DalaGStanator's Customs, Mods and Experiments

DalaGStanator · 2021-06-25T04:24:49+00:00

This thread has been long overdue, even though I posted in WDYDTYTT more than [redacted] did before starting her own thread. I was also initially reluctant t...

Super

I really like your character work LaG, a real talent. 👍

DalaGStanator

Added a paper version of the Big One rocket in the same diameter as the markers mentioned in Woody’s post. Tried to make it light enough to prevent RC from tipping backwards with both Buzz and the rocket, hence why there are no supports or filling inside it. The nose cone is the wrong shape and the fins look a bit longer than they should be, but it still looks the part. Although I knew they wouldn’t be fully visible under the “tape”, I painted the full name and recreated the warning label. While not pictured, a thick wire was also glued at the bottom and painted green for the fuse.

Part of the reason why I made the wings detachable when I realised he didn’t open them until he was airborne. Adding fasteners rather than pegs and holes meant I could swap them out for the Big One and vice versa with ease. The “tape” is actually rubber strips glued to themselves and the rocket - leftovers of the inner tube piece I cut out for caterpillar tracks - with fasteners glued to the upper tips to latch onto the ones on Buzz. Even though his arms don’t move and are positioned very close to the body, I still managed to pass the lower strips behind them without damage. The rocket is more proportionate in height than it looks, but the fastener idea with the harness made it too low when “strapped” to him.

While Buzz and the rocket fit on RC at a good angle (and the antenna supports him in addition to the spoiler), Woody would still have to be modified to sit. Recreating the moving van chase with a childhood plastic 1:32 scale (?) lorry:

Even compared to that, they still look nearly “human sized” and not their respective sizes compared to real life vehicles in the films. A large Scania logo on the side door was hastily covered with an anti-slip mat piece taped to the goods compartment for the shot.

DalaGStanator

In the lead-up to Hanukkah (and during the holiday), one retailer in particular always starts selling these metal discs as candle holders for menorahs. I’ve been eyeing them since (about) late 2021 as a means of making more reliable wheels and other round parts for my customs, but only just decided to get a bag and see if they’re good for the uses I had in mind. One thing I like about them is the depth on the other side, which looks good if used as a rim for a rubber-tyred wheel; shown here using a hook fastener taped around it as a tyre. It also makes them better than the wick sustainers, which are too flat and can’t really be glued/soldered together without cutting off the protruding tips. So far, my only issue with them is the holes are too big for most objects I can use as axles or bearings. My fuse beads would have to be sanded down to fit in them and my only options for axles are thick skewers or cotton buds. Otherwise, they’re even wobblier than Plarail wheels and will often get wonky even if it’s a very tight fit. However, they have one property that really caught me by surprise and should be of great use to me.

I was wondering if they might be conductive since they appear to be steel, so I hooked them up to a 3V battery pack and held an incandescent light bulb against them. Sure enough, they are. Seeing this led me - no pun intended - to revisit one of my older ideas and (finally) try it in practice, although not with the exact method I wanted.

I put together a small cardboard bogie with these metal wheels and (crudely) electrified a Plarail R-01 by coating the rails with aluminium foil; making sure to wrap it over the outer sides for the alligator clips to make contact. Since I didn’t have metal rods for the axles and therefore couldn’t use collars, the pickups had to be the (should be) outdated wiper type that scrapes against the conductive wheels. I then taped another incandescent bulb over the wipers, and it actually worked. Any other (suitable) component I’d try could also be powered this way, though I’d much rather use metal axles with collars for obvious reasons; along with pickups on other parts of track-powered vehicles. I’d also like to figure out how to do the opposite, i.e. a unit with contacts wired to its on-board batteries to activate features by closing circuits on unpowered track. Demo

I’m amazed it worked how I expected and can’t wait to try other designs, especially when it comes to powering other components like drive, door or smoke motors. Any further experiments will be done with temporary cardboard track to prevent damage to Plarail parts in case of failure (despite the low voltage).

DalaGStanator

Updated Buzz Lightyear by sculpting a more accurate head, painting the gap over the waist, repainting the green parts on the wings and doing the same for the buttons so they no longer blend in with the chest plate. I did this by priming them in acrylic white (on a toothpick) and reapplying the paint with markers, with yellow-over-green for the wings to paint the lining more precisely. However…

…the WIP head shown in the first photo mysteriously vanished after I applied the “skin” tone and had to be replaced with this one, which turned out (far) less accurate but more proportionate in size. Having run out of acrylic blue to mix again for the purple, I painted the head covering with a purple marker instead. Now that his bloated chin has been recreated, I had more room to include that strange twirl I never knew what to call.

Update:

The V2 head has been found in a tiny wooden box it had (apparently) fallen into, so I decided to finish painting and detailing it. Even though it was the most accurate of the three, the weird-looking (current) version has kind of “grown on me” and I don’t think I’ll replace it anymore. Even so, the eyes still look too far apart and I should’ve sculpted a new layer above them to paint the eyebrows on.

Super

Nice head work LaG 👍

DalaGStanator

Tried two other pickup methods for the conductive metal wheels to see which would work better (for me) than the wipers. As an interim solution, I coated thinner wooden skewers with foil in a way that made contact with the wheels and made sure to insulate one side on each axle with paper discs; for increased safety, the insulated side on the other axle was also exposed in addition to the paper disc since only one side had to conduct power. Once I had the foil-coated axles prepared, I made a new frame with two additional foil strips in the middle that made contact with the axles like the collars would. Obviously had to make sure they were loose enough so they wouldn’t spin with them.

This better method - likely the best one so far - uses the metal brackets I once found and used for a bogie frame (and later traced in cardboard), which also happen to be conductive even though they were originally inside an ‘80s microwave oven. Inspiration came from Self Crafts’ track-powered train, where the side frames on the loco’s power bogie (not the driven one) also double as pickups. One advantage to the loose wheels is they always “lean” against the frames, ensuring good contact at all times. They don’t have to be insulated and all of them conduct power without causing friction or risking a short circuit. I then made a cardboard straight with metal zip ties in the rails (not glued or fastened) and performed the same test I did with the electrified R-01. Demos: placed, pushed

Before trying the other two methods, I improved the wipers on the first bogie by rolling the foil into “wires” and gluing them in the same spots (albeit behind the wheels and not over them). However, the superglue made them partially insulated and it took several tries to get them to make contact and power the light; even then, mild pressure still had to be applied for it to work. Updated demo

Super

Wow…amazing creativity LaG 👍

DalaGStanator

All of this year’s customs, including the (updated) large scale Roger & Jessica Rabbit I dedicated to Gary K. Wolf - the only ones I didn’t show here in full detail or progress, instead linking to his Facebook posts featuring them. I guess I could call this the “Year of the Anniversaries” as two of these projects were made to commemorate milestones for big franchises, while a third one was for a personal one of mine; leading to more IP-based customs than original/generic ones. Still a much nicer amount than I had yesteryear. Also added one of the 1:50 scale figures (near the micro Plarail set) to show that was when I bought and started using them. Almost added the test chassis with the coupling rod, the conductive wheel bogies and the cardboard “platform” I used to try them, only to leave them out because they fell under “experiments”.

Super

Nice collection of your workings LaG…Happy New Year!

DalaGStanator

Second time I started with an experiment involving magnets for other forms of movement. Inspired by the TomyTrain action accessories with magnetised figures like the 1316 Inter-City Station with the escalator and platform, I’m interested in the idea of a train that would use magnets to drag passengers into a coach by extending and retracting an arm under the platform so they’d appear to board it (and actually stand up on a magnetised floor while in motion); somewhat like how wheelchair lifts or ramps are deployed on accessible vehicles. Alternatively, the mechanism could be installed under the platform and move the figures to the edge. I don’t think anyone’s ever tried this concept before, so getting it to work at “approx. O” scale would be incredible; if practical or possible to begin with.

For the first proof-of-concept - initially without the mech - I Blu-Tacked one of the 1:50 scale figures to a tiny piece of metal (presumably brass) and moved him around the same way I tried to move vehicles three years ago. No, that demo is not stop motion. I then tried moving the magnets near him as if they were a coach floor and found they were strong enough to make him “jump” onto them, so I proceeded to build a partial test car with a magnetic floor and repeated the test with a temporary platform. Right under one “set of doors”, I attached one extra magnet in lieu of the mechanism to reach him so he could “walk” towards it. He almost managed to board it but (initially) couldn’t get past where the protruding magnet was, even after I rebuilt the floor so the magnets would be on the bottom (and thus more level with the platform). However, I got the best result by simply turning the car and attaching the magnet at the other end. The last three demos were filmed in slow motion mode so he could look a bit more believable. One problem with the cheap magnets I used is that only specific portions of them attract or repel and not the whole surfaces, which could’ve been one reason why it didn’t work properly before. I currently only have access to ‘one’ of my previous, smaller round ones, which will likely be more suitable because they’re “fully” magnetic. I’m also unsure how to incorporate the mech in the car instead of the platform and don’t have a gear motor to power it slowly and strongly enough; ideally an N20. Still hoping I could bring this concept to life and perhaps even inspire other versions of it if it works well enough for me.

Super

Look forward to seeing more of this LaG 👍

DalaGStanator

Made a proper platform to try the idea in practice, making sure the side facing the track would be hollow to leave room for the arm as depicted. Only added supports at the ends because it wouldn’t have to reach those. I then tacked one of the smaller magnets to a leftover strip and moved it to stand in for the mech, and it seems it might work how it should. Now I’ll just have to decide how to motorise it and whether to use a rack-and-pinion, Scotch yoke or simple connecting rod. The blue Stroudley-like coach wasn’t modified to be compatible with the platform or experiment and the gap is kind of exaggerated, so it’s only there for illustration. It also had to be raised with caps so I could push and pull the magnet(s) under it due to its chassis design (and because it’s for track with raised rails and not “like Plarail”). One other challenge will be to prevent the arm from “sticking” to the magnetised floor when retracted, while also allowing the figures to detach from it once they’re close to the train (without additional electronics). Might try using some neodymiums in conjunction with the current magnets.

Unrelated: I received this USB powered charger for lithium ion cells, which will (finally) allow me to use 18650s for high voltage applications without disposing of them when they’re perfectly functional and safe to use; again, like track power, locos with smoke units or a big area of a layout with several electronic functions (e.g. an amusement park, leisure centre or video arcade). A bit like my battery tester, the terminals can be adjusted to charge cells of five other types I’m not too familiar with.

Densha

Ah magnets! They do have a habit of sticking to things they are not meant to.

As for the batteries, I do agree that it is a shame that one is expected to discard a whole power-tool battery because the battery manager board or just one cell develops a fault. I single 18650 lithium cell will drive a model for hours. I have dismantled two Aldi batteries and recovered nine good cells. You can find cheap voltage converter boards smaller than a postage stamp that will give up to 12volts for models that need more than 3.7 to 4 volts.

DalaGStanator

Tried using a Scotch yoke for the arm mech and built a bigger test car to incorporate it as part of the floor. To reduce friction, the arm is a wooden stick and not a cardboard strip like in the initial tests. While it does function correctly and even “waits” a little before coming out again, it should’ve been restricted a bit more and was also tricky to integrate (though the full wheel has since been replaced with a crank). It would likely get stuck between the rails or sleepers on “realistic” (raised) track and sticks out even when retracted, so I’ll look for a better method to use on an actual model. On the plus side: having the yoke underneath means I could replace the top fastener with a gear and motorise it directly, or even build another such mech with a second motor for the other end so the passengers could “board” from both doors on one side or simultaneously “alight” from the other (if there are two platforms).

Update:

Purchased three (surprisingly well-priced) 8x and 10x packs of neodymium magnets in two different sizes to repeat the experiment with them and see how much of a difference they’ll make. Perhaps if the neodymiums would be under the floor while the arm would still use the weaker dark grey magnet(s), it might make the floor strong enough to detach the figures from the arm; that said, the platform would have to be brought closer to the track so the (third) test car would line up for it to work.

Super

Very interesting LaG, have you been to engineering school as your mind seems to indicate a talent for it.

DalaGStanator

Having already made sliding doors work (manually) on a van three years ago, my next logical step was to figure out how to motorise them. Seeing DanCreator’s large scale passenger train with motorised doors (along with many other designs powered by gear motors) led me to build a small room/compartment with a rack-and-pinion mech that combined my previous upper rail method with the bottom groove I initially removed on the van. The rack on top of this door is a zip tie, which wasn’t the first time I realised they could be used for that; albeit only with small gears due to how shallow the toothed side is. I now have some good metal rods I could use instead of toothpicks and skewers where more durability is needed, so I used one here for the upper rail. Another zip tie (with the teeth facing down) was glued where the door slides to prevent friction, and an outer wall was glued to the groove to hide it when it’s “open”. On a coach (as opposed to a building), I’d more likely opt for guide bars along the top so the floor could be flat enough to use the magnetised figure idea. Demos: exterior (unattached gear); interior (unattached gear); exterior (attached gear)

DalaGStanator

As a little side project, I harvested more electronics and other components from another batch of childhood vehicles for potential customs last month. Two of them were cosmetically restored to add missing and additional details they didn’t have since I chose to keep them assembled, only without the components I wanted.

This big black friction powered car (which later turned out to be a BMW Compact) had a broken roof and cracked axle gear, so I removed the friction motor and kept the rear axle in place without it; initially tried hot gluing fuse bead bearings to the chassis, but they broke off and had to be replaced with wooden sticks and cardboard inserts. The new roof was made of cardboard, only for the middle to be replaced with a clear plastic sheet painted black on one side to blend in with the body. For the wing mirrors, I heat-joined fuse beads on a pegboard with masking tape and a soldering iron to make them consistent on both sides; first time I tried using this technique to make actual parts for anything. Like the foil strips on my wooden lorry’s mirrors, they have reflective tape on the inside. Neither the tail lights nor the indicators were painted and there was no brake light, so I painted those with markers and made the latter out of clear plastic. Other external details included matchstick wipers (front and rear), a more pronounced fuel door and a toothpick antenna.

The interior was originally chrome silver except for the steering wheel, so I repainted it black and grey with enhanced detail such as dashboard instruments, painted buttons, a glove compartment, floor mats, pedals and an indicator/wiper handle. The inner walls and ceiling of the shell were painted light grey to make the interior visible again.

I only managed to make out the name “Compact” on the chassis after I finished restoring, so the new details are likely inaccurate since they were largely freelanced.

There was also a bump ’n go helicopter that had a “ton” of gears in it and a transparent fuselage to show them spinning as it moved. After removing all the workings, I added a cardboard cockpit that (nearly) matched the colour scheme and glued in two bus passengers as pilots; with the heads cheaply repainted to look like they’re wearing helmets and visors. It was notably missing the main rotor, so I fashioned a custom one with a cardboard hub and wooden blades. I originally wanted to fit the rotor to a simple shaft so it could spin loosely, but got a better idea when I found another friction motor similar to the one from the BMW with a bigger flywheel. Using a heat shrink tube and a compatible axle, I extended one end of the shaft so it could reach the top and fitted the rotor (somewhat loosely) without gluing it on; that allowed it to spin faster than the axle’s actual speed, as well as (unintentionally) making it stop when encountering resistance without stopping the rest. The bottom end has a wheel from the car the motor came from to help spin it from underneath, either while holding or by pushing/pulling the heli diagonally (not forwards or backwards) on the ground.

Bonus:

The (currently fictional) Israeli tail number I added (4X-YYO) is a reference to the initials of our names.

Super

I am liking that Chopper and wow, that sure was a lot of gears in there. Bet you save them all for future repurposing.

DalaGStanator

Among the childhood vehicles was a 1998 Shelcore Shakin’ Tractor - in purple, green and orange with Bruin the Bear - that had these great traction tyres that could make pretty good gear racks (and a few other curious components). All that length was just one tyre straightened out since I didn’t want to trim them yet. While reverse-engineering the sliding bars DanCreator used for the aforementioned doors, I noticed they had a peg in each groove to prevent them from falling/moving in other directions; two pegs here since I only made one groove. Now I’ll just have to find how to scale it down and motorise it slowly enough, but it worked fairly well. Hot gluing one of them to the bar was also tricky despite the higher temperature I used.

Another try at a custom gearbox, now modelled after the common yellow ones (a blue variant with metal gears also exists). The bump ’n go helicopter used three-four different sizes of crown gears, one of the main types I didn’t have many of until now. While a bit underpowered and too fast for me, it nearly had good resistance and the dimensions were (understandably) similar to the “real” gear motors. Wondering if a worm gear on the crown instead of the spur might help reduce the output speed for the time being. Had the compound gear on the other side of the motor been big enough to mesh with both ends of the big one(s), it would’ve likely been more powerful. Note: the big coloured gears from the heli have bigger and fewer teeth and can’t mesh with other parts I currently have, unless I could mould and cast them or 3D pen custom new parts (since they’re easier to trace).

Speaking of high torque: this is the L-shaped gearbox/“drive unit” from the same tractor. Amusingly, the gear train and the way it’s powered are (pretty much) identical to the friction gearboxes I motorised for cardboard trains and an unfinished transfer table. The motor also happens to be a dual-shaft, though the other end was unused when assembled. Since it came from a baby toy, the wheels were exceptionally robust and fitted as tightly as possible; they were so difficult to remove I had to melt them off with a soldering iron. Apart from passing my 190 gram test from 2023, it was also able to lift the bell in addition to pulling it. My main problem with it is its size and shape as it’s too big for most other vehicles, though it would be great for buildings with motorised functions like a lift, escalator, windmill, crane, etc.. I unfortunately also cracked part of the drive gear, possibly when I bent the axle while trying to remove the wheels.

Super

You sure are good at gear boxing LaG

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