Sala Repair and Update (1/35)

Time flies and suddenly locos need maintenance - even without having seen much use! That was the case with my Swedish Sala loco. I built the loco in 2008 (see images from the building here) but its O-rings fell apart shortly after. Having had less than 1 hour of running time it was hardly a case of wear! With lots of other projects going on the Sala was set aside. In 2010 I went digital. The model was dismantled back in september for O-ring replacement and fitting of decoder. Since I have been working on the Sala now and then.


New O-rings in place and wires during fitting. O-rings to the right are from my bag of spares - kindly provided by Otto Schouwstra several years ago. The mini connecters are from Micro Mark.

The design of the loco makes it necessary to remove the motor to detatch the upper body from the frame. In the future this will be made somewhat easier, as I fitted mini connectors to the wires from the current collectors to the motor. That way I can easily disconnect decoder plus wires and remove the motor. No need to pull out the soldering iron.

With the new O-rings in place I tested the loco before I installed the ESU-decoder. If things didn't work I wanted to be able to spot where something had gone wrong. While the micro decoder is small all the associated wires take up a lot more space. I'm usually reluctant to cut the unneeded wires, but this time I chose to loose them.

ESU Micro-decoder and mini connectors fitted.

Before I assembled the loco again I fitted a few dials on the engine housing. I used dry transfers from Archer Transfers. I found the smallest dials on the set AR35209 to match the size of the kit's relief etched dials. I finished the dials by adding a drop of Kristal Kleer to represent glass.

With a decoder mounted the loco had to have an address, and that demands a number painted on the loco (or I will never be able to remember the loco's address).  Most locos on Danish industrial railways didn't have a number. In most cases they were the only loco a railway had. In case of more locos they could be identified by their colour, maker or by calling them names. Numbering was mostly used as a last resort. So with some reluctance I numbered the loco. Now the Sala has the number '3'. The numbers came from an old Italeri sheet, while the Nystrup Gravel-decals are costum made by 'Skilteskoven'.

No. 3 at Nystrup Gravel. Although built in Sweden in the 1930's the loco is still looking good in this 1953 photo. Nystrup employees obviously took good care of their machines.