AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 HO scale locomotive

AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 HO scale locomotive

Total Rebuild

After doing the Tenshodo SD24, I finally gained the skills necessary to revisit the AHM Krauss Maffei ML-4000 project that I started about 5 years ago.

When I started the project I found it simple to disassemble and strip all the paint.  The motor is a vertical shaft with a worm that goes down to a set of brass gears inside the rear truck.  Power is picked up from 2 axles on one side in the from, which is the right side and by a single axle on one side in the back.  The way this thing is able to work at all is because of the very heavy weight blocks.  It does run quite smooth in fact.  There are 2 traction tires in the rear.

The trucks are quite detailed with a single piece sideframe and screw on bottom cover.  This is the problem.  There is only 1 wire coming up from the center and to add power pickup was beyond my skill at that time.

Fast forward to the Tenshodo.  I had begun using the Tichy phosphor bronze wire to get more pickup out of the Bachmann and Life-Like trucks which lead to figuring out a way to do the same with the Tenshodo.  That's when I remembered the Krauss Maffei.  Could this method be adapted.  On the front truck, it was simple and a couple quarter inch holes in the frame floor gave plenty of clearance for turning.

Now for the rear truck.  There is a problem in that the motor just floats freely and is held in place with a spring clip.  The floor of the frame has a steel plate which is another obstacle.  Even if those two items are overcome,  2 wheels have traction tires and there is a serious clearance issue with the steel plate and motor in the way.  So let's see what we can do....

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.

Athearn Blue Box DD40 rebuild

Working on the old MP40

The right combination of parts was found with the MP15 cab and base plus an Atlas Trainmaster H24-66 frame and finally the correct height to get the cab to see over the body was achieved.

The dual motors will be upgraded to 2 24 volt rare earth magnet motors which should give a super smooth movement like the high torque 24 volt rare earth magnet motor used in the single motor Athearn Blue Box DD40 that we did on YouTube. 

Athearn Blue Box DD40 Rebuild

Athearn Blue Box DD40 Rebuild

Making my MP40

I've been working on this MP40 for a couple years now.  Lately, I made some 3D printed parts to help me out.

I need better pilots and a better cab stand, so I used a Mecreator 2 to make these basic parts and they turned out pretty decent.

I used PLA to make the parts and found out that PLA is hard to sand.  In the pictures below, you'll find that the surfaces are a bit rough and the accuracy is not that great.

This project is mostly a learning project and not meant to win any contests.  I do have several more DD40's that will build on this concept and their accuracy should be much higher.

The next step from here is to use wood filament rather than PLA.  Parts printed with wood should be much better for finishing.

First up we have an orange box Athearn DD40 dual motor that needs quite a bit of restoration:

A top view of the MP40 Hercules:

 The rear, you can see how the 3D printed parts are very rough and will require quite a bit more work to get right.  Also the air enclosure.  It's big, but rough around the edges:

MP40 Hercules

 The xy milling table, a very handy tool.