Jintyman

Nice tankers and the Cavalex Hoppers look stunning. Hope they consider doing the hoppers in 7mm (Are you listening Grimley???)!!! You've done a nice job of the two road shed up to now. I just can't get my head around structures and buildings, but that is looking very nice indeed. Jinty

Love the shot of the Rat on the crossing, very evocative. JInty

Very nice Andy, but that 64xx should be 6433 of Merthyr shed (88D) and ready for a transfer in the new year sometime!!! Jinty

Ok I've found the info. select a clear piece of track about 3' - 4' long, make sure the loco is set in the forward direction as once the Autotune is engaged it will shoot off down the track for a few of feet at full speed!!! Put loco on programming track. Set CV 54 to 0 Put the loco back onto the main clear length of track Press F1 The loco will shoot off rather fast for a few feet then come to rest, the sound will be on, press F1 to turn it off again. Then try the locomotive to see if it has improved in its running characteristics. Hope that helps Regards Jinty

Hi Peter, Great videos and pictures. I particularly like the one with the DAF articulated unit, I seem to remember a haulage company around these parts who used that two tome blue livery with red mud guards, but for the life of me I can't remember the name. It will come to me, probably at the most inopportune time!!! As for the CV's in the DMU, is it an ESU V4 decoder fitted? If so then there is an 'Autotune' feature built into all V4's, I can't remember the sequence as I'm now more of a Zimo man, but it's transformed the running of some of mine in the past. Hope I'm not teaching Grandma to suck eggs? Regards Jinty

Well I'm actually going to post something here myself for a change. I've been umming and ahhing about which bogies to use on my Brassworks E147 single B'Set coach. The body has been converted and painted for a good while now, but I just couldn't get the brassworks bogies to work ok through my O-MF track. The wheel flanges looked more coarse scale than anything, and they certainly didn't like being moved on their axles. So Easybuild 9' Pressed Steel bogies were purchased and a little bit of butchery to the bogie pivots to get the right height and it runs nice and smoothly through my many crossing vees. Here is a quick little video showing the coach and a Fruit D being dragged, wrong line working, through Talyllyn Junction Station. I also had a nice trip up to the Blyth clubrooms with Brian, to meet up with some friends up there and exchange some bits and pieces. Brian has finished the little waiting room for Platform 2 so I must now really get on and finish that platform at least. Having solved the bogie problem, it has given me a bit of impetus to get through the work mountain!!! More very soon Jinty

Hi Peter, I can't help you with regards to the problem you have with the speaker, but to ask one question, are you sure that the decoder is a V3.5, as if it is a V4 they only work on 4 - 8ohms and the V3.5 works with 100ohms. What I am posting about is the fact that I did the 'one motor' trick on a class 25 but I had to remove the transfer gears from the dead bogie as they made the running a bit jerky, maybe there is a bit of tension running backwards up from the wheelsets. Regards Jinty

The lighting circuit boards with just about all of the newer Heljan locos contains the resistors. So just wire up the the XL and play!!! Jinty

The 08 is now sound fitted again and ready to return from whence she came!!! Jinty

I'm due a largish package of painted figures off Claudia, her work is outstanding. Her e-mail address is: artcice@gmail.com Regards Jinty

Awesome Brian, that's nearly all the buildings for Talyllyn now, Just a couple of little huts and a corrugated hut which I've already got. As I've said before, I'll have to get stuck into the platforms to give them somewhere to sit!!! Jinty

A busy afternoon in the garage, getting a few little jobs out of the way. One of the jobs is a Dapol 08 that had a fried Zimo decoder!!! She has been tested both on DC and standard DCC and there is no fault with the loco. A replacement was organised and I've shoehorned one of my cube speakers in behind the grille ready for it. The customer wanted the 08 weathering so I've fitted more chunky vac pipes instead of those anaemic Dapol ones. Correct ends were added and then wipers were also added, as supplied by Giles of this parish. A few passes with some washes and various dirts, and here she is, awaiting her decoder and a good testing, before going off to her owner. A few more bits are underway, and I'll update over the next few days. Jinty

Great meeting you again George, thanks to all who visited, a great day had by all I think. the 37 looks top notch on there George. Jinty

It's bad when you post more than I do!!! Looking very nice mate. I need to get these platforms built the they'll have somewhere to live!!! Jinty

Ok so I've been playing around with Heljan diesels, in particular the 'over spec' twin motors that are in them. The Heljan 7mm diesels have twin motors in pretty much all of them bar the shunters. I was of the opinion that most 7mm layouts are small to medium in size and shorter trains are run more often than not, if not light engine. I decided to trial the running of them with one motor removed and this has had a two fold advantage in that there is less of a current draw and that it opens up more room for speakers etc. I had already trailed it on a customers class 20, which is in service and hauling 4 - 5 coaches on a regular basis, and I'm presuming no reports from my customer of any failures, etc. That particular class 20, with one motor hauled every piece of freight stock I had to hand with no slip and certainly no overload on the decoder. I decided to put this theory to the test with just about the heaviest loco Heljan ever produced, the Hymek. One motor removed, a large speaker fitted within the body facing down over the bogie with the motor removed. The motor can be re-instated but obviously a larger decoder would have to be used. A Zimo MX645R has been fitted and then tested to see how it runs. Light engine was perfect, so a train was assembled with some heavy JLTRT vans, a JLTRT Fruit D, a Hattons cast Warwell and a kit built brass 20t brake van. Also two Dapol 7-plank wagons were added and one had a load of ballast added to it as well. The Hymek performed without any slip or cutting out, but just as it should do, even with this shortish train. I will trial a longer/heavier train next, but thought I'd show a video of the test train over the filthy track work of Talyllyn Junction. More to come soon Jinty

Brian is a very busy cottage industry and can be difficult to get hold of sometimes, especially in between shows. Another question was asked elsewhere about the same thing and I believe someone mentioned a holiday!!! I'd just keep trying, you'll get through eventually. I've also always found the mid week telephone contact the most successful. Jinty

Well it is a Traveller after all................................................................................... The crossing gates look really well Andy, you don't half get a shift on with things. It just seems to come together for you really quickly! Jinty

Hi Peter, They are a good kit. A bit of fettling and trimming required from the moulding process, but other than that, they go together very well! Jinty

Giles of this parish does some laser cut ones for both the front and rear screens. Drop him an e-mail with the question: giles@gilesfavell.com I don't think they are listed on his website, but I've had them from him before. http://bygiles.com/ Jinty

That's it blame us for your weaknesses!!!!! Teacup, with 7mm, taking your time is obligatory, it is just so rewarding, the sheer mass of the stock, even a wagon can take some time to finish by adding and picking out all the little details on it. Hope you enjoy your foray into 7mm, I was hooked straight away and my 4mm layout and stock just disappeared overnight!!! Even Andy has to take his time and savour the journey, if his new layout was 4mm, it'd be finished now, with 7mm, it's taken a week and a half before ballasting has begun!!! Jinty

Hi George, If you're coming over on the 6th, I use a Megapoints board to operate my semaphore signals that Jon Fitness built for me. You can have a look at that, as Tender said, once you have the board the servo's are very cheap and it's quite easy to set up and operate. Jinty

The Invertrain stuff is quite good, the castings are nice and crisp and they go together well. You'll have that lot finished in no time!!! Yes Ballast is consumed at an alarming rate with 7mm!!! I've been saving up my Woodlands Scenics Medium Grey and Medium Grey Blend which I mix together. I have six tubs of each, but still not sure if it will be enough! Jinty

You'll never believe it but we went for a meal last night near Bangor and we decided to take a trip over the mountains home. It felt very mild and we had the roof down from Llanberis all the way home It was strangely pleasant, although somewhat eerie. Mind you, top of me 'ead was a bit chilly!!!! Jinty

And I'll probably have a run over the Cat & Fiddle to visit once its done, hopefully on a sunny day with the roof down!!!! Jinty

Hi Peter, Been having a bit of a sort out, I have 6 of the Banana vans, and I certainly don't need that many, so that's why these are going. All the rest are modern image wagons which I've been buying simply to weather, detail and sell. I did the same with the PCA's and now I have a dozen to build and finish!!!! Jinty