Mitchell Castle battery/radio control
Posted: Sat Dec 14, 2019 10:39 pm
I'm going to build 4094 Dynevor Castle from a Mitchell kit that I bought from eBay about 18 months ago. The box included a 4000 gallon tender. I've never actually built a tender locomotive, although I have a couple half-built. So this is going to be a voyage of discovery...
It will carry the battery in the tender, which will also have a switch somewhere, and the charging socket. The loco will contain a DT RX63 receiver, and the chunkiest 4v motor that I can get in there.
Starting with the tender, the chassis comes with two sets of frames, so I set up a simple csb using the spare frames to make the inside chassis, using High Level hornblocks and carriers.
I then put the internal box of the tender body together so I could see what size battery I could fit in there. The biggest battery we currently have is the 18650 (18mm by 65mm), it fits perfectly!
The 18650 outputs 3.7v and is rated at 3800mAh, so should keep a loco running continuously for probably a weekend. We shall have to see. The battery has been fitted with a charging protection strip and charges exactly the same way as the other lipo batteries we use. Here it is pictured next to the largest 4v motor we've been looking at.
I'm not certain I can actually get this motor into the Castle without some fairly invasive surgery, so I may go with the Mabuchi FF50. In the meantime, basic tender looks like it'll work. The rest is cosmetic and will keep me occupied this week...
Cheers, Nick
It will carry the battery in the tender, which will also have a switch somewhere, and the charging socket. The loco will contain a DT RX63 receiver, and the chunkiest 4v motor that I can get in there.
Starting with the tender, the chassis comes with two sets of frames, so I set up a simple csb using the spare frames to make the inside chassis, using High Level hornblocks and carriers.
I then put the internal box of the tender body together so I could see what size battery I could fit in there. The biggest battery we currently have is the 18650 (18mm by 65mm), it fits perfectly!
The 18650 outputs 3.7v and is rated at 3800mAh, so should keep a loco running continuously for probably a weekend. We shall have to see. The battery has been fitted with a charging protection strip and charges exactly the same way as the other lipo batteries we use. Here it is pictured next to the largest 4v motor we've been looking at.
I'm not certain I can actually get this motor into the Castle without some fairly invasive surgery, so I may go with the Mabuchi FF50. In the meantime, basic tender looks like it'll work. The rest is cosmetic and will keep me occupied this week...
Cheers, Nick