Cleaning my slow and hot-running Marklin 88483

As mentioned previously, I have two Marklin 88483 'Class 152' locos that were turned into BLS 485 and 486 locos a while back. One runs pretty well, one is quite slow and runs very hot. Not ideal for double heading them....

The motor on the slow fellow seems to spin ok, but both the truck (bogie) innards are stiff to move, whereas on my other loco of the same model they run more freely.

So, fearing the dreaded HOS (hardened oil syndrome), I decided to take the trucks apart and wash them in some isopropyl alcohol (ironically, here in a wine cap).

 The gears, axles and wheelsets were disassembled and dunked for a while in the isoprop.

Then cleaned off, reassembled and lubed gently. There seemed to be a bit of old oil about before I started, but I didn't get the impression that it was obviously sticky or congealed.

And a test run.... Unfortunately my cleaning hasn't solved the warm/slow running. I might swap out the trucks with the other unit to prove it is the trucks that are causing the problems. Drat.

BLS Re 485 Connecting Europe - 3

On the roof, an additional power thingy was added, and the Marklin 'hole' that holds a screw-switch to select catenary or track power was boxed over.

These additions were painted, the thing was given a shot of Dullcote lacquer and a little weathering added on top. In general, these things tend to stay pretty clean in service.

Windows were re-installed (what a pain), as were the pantographs (likewise). The real thing has 4 pantographs to deal with the multi-country voltages but we'll deal with that at some later stage. At one end I managed to put in some sunblinds under the front windows that are visible below.

It could do with some underfloor detailing, but for now, this will do.

BLS Re 485 Connecting Europe - 2

Crikey. To think that this morning I was staring at a stripped Hoyer shell....

This evening I managed to get my ALPS printer and attached XP desktop ("take a step back in time...") plugged together and working for the first time in four years. It's made two international trips since it was last used but printed out the 'connecting europe' decal reasonably well on the second go. Appropriately enough, I used the 'Raleway' typeface from 1001 Free Fonts website. The 'bls cargo' decals were done previously on a laser printer during the habbiins silver box wagons saga.

USB plug for scale...

Compared to the prototype, the white Raleway lettering is 'close enough' but not quite perfect. I made this worse myself and only figured out why after I'd applied them: its been such a long time since I used Microsoft Word that I misunderstood one of the 'font' formatting options and ended up making the letters wider rather than the taller I was trying for but didn't notice what I'd done at the time.  A few other placements and sizes are a little off too, but it's not too bad unless you happen to be looking at the comparison picture that I have foolishly provided below.. 

Incidentally, this is one of the few shots I took with one of these leading a train. I have a feeling these locos are really light grey rather than silver, but in sun vs clouds they look quite different, and when I used light grey the whole thing looked a little flat, so I'm glad I went with the silver.

The loco number '006' decal on the front that you can't really see on the model pic was borrowed from an N scale 'Santa Fe repaints' set from Microscale.

BLS Re 485 Connecting Europe - 1

I mentioned in one of my first posts here that an intermodal train powered by BLS Cargo locos might be nice.

BLS has its origins in the original Bern–Lötschberg–Simplon railway and also runs trains on the Gotthard route in conjunction with DB. They have a mix of locos including the Bombardier TRAXX leading the train above at Wattinger with a slightly newer Railpool-leased but BLS-advertorialised Re 486 unit. The BLS owned class Re 485 locos were painted in a striking 'Connecting Europe' livery when introduced a dozen or so years ago.

I've always liked this livery and thought it might make an interesting model, so picked up a Marklin Hoyer class 185 fairly cheaply on ebay a while back. These have the correct-shaped cabside windows and general appearance with the main difference being that the BLS loco is a multisystem job with 4 pantographs.

Pulled to bits (everything covered in Marklin oil inside):

Sprayed light gray.

Meh...

Sprayed silver:

That looks a bit more peppy even though the silver I have sprays a bit lumpy.

Partway through brushpainting some green on:

The square was masked with the Tamiya tape I used on the habbiins wagon a while back and brushed.

More to come...