Saw the new BLI boxcar with mule sounds today... (Eval on Page 8+)

[Cajonpassfan]

I am curious if the car can be made to look more "in scale".Open slats, a new roofwalk, and new ladders would be a huge improvement.

Well, seriously, one could lower the car, replace the ladders and running board, new wheelsets, but how do you open the slats? Mill or carefully file off some thickness from the inside until there's daylight? Looks like a "project"
And of course, the sound unit would become visible, so maybe  try this on a moo-less car? And the ends? Fill and scrape new boards? It is an interesting and unique prototype....
Otto K.

[Chris333]

I didn't down vote anyone. I saw like 3-4 -1 votes in this thread like someone just went down the page giving check marks.


I'm just trying to catch Pete with the plus votes   

[coosvalley]

Then I no longer think that!..My bad.I misunderstood you.

[ridinshotgun]

Well, seriously, one could lower the car, replace the ladders and running board, new wheelsets, but how do you open the slats? Mill or carefully file off some thickness from the inside until there's daylight? Looks like a "project"
And of course, the sound unit would become visible, so maybe  try this on a moo-less car? And the ends? Fill and scrape new boards? It is an interesting and unique prototype....
Otto K.

Sounds like a "project" to make a whole new car!   

[wazzou]

I'm just here for the up votes.

[tehachapifan]

I still think a black wash, carefully applied to not damage any internal electronic components, might really help with the see-thru issue. The only other option in manufacturing would probably have been to have an inner enclosure anyway (to hide the internal components and/or function as a sound chamber) and a black wash would accomplish pretty much the same thing, IMHO.

Any chance we're missing the bigger picture here? Could the tooling on the shell been better? Probably. But I find the sound quality and functionality of the sound unit quite intriguing (via posted videos). Perhaps it's not everyone's cup of tea, me included, but this car appears to have a pretty cool sound unit in it. I think BLI deserves a little credit for producing something different.

[nscaler711]

Well, seriously, one could lower the car, replace the ladders and running board, new wheelsets, but how do you open the slats? Mill or carefully file off some thickness from the inside until there's daylight? Looks like a "project"
And of course, the sound unit would become visible, so maybe  try this on a moo-less car? And the ends? Fill and scrape new boards? It is an interesting and unique prototype....
Otto K.

I think you could definitely mill the inside a thinner profile depending on what comes apart, roof/floor either way you will most likely have to leave material for proper fitment.
As for hiding the internals of the sound cars... Maybe add a clear liner of cow/pig silhouettes, like what Lionel did on their passenger cars, and glue them to the walls...
I don't know but it's a thought... Unless you want empty cars... Then use the non sound and mill those out...
Oh new stirrups as well....

[bbussey]

Even the non-sound cars are too expensive to buy and mill out the slats. It would be easier to replace the stirrups rather than attempt to open them up.

[learmoia]

...... So I'm thinking about 'taking one for the team' and purchasing one of these things and seeing what I can do to make it somewhat easy on the eyes..

OK.. Now that I have models in hand.... I've got more questions than answers..

First lets start with this.... I took my Hallmark Lionel stock car down to compare to the Union Pacific Model

..... Ooookay...
I was talking to the Owners of the LHS (Carol and Merlyn).. and they didn't realize that the model didn't have open slats.  Then we looked at the comparison of the model to the Hallmark Ornament and they were pretty surprised.

I looked for a Micro Trains model to compare, but I didn't have time and couldn't find one..

I took my two models home and started comparing to my other stock cars.. (Atlas A1G, Trix, Bachmann, BLI, and Atlas A2G models.)

.... It sticks out like a sore thumb.. and not in a good way  ..

It occurred to me that one reason to have a solid body allows the Body to act as the sound baffle and improve sound quality. 

So whats going on in there?.. Shell off... (....How do I take the sell off.....?) 
Pull shell sides out and pull on truck???.. (Truck comes off an almost breaks the wire..  )..
Put blades next to each of the 4 mounting tabs and pull down on the coupler???.. Nope..

Solution: Turns out.. Screwdriver between the shell and body inside each door and the shell easily comes loose.

So here is whats inside:

A SPEAKER ENCLOSURE!! 

Couple of other notes.

Motion is controlled by a Cam on 1 axle.
It appears that each truck picks up 1 rail - so keeping wheels clean will be important for power pickup.

I did some test fits with other shells, and I will post that later... But lets just say.. and Atlas A2G body shell and a Sharpie pen will solve 90% of the problems with this car...

If anyone wants to see more detailed photos, let me know and I'll get them posted tomorrow morning.

~Ian

[bbussey]

The Atlas A1G model in the photo is based on a 10'6" IH New York Central prototype and is pretty accurate from what I recall. It also doesn't take much to bring up to current standards, as the tooling is pretty good. New brakewheel, new roofwalk, new trucks, body mounts and maybe a ride height adjustment is all that's needed (other than a prototypical paint and deco). 

[peteski]

Thanks for the review Ian. Now it is confirmed how bad the shell looks (at least to me - It seems that many others have much lower standards).    I mentioned few pages back that maybe the solid body is used as a speaker enclosure. Well, that theory is out of the window too.  The only excuse for the solid body seems to be to hide the electronics.    Bit I still can't get over the ends with gaps between the boards as wide as the boards themselves, and the monster ladders! 

I wonder what the function of the cam is?  Does the car stay quiet unless it is mooving and then the moos frequency  is proportional to its travel speed?

I also see a big-a$$ capacitor in front of the speaker - if it is has a large enough capacitance, voltage dropouts might not be a problem.

Is this thing strictly using track power to power up its circuit, or is it also a programmable DCC-aware decoder?

[up1950s]

Thanks for the review Ian. Now it is confirmed how bad the shell looks (at least to me - It seems that many others have much lower standards).    I mentioned few pages back that maybe the solid body is used as a speaker enclosure. Well, that theory is out of the window too.  The only excuse for the solid body seems to be to hide the electronics.    Bit I still can't get over the ends with gaps between the boards as wide as the boards themselves, and the monster ladders! 

I wonder what the function of the cam is?  Does the car stay quiet unless it is mooving and then the moos frequency  is proportional to its travel speed?

I also see a big-a$$ capacitor in front of the speaker - if it is has a large enough capacitance, voltage dropouts might not be a problem.

Is this thing strictly using track power to power up its circuit, or is it also a programmable DCC-aware decoder?

I was thinking about that cam or what looks like a cam . I think that may be a trigger to start the recording . If the recording is already on , no harm , on change . If you want the sound on when the car is not moo-ving park it in the on segment of rotation . The dead segment kills the cow ................. Or not .

[learmoia]

First to answer some questions:

I wonder what the function of the cam is?  Does the car stay quiet unless it is mooving and then the moos frequency  is proportional to its travel speed?
-- The cam is similar to chuff sync on a steam locomotive - Tells the decoder how fast the car is moving so it knows what sounds to play and how often.

I also see a big-a$$ capacitor in front of the speaker - if it is has a large enough capacitance, voltage dropouts might not be a problem.
-- I noticed that too.. good move to make up for the lack of pickup..

Is this thing strictly using track power to power up its circuit, or is it also a programmable DCC-aware decoder?
-- Strictly power pickup from rails with keep alive capacitor
-- Not sure if the 'decoder' is programmable beyond the wand.. There were no DCC instructions included.

I was thinking about that cam or what looks like a cam . I think that may be a trigger to start the recording . If the recording is already on , no harm , on change . If you want the sound on when the car is not moo-ving park it in the on segment of rotation . The dead segment kills the cow ................. Or not .

-- I haven't run the car out on a train.. but if you start moving the car back and forth quickly you hear a bunch of pissed off cows, and that continues for a few seconds (until the sound byte finishes) after stopping (once the last sound byte finishes) then they calm down.

Imagine a Steam Locomotive decoder where Chuffs, Air Compressors, Headlight Dynamo, Misc Noises.. Are all different MOOS....  That's basically how it works.. and the Cam controls the speed since the 'Decoder' isn't addressed in the consist... 

I'm not sure if there are unlock-able DCC Sounds or not..

Now lets talk improvements.
First, let me say.. what I did here took 30 seconds...

Here is what we started with:


I took a generic permanent ink marker.. and did this:


Then put the Atlas body on it.. and got this:


.. The Atlas Body was a good fit.. Slides on and off but sat evenly on the under frame - No interference adjustments needed.


Even without the sharpie blackening you get this:


Here it is next to another car..


For those thinking about trying to salvage the BLI Body.. Here is a shot of the interior..


So that's that....
Nothing about this model makes sense.. except that it makes noise..

~Ian

[nkalanaga]

Maybe they should just sell the chassis and sound unit, and forget the body, thus saving a few dollars, and allowing purchasers to use it in their choice of cars?

[Kisatchie]

Here it is next to another car..

Hmm... where did the
Rapido coupler come
from...?