By
Ron Wenger
Forward:
Aristo-Craft’s third venture into Diesels was the RS-3. The RS-3 has been on the market about 4 years now. Aristo-Craft has just released an upgraded new generation RS-3. Among the upgraded features are things like the new Aristo-Craft ball bearing power blocks without traction tires, plug and play connections for sound, DCC or RC/Battery operation, and additional weight, lots of additional weight.
If you’re like me and have several of the older versions, weathered and detailed, replacing them with the new is out of the question. Mine have lost the patina of being new, are starting to show their age like a true Queen of the Road, and just plain have character. I have opted to upgrade mine to include the addition of extra weight, the new add on weight kit and the new power blocks.
In other articles I described how to convert the aging first and follow on runs of the Aristo-Craft FA/FB and U25B U-boat into better running and performing models at a fraction of the cost of a new locomotive. I have converted all of my FA and FB’s and all of my U-boats. After the first pair was converted and I saw the benefits I knew I would not be able to rest until all of my older diesels had the new wheel blocks. Not only do they start at a lower voltage and run smoother, they also allow for 3 to 4 pounds of additional weight. They also allow for you to run for hours without the wheels getting a layer of crud on the wheels. As an extra benefit most locomotives refitted with the new motor blocks now seem to put out more smoke from the smoke units.
Upgrading the Aristo-Craft RS-3
Many of you are going to ask is why is this any different than the Aristo-Craft FA/FB or the U25B.
Well first of all three of these are completely different body designs. They share a common motor block and that is about where the similarity ends. The Aristo-Craft RS-3 is pretty close in construction to the U-boat. But it is not the same. The RS-3 is one of the more complex locomotives that Aristo-Craft has built to date.
The RS-3 like other Aristo-Craft products has been steadily upgraded since it was introduced. Aristo-Craft is steadily reengineering and improving their product line.
After thousands of hours of operations on my railroad, I am convinced of the Aristo-Craft quality. Most of the repairs I do are for damage not workmanship or quality of the parts. There is just so much punishment you can inflict on something before it breaks.
By shopping around you can get a pair of these new motor blocks at discount for around $55.00, this includes a new A frame and a wiring harness for each motor block. For a few more dollars you can add new side frames as well. The new wheels on this unit are worth the effort, they have a better profile, and run for hours with out requiring cleaning. The additional weight kit that can be obtained from Aristo-Craft makes this rework a plus. The added weight will add greatly to the pulling capability of this finely detailed locomotive.
Lets
do it!
Tools and supplies needed:
Here is what your going to need as a minimum.
1. A pair of the new Aristo-Craft Motor blocks, complete with Harnesses, the new A frame, and as an option (recommended) a new side frame assy, and an additional RS-3 weight bar.
2. A small thin bladed flat tip screw driver
3. A number O and OO Phillips screwdriver
4. A pair of wire cutters and stripers
5. A small set of metric sockets or ignition wrenches, or a very thin set of pliers.
6. A soldering iron with rosin core solder (or small wire nuts if you do not solder.)
7. Electrical tape or heats shrink tubing if you chose to solder the connections.
8. A set of jumpers with alligator clips one each end (optional but worth the trip to Radio Shack and they cost less than $5.00 for a dozen), you will need at least four as minimum.
Here is How:
Like
the FA/FB and U25B your going to have to take it apart.
Hard? Not
really! First
of all as with any Aristo-Craft Locomotive I highly recommend that you go to the
Aristo-Craft web site and download the exploded parts diagram.
This will give you a clue in case you get interrupted for a day or two.
If you don’t have Internet connectivity or you’re not a computer type
go to your AC Dealer and purchase the book of exploded parts diagrams.
It is under $6.00 and a must have.
Step 1: Remove the handrails from the cab. Unlike the U25 These handrails are different. The stanchions are plastic, exercise care here. The RS/3 handrails are best left on the locomotive frame. Just remove them from the cab by gently pulling out on the handrails from the cab.
Step 2: Turn the locomotive over (upside down).
Tip: I have a cradle made of Styrofoam that I use to hold the locomotive in an operation like this. I also have one of the new hands free workstations. Both of these help keep the work steady and minimize damage to the finish, but if you don’t have something like this find an old white towel or two that you can place on each side and under the locomotive so that you do not damage the shell. It also will provide you with a more stable place to work. It will also make it easier to find the screws your going to drop.
The first thing you want to do is note the orientation of the old motor blocks. They should be installed with the little transmission end pointing towards the center (fuel tank). This sometimes varies for one reason or another and occasionally I find one that is different. These usually have been changed by someone to allow for some strange operational configuration. If they are pointing in any other direction, and the locomotive goes in the proper direction and the lights work correctly, then you want to install the new blocks in the same direction. Don’t go reinventing the wheel, the primary thing here is that the locomotive goes in the same direction as all the others and the headlight is on in the direction that the locomotive is going.
Step 3: Remove the fuel tank. This step requires you to remove the four screws that hold the fuel tank in place and set it aside. If you have a sound system installed in the tank you will have to disconnect the modular connector between the tank and the floor of the diesel.
Tip: If you run into a Phillips head screw that is tight, don’t force it. Put something behind it to make it stable, put the screwdriver tip back in the screw and give the screwdriver a tap or two with a small hammer. This will usually loosen the screw enough that it will screw out without tearing the head up. If the head is chewed up try a straight tip screwdriver there may be enough surface to get a grip on the screw and back it out.
Step 4: Now you are going to remove the long hood. Keep in mind that the RS-3 on most roads was operated with the long hood forward. The front is also indicated by the “F” on near the front steps. The screws that have to be removed for this operation are as follows: 2 screws in front right behind the coupler, 2 screws under the fuel tank, 2 screws under the rear of the front truck, 2 screws under the side frames of the front trucks near the front springs. These are spaced on each side of the frame. As you remove the long hood you will also have to disconnect the modular plug from the PC board located in the middle of the locomotive.
Step 5: Here you have to remove the short hood and cab of the locomotive. The cab and short hood is held on by one center screw at the front of the cab and 2 each for the battery boxes and the rear of the cab, 2 each for the short hood at the rear of the hood. All of these screws can be reached without removing the trucks. As you remove the short hood and cab you will also have to disconnect the modular plug from the PC board located in the middle of the locomotive.
Step 6: By now you should have the entire body off the locomotive. This is a good time to check and make sure that everything in the cab is correct and re secure the engineer if he is loose.
Step 7: Remove the two truss head screws at each end of the floor that hold the “A” frame in place. These are in slots close to the end of the floor. I unscrewed mine from the top and let the old “A” frame fall loose from the floor. Disconnect the modular plugs from the motor blocks and remove the whole assembly. Take a note here, in my RS-3’s both wires that went to the motor block and old side frame were red and black. This was the same for both ends of the locomotive. The shorter pair on black and red wires goes to the motor blocks. The longer pair goes to the power pick-ups.
Step
8:
Here we are going to add the first of our additional weight.
Aristo-Craft has come out with a weight kit for the RS-3. I am also going
to add some additional weight to the inside by adding an additional weight bar.
To do this you have to remove the small machine bolts and nuts that hold
the weight in, add the new weight bar (I added two to mine), and replace the
small bolts and nuts and tighten.
You also have to remove the small PC board.
I marked mine with a pencil to show which way it was oriented and I
placed a small section of double sided tape under each side of the PC board on
the weights to prevent the PC board from shorting out on the weight.
Step 9: At this point I install the motor blocks in the new side frames. You may have to loosen them later to connect the wires but it is easier to work without everything flopping around. You can install the new motor blocks to the side frame prior to installing the new “A” frame, however you may find that they get in the way. It is a matter of preference and you can do it either way.
Install the motor blocks, “A” Frame and side frame assembly using the truss head screws that you removed when you removed the old trucks and side frames. Make sure that the notch in the A frame lines up with the hole that the wiring harness uses. Go ahead and insert the two pairs of wires and red oblong modular plugs through the floor at this time.
Tip: This is an excellent time to add a little light plastic compatible white grease to the swivel area of the new “A” frame directly under the disk that holds the “A” frame in place. This will help it operate a little smoother on the curves.
Note: You may find some variation in the internal wiring other than what is described here. Out of over two dozen I found one that the wiring varied from the other 23 or so locomotives. This may have been one of the later runs. Aristo-Craft continually upgrades their product. This will sometimes result in some deviations from what is described here.
Step 10: Wiring. The RS-3 is going to be a lot easier to convert the wiring on than the FA/FB or the U-boat. Remove the white female plug from one end of the new harness. Be sure that it is not the Red oblong plug that mates to the plugs on the motor. This version is only going to require one harness for power pick up for each motor block. The original hookup for the motor stays the same.
The white plug on the other end of the new harness will not fit anything on this locomotive. Cut it off as close to the plug as you can, and strip about 3/8th to ½ inch of the insulation off of each wire. You will have to do this to both of the new harnesses. On the Longer wires coming from the PC board mounted to the floor assembly you will have to remove the small red modular plug from the Black and Red wires that supply power to the locomotive this has to be done so that you can splice the new harness to the old. You will have to mate these two harnesses up as below:
Red to Black
Black to Red
Step 11: Now here I am going to take Aristo-Craft to task. I usually connect all of the plugs on my locomotives on the outside of the shell/Body. I have never had a problem with the plugs getting in the way providing you have some slack in the wiring. I do this because it is a lot easier to swap motor blocks or remove them for service and repair if you don’t have to try and fish the connectors out from the inside of the locomotive. The wires on the PC board are too short to do this; this requires you to have to disassemble the entire locomotive to replace the motor blocks. A few cents worth of wire here would have made a big difference. Same for the color coding of the wire. Overall this makes a one to two hour job out of what should take less than three minutes to do.
Here is where the Radio Shack jumpers come into play. I use them to make temporary connections, set the cab back on top the frame with the modular connection on the long hood hooked up and make sure the locomotive is going in the right direction and that the lights are showing in the right direction.
If everything works out ok, you can make the connections permanent by soldering or using wire nuts etc. I use what is know as a western union splice. It is a strong mechanical splice that usually cannot be pulled apart, but I still put a little solder on the connection. Heating and cooling can make any mechanical connection unwrap itself over time.
Note: Don’t get overly confident here, this is a fantastic time to make sure that everything is working right. Place the floor of the locomotive on your test track and connect the modular plug that goes to the long hood and apply power make sure it is going in the right direction and that the lights are working correctly. i.e. showing to the front in forward and off when in reverse. If everything is satisfactory, you can now replace the shell and reassemble the locomotive.
Step
12:
Now for
the fun part, replace everything that you removed in the order that you removed
it. Except the fuel tank, in its
place your going to install the new additional weight kit with the weight
installed in the tank.
Caution:
Exercise care
in replacing the long and short hoods, the small wires that connect the motor
blocks have a tendency to get between the sides of the hood and the floor.
These could be damaged if you tighten the hood down with the wires
sticking out. Also make sure that
you do not over tighten the screws.
Last Step: Go out and enjoy your brand new RS-3. You will notice that this unit now starts moving at about ½ amp less that it formerly took, that it will run smoother, and draw a lot less amperage than it did with the same load before conversion. Depending on the type of cars and if you have metal wheels or not your going to find that the pulling power of this locomotive is now almost twice what it was.
I hope that their was something of value in this article and if you have any questions email me at wengerr@ix.netcom.com. I may be a couple of days getting back to you but I will get back to you.
Acknowledgments:
A lot of my knowledge was passed on to me by Bill Frank. He is a friend, neighbor, and a long time model railroader who retired from Aristo Craft as their Customer Service Manager several years ago. Another individual who has contributed to a very high level is George Schreyer. The rest of my knowledge I came into like many of you, by years of experience or trial and error.
George Schreyer operates a free web site and database with more tips on all brands of large scale than you can read in a day. He does this as a service to all Large Scalers. He spends a lot of time doing it. It is used by many large-scaler’s for reference. George also does new product reviews that are frank, honest and without any bias. His tips go from quite technical in nature to tips that are very simple. George’s site can be found at html//trainweb.org/girr it is well worth the time to visit.