Is that Plain Fine Magic???
Dan, that could be one translation. For us in my world its “Plain Fricken Magic”. Of course the “Fricken” is pronounced a bit differently in certain company (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
ete Lassen said:
Not really solder phobic, Paul. Some of us, like Clint Eastwood said " A mans just got to know his limitations" and to me the thought of taking a brand new loco I just got and doing open hood surgery on my own with not a real clue of the step by step involved to convert my -38 to battery makes the paying someone else to do it much easier. Maybe after I get one done, I can use it for reference and do the rest by myself, but would hate to turn that brand new , and only, loco into an expensive paperweight/display model. I hope i can take some of the knowledge on LSC and one day actually apply it , once I get a feel for how things work.
There are a number of examples of converting a USAT diesel to battery power and radio control on the OVGRS web site. But when learning any new skill the instructions always look daunting. In all my articles the following paragraph appears.
The article appears long because it detailed and includes a lot of pictures. But if you take your time and follow it step-by-step it is not difficult, and the results will be well worthwhile. Although a GP-30 was used for this installation, the instructions could be used to re-power other USA Trains, 4-axle diesels,
http://ovgrs.org/the-trains/battery-power-radio-control-and-sound/usa-trains-gp-30/
I would assume the USAT GP-38 would be very similar to the USAT GP-30.
When I was a young lad I preferred the way Monogram wrote their plastic model assembly instructions which included simple instructions and lots of pictures and diagrams. I try to do the same thing by breaking up my articles in small sections with lots of pictures and simple instructions.
I assume the reader knows nothing about electronics, because I didn’t when I started 25 years ago. That is why I use pictures and simple diagrams rather than electronic schematics.
Paul,
Thank You very much for your conversion instructions. I have used them several times in my conversions. They are the BEST around! 
Joe Zullo said:
Paul,
Thank You very much for your conversion instructions. I have used them several times in my conversions. They are the BEST around!
I am glad you appeciate them. They take a lot of time to put together, especially the pictures and diagrams. But I have had several people comment on them over the years, so I know they are being used. Unfortunately I hit the wall a couple of years ago transferring all the information over to a new server. The text was easy, but all the links and thousands of pictures had to be dealt with one a time so they could be given a new URL. A number of the articles needed to be updated as well. It took about 6 months to complete. Now I have a mental block when it comes to articles for re-powering projects. So there is seldom new information on the web site. Fred wanted to shut it down because it was stagnent. But I know the project articles get used, so I ignored him as usual.
Paul Norton said:
Fred wanted to shut it down because it was stagnent. But I know the project articles get used, so I ignored him as usual.
Good move!..(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Thanks for keeping it going. I refer to it a lot, especially Paul’s articles.
Paul,
Thanks for persevering:)
If you EVER decide to shut the site down, please let me know.
I am sure I can find a way to host it.
Hopefully not with all the links you had to play with.