with most HO and N scale motors.
We suggest the following procedure to help fine tune the CV settings:
1. Begin with each CV set to its default value: CV 10 = 0, CV 209 = 25, CV 210 = 20, and CV 212 = 255. In addition, set CV 2 (Vstart) to 0.
2. With the locomotive on level track, set the throttle to around speed step 20.
3. Adjust the value in CV 209 (Kp) with increasingly higher values just until you begin to notice some jerkiness in the locomotive speed. Reduce the setting in CV 209 to the value just before the jerkiness started.
4. Adjust the value in CV 210 (Ki) with increasingly higher values until you begin to notice some oscillation in the locomotive speed whenever the throttle setting is changed. Reduce the setting in CV 210 to the value just before the oscillation started.
Note: When using load compensation, it is unnecessary to set large values into CV 2 (Start Voltage). This is because the load compensation algorithm will automatically adjust the motor power up to reach desired throttle setting. Therefore CV 2 can usually be set to 0 when load compensation is enabled.

[diesel]

Wow Dan, You've really pushed the envelope on a loco not done as often as SD40s or GP38s. I really like what you did in putting in the draft gear boxes inside the pilots & adding frame rails.
-oh of course the lighted cab and cab interior is awsome too.

Sarge, a friend of mine at club has 1 loc running with an MRC sound decoder. MIRACLE right! I think it's one of the only times I've seen one of those run without shorting our system, blowin up or doing something bad, but it runs and has pretty good EMD sound.

torikoos, again thanks for posting info about Tsunami decoders & motor control. I haven't gotten a new one yet, but I will look over all my locs that have em.

[zakc]

Looks great keep up the good work. Please post more pictures

Earl; don't be a rivet counter

[Deleted]

Mar 25, 2010 22:33:32 GMT -5 dcs077 said:

ok here are the other photos as promised. i am unhappy with the handrails as the paint just would not take so i have ordered a set of chessie sd 50 handrails from athearn so please disregard the crappy handrail paint.

here is the draft gear boxes i made i think they fill the void in the pilot well. i am not a total purist so the look good enough for me but they may not be accurate.


Last year I thought about giving this a go to save on the cost of sound decoders but wasn't sure how the connections between the units would be fabricated or how they would look. Now I have a better idea I think I will go ahead and try this! Great units.

The finished model is not weathered and i am not sure if i want to yet.



here is where the plot thickens...
The sd 50 itself is fitted with a tcs a4x decoder ... i wanted sound in this unit but i only had a tsunami decoder that i have had lots of problems with the motor control so.... since the sd 50 will be permanantly coupled to my dummy sd 40-2 i fitted a small speaker into the SD50. the sd 40-2 has the tsunami decoder fitted with a large speaker with an enclosure that takes up alot of the long hood. the tsunami has a 100 ohm resistor wired to the motor outputs so i can get aknowledgements back when i program as well as all the cv's in the manual speed table set to 0 so it will not power the motor in any way. it is set up for manual notching. the address for the tsunami is 8556 ... exactly the same as the sd 50 so when i use the sd 50 the tsunami does what i want without having to consist. this required me to remap the output on the tcs for the cab light. the speakers are wired in series so not to strain the decoder. the physical connections between the units was made with the pins from an 8 pin dcc socket flush mounted into the pilots


both the units are fitted with dummy knuckle couplers as they will always be together. i used small sections of NWSL flexible wire to represent the mu connections which i think looks close enough.

i also have a friend with another dummy sd 40-2 with a speaker in it so we can hook all 3 up as a consist and have 3 locomotives with individual prime mover sounds.

the results are amazing as utilising the empty space in the dummy for a large enclosure has had an amazing effect on the sounds. its awesome to hear all the locos notching


Dan