37lover Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 I have posted this in the General section as I think it could be useful for both DC and DCC systems. I'm going to describe how I've fitted internal lighting to one of the Pullman coaches that is in the GWR Western Pullman set R1077.This first post will describe, in text, what I did and then I'll post again with photos which will be held by moderators and so probably will not show until Monday.These coach bodies are held only by four clips, one in each corner. Undo by sliding a thin screwdriver and lever the body away from the chassis. Pull the roof off and then pull the white plastic shell out from inside the roof. This shell forms the seats, coach floor and partitions.I sprayed the shell with grey primer, painted the floor with black matt and then stippled a random red pattern over the black. Seats were painted medium blue, tables white. You have to look closely to see any of these colours! The gold coloured table lamps can be pulled out with small pliers before spraying and refitted later. The tops of the partitions fit snug to the roof so I cut shallow recesses to allow the LED strips to run the length of the coach, I also cut out the tops of the end sections [will be clear when you to see a photo].I fitted two phospur bronze strips to one bogie [i used Slater's Ref:1220 which has enough in the pack to do 15 wagons]. The bogie has small strengthening gussets and I cut away a small piece of the gusset and epoxied two small offcuts of H section plastistrut either side of the gusset. This was to provide a flat bearing so I could glue the strips. Each strip was 49mm long and I soldered a short piece of 10/0.2 equipment wire to the middle of the strip, the strips were bent to what I think is called a compound curve! See a compound bow?A drilled a small hole through the bogie for the two wires but before fitting the strips/wires I temporarily placed the bogie on the chassis and drilled up through the bogie hole to mark the chassis. I then cut a curved slot in the chassis corresponding to how much I thought the bogie would swing going around my layout [no first degree curves].I glued a 1.5A 50V bridge rectifier on the upper surface at the end of the chassis. A point to note; the shell and roof only fit one way, they cannot be rotated 180 degrees - check and double check you're cutting and gluing at the right end! After fitting the bogie I soldered the two wires to the AC terminals of the bridge, covering all bare wire with heat shrink.I didn't want to have the lights on all the time so I have fitted a small single pole slide switch under the chassis, I actually cut a slot in the shell floor [spoiling the exquisitely finished carpet] but now know if I pack the switch lower by only 2mm the terminals will not come through the shell floor. So you can guess I fitted the switch and connected to the positive bridge output and then ran a wire to go up to the roof and inserted a 10K resistor in line. Some may think that's a bit high but I don't like the lights too "in your face".I had to grind away some of the shell to make a route for the wires to & fro the bridge and switch. Wires are sandwiched between the top of the chassis and underside of the shell.Nearly finished... I've got some of those self adhesive LED strips which I think are great products, I've already fitted to several buildings on my layout. Mine are warm white 3528 and have inbuilt resistors for a 12V supply, the individual led's are at about 17mm centres and can be cut in groups of three. As I just said I added an extra resistor to dull them down. Unfortunately the coach roof has a [female] tube protruding down about midway along the coach that fits to a [male] tube fixed to the chassis to help keep everything aligned. This meant I couldn't run a single length of LED strip and had to rig up a bypass around the tube(s). After I had prepared the LED strip I soldered to the two wires coming out of the shell top, exposed the sticky back, fixed to the roof and assembled the coach. Now busy doing my remaining six coaches, only three came with the original set but a rake of three doesn't look right - not that I'm a rivet counter, far from it.Dinner time, will try and load some photos later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 8, 2015 Share Posted March 8, 2015 Familiar story (and problems) - look forward to the pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 A few photosTop view of bogie/media/tinymce_upload/Top_view_bogie.JPGBottom of bogie; you can see the white pieces of H section then the phosphur bronze strips all fixed with epxoy. Strips need to be adjusted for pressure on the wheels, a bit of black paint will make it look a lot better./media/tinymce_upload/Bottom_of_bogie.JPGChassis and bridge; wires looped to offer more flexibility. slot for switch on far right [LED strip in background]/media/tinymce_upload/Chassis_bridge.JPG Chassis & switch, you can see the extra resistor too/media/tinymce_upload/Chassis_switch.JPG Close up of notched shell bottom. The switch position is above the "2015" part of the date stamp. The two faint grey marks, just to the right of the black/red wires are where I've almost ground through the floor./media/tinymce_upload/Close_up_of_notched_shell.JPGPainted shell; apologies for the poor colour representation, colours really are much better! This shows the rebates and slots cut into partitions for the wires and LED strips./media/tinymce_upload/Painted_shell_with_recesses.JPG LED strips; all ready for assembly. The 2mm dia bolts holding the switch can be seen sticking down under the chassis, I might try and cut them but at the very least I'll paint them black./media/tinymce_upload/LED_strips.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 And finally a couple of the finished coach with happy passengers./media/tinymce_upload/finished1.JPG /media/tinymce_upload/finished2.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted March 8, 2015 Author Share Posted March 8, 2015 Familiar story (and problems) - look forward to the pictures.Just loaded the pictures; should be approved tomorrow, but probably well after your breakfast and even lunch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted March 9, 2015 Author Share Posted March 9, 2015 Admin,I appreciate you're busy chap but is there any reason why my photos haven't loaded yet? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wobblinwheel Posted March 9, 2015 Share Posted March 9, 2015 Admin,I appreciate you're busy chap but is there any reason why my photos haven't loaded yet?I posted photos yesterday and today. Nothing yet..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 @ 37LFunny thing is when the pictures do come in they slot in where/when they were posted in timescale so all the comments afterwards seem to be a bit silly in relation.Anyhow - nice result. I like the rotary thinking to get around the middle post obstruction.You bogie mod is almost identical to my first one for phosphor bronze strips - mine were old loco ones soldered to bent brass brackets which were screwed down instead of glued to H strip like yours. The later ones being power clip fingers.I also drilled a hole in the bogie of one coach type, but another bogie type had handy holes either side of the pivot post.I then used that first hole to drill up into the chassis, swinging the bogie full travel each way. Then I slotted between these 2 new holes from topside for the wires.I'll post some more of mine shortly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted March 10, 2015 Share Posted March 10, 2015 Pictures of how I installed some led coach lighting. IKEA led light bar notched into coach seating insert and wires fed down to bogie./media/tinymce_upload/photo_6.JPG Chassis slotted for bogie range of movement. Bogie already has feed holes for the wires./media/tinymce_upload/photo_71.JPG Old loco wipers trimmed and soldered to brass angle brackets. Next version will have proper folded all phosphor branze ones./media/tinymce_upload/photo_91.JPG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
W Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 What is the Metal brushes called what you've used to go on the wheels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted November 8, 2020 Share Posted November 8, 2020 What is the Metal brushes called what you've used to go on the wheels Strange W that you have dredged up a five year old post to pose your question, which alerts my radar. I would have expected a first poster to have raised a new topic. To answer your question the metal strips are phosphor bronze (a springy metal that conducts electricity well) and the strips when put in place are called wheel wiper pickups.A simple way to arrange track power to a coach is to use Hornby X9096 wheels which are live to the axle on one side and ESU or DCC Concepts coach lighting pickups. /media/tinymce_upload/2b807debcd91338dc37ffa70692a4875.png Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robcat Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 HiI know this is an old post but I have just discovered it!I am trying to do the same to my pullman coaches, the trouble is none of your photos appear anywhere in the text.Can you help please? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brew Man Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Yes, unfortunately most if not all of the pictures disappeared during a forum upgrade a year or so ago. By all accounts Hornby is working on trying to get them back, though we've yet to see any evidence of that. I am sure someone will be along to advise re. the coach lighting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted October 31, 2022 Author Share Posted October 31, 2022 Robcat,As you will recognise I am the original poster, and as you state it is an old post! I don't think I still have the photographs but will check later [as I have to go out right now]. I've still got the coaches. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 If 37lover finds his pictures so much the better, as they will go with his original posting.I have not put lighting into Pullman coaches, bu these two pictures show a Hornby coach to which I added lighting.The wheel contacts are from DCC Concepts, to which the wires are soldered and then run through a hole in the bogie which corresponded with a hole/slot in the carriage floor. I placed a resistor between one power contact and the LED lighting. The LED lighting was cut from a five metre strip (12v) bought on ebay and stuck along the carriage roof. As did 37lover, I painted the interior of the carriage body - you will get light bleed through the bodywork in most cases. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atom3624 Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Probably mentioned earlier, but be careful and mindful of the extra drag wheel contacts / pickups can create. Any 'easy 8-coach rake' can become a possible 5-coach rake.Some of the better ones with minimal additional rolling resistance use the pin point bearing sockets as the contacts, but possibly difficult to fit aftermarket.Al. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bulleidboy Posted October 31, 2022 Share Posted October 31, 2022 Another method that worked well - although I only added it to one coach, was the Layouts4U coach lighting kit (cost £6). The consists of a LED strip, battery holder and battery (2032?) and a latching reed switch. It all goes inside the carriage, with,in my case, the latching reed switch attached to the roof of the carriage. By waving a magnet over the carriage you turn the lights either off or on. I attached a magnet just inside the top of the tunnel portal which is the exit/entrance to the fiddle yard. When this carriage enters the tunnel the lights go on, and when it returns they are turned off. Obviously by waving a hand held magnet over the carriage you can turn the lights off or on whenever you like. It's almost the same as the Hornby Maglite system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted October 31, 2022 Author Share Posted October 31, 2022 Robcat,Unfortunately I cannot find any of the original photos, I am reasonably confident that I did upload but have no faith in Hornby ever recovering despite their claim that they are working hard. Sorry but I don't want to take a coach apart to take another set of pictures, hopefully the text will give you sufficient guidance if you wish to proceed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robcat Posted November 2, 2022 Share Posted November 2, 2022 Thanks for that 37lover.Your text descriptions are excellent, thank you.I have fitted lights to GWR carriage using the Layouts4U coach lighting, and very impressive they are , and am planning to use the same system on the Hornby Pullmans. the 3v battery I have located externally under the carriage framing floor to make it easier to change batteries. It was mainly the interior colours I was after plus how to get round the central locating column. I can cut the LED strip and bypass wire around the column ok but this large pillar will show up when carriage is lit. I thought of surrounding it with a painted wooden square tube and gluing on door pictures on each side to represent a sliding door partition divider between seats. The rest could be painted as you suggest for seats and carpet.I have found some interior colour pictures of the real thing but seeing how someone else has tackled models is very helpful. How did you disguise the central pillar ?Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
37lover Posted November 2, 2022 Author Share Posted November 2, 2022 Robcat,I didn't! I did fit passengers and they help with the overall impression but unless I am viewing from only a couple of inches I would never notice the central pillar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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