I'm tempted to try Bullfrog Snot to improve my MP 4-4-0 traction. However I'm worried that electrical pickup would become spotty when one of the two driver pairs is insulated from picking up power. Is tender pickup consistent enough to make up for the lost driver pair? Which driver pair would be best for Bullfrog Snot, front or rear? What are your experiences and recommendations? Thanks
I am toying with the same idea. Most of the weight, the motor, is over the rear set. Played with it and a 9 volt battery in my loco cradle the other day and feel that there may be just enough from the tender to compensate some if a little more weight is added to the tender just over each truck and not much just to insure contact. As far as the BFS addition I am tempted to just do one driver, not both in the set, with a very tin light coat and stay away from the flange. If you can keep it off the flange you can still get some pick-up benefit there. The BFS can be thinned with water some to go on thinner. On the positive side if it doesn't come out right the first time it can be carefully removed with a sharp tool and redone. Doesn't like wheel blackening much so I suggest to rough up the wheel slightly with some fine emery or sandpaper.
FYI, Model Power/Ajin released a new version of their 4-4-0 last year (only sold by Micro-Trains) that has traction tires on one of the driversets, pilot truck pickup and revised tender pickup. You could do a shell swap with one of those if you didn't want to mess around with adding BFS. Another way to drastically improve pulling power on the old version is to replace the tender trucks with Kato or Bachmann trucks. The stock tender trucks introduce a ridiculous amount of drag into the equation, and once I replaced them with Bachmann trucks I increased the pulling power on my 4-4-0 by 300%. The Bachmann/Kato trucks also have the added benefit of being "all wheels live". Cheers, -Mark
Thanks Mark. The Bachmann 4-6-0 tender trucks look like they'll work nicely, though they are out of stock with no ETA...sadly.
Yeah, my modus operendi for acquiring Bachmann tender trucks has been to buy entire tenders in order to cannibalize the trucks. Not hugely economical, but BLW does have them for $28. Cheers, -Mark P.S. Can we say BLW? My apologies of we can't - just trying to help out a bro'
Yeah, apparently it's been a well kept secret as I just found out about it this week. I have one ordered and will be reviewing it shortly, but in the mean time there are some pictures over on Railwire - http://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=30498.0 -Mark
You can pick up bachmann tenders pretty cheap sometimes on ebay or even on other internet sites. I bought a number of them a few years ago for around $10 each. Keep an eye out. I wonder why Bachmann doesnt upgrade the 0-6-0 with the new tender and call it a spectrum?
On the subject of Bachmann tenders... Is the slope back tender they sell separately different from the one included with the 0-6-0? It looks like the same casting, but I can't tell about the electrical side of things and the description is vague.
The slopeback tender that is sold separately has all-wheel / low-friction pickup. So, yes, it is different. However, it doesn't have a circuit board like the other ala carte tenders, so it is not "DCC Ready". -Mark
Mark, are there any tender trucks with all wheel pickup available from another manufacturer? $46 for a B-Person Slope Back tender is a little stiff. Of course while I'm at it, I'd love to have Arch Bar frames, or early Bettendorf. Then again I am begging, so really don't get a choice, do I?
If you don't put all-wheels-live pickups in the tender, don't even try this. The MP 4-4-0's electrical pickup is pretty awful until you get all 8 of those tender wheels working. However, if you do that, then you should be fine putting BFS on a driver set.
I picked up a Kato center cupola caboose form that auction site for about $10 and that had all wheel pick up, I swapped the rucks with one of my steamer tenders and they worked fantastically. Cheers, James
I think Bachmann and Kato are pretty much it for all-wheel-pickup / low-friction trucks. Bachmann has one style (used on all of their newer steam tenders) and Kato has two (one for their caboose and one for their Mikado). They're all "Bettendorf" style. As I mentioned previously, BLW sells Bachmann tenders for $28, so that's one way to get them. Kato is currently sold out of both styles of truck (as they usually are), but as James mentioned, you can probably find a good deal on what you're looking for if you scrounge around a bit on eBay. Cheers, -Mark
I guess I have to ask the question whether someone has simply replaced the tender to an all wheel pick-up version versus the trucks only. Seems like the only obstacle is MP's Rube Goldberg drawbar arrangement. When I converted one to a 4=4-2 I ended up making my own split drawbar post, attaching wires to same and simply hooking on the Bmann tender of my choice. However I am wondering whether it would not be simpler to leave the MP drawbar alone create an attachment post or point on a Bmann tender and simply re solder wires to the Bmann pick up strips.
It really depends on which tender you want. But yeah, if you wanted a Bachmann tender instead of a Model Power tender, you could use the existing drawbar wires and hook them up inside the Bachmann tender. You'd also have to rig up some sort of mount for the drawbar (which I suppose could be as simple as a screw). -Mark
At some point I will try to see if it can be done if somebody doesn't beat me too it. Did look at a Bmann short tender just to see if the drawbar from the MP would clear and it appears it will. Now if there is just enough slack wire.
I added a B-man tender to a 4-6-2 . Fairly easy, removed the bman drawbar from the tender. The MP bar fit perfectly on the topside of the tender frame. Just drilled a hole through the MP drawbar and screwed it to the bman frame. I'm guessing you could do something similar on the 4-4-0......Mike
Gentlemen, I've just completed merging an MP 4-4-0 tender body onto a Bachmann slope back tender frame. The result, as you all said, is better pickup and about 100% increase in pulling capability. I want to thank all of you for your advice, which is why the TrainBoard is such as Great Place!!!!. The MP body is a perfect drop-on fit to the Bachmann frame, no slack or bind anywhere. You'd think the two parts were designed by the same person. However, there are five tricky steps. First, locate the proper diameter plastic dowel to replace the MP drawbar kingpin. A piece of mold sprule (sp?) did the trick. Second, locate and drill a hole in the Bachmann frame and glue the kingpin. Third, remove the delicate (48 Gauge?) pickup wires from the MP tender frame. Fourth, drill a hole in the Bachmann frame just forward of the drawbar kingpin, just big enough to pass the wires through. Fifth, solder the pickup wires to Bachmann frame bronze straps. This last has to be done very carefully and very quickly or the plastic pins holding the straps will melt. The Bachmann frame is metal and heavy so the separate MP tender weight isn't needed. Thank you again for your comments and encouragement, I could not be happier with the result.
