Playmobil Diesel transformation

[trammayo]

Very useful info indeed. Following with great interest.

 

[PhilP]

Many thanks for the location of the clips.. You beat me to it. - I was going to ask!

 

[PaulRhB]

Loco at the front is as bought but the one at the rear has the voltage to the motors halved by a diode bridge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yfx...n on transmitter then loco and it's all done.

 

[3Valve]

Loco at the front is as bought but the one at the rear has the voltage to the motors halved by a diode bridge.

What a difference

 

[PaulRhB]

Yes and I'm considering adding another diode bridge to make more use of the steps 3&4, step 1 would then basically just change the lights over. Experiment in progress testing later

 

[PaulRhB]

Ok test 2

Nearest loco has a 4 pair diode bridge, it gives a slightly faster low speed but less Step between the others as there seems to be a big gap between 1&2. Step one now just lights up the direction of travel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfP7Tp82xqk

 

[Steve]

Good work Paul the technician at my work will be busy next week

 

[PaulRhB]

I've revised the diode circuit as I added an extra pair (and there was a typo in the blue text!)
I used QL82D diodes from Maplin on the first one as I had a few and some smaller ones I got from Kevin on the second one, (both give the same drop but the smaller ones are lower current rated which is fine on this model).

 

[PhilP]

<Pedantic>
Blue text should read:
"2, 3 or all (suggest, 'four' instead of all) diode bridges.."
<Pedantic off>

 

[PaulRhB]

If you look at the original it said three but as it was a picture I couldn't add a 4 when I edited it so had to cut and paste or start all over again

 

[Steve]

Thought i would have a go at some rough ideas nothing permanent as yet liked Paul's external ideas and Paul's internal changes .

 

[PaulRhB]

Pimp my Playmobil

 

[Steve]

few more mods -

 

[PaulRhB]

Not finished yet but the lights don't bleed through the bodyshell now

 

[GJFREESTONE]

I noticed when I was running the loco around that any dips in the track would uncouple the wagons ,looking at the coupling closely I found it was about 3mm to high but there was a lip on the top of the coupling which was also 3mm high ,I took the coupling out turned it upside down and cut away some of the plastic at the back and put it back in and it makes all the difference .hope you find this useful .

I have not changed the colour of the loco because the grandkids love it yellow ,but it is a project in progress
Graham Shrewsbury

 

[PaulRhB]

Comparison with finer handrails and I just turned the holes for the chunky ones into release handles for the bonnet panels

 

[Mobi]

How easy (or difficult) to replace the loco's plastic wheels with metal wheels?

 

[dunnyrail]

Having seen Pauls mods, I just wish that I had got my arse into gear when they were cheap at Argos. Will have to hang around till I see a cheepish one at a swop meet, boot sale or somewhere now.
JonD

 

[PaulRhB]

I suspect they'll be on offer again or watch German eBay as I got my second set there which was painless and only cost a couple of quid more. Will probably have these with us at Warley if anyone wants to see them in the flesh. They won't be in service as such unless we have a total power failure but we were running them in the fiddleyard at Wickham and demo'ing them to others

 

[peterexmouth]

Amazon have the set for £69.99 today - price seems to vary considerably over time.
Peter