Ernst super gear...

made a kit to convert the

hustler to gear drive, they turn up on Ebay every so often, had on a long time ago and it could creep with the best of them.

Peace, Bill

I can't see it all

I wonder if it could be easily adapted for a smaller can motor with a 2.0mm shaft?

Bill, 

I am glad you said it creeps. That validates the expense of these kits. I know eBay is really volatile on some items. This appears to be one of those. Many old auctions have these going for $80-$100. That is kinda crazy pricing to me. 

I know Walthers made that tiny Plymouth and thought I would need to get one of those. The question I have is about the Tyco, AHM, etc. Plymouth. Some of those look HUGE !!! are they supposed to be the same model?

Tyco Plymouth

I haven't seen one personally in years, but I do faintly remember reading that the Tyco Plymouth scaled out more as S scale narrow gauge than HO scale. 

Wow ! S scale?

I would believe that certainly ! I almost bought some version of that thing at the trainshow for $5. The hood was shaped better than the Tyco and it seemed to be a scale width, but the cab was ENORMOUS ! I thought, "this doesn't even look like HO scale."  

I guess I will just buy the Walthers version?

The Athearn Hustler

I did three conversions of  Athearn Hustlers. All three with different drives.

This was my first conversion. I took a late model Athearn Hustler and used an old Cary metal body.

I totally rebuilt the drive on this using gears from a junked Hobbytown drive. You'll need a good machine shop and knowledge of metal working. Something not many modelers are willing to spend their money on or have metal working experience in.

The only thing that remained of the original Hustler was the frame. As of today I still haven't painted it or added detail.

The next two I used the shell but used an Athearn SD40 truck. I picked this one up at a train show sometime ago and coverted it to a three axle unit. Again both units aren't finished as far as paint and details.

The very old rubber band drive minus the rubber bands.

So the drive is sitting on a shelf as a memory of what kind of drive these engines came with. Here again the modification takes having metal working machines. I used a motor and drive plus gearing for an Athearn drive to build the the engine. The motor are the ones used by Jeff Bunsa and me for the Athearn Wreck Crane projects. The last I looked on E-bay they don't seem to be available anymore. The best I could determine is that these motors were used in cameras to advance the film or move the lens for focusing.

Using brass I fabricated a frame to fit on the Athearn SD40 truck and inside the shell.

Using brass I built up the two sides to support the gearing and motor.

And you wind up with a neat three axle switcher.

The thing about the above engine is the motor. These motors I believe have a max voltage of 6 volts, perhaps more. If I remember right the film cameras had strange batteries to drive the innards. I remember some of around 8.4 volts which would equal 7 X 1.2 volt Ni-MH rechargeable batteries but in a small compact battery package. That would be ideal for DCC control since you would set your top voltage to around 6 to 8 volts.

Ok, the third is the easiest to do. It uses the same chassis I made with brass, but uses a round motor mounted on a bracket with a rubber tube drive to the worm wheel.

The motors were purchased off of E-bay. They are 12 volt motors and top RPM is 6200. Ideal to slow down the 400 MPH Athearn Huslter. 

So when you can't find something to substitute to get those drive speeds down this would be the one of the only ways to do it.

In my next post I'll show how I modified a four axle Tyco engine.

Bernd

Video of Athearn chassis and Cary shell

I found the video I made of the Athearn Hustler chassis with the metal Cary shell.

Bernd

The Plymouth Switcher - CR-4

The Plymouth switcher CR-4. CR stands for Christian Root, of Fate-Root-Heath and 4 representing the number of wheels.

The model by Tyco.

This is the disassembled model.

First remove the magnet by grinding out the rivet.

Next grind out the rivets holding the motor together with the bottom plate.

Remove the worms, bushings and commutator/wire armature.

Next I drilled and tapped the holes to hold the brass bushing straps using 0-80 scrrews. Turned a pulley with a V groove for the drive belt. Also ground relieve slots for the belt in the frame.

The motor is from a reduction drive. I used the one plate and a piece of brass to make a motor mount. Also a pulley was made and Loctited to the shaft.

A couple of pieces of octagon stock was used to make standoffs for the motor mount.

Test fit to make sure it all works out.

A piece of PC board is used to hold the wheels wipers. The wipers are made from .010" phosphor bronze wire. The belt has also been added.

And the finished product.

Here's a video. The engine is run at two voltages, 4 volts and 6 volts. The motor is a 6 volt motor.

Next is Version 2.0. A different motor and mounting method.

A fellow modeler alerted me to seller on E-bay that had motors I might be interest in. I took a look and sure enough it was something I could use. I ordered a lot of 10. But what I had no idea at the time is that the output shaft revolves at 10rpm at 12 volts. A bit slow. Here's what they look like.

Taking the gearbox apart you get an idea of how a reduction gear drive works. It's almost like a standard transmission without the clutch. I think there are 6 stages of reduction. I removed the first three, plus I had to shorten some of the components in the gearbox to get it back together and work properly.

Here's one with the three stages removed and reassembled. The one in the back is unmodified.

The final result of removing the first four stages. I didn't bother with shortening the gearbox cover. The motor is epoxied to a brass motor plate and bolted on with the motor assembly bolt. The rest of the components are from the first version of the mod.

The pulley on the motor is easier to make and change do to the output shaft being threaded for a 3 X 0.5 mm thread. With this setup I can get it down to a crawl from tie to tie. Top speed probably is in the range or 5 to 10 scale miles per hour. I'm going to have to have a bigger pulley on the motor and a smaller one on the driven shaft. 

I wasn't happy with the speed of the engine. It just didn't seem fast enough at 12 volts. So I made two new pulleys, 1/2" dia. and .3" dia. I made plugs to plug the motor wire leads into. Makes it easier to disassemble and assemble the motor and frame. Plus I changed the pick up wipers to .015" phosphor bronze. I almost melted the .010" on the previous version when something jammed the in the gears and the motor stalled. Here's a picture with the up-grades.

And a video showing just the chassis running a 2.5 volts and then with the shell on pushing 8 hopper cars at 12 volts. Speed looks about right for a wide open throttle.

The engine was run on plain DC voltage. I have since added a DCC board. I tried running it today and the belt was slipping. Looks like it might have stretched. 

These were all prototype experiments in seeing if it is possible to use better motors with reduction gearing or belt drives. The belts are neoprene. They have .090" square form and run in a "V" grooved pulley giving them more grip than a round belt. Further experimentation is needed to perfect these drives.

Bernd

I suspect this is a gentleman

I suspect this is a gentleman I need to consult with about my rubber band driven 'disguised pusher' for steam engines.

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/improving-our-steam-engines-performance-12219656

On the Westport Terminal

The late Wolfgang Dudler did it. With sound.

When all else fails. HO

When all else fails.

HO Stanton Drives – NorthWest Short Line (nwsl.com)

Dan

Gearhead Motors

Dear Bernd,
Wouldn't a few of these be termed 'gearhead motors' ?

I recall buying several to build my first turntable. I got them cheap HERE
 

Couldn't something like these be used with a rubber band drive??