Generically, what is available in Z-scale for adding lights to passenger cars? Is there an "Easy-Peasy" style system available? I found one: http://www.sbs4dcc.com/znhovarnishlighting.html but it is "not currently available" according to their shopping cart page. And it doesn't appear to be a "battery/wand" design which would be ideal for a quick and easy solution whilst working on something more elaborate. Can the actual Rapido product be used/modified for Z? Specifically, I have the following projects to address: 1. MTL Circus Train. I have ultimate plans to do fairly customized lighting for these including the external floodlights and probably a sound unit in at least one of the stock cars. (baggage cars) So at some level I need pickups for the trucks. These pickups or pickup equipped trucks may or may not be available from sbs4dcc.com as well...their site is beyond difficult to navigate. Other sources for pickups and/or lighting? Anyway, for the short term I wouldn't mind throwing in some "easy peasy" type boards since it's...well.....easy peasy! Also, does/did anyone make interiors for these cars? 2. AZL Amtrak Superliners. These supposedly have interiors but no lighting. I know they aren't even here yet, but same basic question. I won't be doing sound in these most likely but wouldn't mind having basic lighting. 3. AZL Bombardiers. Probably should be a separate discussion, as these will all be a very customized lighting solution but just to see what others have done with these. I want to have decoders in the cab cars, and possibly a "sound coach" that will have both the prime mover of the F59PH's and the horns/bells for both the diesel and the cab car. (and again, if there was a good interim solution to just get some lights in there, I'm all ears) I do have some of the Richmond Controls pickups for the n-scale Bombardiers that I'm hoping might be able to be modified to work for pickup. I will say that generally dealing with Richmond has been difficult at best over the years (mostly with n-scale products previously) so any solution involving him would be less appealing. (but not a deal killer maybe) Thanks for your feedback.
Doug The only drop in light boards I know of are the ones Rokuhan makes for their passenger cars. I don't know how easy or difficult they are to install. The only other light boards I know of are the ones from SBS4DCC. They are Made To Order as are his Z scale trucks with power pick-ups. You have to order them or email him first then he will make them for you. He also sells the components to build your own trucks with power pickups. Easy-Peasy Well that depends on your skill level. If doing custom builds and fabricating your own parts is easy for you then your in luck. However if installing your own wheel wipers / power pick-ups wiring them up and making some sort of mount to hold the light boards in place is not your thing then you can forget about that Easy-peasy idea. It seams to me that I remember seeing a 3D printed interior for some passenger cars somewhere. But where and for which cars I don't remember. Adding decoders to MTL's F7 circus loco's is not too hard you just have to mill the frame half's down to make room for the decoder. Adding sound is another issue. You can always turn one of the F7's into a dummy and house the sound decoder and speaker in it. I've done a few they are not that hard to do Just time consuming. Adding decoders and sound to one of the passenger cars is not that hard, again it just requires you to put forth the time and effort to get the job done. Pretty much everything you want is possible The question is how much custom work can you do your self and how much $$ are you willing to pay someone else to do it for you? David
Hi David, It's DAZed from ZCS here. Yes, I have the skills to do it all, if I take my time. Definitely not as efficient as you but that's ok. I just wanted to gauge what I could get done quickly just to get something going versus the more (slower) custom things I want to do. The "Easy Peasy" lighting is nice because it is battery powered and has the magnetic reed switch to turn it on and off. Gets you up and running with minimal fuss. It's certainly possible to build something similar to that, but then the question is do you bother or do you just go forward with installing wipers and so forth. I just wanted to see if there was anything readily available to help in decision making. I'm not doing the Circus F7...I'm building a modern prototypical-ish version of the Red Train that will be pulled by BNSF or UP power. The typical consist (until recently) is a handful of "stock cars" which are actually heavily modified former baggage cars, then the "sleepers"/coaches, and then the flat cars. My idea was to modify the first stock car to emulate the sounds of the locos, then a second that had train sounds, including elephants, tigers, generators, etc. That's all way way down the road but that's my goal. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. The information I've gleaned from you so far about a variety of topics has been very helpful and I appreciate it.
There is a small company Passmann in Germany specializing in interior lighting for Marklin stuff. I have no idea about a possibility to use it for American models. I visited they stand at Altenbeken meeting. The owner communicated with myself in English due to the fact that my German is limited to maximum 20 words... For non DCC they have an option to put some rechargable micro battery into a model so it can be lighted without current in the rails for about 20 minutes. There is some DCC stuff on their page but I have no idea how it can be used. Unfortunately they do have their web shop only in German: http://passmann.com/xt11/index.php
I can speak to the ease of installing the drop-in light kits from Rokuhan in their cars. It's very easy, and they work really great. I've installed the Rokuhan lighting kit "A015" in a KIHA52. It was very simple. It's basically the same process for non-powered passenger cars, from what I understand, but you need to make sure to get the proper light kit. The KIHA52 is a self-motorized passenger car (diesel multiple unit). The light kit just drops in the car onto pillars, attached by small included screws. There are then two small prongs inside the car which you attach to the light board using two small metal springs with some tweezers. Put the car back together and it's running.
SBS4DCC has the easiest method but still some cautionary notes: Wipers on wheels cause drag and potential wheel asymmetry. The axles generally float (axle point slop). Most wiper place a lot of tension on the axle. This drag does cause some axles to not rotate and thus drag around, a potential for derails. Some wipers are asymmetrical so press on one side of the axle. This can cause poor tracking (truck tweaked towards one side), a potential for derails. These wheel pickups need to be connected to the internals of the chassis. This is commonly done via a very small brass drilled through the bolster pin. Sometimes, through the floor just inside of the truck and trying to just touch the innermost wandering truck axle. Both of these methods interfere with the truck rotation (friction or tension). I was amazed at how much so when I went up thru the bolster with a o.003" brass wire (soft brass) and bent it the interior length of the car. Wiggle the truck. Felt OK. Then anchored the 4" farther end and WOW, could easily feel it. So, make sure the interior wire only provides a 'floating' contact to the axle under it (e.g. nominally centered and stays so will the axle slides under it). Most modern lighting uses a 'SuperCap' (a.k.a. Constant Lighting). It is much easier with DCC than the variable to no voltage of DC where it is about the only way. Once the 'Cap is charged, it just needs a little 'trickle' recharging voltage. There, just a fine, light contact brass wire is all that is needed. With it centered on the axle, the light drag still can cause drag. I have the AZL Amtrak passengers and boxcar plus an MTL boxcar with Fox Valley model wheels. The two box cars are used for FRED's (a.k.a. EOT). All three, I can periodically see wheel slip. The AZL car has a Function decoder in it for red tail lights and Forward (push mode) ditch lights plus top-center headlight.
CONDUCTIVE THREAD - I used 26 gauge solenoid/motor winding wire, stripped of its insulation at two ends. One end rides the axel with a little spring force. The other I snake up to the top of the truck and insert it in the slot on the underside of the passenger compartment. I make a small 2mm diameter loop stripped of insulation and touched with solder/resin. I center the loop over the pivot point of the truck inside the passenger compartment. I use conductive thread from Arduino Lillypad to connect it to the lighting electronics. I can’t solder the thread because the substrate melts away. But I can get a good conducting connection by threading it through the loop 2-3 times and simply tying off with a double knot. The result is almost no influence on the truck rotation except for the amount of rotation allowed by the length of the under carriage slot which could be lengthened, if necessary, but I don’t like modifying cars, if I don’t absolutely have to. I did this to all four cars of a Marklin 8111 set with colored led lights in each car which match the outside paint color of each car. This is for a holiday dinning table center piece. I was using analog power. Capacitors were installed. I also soldered on three more wheel axel contact wires in each truck. Provides balance and helped mitigate dimming. The caps took care of the flicker. But drag is noticeable, the old red DB111 with its three pole motor has a hard time pulling all four cars around some corners, three cars is no problem. It is random and not related to radius. I’m in the process of converting to DCC++ - the controler and switches on the table does not appeal to the host and cook. Perhaps with higher constant voltage I can cut back on the number of contacts, from 32 in total right now for all four cars. One thing that could also be considered is fewer contacts and link the cars with the conductive thread. But, then then that becomes kind of permanent and awkward to play with.
