Accucraft Leader as RC

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-steves-
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Accucraft Leader as RC

Post by -steves- » Mon Sep 12, 2011 9:47 am

I wanted to change my Accucraft Leader to RC and was struggling to find any info to help me along the way, with just one post from someone else what had done one, so I thought I would post up what I did and how I did it just incase it can help anyone else in the future, with a couple of pictures.

I used the following and will explain it as best I can, but any questions please feel free to ask away.

A hitec HS-82MG hiding on the right hand side at the front of the bunker tucked away where no one can see it, a new reversor linkage made and servo mount made. This required one new hole to be drilled and a nut and bolt in it as I used an existing hole for the other point for the servo mount. The servo was mounted vertically, upside down in a home made frame to make sure the linkage was in the right place.

A HS-125MG slim wing servo was used for the regulator, this was mounted under the cab using the 2 flat mounts it came with, they were packed out with a drilled piece of wood for support. The linkage for this required a slot to be cut in the cab floor which was done without much removal of anything and infact only the cab bodywork was removed throughout the entire process.

The battery was chosen for its size and I used a square AAA 800MAh pack, tucked away at the other side of the front of the cab infront of the gas box. This is held in place with industrial velcro which is less affected by heat and it fits so well that it cant really go far anyway.

The RX is again mounted with industrial velcro under the cab floor, just behind the regulator servo, again, a pretty tight fit so it can't go far anyway. This was an "Orange" 6 channel RX from HobbyKing and the casing was removed and replaced with large heatshrink for a case to keep the size as small as possible. These RX's are only about £4 each!

The switch was a stanard charge harness type switch and was mounted using a bit of tin from a bean can on the back inside of the cab, this required 2 x 2mm drill holes and 2 x 2mm nuts and bolts to hold the switch mount in place, the switch was also held in place with its bolts through another 2 x 2mm drilled holes.

Finished off with a little bit of black satin paint where the brass was cut and the switch mount was put in.

Works absolutely fantastic and can barely be seen, very pleased indeed. If I get chance I will post up some pictures later. Runs like a dream, very "chuffed". Very pleased i opted for 2 channel as I found the single channel on the reversor extremely sensitive.

I do hope this information helps someone else out :)

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SLRmidge

Post by SLRmidge » Mon Sep 12, 2011 11:02 am

Neat job. :D

ferrysteam

Post by ferrysteam » Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:40 pm

Very neat.

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Post by tom_tom_go » Wed Sep 21, 2011 5:49 pm

It's great that people take the time and effort to explain stuff like this that others might otherwise have to pay to have done.

Great job!

Cheers,

Tom
RWLR

St.Michael

Post by St.Michael » Mon Aug 06, 2012 9:50 pm

Hi :D
I have bought a manual Leader ( as you can see in the picture departement "New loco at  the ØVJ...) My railway is basically uphill and down hill, ending up with baloonloops in the ends.  I have to say that I´m not shure if it will drive nicely or rush away too fast, going downhill. I´m still in the running in phase, and it is still to early to say if I can keep it manual or if I must install rc. What is your opininon, can I drive it manual in an acceptable speed, or do I have to install rc?
Regards from Michael

Chris Bird

Post by Chris Bird » Tue Aug 07, 2012 11:02 pm

That is very neat Steve and it is interesting to see such a totally different approach from my own!

I have so far just used single channel and the art there is to just crack the regulator open to match the load and gradients and then it is fine. I will probably add the second servo (you get a better chuff driving on the regulator in full gear), though mine will have to be above the footplate.

You can see my approach here (about halfway down the page):
https://sites.google.com/a/gardenrailwa ... t-leader-2

Regarding Michael's query, I think it depends what you call a reasonable speed. I need very slow for filming and just couldn't get that consistently on manual. For normal running though, it was fine, though my track only has slight gradients. It will be interesting to see if the running characteristics change much when it is well run in (after maybe 10 or so hours running).
Cheers
Chris

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