Athearn Blue Box quick plug upgrade?


chessie_system3

Well-Known Member
I came across an Athearn quick plug adapter with the LEDs still installed from a rtr Athearn SD40 that didn't survive a move. My question is can the quick plug be installed on my Blue Box SD40? Has anyone done this before? I'd love to find a way of installing just simply for the lighting upgrade. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
I think that board just clips on top of the motor, with a separate wire that goes down to the bottom motorcontac/clip. Make sure you isolate that bottom clip before installing a decoder.
 
I was looking at that. It looks like the top clip that the pickup strip connects to. I watched a video on this and didn't know if I needed to isolate the ground for DC. So the ground only needs isolated when I run DCC?
 
I was looking at that. It looks like the top clip that the pickup strip connects to. I watched a video on this and didn't know if I needed to isolate the ground for DC. So the ground only needs isolated when I run DCC?
Yes. The easiest way to make sure it doesn't touch is to reverse the strips on the motor, so the one with the contact prongs is on top, away from the frame. I usually run a narrow piece of electrical tape along the part of the frame between the motor mounts, just in case. You can solder the ground wire from the board to the ground connector for the headlight, and the positive lead from the board to the two electrical contact towers on the trucks.
 
So yeah...after many cuss words and some hot fingers I gave up on this project. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Turns out not so good. Me and soldering apparently don't get along so I'll leave this one alone.
 
Find a clean empty tin can and practice "tinning" small areas of the bottom. Will get you used to how much heat is required to get solder to flow. Remember to heat the tin first by resting the iron's tip on it AND THEN touching the solder to the heated tin near the iron's tip and spread it around. Get some wire (with stripped ends) and practice soldering them to the tinned area. Cut the tin up into small pieces once you've practiced and got that going and attach wires to them. That will help you to learn how to adjust the amount of time needed to heat small connections. It won't take long before you're getting the "hang" of it
Lastly, make sure you're holding your tongue in the right position.
 
A small tip, cleanliness is next to godliness. A small file is good for cleaning the area you want to solder and another great items is a bottle of flux. Makes soldering a sinch, even on harder to solder materials like steel.
 
I find that the diameter of the solder helps or hinders. Smaller is better. Diameter somewhere in the .025-.030 range is nice. Works easy and there is no excess to get in the way.
Thanks
Wayne
 
Why didn't you just try to fit the blue box shell onto the RTR undercarriage? That may be easier than soldering the new parts to the old blue box set up
 
Why didn't you just try to fit the blue box shell onto the RTR undercarriage? That may be easier than soldering the new parts to the old blue box set up
I did give that a try. I actually cracked my C&O SD40 shell trying to get it to fit on the frame. The rtr frames and shells are shorter than the blue box SD40s. So yeah I actually did give that a try.
 
There's a few liberties with scale taken with the blue box models.
Oh I know the blue box gp35s are rather dismal. They definitely have gotten better with the rtr versions. My favorite gp35 is the rtr. I won't go back to the blue box ones. I have two of them. I may try to detail it some to maybe get a few more bucks out of it.
 
I had to touch base on this thread again. After much research and actually going and looking at my one remaining in shambles rtr sd40 shell I noticed it did not have the porches on it like my blue box sd40s. I got to looking again to discover the rtr sd40s are just that sd40s....they aren't the dash 2 variety....most likely the reason why I can't use my blue box shells on the rtr frame...I kind of had a blonde moment here. Though on my chessie b&o shell the hand brake is on the rear....I haven't found a pic of a b&o sd40 with the rear hand brake...they all seem to be on the short hood. Only ones I could find were the c&o sd40s that have rear hand brakes.
 



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