HESR 3865 HO model - Air Horn and Ditch lights ?
Posted: Sun Feb 11, 2024 11:45 am
Hi Everyone
I had kinda tabled my CM U23 project due to a combo of life happening and the fact that I had found one of the Atlas factory decorated units.
As an easier project, I picked up one of the Athearn (Roundhouse I think) HESR GP38-2's in the Rail America Scheme that they ran within the last couple years. I've got 3865.
While I don't think it's a "dead" ringer for the real unit (I thought about getting one of the Genesis P&LE units which I think would be closer), I've decided that with a few small details, it'll be close enough for me to be happy with. I much prefer the PM inspired HESR scheme anyway, so this Rail America unit will really be moreso to inflict sadness on my HO scale railfans as it invariably leads a dow train of CM units at some point.
I've got a plow (PL-155 slightly modified) , and it looks like a couple antennas, air horn, and ditch lights, along with painting the pilot/step areas blue instead of black, are all that I'd need to do to get it "close enough" for me.
What Air horn did/does 3865 have ? I'm terrible with Horns, being a Conrail guy at heart (which for the most part, makes the horn issue easy). If 3865's horn had changed over time, I'd be looking for what it had circa 2000-2010 ish.
How do I wire ditch lights ? I've never done ditch lights before, and this seemed like an easier unit to start with. I've got the holes drilled, headlight casings from Scale Sound systems, and LED's, but I'm unsure HOW to wire them in ? The Athearn board on this is more robust than what I expected, and appears to have everything I'd need to preclude the decoder buddy I bought for it. There are extra Function outputs on the athearn board and it's ready to go for a 21 pin decoder which I have ready. Do I need resistors for the LED's ? I am doing ditch lights on both ends FWIW.
Appreciate the help as always!
I had kinda tabled my CM U23 project due to a combo of life happening and the fact that I had found one of the Atlas factory decorated units.
As an easier project, I picked up one of the Athearn (Roundhouse I think) HESR GP38-2's in the Rail America Scheme that they ran within the last couple years. I've got 3865.
While I don't think it's a "dead" ringer for the real unit (I thought about getting one of the Genesis P&LE units which I think would be closer), I've decided that with a few small details, it'll be close enough for me to be happy with. I much prefer the PM inspired HESR scheme anyway, so this Rail America unit will really be moreso to inflict sadness on my HO scale railfans as it invariably leads a dow train of CM units at some point.
I've got a plow (PL-155 slightly modified) , and it looks like a couple antennas, air horn, and ditch lights, along with painting the pilot/step areas blue instead of black, are all that I'd need to do to get it "close enough" for me.
What Air horn did/does 3865 have ? I'm terrible with Horns, being a Conrail guy at heart (which for the most part, makes the horn issue easy). If 3865's horn had changed over time, I'd be looking for what it had circa 2000-2010 ish.
How do I wire ditch lights ? I've never done ditch lights before, and this seemed like an easier unit to start with. I've got the holes drilled, headlight casings from Scale Sound systems, and LED's, but I'm unsure HOW to wire them in ? The Athearn board on this is more robust than what I expected, and appears to have everything I'd need to preclude the decoder buddy I bought for it. There are extra Function outputs on the athearn board and it's ready to go for a 21 pin decoder which I have ready. Do I need resistors for the LED's ? I am doing ditch lights on both ends FWIW.
Appreciate the help as always!