Arnold-Rapido FA2 Resurrection

[nkalanaga]

Spookshow:  Thank you for confirming that Minitrix did have lighted Fs.  Like I said, I never saw one, although the U28C and FM that I bought had lights.  The FM is still in service, switching my coal company.

Scaro:  Quite a few locos, not just PC, in the Northeast had protective screens over the windows.  Thrown objects were a major hazard in the 60s and 70s.  They may still be, but if so, they don't make the news.  Windows are also made of tougher materials today.

[scaro]

You do have a point there, IIRC, they listed a GP unit I looked at as having a max speed of 800 mph.

Arnold's N scale GPs did go about that fast.

[tlaswell]

Thrown objects were a major hazard in the 60s and 70s.  They may still be, but if so, they don't make the news.  Windows are also made of tougher materials today.

Well there was that one incident where an engineer was discussing thrown objects and forgot to slow down for a curve in the Northeast Corridor.  But you are right they are tougher.  I remember reading that one reason cabooses aren't used as much is because they had to be retrofitted with bullet proof glass to meet new guidelines.

[nickelplate759]

Decided to add a headlight.  Not really part of the resurrection, but I couldn't resist.
It's an LED from an old Kato E8 light board, filed down a bit, and mounted in a styrene strip, and is being painted to keep light out of the cab.  First coat is white, then I will follow with black and wire it up.
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[nkalanaga]

I wouldn't be surprised if yours is the first to have an LED.  I'm not sure they were available as consumer products when the loco was introduced...

[Doug G.]

There were LED's commercially available then but they were just the standard 3/16" round, dome-top type (I have forgotten the official type designations), just red and green.

Doug

[peteski]

There were LED's commercially available then but they were just the standard 3/16" round, dome-top type (I have forgotten the official type designations), just red and green.

Doug

Yeah, the ubiquitous resin-case 5mm diameter (T-1/4 size) LEDs were around since at least sometime in the '70s.  At least that is when I first encountered them. The LED die was also packaged in other types of packaging, Like a TO-18 metal transistor case with a resin dome instead of a metal can, and few smaller packages.  But like Doug said, those were limited to red, green, and amber colors. They were also relatively inefficient (dim).

Blue LEDs became commercially available in the '90s in the standard 5mm packages, but were very expensive and again, not very bright.  Not long after that, white LEDs (based on the blue LED die with phosphor coating) became available shortly after blue LEDs. I remember paying around $10 for a single blue LED from Digikey!  The small SMD LEDs started becoming widely available in the '90s, but were still fairly large.

[nickelplate759]

Never mind the LED - remember I'm putting DCC in this little beastie (that's next)!

As a tease, I've ordered both of these decal sets - I still haven't decided which one I'll go with....

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[Doug G.]

I have a set of Microscale PC decals and used some of them on my Treble-O-Lectric F7 I painted in the black/white scheme. They sure are good decals. Tough and the decal film is barely visible even before overcoating.

Doug

[nkalanaga]

I know T-1/4 LEDs were around in 1974, as I bought a few that year, for high school electronics class.  Radio Shack didn't have any special signs on them, so they were probably not a new item. 

[peteski]

I know T-1/4 LEDs were around in 1974, as I bought a few that year, for high school electronics class.  Radio Shack didn't have any special signs on them, so they were probably not a new item.

You are correct.  From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-emitting_diode

The first commercial LEDs were commonly used as replacements for incandescent and neon indicator lamps, and in seven-segment displays, first in expensive equipment such as laboratory and electronics test equipment, then later in such appliances as TVs, radios, telephones, calculators, as well as watches (see list of signal uses). Until 1968, visible and infrared LEDs were extremely costly, in the order of US$200 per unit, and so had little practical use. The Monsanto Company was the first organization to mass-produce visible LEDs, using gallium arsenide phosphide (GaAsP) in 1968 to produce red LEDs suitable for indicators. Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduced LEDs in 1968, initially using GaAsP supplied by Monsanto. These red LEDs were bright enough only for use as indicators, as the light output was not enough to illuminate an area.

But I never heard of a T-1/4 size LED.  That would be really tiny! The "T" nomenclature is inherited from incandescent bulb sizes.  "T" means tubular shape, and the relates to the diameter of the bulb in eighths of an inch.  T-1 (3mm) LED is 1/8" in diameter, and T-1 3/4 is one and three quarters eights of an inch (silly nomenclature if you ask me), or 5mm in diameter.

Sorry George! 

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Continuing on this tangent... It's really amazing how total the LED revolution has been. Virtually every light source has now changed over. One of the first commercial applications of blue LEDs was police light bars. Back in 2005 when I was new, my department was just starting to purchase new cruisers with these light bars. At the time, they were the same size as strobe bars because takedown and alley lights were still incandescent. I think the cost difference on our Whelen units was $5-600 for the strobe and $2000 for LED.

The LED units required much less power. Enough so the alternator could be smaller. You could actuality operate the car without it idling. Companies were still working out some issues... I remember one flash combination was removed because the red and blue LEDs would flash together and appear purple from a short distance away.

Lights, radios and prisoner shields are recycled regularly from cruiser to cruiser. While the first generation of LED bars are no longer being used, a lot of the second generation are. But the newer ones are so inexpensive, they too are becoming disposable.

Back to topic.... You know what this engine really needs? A Roco FA stable mate.

[nickelplate759]

...
Back to topic.... You know what this engine really needs? A Roco FA stable mate.

Funny, I've got one of those in a box too.  Somehow I don't have the same affection for it though.

I wired the whole thing up last night (LED and DCC), and then realized that I ran the LED-to-decoder wiring where it interferes with frame mounting in the body. 

Gotta rip it out and try (just the LED wiring part) again, as I don't really want to take a Dremel to the body casting.

[daniel_leavitt2000]

Funny, I've got one of those in a box too.  Somehow I don't have the same affection for it though.

I wired the whole thing up last night (LED and DCC), and then realized that I ran the LED-to-decoder wiring where it interferes with frame mounting in the body. 

Gotta rip it out and try (just the LED wiring part) again, as I don't really want to take a Dremel to the body casting.

I always thought of the Roco as the better model, but the Arnold was more innovative. With the MTL pilot, the Roco model can look good. But that mechanism. Arnold's was just plain cool.

If you decide to work on that Roco model, this would make a great paint scheme. It would even compliment the one you are already doing:
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/5/1/5/8515.1228678283.jpg

[nickelplate759]

I always thought of the Roco as the better model, but the Arnold was more innovative. With the MTL pilot, the Roco model can look good. But that mechanism. Arnold's was just plain cool.

If you decide to work on that Roco model, this would make a great paint scheme. It would even compliment the one you are already doing:
http://www.railpictures.net/images/d1/5/1/5/8515.1228678283.jpg

Also, the Arnold model will pull a moose, whereas the Roco model can barely pull a mouse (the add-on traction kit - traction tires and weights - helps quite a bit).
But mostly, the Arnold was my first  ...

I don't recall saying (much less deciding) which paint scheme I was doing - clever that you assumed PC!
I didn't know any FB2s made it into PC paint (ex. NH I presume?)