1969 Majorette Saviem Fuel Truck makeover

I had an old 1969 Saviem fuel truck by Majorette.   The frame was bent and the paint was in rough shape.  All the axles were also bent pretty bad.  So let's see what can be sone...

 Rivet removal with a 4 flute end mill in a milling machine

After black primer, Jokaero Orange with a coating of clear gloss.

 Armypainter Kraken Skin fenders and interior walls followed by Liquid Talent aka...Agrax Earthshade

Some decals I whipped up for another project were perfect, also some lining with a silver sharpie pen.

I like it.

A.C. Gilbert HO scale Alco Diesel DL-600

On the workbench we have a 1957 A.C. Gilbert Alco Diesel in HO scale.

These are the before pictures for this rebuild.  I don't collect them, I find them, fix them and run them.  This locomotive has excellent potential and for being 62 years old it was in very good shape.  It was missing a drive shaft, which was easy to fabricate.  The mechanism is similar to Tenshodo brass.  The plan is to replace the fully functional open frame Pittman motor with a new 24 volt rare earth magnet motor.  The wires will be replaced with silicone wiring.  Since the motor will be isolated, there is no reason this can't be an excellent DCC locomotive.  There is also plenty of space to add big sound to this build.

We'll see what happens... I have yet to see where anyone has rebuilt one of these, though I'm sure they're out there somewhere....

More Athearn Blue Box DD40 rebuild photos

Some more photos of the Athearn Blue Box DD40 rebuilds that are on the workbench....

AHM FM C-Liner Rebuild

The AHM FM C-Liner Rebuild Project

The C-Liner project is coming along nicely.  The much maligned from pilot was cut off and replaced with some tin I bent from an oyster tin.

The B unit is a dummy, but I've made it to pickup power which I plan to distribute through tiny 2 pin connectors to the 2 A units making a lash up that gets power from all 3 units together making for a super reliable set up.  Picking up power from many wheels over a long distance should insure that it never stalls from lack of power.

1976 TYCO Midnight Special

1976 TYCO Midnight Special 50th Anniversary Shark Nose Locomotive

The Alco RF-16 Shark Nose Diesel Locomotive built from 1950-1953 was a 1600 horsepower engine.

TYCO came out with a Shark Nose called the Midnight Special for the 50th Anniversary in 1976.

I rebuilt this model and dressed it up a bit to see how it might look.  Turned out pretty good, runs decent and is equipped with LED lighting.