Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

MDC Climax loco

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 1
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous template Next
  • #1

    MDC Climax loco

    I have been lurking for some time but here is a recent project. The loco is a fine tuned HO MDC Climax with DCC/sound. The loco I bought. I have the book on fine tuning a Climax but I went the easy route. Yes I know, it is not prototypical but it captures the flavor of a logging loco.

    I installed a SoundTraxx Micro-Tsunami and 3/4" speaker.











    Rich
    Tags: None
  • #2
    Just curious to know, would the decoder fit under the boiler area if it is trimmed down in height, about 1/3rd?


    Steve

    Comment

    • #3
      Nice modification!

      I have to wonder what the engineer and fireman plan to do with the 55 gallon drum labeled for swift and the barrel with the Red Chief labels?

      Comment

      • #4
        Is the model still really noisy with the new motor? The original noise would probably drown out a sound decoder. I assume the original gearing made most of the noise.

        I cut down the chassis and body of a Climax many years ago, following an article in a magazine:






        I doubt if the decoder and speaker would fit into the cut down model.

        Comment

        • #5
          Hello All

          The loco is from Ron LeFever who has fine tuned a couple hundred of the chassis.

          http://www.lafeverclimax.com/

          I bought his book because I have a Boxcab with the same drive.

          The Climax running gear is extensively fine tuned. Even the trucks disassembled and are fine tuned. The chassis has quite a bit of work done to it. The motor is where the stock flywheel use to be. The motor is a flat can. The gear and flywheel are from NWSL. The larger than normal gear means lower motor RPMs and reduced gear noise. The bull gear housing is also disassembled and fine tuned.

          Both trucks have a fine wire connecting the wheel pickups to the motor. It is quiet compared to unmodified versions. I can hear the chuff's quite well. I run the loco about six miles per hour in HO speed. Teenagers would not like it.

          The photo showing the decoder has a added weight under the decoder. This could be removed for a lower boiler modification. It might be possible to install a round can motor which would allow a lower fuel bed. It depends on what you would like to do.

          Rich

          Comment

          • #6
            quote:

            Originally posted by richg1998

            Hello All

            The loco is from Ron LeFever who has fine tuned a couple hundred of the chassis.

            http://www.lafeverclimax.com/

            I bought his book because I have a Boxcab with the same drive.

            . . . . . .

            Rich

            Rich - et. all.,

            Ron LeFever is a personal friend and a member of the same club I belong to. His present medical state does not allow him to do the conversions anymore, but his book is a fine example of skill and craftsmanship that goes far beyond just the subject Climax locomotives. Tuning tips and approaches are fit for any locomotive - especially kits and steam power. Worth every penny to acquire the book in my opinion.

            Unfortunately, many of the 'replacement' components of parts for the Climax are not available from MDC anymore as Horizon has not continued the Roundhouse line beyond some selected items.

            Would be nice if railphotog could reference the article that covered the fine rework and new outline of his rework. I really like the results of the changes.

            Comment

            • #7
              I wish I could refer to the magazine article, but I don't have any info as it was a real long time ago. Sorry!

              Comment

              • #8
                I found Ron's book on ebay ($12.50 plus $3.25 shipping) as he still sells the book. I then corresponded directly with Ron and purchased on of two units he had left.

                I spent some hours reading Ron's book. I hope to fine tune a Boxcab for a friend. NWSL has the motor gear and flywheel.

                I still see the Climax kits and built versions on ebay.

                Rich

                Comment

                • #9
                  quote:

                  Originally posted by railphotog

                  I wish I could refer to the magazine article, but I don't have any info as it was a real long time ago. Sorry!

                  Bob,

                  Does any of these 'ring a bell'??

                  Assembling the Lee Town Climax, part 1

                  Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, March/April 1976 page 42

                  Assembling the Lee Town Climax, part 2

                  Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, July/August 1976 page 48

                  Climax assembly, part 3 - boiler, domes, firebox

                  Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, November/December 1976 page 50

                  Assembling the Leetown Climax, part 4: valve gear

                  Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, May/June 1977 page 56

                  Personalized Class A Climax

                  Railroad Modeler, April 1977 page 52

                  A touch of realism for MDC's Climax

                  Model Railroader, December 1982 page 114

                  Climax Kitbash

                  Tall Timber Short Lines, Spring 1987 page 6

                  Just remembering the magazine would help locate from the index.

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Ed: No bells rung, but I knew it was either MR or RMC, so I checked

                    "A touch of realism for MDC's Climax

                    Model Railroader, December 1982 page 114" and that's it! Before my previous reply I did a search of the MR magazine index and this one did not show up. I guess it's probably how the search is done. I did a search on MDC Climax and this article did not show up because the article has "MDC's Climax".

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Bob,

                      Thanks - now we know where to go. (Some of the guys at the club are very fond of telling me where to go)!

                      When I did the search, I just used "Climax" - got about 6 pages of listing - culled the ones about brass, prototypes, specific other than MDC etc. and came up with the short list. How you do a search does make the difference - much easier if you also can remember an Author.

                      You did a very nice job of creating a fine outline and completing the detail and weathering. Thanks for sharing.

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        Wow, Ed your search results sure were greater than mine, all I got with "Climax" was one page and most were obviously not what I was looking for.

                        Keep in mind if anyone might be interested in tackling this project - you have to remove a whole lot of the thick white metal chassis to lower the shell. I think at the time I did mine using a Dremel tool and the thin cutoff wheels, because that's all that I had at the time. In cutting projects like this it is always good to have many cutoff wheels at hand, I now use the reinforced fibreglass ones which don't break. Also recall the Dremel actually getting too hot to hold, had to use a glove! That's probably why my original Dremel eventually wore out.

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Well the good news for me is I have a large Bridgeport mill. It'll take 1/2 hour to set up and about 40 seconds to cut it down.

                          Comment

                          Previous template Next
                          Working...
                          X