Installing LED lights in a Walthers Mainline Series Passenger Cars.

[ACL1504]

If any of you read the Judge's Saturday Report of December 14, 2019 you'll know why this thread is being posted.

Several months ago, the Judge and I purchased several Walthers Mainline Series Southern Passenger cars. We got them on sale and at a great price.

Recently he decided he wanted to populate the cars and add LED lighting to each. Certainly easier said than done. The task of roof removal fell on me. One car has been finished and I learned what to do and how to do it better than the Walthers instructions.

I've learned a few tricks and will pass on this knowledge to make it easier for those wanting to add the LED lighting to the Mainline passenger cars.

I'll add lighting to the large window coach.



Here is a view of the end flap on the lighting kit.



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[ACL1504]

In the Walthers lighting car kit instructions, they say to "twist the model in opposite directions a few times". They also show a woman doing this task of "roof removal".



Again, easier said than done. Nothing against our fair ladies but if you know one that can do it, send her to my house as I need my vehicle lifted so I can clean under it.


I heard the slight crack but it was my fingers cracking and not the release of the roof tabs.

Now, I don't consider myself as a weak person but popping the roof off by twisting isn't going to happen per the instructions.

Twisting the car sides did create a slight gap between the roof and car side. Here is where my tricks will help others; I used the Xacto #17 blade and gently placed it between the roof and car sides. I then used toothpicks to place between the roof/windows and car sides.

This allows the tabs to be pushed out from the car sides so the roof and windows (all one piece) to be removed.



More tomorrow afternoon.

[jbvb]

Thanks for posting this process, Tom.  To find forearm strength in women, one good starting point is lifelong horsewomen (but not so rich they don't clean their own stalls).

[GPdemayo]

Kinda makes you wonder if the savings were worth it.....maybe Bill can help. 

[ACL1504]

Thanks for posting this process, Tom.  To find forearm strength in women, one good starting point is lifelong horsewomen (but not so rich they don't clean their own stalls).

James,

Forearm strength will definitely get the roof started but not "pop out" as Walthers instructions indicated.

Tom   

[ACL1504]

Kinda makes you wonder if the savings were worth it.....maybe Bill can help. 

Greg,

I told Bill this process wasn't worth the extra time to install the LEDs.  Let the people sit in the dark for that matter. I won't be buying any more of the Mainline cars.

Tom

[postalkarl]

Hey Tom:

Looks like fun to me.

karl

[ACL1504]

Hey Tom:

Looks like fun to me.

karl

Karl,

"Looks like fun" is the key phrase here.


Tom 

[ACL1504]

The Judge installed passengers in all the cars except the diner. The seats were to small and to close to the tables for the people to fit.



One thing I did and suggest it be done is to mark on the bottom a number and mark the removed roof in the same manner. The arrow indicates which way we wanted the passengers to face. The arrow on the underside of the roof indicates which way the roof fits on the car. However, the roof tabs only fit one way but I noticed a few all fit the same.



More in a few.

[ACL1504]

Everything included in the LED lighting kit is shown below the car body.



I'm showing the photo below for a reason. These parts are critical to the kit and I'll cover them later in the thread.



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[ACL1504]

The cars come with Talgo trucks. Turn the car over and remove the trucks but keep the mounting screws.



More tomorrow.

[ACL1504]

This past Thursday the Judge came over and I showed him how to modify the Walthers LED lighting kit. As he mentioned in this weeks Saturday Report, I've made the lighting in the cars foolproof.

The results for the first car I did, strictly following the instructions, was less than satisfactory. It was hit or miss and the lights flickered on and off. I showed the Judge this first hand. I tried several times using different variations of Walthers instructions to no success.

After removing the Talgo trucks, I made some changes to the lighting kit parts. In the photo below, you can see the thin metal contacts. Walthers calls these wipers. These fit into the four rectangular holes in the bottom of the passenger car - two on each end just over the trucks.



The piece in the middle is how they come in the kit. Using my fingers, I gently bent them as shown. This allows for a solid contact with other parts.

More in a few.

[ACL1504]

In the photo below, note the two long metal bars. These serve as contacts with the metal "wipers" mentioned in the above photo. They also serve as weights for the car. Walthers says these are taped to the floor. Well, THEY ARE NOT TAPED. They just fit on the bottom of the car.



This next photo shows the non-vestibule car end. Note the four round pins, two on each side of the clear plastic.




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[ACL1504]

The two longer metal pieces fit over the pins as shown. On the first car we did, the holes in the metal were to small and had to be reamed with a needle file. On this car they fit.



Remember these? These are called "Glue Blocks" and they bit over the thin metal parts that fit over the fur plastic pins.



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[ACL1504]

After attaching the two metal contacts to the four pins, glue the two black glue blocks to the four plastic pins. Set aside to dry.

Back in a few.