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shildonboy

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  1. We only stock British models www.britishmodeltrains.ca we are online but you can visit by appointment and provide advice by phone or email
  2. I am in the same country and as a small retailer i am pleased to see the HST/GST being collected at the time of import. It is impossible to compete when UK retailers get a larger trade discount, cheaper shipping costs and they also get the 20% VAT removed. I have lost count of the times people say I can buy it cheaper (insert name of well known U.K. retailers) than I can from you because I don't need to pay the tax. The latter statement is totally incorrect. Anyone in Canada purchasing overseas is required to remit the HST/GST to the Canada Revenue Agency if it was not collected by the foreign retailer at the time of purchase or at the time of i,port. The CRA has the powers to ask you to prove that you paid the HST/GST on any items you have purchased - fortunately they almost never do this. It is also correct that Canada and other countries are requiring none resident retailers to register for, collect and remit the appropriate sales taxes. Everyone wants to enjoy the benefits of roads, health services etc. but for some reason not paying HST/GST is regarded by a significant number of people as a badge of honour rather than the tax evasion that it actually is. When there are no small retailers left people will complain but it falls in the category of be careful what you wish for. I also believe our respective governments waste far too much of our taxes paid at every level and we should hold them accountable at the ballot box for this.
  3. you made your own acrylic paints by mixing pigments and acrylic mdf sealer. Interesting approach, a nifty idea. What did you use for pigments?
  4. Peter's Spares sell their own replacement axles for the round end style. I have used them a number of times, there is a trick to this although the quartering does not need to be 90 degrees it does need to be the same. I apply loctite to one end of the axle and install the wheel and leave to set. I separate the chassis and remove the motor and then put the chassis back together. Repeat the loctite on the other end of the axles, install the wheels and align by eye and then put into the chassis and install the wheel keeper plate. put the chassis on the track and gently push along the track, watch carefully for binding adjust the quartering on the wheel when it binds until the chassis can be pushed along with your little finger. When it is correct you will be able to give the loco a gentle push and it runs freely along the track. do this in both directions. When you are happy it is as smooth and free running as it can be leave overnight for the loctite to set. Take it apart, reinstall the motor and reassemble the chassis. Put the the wheels and everything back together and test run. I have lost count how many times I have done this for customers, it also works on locos with pistons just have to put the piston rods into the pistons. these older locos have push fit pins to hold the con rods in place I do not remove them unless I can punch the pin out from the back. If you try from the front the pin often breaks off.
  5. put everything back together and so far everything runs smoothly with nice low speed control. Will see how it holds up after running for a few days
  6. I took the motor out of the loco and cleaned the commutator segments with ASALCO which is a commercial motor cleaner surprising how much gunk came off the thing. Ran it for an hour last night under no load and it started fine. Running it again tonight in the other direction again with no load. After cleaning the sparking at the brushes is almost completely eliminated. Also running cooler. The winding connections are all intact - checked at X10 magnification. I will also remove the brushes and perform a high Q test to see if there is an open or short inside the windings.
  7. I have a Hornby R3704 Battle of Britain loco with an X04 motor, the newer type without felt lubricating pads. The loco was bought used and was in desperate need of a service. I serviced the loco and it runs well. After 30 minutes of running if I stop it the loco does not restart unless you touch the armature windings and give it a lgentle nudge. You can feel the field magnetisim in the winding so it is not a pick up issue. Any thoughts?
  8. I am a small model railway retailer and I was looking forward to the new releases from Hornby. I had customers wanted the new Brighton Belle set and asked for me to pre-order the coaches and the driving trailers for them. The coach set recently arrived and I paid my distributor to ship the pre-order coach sets to me, so far so good. I called the customers to let them know their orders had arrived and the price. I was then amazed to learn from my customers that Hattons and other Hornby Distributors are already deeply discounting these sets to a level that is almost what it costs me to buy from a Distributor. Understandably the customers want the best price possible. This is a disturbing pattern and I know going forward I will not pre-order any more Hornby items as I cannot afford to be left with stock that is available elsewhere for less than I can buy it. Scenarios that spring to mind here: Hornby's goal is to distribute their products to the public through Hattons and a handful of Distributors, Hornby have completely misjudged the size of the market for the Brighton Belle 1967 and have effectively flooded the market with a product in quantities that are greater than the market demand Hornby is discounting the Coach packs which are unable to be used without the trailer cars which will be available in significantly smaller numbers which will create a shortage and allow the trailers to command a much higher price. None of this is good for the long term hobby. I stock many small items, accessories and kits which on their own are not enough to support even a hobby business I need sales of the more expensive items to cover the costs associated with running a business even a hobby business. If this continues modelers will need to accept that they will increasingly have to buy from a handful of large retailers, small manufacturerssuppliers at shows or by mail.
  9. Strange that it ran okay with a 9V battery - dry cell batteries have very limited ability to provide current - which begs the question about current draw because a Duette in good condition should be capable of supplying more current than a 9V battery. There is not much in a Duette apart from a thermal cut out, a bridge rectifier, a diode and a wire wound variable resistor and a capacitor for each controller. A faulty thermal cutout could increase the resistance in the circuit as it gets warm which would explain why the loco slows down after a period of operating
  10. thank you to everyone who has contributed to this thread, I have read the entire thread in a single sitting, allowing the memories to gently wash over me. I received a princess Victoria train set for Christmas when I was 4 years old in 1963 from my parents. As a bonus there was a petrol tanker and a level crossing from one of my uncles. I am from a railway family that traces their history back to the Stockton and Darlington railway in 1825 and I lived in the town that I use for my screen name. Not a surprise that railways are my hobby. Over the years my collection increased through birthdays and Christmas presents. Everyone I knew had Triang except the one kid across the street who had Dublo, he was an only child and had more toys than my brother and I combined, not only did his parents only have one child to buy for but his aunts and uncles were in the same position. That said we didn't care we had everything we needed even if by today's standards it doesn't seem to be much. The princess Victoria and the two blood and custard carriages withstood being played with on the floor by a small boy not only did this mean running on the track but much frequent handling, dropping and derailments and yet they survived along with Poly, Nellie a black 0-4-0, Britannia, 4-2-2 caledonian, 2-6-2 continental tank, Type 3 Co Co, M7 tank, a blue pullman, Flying Scotsman, a blue grey pullman, a Wren R1, an AIA AIA type 3, a jinty and a dock authority plus utility vans etc. a number of these were second hand when I got them. I wish I had them all today. The demise of a number of these was due to my growing desire to build a branch line terminus and improve the realisim, add detail etc when I was 13 or 14. The result was the loss of these items but I do still have a number of these items from my early modelling days even if some of them are now much modified. I mourn the pullmans, the Caledonian, the 2-6-2 and others. That said the others still work even if I have turned the wheels down on the scotsman, the dock authority and the AiA AIA, fitted a comet chassis to the Britannia and Romfords to the others. I remember the catalogues with the Cuneo paintings and the price lists when a point was 10 shillings, it doesn't sound much now but it was a lot of money, you could get fish and chips for 1 shilling at this time. Regardless of the pros and cons of dublo, Triang, Trix etc what they all have in common is they have created many thousands of happy memories , helped to develop well adjusted men who have married and raised families and made significant contributions to their communities and acted as the catalyst for thousands of friendships A legacy to be remembered and probably hard to equal.
  11. Bachmann have replacement wheels for the China made locos for 17 GBP a set. A bit pricey. Your blog shows exactly what I found with my locos. I am hoping that by reducing the insert diameter and gluing them in place to avoid a repeat failure. At some point in the future when the wheels finally give out I may resort to fitting Markits wheels depending on the other alternatives available at that time.
  12. I had two 4MT 4-6-0s and a B1 which all suffered from poor running and a peculiar side to side waddle when running. I checked the axles and all were good: no spilt axles, the wheels were not loose on the axles, the quartering was good. I found nothing on any of the forums and then I noticed the plastic centres of the driving wheels and the spokes were bulging out and catching the connecting rods. You can see this if you invert the loco and turn the wheels slowly. I unscrewed the connecting rods on on pair of wheels and removed them from the loco and noticed the plastic centre was bulging outwards. I found I can pull the plastic centre out of the wheel. There is a small outer lip on the outside edge of the wheel which was full of crud. I cleaned the crud out and tried the plastic centre again, it was a better fit but still did not fit flush. I realised that that oil from the connecting rods made the plastic swell slightly causing it to buckle. It is a soft soapy plastic. I sanded the back of the plastic with fine abbraisive (1500 grade) and scrapped the outside diameter with a scalpel blade to remduce the diameter until it would fit into the wheel and could be pushed down to sit flat. A quick clean of both parts with 99% alcohol, aliow to dry and then I smeared thick super glue across the back of the insert making sure to cover all the backs of the spokes etc. I then refitted the insert in the wheel and used 3 small spring clamps to squeeze the insert down onto the wheel and left to cure. After a couple of hours I removed the clamps and checked that when I pushed the insert with my finger there was no movement. A check with a steel rule confirmed the insert was now flat. Reassembled the wheels and con rods and now the locos run without the Bachmann waddle.
  13. I acquired a jubilee where the motor ran but the wheels slipped. I have now fixed the wheels and now the motor won/t run. The magnets seem very weak. Does anyone know if replacement magnets are available?
  14. Anyone looking for a Ks Spinner 4-2-2 kit can find one here at Import Model Railways for $110 Canadian. Steve is a member here on RM WEB. He also has a number of other Ks Kits and kits by other manufacturers. http://www.modelrailwayimports.com/product.php?PID=9502&CID=0&BID=0&TID=0&SID=0&q=locomotive%20kit
  15. shildonboy

    Q6

    As my name suggests I am originally from just along the line from there and we pronounced it Tindl
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