This morning I popped a set of pickups on the Y14...
Well, actually I started the process last night by cutting and shaping a length of copperclad sleeper (I knew that the remains of those EM gauge points that I built when I was sixteen would one day come in useful...) so that it fitted between the frames. I'm always doubly cautious and cut an over-generous gap. It doesn't do any harm and means that there should be absolutely no chance of a short.
Here they are laid out in the correct order to be fitted.
Then they were fixed using two-part epoxy, and left to set solidly in position overnight. This is the time that you don't want the modelling pixies to come along and give them a gentle nudge whilst you're sleeping!
Then finally a wipe over with some solder to tin the copper-clad (being very careful to get absolutely no flux on the steel tyres!) and fix the pickups in place.
For this locomotive I'm going to wait until the body is fully painted before wiring up the motor. The reason for that is that I want to be very certain of the path of the wires before I solder them in place. I will have to route them up the sides of the gearbox and along the top of the motor, before turning them back to the contacts.
So that can wait until I can handle the whole thing as a single unit.
Flymo
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