Advice on lighting a Walthers car

[PatOC]

Good morning fellas - hoping someone can give some advice on the following questions just to save me a bit of time:

1) I'm trying to install Miniatronics lighting kit 100-ICL-01 in a Walthers Santa Fe car 932-6842. The lights look great, but shine through the thin roof of the car. I tried lining it with electrical tape which blocks the light, but makes it very difficult to get the rook to snap back on. Should I try spraying a few heavy coats of black paint instead? Any other ideas some of you might have had success with?

2) Is it worth taking the time to install the pickup shoes that come with the lighting kit? It seems like it would be but I confess I'm a bit unclear on the installation instructions.

Thanks for any help!
-Pat

 

[UP2CSX]

Spraying the roof with a few light coats off black paint should solve the light leakage problem withut making it more difficult to get the roof back on.

I'm not familiar with that kit but I assume you are now picking up current though some kind of axle wiper. There are two advantages to using the pickup shoes in most kits. The first is you can remove any axle wipers, which sometimes can cause a ot of drag on a truck. the second is that the pickup eliminates the problem of where one truck in is in relation to the other. I assume you're running DCC and you've already seen the car lighting flicker that can happen when a car crosses a switch or some track joints. That's cause by a very short-lived short that affect both trucks at once, hence the light flicker. The pickup shoes will get current regardless of what the trucks are doing so the car lighting should be flicker-free. The only real problem is getting them so they have just enough contact with the track and not too much or you'll get drag and derailments. If your track is in less than perfect condition, I'd forego the pickup shoes.

 

[PatOC]

Jim - thanks for you reply. You were right, a few coats of black seems to have fixed my light leak problem.

As for the pickup shoes, I understand better how they're supposed to work but I think I'll hold off. Like you say, my current temporary track layout is not the greatest. And being so new at this hobby, I think I have enough other tasks to keep me busy and confused!

Thanks again,
-Pat

 

[HaggisKennedy]

An alternative to the Miniatronics is the Rapido Trains lighting system, which is an LED board that fits in the roof and is powered by a couple of watch batteries. You use a magnetic wand to turn off and on.

Kennedy