Lord_Woody

I modified my 3rd post for clarity, as I explained when I modified it. My OP asked if anyone was having problems with the website ( answer, yes), that's all I was asking, it's just that some people feel the need to butt in and make more of it than I was, for whatever reason. I accept some people just get pleasure from being awkward and argumentative, which is being amply demonstrated here, so I'll leave the thread now and ignore your passive/aggressive nature and get on with running my own small creative business whist being sure to learn my lesson go never bothering to ask a simple question here, because there's always going to be some grumpy person who's spoiling for a fight.

The whole of France may close down for August but it's not like that here, and, had you bothered to read the initial question it was in no way a complaint about Minerva, it was a question about whether anyone else was having an issue with the website, or was it just me. Jeez.

I emailed them on the 4th of August in the expectation that they would respond on their return, which was on the 8th. A working week later I have had no reply. I run my own business and respond to emails when I'm away, let alone a week after I've come back, but hey, let's make it all my fault shall we? What I was actually asking was whether anyone had any issues with the website or whether the problems was at my end, this has now been turned around to make a stick to beat me with, ironically.

To be fair I did see the notification of the holiday, I just assumed the website would still be available to take orders.

A few weeks ago I attempted to buy a wagon from the Minerva website but each time I got an error message. I sent an email, which went unanswered, and when I use the contact us form on their website I get an 'Error establishing a database connection' message. I'm on a Mac and have tried using 4 different browsers, each time I'm unable to get anywhere, I just wondered if anyone else is having problems or is it just me?

I did think I'd ask Peco tech. support, for anyone interested this was their reply.....The rail joiners on Setrack are spot welded in place. To remove a joiner please hold the rail and sleeper base firmly in the fingers of one hand, and then with the other hand use a pair of needle nose pliers to carefully peel off the joiner which will break the spot weld. This will destroy the joiner, but leave the turnout undamaged. Do not be tempted to try pulling the joiner off as this will result in the rail being pulled out of place and will result in the turnout being unrepairable.

I've just bought some O gauge setrack to make an O gauge micro layout, I need to remove a rail joiner from a couple of sections of track so I can make two isolated sidings. The instructions which came with the points suggest the rail joiners are 'welded' on, but also suggests using normal rail joiners should the originals work loose, which makes me think they can't be fixed that firmly, but on the other hand I'm a bit reluctant to start pulling at them in case I damage anything. Anyone removed them and do they come off easily?

I'm getting confused now, re. controllers. For an electrical know-nothing, can someone confirm if my H&M Clipper has the potential to damage modern motors or not ( I quite like the high\low resistance switch, which does increase controllability of some locos), I have read conflicting advice in the past but have taken the stick my fingers in my ears route and kept hold of it, especially as I am still to build a layout and just use it to test new locos briefly. As a potential layout is becoming closer to reality I'm a bit concerned as to what it may do to modern motors, and how do I find out if my current small collection have coreless motors anyway? ( Hornby J15, Heljan H&M railcar, Model Rail J70, Hornby Bagnall diesel). If the Clipper has motor harming potential, what is a recommended non DCC controller anyway, and will it give the same level of control as the Clipper?

Is it just me or do those windscreen wipers look massively thick? I have seen elsewhere complaints that the motors are noisy in these too, just wondered what the general feeling was about how these compare with the Dapol version?

When I view this on my phone, it looks OK, on my big monitor, the flaws look greatly magnified! Just wanted to add it looks better in the flesh than on screen, honestly!

For anyone still awake, finally finished and chassis fitted. Photography is rather unforgiving and there are a few visible flaws, but overall I'm quite pleased with the result. I've added some lead sheet to the underside of the footplate so it feels quite a weighty little thing, and despite some small Hornby chassis having a reputation for poor low speed running this is a great little runner at all speeds. The body colour is Tamiya primer which initially I weathered quite heavily, but decided the effect wasn't good enough so masked it again and resprayed, with just a small amount of the original weathering showing through, and a little bit heavier on the black areas. The rainstrip on the roof became detached when I washed the loco prior to painting and resisted all attempts to refix, so I trimmed it down equally and left it as is. I've enjoyed my first kit, and am already eyeing up my next one.

Got the paint on, as usual showing all the imperfections in the photo, but overall looking ok for a first attempt. I've uncovered one of the masked windows to check it worked ok, and I've got a bit of black overspray on the bonnet but as I'm going to weather it anyway I'm going to leave that. I'm going to touch up a few bits on the black, let it dry overnight then have a go at weathering tomorrow.

Finally at painting stage now, I know the rainstrips should be at the edge of the roof, but dealing with micro strip not much bigger than a hairs width and getting it in the right place was just too much, at least they're equally spaced on either side, I ended up realising that was the best I could expect. The door handles took about 4 attempts to fix, 2mm long .5mm brass rods, bent at right angles, and then glued at the end and placed in a tiny hole,just love to take flight, never to be seen again. There are 4 windscreen wipers to add but I decided they would be better fixed after painting and weathering, so I can get clear access to the glass. I've done a test strip of glazing masked with watercolor liquid mask, took two coats but worked well, so tomorrow I'll give the body a good clean, then mask the windows and have a go at it with my Tamiya grey primer, which is probably going to be the body colour, with black footplate and steps. That's the plan anyway!

I'm adding details now, horn and air filter are affixed to pins to give them strength, front lamp was just too small to attach via a thin brass rod so I glued it directly to the bonnet top, the brass hand rails worried me a bit but despite a couple of heart stopping moments when wire popped out of the tiny supports, it's all glued in place, I'll wait until tomorrow to trim the wire ends. Next worrying task is bending the cab handrails out of brass and getting them all the right length.

I've moved on a bit now, with all the main body parts in place. The hardest part was attaching the sides and front of the cab. I tacked the left side with glue, just where it met the rear cab moulding, then did the same with the other side, but once I attached the front I realised there were some fit issues and I had to take the front and sides off the cab, remove some excess plastic before making a second attempt to get everything in place whilst checking it was all as square as possible. There is some bowing and fractional distortion to some of the parts, and this has to be allowed for and amended whilst gluing. I fixed the radiator grille flush with the buffer beam as per the instructions but once glued I realised the bonnet was fractionally short. My attempts to unstick the rad. and move it back a fraction was unsuccessful so I decided to leave well alone and the subsequent gap at the rear will be filled with milliput. Before I fix the roof I'm going to fill any gaps and rub down a few glue marks, then I'll start adding the grab rails and smaller body details, before adding the roof last of all, as I'm a bit nervous about getting the curve right and getting it on square. The photos are rather unforgiving as there appears a lot of excess glue in places, especially in the front cab corners, but a bit of fine sandpaper has already improved these greatly, so I'm reasonably optimistic for a passable result finally.

A few years back I bought a Hornby 0-4-0 chassis with the idea of motorising a Tomy tram, to make a little 0-16.5 railcar. This proved beyond my limited capabilities and the chassis has hung around for ages, I couldn't even remember which chassis it was. Luckily I asked Michael at Smallbrook, who thought it was a Hornby Bill and Ben and kindly sent me a footplate from one of his kits to check the fit. It was a perfect match for his Cardea loco, so I ordered the complete kit and here I am, I don't know how many years since I built a kit, having a go. At this point I've assembled the footplate, with steps and buffer beams, glued the rear of the cab in place, glued all the glazing and detailed the drivers controls. The picture with the cab front and sides is just propped there, to encourage me! I've found superglue perhaps a bit easier than I expected, the worst thing so far has been gluing in the glazing, the suggested evo-stik being a complete disaster, placing strands of glue across the glazing, so I bought some fractionally thicker glazing from Model Junction ( great model shop) in Bury St Edmunds , plus some acrylic glue specifically for glazing and it went in ok. I'll keep this thread updated as I progress! I am aware that the loco on which this is based is an 0-6-0, but I was so pleased to find any body kit that fitted my chassis that I'm prepared to overlook that small detail. I'm aiming for something which looks half decent and runs well, historical accuracy is low on the list at the moment!

Because it's a model I'd like and there's nothing to lose?

Well I've just ordered a Hudswell Clarke loco, purely on reading this thread and then looking at DJM's website out of interest. Mind you, there was no financial commitment at this stage, I may have been a bit more circumspect if there was.

Mine is nothing like that, controls my Hornby J15 at a very slow crawl, did the same with my Bachmann Spectrum narrow gauge stuff.

http://morleycontrollers.com/shopexd.asp?id=46&bc=no I thought this looked interesting.

1 hour ago, dibber25 said: I have a Clipper that dates from around 1960. I wouldn't use it with any modern locomotive - indeed - I only use it to power accessories. I haven't tried a 'J70' on any really old controllers simply because the risk of damage is too great. However, I use a Gaugemaster Model D - which is over 20 years old - and that is fine. (CJL) OK, thanks for the advice. I'd say my Clipper dates from around 1985, is there any specific reason you say it would damage the loco? I have run my Hornby J15 using it and it ran beautifully, plus in the past an On30 Bachman gas mechanical. I have to say I've never run these for long using it so I'm suddenly a bit concerned. I was interested in buying a Rapido/Model Rail J70 tram loco, but I read somewhere in the long thread discussing it concerns about using an older controller. I did ask about the suitability of using my Clipper and was advised above, that perhaps it wasn't suitable to run modern locos now. (my response in bold above) Do others use such old controllers and if not, what would people recommend for DC?

OK, thanks for the advice. I'd say my Clipper dates from around 1985, is there any specific reason you say it would damage the loco? I have run my Hornby J15 using it and it ran beautifully, plus in the past an On30 Bachman gas mechanical. I have to say I've never run these for long using it so I'm suddenly a bit concerned.

I noticed up thread some discussions about the suitability of using older controllers with coreless motor equipped models like this. I have a very elderly H&M Clipper controller and before I order a J70 wanted some feedback about this particular controllers suitability?

Really interesting and well researched, we owned a house nearby for 10 years and I didn't know anything about the Lastours to Carcassonne line, I'm going to read these at my leisure , thanks for all your hard work!

Did you figure that out yourself James, or did you fid the info . as to how to do it online? I have had a look around for idiot-proof instructions but failed to find a good 'how to' article via Google.