4/15/2012

UP's M-10005 in 1/7.3 - first pictures of the chassis & trucks

I started with the trucks for the A&B unit last year, fabricated another pair of trucks for the aux power-baggage and welded the basic frames for models in winter. I already have made the two trays carrying the car-batteries (six in total, wired in series & parallel for 36V).




Each axle is powered by two 750W motors (36V) connected by chain (including an idler of app. 4:1-ration for speed-reduction/torque-increasing). However, the 750W power-designation of each motor is more or less a theoretical value, because I (hopefully) will never use or need the specified torque of this operating point.
Similar to my construction of the LWT12 the batteries are stored in lowered trays which will lead to a rather low center of gravity.

4/13/2012

Aerotrain's LWT12 - finally some kind of sound

Suffering diffculties with the public getting of the tracks I have mounted signal horns. Not the usual small electric horns of a car, but compressor-driven horns of a truck (ok, only a two-chime horn - should be a three-chime, I know). The horns are 15" and 12" long, with an almost prototypical low frequency sound (in comparison to the usual small car-horns).
The horns and the compressor are mounted in the rear of the shell's frame where the prototype's radiator would be.


View from downside of the shell with the compressor next to the horns - the system will act either as a melodical horn or produce two tones simultaneously (the option which I have chosen/wired).