Another Year, Another 10-wheeler, Another Chance to Learn

[Eric_Mueller]

I have a bunch of almost done projects…so I decided to open another one. Mostly, I just wasn’t in the mood for them, and, as you may recall, I hate non-functioning motive power. Beautiful models sitting on the shelf grate at me. It was time to relieve the source of the irritation and restore one to service. Naturally, it would be a B’mann 10-wheeler, a singular teaching source for modeling skills unparalleled in any hobby that I have tried.

Kid-zilla has a pair of B’mann circus-themed 10-wheelers. One works fine. The other, I believe from @David_Marconi_FOGCH , decided to start smoking from points other than the stack last winter. We’ve assembled quite a collection of bits for these locomotives, so I felt confident that I could get this working. First, I relieved Kid-zilla from duties opening the old loco up and compared it to a derelict we had on hand:

These seemed to be compatible gear boxes, so I proceeded to strip the donor chassis of all salvageable parts. Both have direct drive gears, and both use what has proven to be that unreliable spring-loaded piston to take power from the wheels to the motor. Though not the same chassis, this is what I mean:

I really hoped that the smoke was coming from a circuit board, so I hooked power to the motor tabs and energized it. The motor smoked beautifully. Kid-zilla, who had returned, agreed that this was proof that the motor was, in fact, bad.

We pounded out the pin that holds the gear box in place, cut the wires, removed the gear box, and we were in business. Note that the old gear box had the classic splitting that makes older B’mann renowned throughout the modeling world.

Kid-zilla realized that we were about to start soldering, so he told me to go take the dogs for a jog. I am not sure why it took him an hour to get to the soldering, but he was underway when I returned.

He forgot to get his safety goggles. Yes, I corrected him. Yes, we were barefoot.

I know we tested his solder joints. I remember we watched the light come on and the motor spin. I just cannot remember if it was before or after reassembly, and, if before, if we tested them by applying power to the motor tabs or the wheels. Regardless, after we reassembled Smoked Emmett, he wouldn’t start on the test tracks. I suspect the little piston cylinders may be jammed, so Kid-zilla will try to tap them free tomorrow.

And now I have four projects on the table…

Eric

[freddy (Fred Mills)]

Ahhh, the old rail to wheel to brush electrical connections. Always a pain where a scratch won’t cure…!! Always has been the weakest link in the “Electric” model railroad world.
As you and your son; who must be old enough to be called by his real name; he has earned that respect; should start taking a pleasant, wandering glance at the very matured science of Radio Control/Battery operation.
The Big Hauler/Annie is a grand locomotive to experiment with. The tender has lots of space for the battery and receiver, and the connecting wires from locomotive to tender are already in place. Don’t get carried away bothering with Noise (Sound) and lights…just get a good control in place, and enjoy it…you guys will never look back !!
Fred

[John_Bouck]

I agree, Freddy.
I cut my teeth on old Bachmanns when it came time to batt/rc.
Toss all the wiring, lights, factory plugs and go for it.
New LED headlight. Solder wires direct to motor. Tie those two sets of wires together and check the light to see if it comes on when going forward. Then stuff a female two wire JST plug thru the firebox and twist them together properly and use a wire bean to crimp.

[Eric_Mueller]

Funny you guys mention battery…we are talking about it. We’ve moved from acquisition to optimization (though acquisition is always fun!) in terms of budget priorites, so it is on the table. We both enjoy the magnetic critter controller, which suits how we interact with the railroad. He is, for reasons I don’t understand, hesitant. His loco, his call.

Eric

[Rooster]

Eric,

Perhaps now is a good time to forget about adding the working motor and see how the whole drive train operates (by hand) first. A motor will certainly run with no load but when you load it or it jambs up it shuts down and may sometimes smoke if loaded and not rotating.

Reminds me of a good friend of mine that is building a ridiculous fox bodied Ford Mustang (street car). It’s an easy 700whp with what was professionally built for him but he installed himself. So he asked me to look the car over for him after the install which I did.
He then asked what I thought and I told him the set up looks great but you might want to think about putting some bolts in the motor mounts and shifting the driveshaft in line with the rear differential.

[Eric_Mueller]

@Rooster ,

You’re right. We do try to learn from each of these escapades. I had not thought that maybe the “good” motor is also bad or that the drive mechanism itself may be binding. The old motor, for its part, is toast. It smells of burn plastic, and it has a “crunchy” feel when we spin it by hand.

Visually, I can see that those plungers do not touch the drive wheels. To learn a bit more, I disassembled one of the salvaged plungers of the donor chassis.

This is not too far from the LGB ones, actually, though those lack the complicated mount that screws into the hull like these. Other old chassis in our possession show that this is a failure point, with the mount actually breaking away from the chassis. In this case, examination of the bore showed damage preventing the brush from moving back and forth.

Even after trying to file it smooth, I could not get the brush to move freely. I gave up when the spring made a break for it and disappeared onto the lanai.

We’ll pull Smoked Emmett apart again this weekend to hand operate everything as you suggested. Hopefully.

Eric

[Eric_Mueller]

P.S. If all is well with the drive train, I may make a command decision and get a battery for this one.

[Eric_Mueller]

Sidenote…

What does one do with the stripped shell of a B’mann 10-wheeler? We have another one, in fact, that was cut up a bit by a previous owner. Hmmmm…

Does anyone else see Bahk’mahn-class battlecruiser?

The body tube would serve as central spar and gas port to drive the ejection system. Estes “F” impulse motors, secured with an appropriate centering ring, would fit the tube (I checked). I’ll start a thread in “Other Hobbies” if I proceed.

Now back to your regularly scheduled 10-wheeler rehab.

Eric

[Rooster]

Eric said: “Estes F” and has been reported to the moderator.