I am in the process of converting a couple of my locomotives to RC battery power to use on our Camden & Mount Holly Railroad. The most recent project involved a small G scale Bachmann Davenport 0-4-0 gas-mechanical engine.
By removing the loco's existing circuit board (no longer needed) along with a couple of the weight segments, I was able to create enough space inside the engine compartment to hold the new motor drive circuit board, sound card, and speaker. The RC receiver was mounted inside the cab to the underside of the roof using velcro.
The Davenport is fairly small and I was unable to find suitable space for the battery inside the loco itself. This left the task of providing an alternate home for the battery pack in another piece of rolling stock (a "trailer car").
The Davenport will be used to switch a variety of cars including some smaller industrial cars. So instead of using a full size box car or gondola for the Davenport's battery trailer car, I decided to kitbash a smaller car and assign it permanently to the Davenport.
The trailer car started out as an HLW mini series gondola kit. The hook and loop coupler mountings were modified to accept Bachmann knuckle couplers to match the Davenport. Metal wheels were installed in place of the plastic wheels provided in the HLW kit.
A roof was added along with some simulated side access doors and rear platform with red lights. The car was painted to closely match the Davenport's yellow paint scheme. The battery pack along with a fuse, on/off switch, charging jack, and cable to connect to the loco were installed inside the trailer car to complete the project.
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Davenport 1.jpg [ 178.73 KiB | Viewed 26688 times ]
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Davenport 2.jpg [ 204.22 KiB | Viewed 26688 times ]
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