axlej

Hi, As a kid in the early late 70's / early 80's I remember seeing 47s going through Southampton, presumably on the X-Country service up from Poole / Bournemouth. I'm planning to model that era/location so was wondering if anyone had any pointers on coaching stock. Mk 2s from memory but it was a long time ago and no idea on formation. Also, when did HSTs start running down to Bournemouth? Many thanks Alex

It will be interesting to see what Hornby do here. They seem to operate on a business model where most units are pre-sold in advance. To operate this requires a certain amount of confidence in a manufacturer (or confidence that they will remedy anything that's not up to standard). I'd pre-ordered and XC and GWR set making the wild assumption that the wheels on them would at least be up to the standard of the previous version. Hopefully they'll do something about it but it will rankle me if I have spend money buying wheels from Hornby themselves to correct a defect with their own product. How they handle this will affect my decision on whether to pre-order anything in the future. Obviously me not pre-ordering again is not going to have much financial impact on Hornby but I can't be the only person that feels that way!

Hi May seem an odd question but does anyone have any idea if the forthcoming Hornby Swallow Mk3 coaches are going to have the lower part a more prototypical grey/beige colour rather than the rather cream ones that they have produced in the past? Just wondering as want something to run with an old Margate Swallow HST which to my eye has the colour just right. Cheers Alex

Once you've checked as Nigelcliffe has suggested....... If you go to http://www.esu.eu/en/downloads/software/ and download the PC software for the Lokprogrammer. It's the computer side of things for using their interface to program their chips. Without the interface you can still choose your chip and use pull down menus on the PC to select the features you want. Choose 'create new project' and select your decoder. Use the menus to choose the functions you want. Then you can ask it what CV's have changed from default and just program them manually in the normal way. I find it's a good way of leaning what does what with the ESU chips. Cheers Alex

I emailed them this afternoon and they said they'll offering them as sets for the SD's with the Power car couplings by Sunday.

Hi Does anyone know if is there a cranked version available of the close coupling that comes with these so they can be close coupled to the power car? Cheers Alex

Thanks 54-54. I'll have a look at those.

Done quite well on this Hornby 47 with fibre optic pipe. and just roughed it up a bit on the end so it looks opaque. You can get it in lots of sizes. 2.5mm or 3mm might do the trick. Give us a shout if you want any more info.

Hi there Started work converting an old Lima Swallow HST to hopefully turn into 43185 'Great Western' with the modern twin lights. I've got the lights working pretty well but want to try and make the light unit look a bit more realistic, especially when the lights are off (see attached pics). I've painted black inside the lens and will paint the border round the outside of the lens black but was wondering if anyone has done a similar conversion and if there are any dodges to get it looking better as my brush skills are not the best. Thanks Alex

Some great additions but shame they are not doing 43185 Great Western to go with Sir Kenneth Grange. I know they didn't run together but if you've already got GWR power cars you could mix and match. Also, wonder if the Swallow Mk3's will be a better grey colour rather than the 'magnolia' of the earlier versions?

Thanks Rob, that makes sense now, I hadn't figured the picture was only part of the decoder. Cheers Alex

Hi Got a Lokpilot v4.0 (Model number 54611) that I want to fit a stay alive to. The manual has diagrams of how to wire it for various v4.0 decoders but not for this one. Can anyone point me in the right direction as I don't want to fry it! Many thanks Alex

Nigelcliffe and Vecchio, thanks for that. Looks like ESU or Zimmo could be the way forward as you can set a different dim level for each function and fairly easy to fit Stayalive. Cheers Alex

Thanks will have a look at those. Alex

Hi Been using TCS decoders as I like the advanced lighting functions for remapping and especially being able to set a different dim value for each function output as it helps getting the lights looking right. I was wondering if there were any other brands out there that offer the same flexibility? Been looking but seem to be going round in circles. Also need to be able to hook up to stay alive. Thanks Alex