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Post by scanrail on Jul 14, 2021 13:47:02 GMT -5
Why not have just hard mounted in the cab area, top side center of the board? Initially, I was thinking exactly like this. Here is why I decided not to go this way. RS locomotive housing consists of two separate parts: the main body and separate driver's cabin box. The last one is a separate part. To let the light from the onboard LED go into the cabin, the main body should be drilled - it has no holes in the cabin area. The diameter of the drill bit should be wide enough to let the light distribute in the cab quite uniformly. It should be around 3-4 mm (or approx. 1.25-1.5 inches). As you can imagine, the height of the conical tip of the drill bit is too high with such a diameter (1.5-2 mm). There is a big chance that someone will miss the stop point and overdrill the hole together with cabin's roof. Of course, it is possible to use a cutter with flat end instead of standard drill bit. But then, you will need to clamp the body firmly in a vice so that it does not move during milling, and at the same time does not damage it. Can you imagine how many hobbyists have such equipment, and how many of those who really have one, will dare to do this? To avoid this, cabin box should be removed. To remove it, handrails should be dismantled. After drilling, everything should be re-assembled. I doubt that most customers would dare to do this, and do it professionally. If you use thin drill bits (say, 1-2 mm), the light will not come into the cabin properly. It was only one contra. Another one is the fact of deep modification of the locomotive in a very risky way. One of the obvious advantages of drop-in digital solutions is a minimum amount of efforts and no need for any modifications. This advantage will be killed if I did like you suggest. I bet no one wants to do such a cruel surgery to his locomotive. Another important point is the following: it would be incorrect if the light came from the floor instead of coming from the ceiling of the cabin. Just imagine the passenger car with interior lighting installed on the floor instead of the top. Greetings, Alex
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Post by husafreak on Jul 14, 2021 20:26:47 GMT -5
I do think someone could drill (or rather better grind) a small hole in the floor of the cab and pass the LED up through it to the top of the cab. This might make it easier to precisely locate the light “top dead center”. But as I stated a little trial and error fitting will get good placement eventually. Just move things slowly and carefully.
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Post by scanrail on Jul 15, 2021 6:08:30 GMT -5
Yes, everyone is free to choose his own way of upgrading the locomotive. My own idea is to make all modifications/upgrades/conversions reversible to the factory state. It helps to save the value of the product on the aftermarket, once you decide to sell it for some reason.
Greetings, Alex
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Post by BAZman on Jul 15, 2021 13:07:25 GMT -5
I see it now (that I have the shell in my hands). Top down for sure. Nicely thought out. (you get another ‘+’ ) !
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Post by bogtudor on Oct 20, 2021 7:42:01 GMT -5
It will physically fit under the shell of an AZL SD70/SD70Ace/ES44AC?
Greetings,
Bogdan
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Post by BAZman on Oct 20, 2021 17:14:20 GMT -5
No, it is a custom design, ONLY for the RS series. You will need to use the Digitrax DZ123Z0 (thats a zero on the end) or, the TCS "AZL4" (part number 1550)
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