Fleischmann 5300 Weathering and Flicker Free SMD LEDs

Next little exercise I have on my workbench is a Fleischmann 5300 that needs a little modification. The Fleischmann 5300 does not come equipped with interior lighting or Red taillights that the 5301 does. Time to be creative and add lighting and a bit of weathering. The body comes of with a little bit of difficulty; there are 4 clips holding the interior plastic detail to the body and four clips holding the interior detail to the chassis. With a little patience, remove the body without breaking anything. Remove the wheels, weight and axle holders. Solder some wire on the axle holders to provide power for the  lighting. With the chassis separate, paint the chassis a dark brown as a base for the weathering.  I use a mixture of Tamiya Flat black and Hull Red thinned down by 50% with IPA, two quick coats will  give good coverage. Above: Note the colour of the chassis and the PCB board for the lighting.
SMD LEDs soldered to the Flickerfree PCB, Red SMDs on 1k Ohm resistors . I found an addition 1k Ohm resistor required to reduce the voltage to the Red SMDs. The Flickerfree PCB has a 510 Ohm resistor as the main resistance. The wire from the front wheel set has also been hidden under the interior detail.

Next, to create a cover for the Red SMD rear lights, cut some black card and bend in a U shape- slide it in over the SMD and glue in place with some CA.  The back of the “light fitting” filled in with some filler then painted flat black.

	Solder the wires from the axle pickups directly to the Flickerfree Unit inputs. Use the mounting tape tabs to secure the Flickerfree Unit to the floor of the interior.

Above: Weathering powders used to add some rusty dust colouring to the lower part of the body