I've been catching up with a backlog of unchipped motive power & rolling stock, which has been more interesting than it might sound. In TT there are at least five different interfaces in use, with NEM 651 (6 pin), NEM 652 (8 pin), Plux12 and Plux16, and Keuhn's Next18. By and large I go with Lenz or Zimo decoders, but I'll always give other a try if the price is attractive.

Tillig's BR189 has a Plux12 interface. Fine, I bought a Lenz silver with the appropriate plug. It didn't fit in the available space, and after searching I found that Tillig have a dedicated decoder for it. Further searching revealed that this was a Tams decoder, and was cheaper getting the OEM version than the Tillig branded one. The 189 has since had its chassis redesigned to fit any Plux12 decoder...

I'm trying to stick with Railcom enabled decoders as future proofing. I saw a budget priced Viessmann decoder with NEM 651 interface and Railcom, so ordered one. The function outputs didn't work, and the drive was horrible. I got a replacement under warranty, and while the functions work on this one, the drive is so rough that I've relegated it to work as a function only decoder in an InterCity driving car (Bimdzf 269). One sensible bit of wiring from Tillig is that the lighting in this coach is effectively reversed, so running it on the same address as the train's locomotive (Tillig BR 101, NEM 651 interface, spare Roco decoder) the forward and reverse direction makes sense relative to the train. The decoder might be rubbish, but at least it gives that train Railcom- the Roco decoder lacks this.

Thanks to the design of the Plux interfaces, I was able to use the Lenz Silver Plux12 in a Piko BR 294 in spite of its interface being Plux16- I think the Piko loco only uses 7 of the pins as it doesn't have independently switched tail or headlights- something the Tillig BR 189 does with the Plux12 interface. Here's a gratuitous shot of the Piko 294, a better model than either of the H0 options for this type in my opinion.

Everything else has been reasonably easy, although both decoder and stock manufacturers could make pin 1 more readily identifiable on NEM 651!

I'm steadily working through weathering wagons. A few have gone really quite well. A couple have been disastrous. A selection of covered hoppers for lime traffic were the first I tackled. All work is enamel paints. I've yet to sort the buffers out.

Lately I've had mixed results with vans, an Hbis 294 going swimmingly. Enamel washes and powders (Mig and Humbrol)

A couple have gone so badly I haven't even photographed them before stripping them back to factory finish. One was an attempt at fading a traffic red van, which I managed to get brush marks on. Another is a Zacs tank, and I failed miserably to get anything approaching the look I wanted. I'm going to work with washes and powders, leaving a day between layers. Impatience was what really left it fubar.

A simpler task was painting the interior of a Tillig BR 642 Desiro to from the factory pale beige to a more prototypical mid grey floor and blue seats. I tried painting the mechanism bulges in the interior matt black to hide them a bit more, but the lighting is so bright that it's plainly visible. I'm not sure at all what to do there! Oh, NEM 651, decoder in the toilet...