RC Berlyn Goose 6 with Animations - 2

[Jim Kottkamp]

The Berlyn RGS Goose 6 features a see-through radiator and I thought have a working engine cooling fan would be an interesting feature.  This would be more prominent when the hood was left open, which was common practice on the RGS to keep the engine from overheating.  After studying photos of Goose 6, the engine support area was milled out and slanted it down about 5 degrees to better match the motor position of the prototype.  


I found a pager vibrator Nano motor (1x206-109 Nano Planetary 6mmGearmotor -19 mm Type) on the internet from Precision Microdrives that was perfect for this application.  Precision Microdrives is a British company that has an entire range of Mini and Nano Gear Motors.   Be sure to check out their extensive line of too-small-to-believe motors!


To accommodate the mini motor the engine block was secured in a milling vice a 5/16 mill was used to go completely through both front and rear walls of the motor block.  A 5/16" brass tube was cut to the length of the motor block and super glue was used to secure the brass tube in place.  A bit of electrician's tape was wrapped around the Nano motor to both provide a press fit and to provide a vibration damper.


A Dallee Electronics adjustable voltage circuit module (VRS 0.5 Amp Adjustable Regulated Power Supply - 1.25 to 6.2 Volts) was installed so a realistic rotation speed could be achieved.  A single pole manual on/off switch was installed since the current draw is so low it doesn't adversely impact battery life if left running for a long time.

[Jim Kottkamp]

I wanted to enable the motorman to waive to onlookers on command.  A Fine Folks seated figure was selected for my motorman.  

The figure was too large to fit inside the cab.  This required the torso to be shortened and butt cheeks to be shaved off to make him fit. And one arm  had to be amputated to enable him to wave.

The motorman's seat was pried off the bench, and a hole was drilled through it.  After the figure was adapted and hollowed out to accommodate the arm-movement-cam it was secured to the driver's seat.  A brass "L" bracket was used to mount the mini-motor with gear reduction (available from Phil's Narrow Gauge GM12—N20VA Gearhead Motor). This allowed for adjustment of the linkages for the mini motor that drives the arm movement before installation in the Goose frame.

The mini motor draws less than 20 Mili Amps and thus can be controlled by the Crest Electronics LED latched circuit designed for control of an additional light.  Once the motor speed was adjusted using a Dallee adjustable voltage circuit module, the wave motion looks very realistic.

[Jim Kottkamp]

The underside of the frame needed a number of modifications to accommodate battery and speaker placement.  The underside of the cab floor needed to be milled out slightly to accommodate the magnet on the oval speaker just aft of the Goose motor (this can be seen in the section about installing the motorman).

A Tenergy 11.1 volt, 1150mAh Li Po Rechargeable battery pack is used to power the Goose.  This battery pack will only allow the Goose to run at about 30 MPH so if you are looking for faster speeds this conversion will not work.  Two L-shaped brass pieces were super glued to the bottom of the truck bed to keep the battery centered.  A 3/16 by .010 inch thick brass strap was used to secure the battery.  Note that I have 8 foot radius curves, sharper curves might cause the wheel flanges to rub against the back edge of the battery pack and cause a derailment.  The front speaker and box is mounted just aft of the Goose engine and is flush with the bottom of the frame.

The rear truck had to be modified to accommodate placement of the battery.  The rear worm gear housing had to be milled enough to provide clearance with the battery pack.  A .015 piece of brass sheet was used to cover the top of the gear box.

[Jim Kottkamp]

This is a four section posting to cover all aspects of my conversion of a Berlyn Goose 6 to Radio Control.  To my knowledge this is the first Goose 6 RC conversion that does not require components or batteries to be located on the bed of the truck...everything is mounted under the frame.  I hope this these postings will provide inspiration for use of both HO Receivers in Large Scale vehicles and opportunities for adding animation for figures mounted inside cabs.

The finished underframe incorporates a round speaker just in front of the rear truck mounting bracket in addition to the oval speaker up front.  The Berlyn motor cover was square and I adapted it by replacing the square enclosure with a rounded sheet of .025 thick sheet brass.  I felt this was a bit less intrusive.  The circuit board was then mounted just aft for the electric motor.

The circuit board accommodates two switches (one master switch and one for the fan motor), two .5 amp mini fuses in parallel, two battery charging studs, and the Crest Revolutions HO receiver.  The two Dallee Electronics adjustable power circuit boards are mounted below the main circuit board (only the edge of one is visible).  At this time the CREST Revolution system shown has been discontinued.  I understand that it will be coming out again under a different name.  Also note the CREST Revolution does not presently provide Goose sounds.  I will continue to work with their staff to get Goose sounds available in the future.

The finished RC Goose with nothing needed on the rear deck since all components are mounted under the frame.       

[Bill Gill]

Jim, welcome to the forums. That's quite a neat project, both figuratively and literally

RC is outside my experience, but I have a friend I may be helping who is hoping to someday install it in Civil War HO scale locomotives, so I enjoyed looking at how much you packed into this, albeit, large scale model for ideas and inspiration.

Any video of the driver's animated arm?

[Jim Kottkamp]

Bill,

Thanks for your kind response.  I'm sorry, but I don't have a video of the motorman waiving at this time.  Let me see what I can come up with.

Jim

[finescalerr]

Satisfactory. -- Russ

[NORCALLOGGER]

Well Russ may think it is satisfactory but I think it goes well beyond that, beautiful job.
I have seen a couple of very nice conversions done to the Berlyn #6 but I think you are right about this being the first with everything below the deck line.  The animation is, what can I say, over the top  .  Would love to  see a short vid of it  in action.
Great job, thanks for sharing
Rick

[Ray Dunakin]

Awesome project, and very interesting!

[NORCALLOGGER]

Jim,
Just read your article in the "Gazoo" That install must have made this installation feel like you were working with a tanker as far as space goes.   

Anyway congratulations on a couple of great articles there and here.
Rick