Hi all, this time something very special from my workbench: CSX SD40-2 in YNS with a Yard Slug. Juerg was looking for a SD40-2 in YN2 and in our discussion I suggested the Yard Slug. O.K., done! Following Detailing and conversion were done: SD40-2 - full BLMA Details - Antenna platform - Air conditioning incl. pipes - Antenna - Beacon - Coupler shorten (front) - MTL coupler attachments removed -closed front skirt w/o plow - Radiobox at short hood - Bell - MU-cabel - Ditchlights (non functional) - Headlights removed from cab and relocated at short hood And custom paintjob, decals and weathering after prototype photo. Those Yard units are not in great shape... Yard Slug: The Yard Slug is powered, with the original MTL motor! The circuit board is removed, the MTL GP9 chassis milled down. Also the former tank ist heavily milled - GP9 shell cut down and cab opening closed - Walkway and railing from 2 GP9 joint - Air tanks from brass - Bodymounted coupler with BLMA details and closer skirt - BLMA grab irons and lift rings - Headlights illuminated by micro LED And now the highlight: both locos are permanently coupled together, the MU-Hoses between the locos are live wires! Because there is no space at all for a circuit board in the Slug unit 2 power pick up cabels are connected to the SD40-2 circuit board, in reverse 2 motor cable and 2 LED cable go from the SD40-2 to the Yard Slug. This combination allows Juerg to convert the combo to DCC w/o bigger problems at a later time. One decoder for both units. Truely a mother-slug combination! Please don't ask how many hours I spent.......
:thumbs_up: Wow! :thumbs_up: I mean... really... WOW! :thumbs_up: Truly amazing! I really like the weathering on these. Gerd... How many hours did you spend on this one?
Very nice work! Congratulations Gerd!:thumbs_up: (but the slug's front truck is derailed). Do you mean your set's MU-Cables actually deliver current to the slug? Dom
Take that you large scale boys....... Absolutely stunning workmanship......now I gotta mop up all my drool.
Thanks guys, took about 20h to finish this. Fair to say it was my first SD40-2 and my first slug of course, therefore quiet a bit development work involved. Don, the wires are live as I had described and the one truck is derailed, true, I guess I was in a hurry, the photos were taken close to dusk...
cool job. The MU cable opens the door to have a true cow/calf combo with a pair of switchers. I'd like to know what kind of wire wqas used for the MU. It must have taken some time to find something flexible & small enough? I'd like to see how many cars this combo can pull!
Gerd what else can a person say! Your work is truely fantastic and motivational. I wish some publications would take note of what can be done in Z. You got some mad skills!
Gerd, Again, total amazement. I am so jealous. For the past four years, I have been in talks with FR to offer a limited run of CSX and BN four axle yard slugs as a Ztrack subscriber offering. I have been unable to get this project off the ground. Seeing this just blows me away. What a great combo. I really wish I could have gotten FR to move on this project. Gerd, I can't wait to see what comes from your work bench next! Rob
Absolutely excellent. Week by week we are catching all the other scales up and showing them how far 'Z' has come. Keep it up KEV
Sorry, an N Scaler here, but would something like this be possible in N? Would I be able to find out what size wire was used for the MU, would a slightly bigger wire be needed for N? DCC wise would the current form the DCC in N melt teh size of wires for the Z unit? Novice to DCC here...
Hi, I don't think any current used by any N or Z scale motor will ever melt such wire, it's just some insulated transformer wire I used. I'm not a DCC guy, but the current used by 2 Z Faulhaber motors is way below 100mA (this is what a Z decoder can work with), I guess N is not much of a difference.
There are several variables at work here. If you are using any N-scale engine that has a current draw of less than 200-250ma then this wire is fine however with N-scale because the engines are heavier you can afford to use a heavier wire with heavier insulation. The only sort of load that would light up this wire would be from a short where you put it down across your track power and short it out. With most transformers today they either have a circuit breaker which would pop or a fuse which would blow and that would prevent this from happening. If your power pack has no track over current protection you would probably damaged the motor and/or the decoder long before the wire would light up in your engine or between units if tied to-gether. cheerz Garth N Nn3 and Z
