Pete,

Welcome to the Forum!

I have converted two of these Roco SBB "Sputnik" models for use with TRIX Express which is 3-rail DC. The instructions for conversion to Maerklin 3-rail AC is as follows:

Follow the Roco instructions for removing the roof of the wagon so that you can expose the lighting unit. You do not want to try to remove the interior of the wagon or attempt to modify the inside assembly.

On the underside of the wagon, between the two axles, create a space for the Schleifer (pick-up shoe) with an Xacto or sharp hobby knife. The Märklin Schleifer (use the short pick-up shoe part no:7175) is mounted on a piece piece of printed circuit board with a small screw on the leading side. The printed circuit board is adhesively connected base of the wagon on a short plastic spacer. The electrical connection is made via a thin wire which is soldered on directly to the copper side of the printed circuit board. If you do no want to use a printed circuit board you can solder a wire directly to the Scheifer. The wire is then fed through a 2mm diameter hole bored in the floor of the wagon into the interior and attached to the lamp. The two wheel pick-ups are attached together to the other side of the lamp.

http://www.stayathome.ch/basteln_diverses.htm


Let us know your progress.

Yes, welcome on board, Pete. I think you are already seeing (thanks to Maurice) what a fantastic resource this forum is.

Hi Pete,

I hope I can give you a satisfying answer and that you and all others in this forum interested in that subject enjoy some (more than 2) of my pictures too.

Yes, it's one indeed one of my favorite waggons.

The one you have seen with interior light is actually the first of those nice models released by ROCO, #46960. I equipped it with one of the old sliders #7076, which just needed to be extended for about 2-3mm.



Clip off the roof first (best achieved with finger nails).




The two blue cables from the rail contacts need to be soldered together.



The (in my case black) cable from the slider goes to the now free pad on the light pcb - done! (I simply drilled a hole through the bottom into the toilet; the cable can't be seen then).



For the car with blinking rear light it's not much different, just the light/blinking electronics pcb looks different. An alternative is to use one of today's available short sliders (Märklin or ROCO) and cut/mount them for example onto the bolt #207044.



A mounting hole for the bolt (including screw thread and nut) can be drilled at the small visible mold mark shown by the arrow.



Here another picture of my little Sputnik fleet; very often their prototypes were pulled over the Gotthard, etc. in compositions of even 10+ of those waggons (most left is the above shown #47592 with blinking light - although the roof is prototypically incorrect that's not a big problem, at least for me).



Although the prototypes have mostly been taken out of service (and scrapped) it is possible to find/see some still today, like this one which I found in Basel.



Some of them even survived slightly "reused"!



Quiz: where was this picture taken?

I am guessing it was taken at the same place where this video was taken:

http://www.re-os.nl/preview/068%20preview.wmv

Regards

Mike C

Good pictures, Lutz.