Tomy Plarail "StationMaster" Limited Super Station - repair

ripley802

Hello everyone. I wanted to make a quick post regarding the station(s) that I recently received from the Japan auctions.

Hoping someone can assist with the translation for the station name as the app to translate is coming up with some weird things that I am assuming are not correct. I did manage to get a few key words hopefully that are in the name like Super and Limited but not sure if those are actually part of the name or maybe just describing.

I had a look last evening at the one that was in worse condition to see if I could get I back to going. I am happy to report it was a success. Basically it needed all 8 battery terminals replaced. Some probably could have been cleaned and re-used but I have plenty now so I put new ones in.

@[deleted]
The signal does work and is kind of nice as the switch beside it allows for Stop (red) off (middle) and Go (green), pretty cool.

I was sort of expecting it to function with sound when releasing the trains but it appears to only have sound when using the buttons, which is fine. I will hopefully get the other one going and make a video in the future.

Here are a few before and afters of the battery terminals.

Before

After

Super

Those are fantastic repairs, so clean and meticulous, like new. You better be careful and start rationing those battery terminals that took you so long to track down as you are down to only about 975 left. 😃 In addition to labeling the wires before removing them do you also take pictures, make detailed drawings or both? How are you smashing the ends of the tiny rivets? This is just excellent, beautiful, professional work Ripley, great job!

Thats strange, I just noticed that from your pictures I don't see the Tomy Logo on the box, just the Plarail. It seemed to me that most all the big boxes I have bought there was an English label for the name of what was inside. Some weren't on the front but found on the sides. If this was just a Plarail release and not with Tomy maybe they didn't do that. Seems to me the name was asked before and was answered by one of our Pro's but I may have this confused with another station.

BTW...what program do you use to combine the four pictures with? Was that in PhotoBucket. I have been trying to do this for a long time but can't figure out if I can do it with the programs I have.

ripley802

Thanks Super. Yes these turned out quite well. Some have not gone as well but over time I have become a bit better at getting them set. I haven't even made a dent in the 1000 terminals I ordered but at this rate I will be through them in no time.. lol. 😃 replacing 8 at a time is a bit much.. I do not typically label the wires bonly make a quick diagram of them but in this case it had a bit more going on so I did both. I will post a pic later on my "chicken scratch" diagram I did. Pictures are a must. In this case I did before, some with labels, then after. The rivets are a bit of a pain to do. I have done some trial and error but recently found a fairly decent way to set them. I will make a new post on this or atleast update here with some pics of the tools I used.

The set I found in the 99-00 catalog but I have yet to be able to translate from there or the box as to what it is called. I agree it may be the age as to why the logo(s) are not there.

I typically make all posts and uploads (except for the catalogs and some others) from my iPhone. I recently (yesterday) found an app called pic stitch which lets you combined multiple photos then export it edit as needed. You can upload straight to various places from there (although I did not see Photobucket initially). There is probably a similar one for a desktop though.

plarnold

Perhaps you can post a picture of the set name as well.

-plarnold

ripley802

Sorry about that. I had a pic in another post then made this one for the repairs but it may help to show the box.. 😃

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And here is the set in the 99-00 Catalog.

Here are some pics of the rivets used along with some tools and my scketch up of the wiring when I did the repair. The black thing at the top of the pic on the right is a tool I am trying out. I took a piece of aluminum from a computer heat sink and cut it down so it would fit snug in the battery terminal area for my TnA repairs but it fit for this repair too. I drilled a few holes and put in the long part of a few screws and epoxied them in. This worked ok but I need to re-do it as it is not very accurate and I damaged a test tender I was trying it on. :dodgy:

Super

That sketch looks pretty good to me and the riveter tools look good to. Can you just place the tool that looks to hold the rivet in a vise (top left) to free up a hand to strike the flare tool or is that how you do it?

This new Jauce listing says "Stationmaster" which rings a bell with me. http://www.jauce.com/auction/o181167543

ripley802

Super wrote
That sketch looks pretty good to me and the riveter tools look good to. Can you just place the tool that looks to hold the rivet in a vise (top left) to free up a hand to strike the flare tool or is that how you do it?

This new Jauce listing says "Stationmaster" which rings a bell with me. http://www.jauce.com/auction/o181167543

Yep, using in a vice is exactly how I have been doing it. Basically starting with the small flare, then using the bigger (rusty color one) and finally using the flat punch to smash it down flat. I have looked into an arbor press and also aiding a drill press , but so far this way has been pretty effective and quick. I would love to be able to use a tool like a clamp/or pliers to just set the rivet that way but have not found a suitable option yet. Most of the plier style do not open wide enough.

Super

We can now add 'Rivet Master' to the growing list of what you have mastered in 🙂

plarnold

"I am a Stationmaster from today too"

-plarnold

ripley802

plarnold wrote
"I am a Stationmaster from today too"

-plarnold

That's the name of the set? Very strange to me, but that was in the translation of the one Suler posted as well.

plarnold

That is the literal translation. A more sensible English name for that set should be "I can be a station master too!"

-plarnold

Super

Thanks Plarnold

ripley802

Updated the photos in this thread. 😃

ThomasBlue

Welp... Here's what I'm working with. Where do I go from here?
It's missing a small piece of the station, but that's no biggie. But how do I get another terminal, or this one, to work?

ripley802

This is what both of mine were like unfortunately too. One still needs to be repaired but the other is fully working now. Replacing the terminals can be a bit of the pain if you do not have all the materials, tools, etc... another option might be to use a battery pack (4 x AA), similar to this:

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F171907069452

From there you would have to wire it into the existing internal witting.

Let me know if that helps of what questions you may have.

ThomasBlue

For now, me and my father are going to try and clean and sober the old piece. Though that other option dose sound like a good back up. The other problem is only having 3/4 roof panels, 4/6 glass panels, and 1/2 small rooftop signs, but hey, it is what it is! XD
Thanks, I hope to have it up and running as soon as I can!

trevor369

i don't even know where to begin commenting here.

@ ripley--- i am always amazed at what some of you can do.
i would never attempt to make repairs like this.
although, i'm not sure exactly what you did, how long it took you to do it, or how difficult it was to do.... it doesn't take a genius to realize talent is talent or work is work, and therefore, passion is passion.
have you or any of you here considered a repair shop for these toys?

ripley802

@trevor
Thank you for the kind words. Yes this one was somewhat challenging. Since mine had 8 terminals that were corroded and needed replaced along with the wiring inside some of which needed replaced. I always carefully observe and take things apart slowly documenting things with pictures to make sure I know what goes where when I go to put it all back together. For the terminals I am likely one (if not the only one) to source replacements from a China. I went to great lengths and browsed hundreds or thousands of battery terminal pics until I found one that was close to perfect. These were mostly for my TnA repairs but they work in several other Plarail items. I found the right size replacement brass rivets along with coming up with a technique that worked to re-rivet the terminals in.

All said, I thourouly love repairing these items. It all started for me with a broken Bash/Dash engine which had a bad motor. I taught myself to repair that one and the rest is history. I do wish I had more time to do this type of thing or other hobbies, but unfortunately work, family, etc... will take priority.

As for a repair shop, I have defiantly wondered about this. I think it would be so cool to have a Brick and Mortar shop with all sorts of Thomas/Tomy/Plarail things both new and old and then offer a service where someone could drop off the items needing repair and the get them fixed up. Also purchasing large lots from Japan in bulk to then fix/repair and resale. :cool:

trevor369

sounds like a plan ripley.

i say go for it! you obviously are very good at it.
as the world gets smaller... your vocation would grow.

i myself tinker with some trains. the face changing ones were always my nemesis.