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Cofga

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Everything posted by Cofga

  1. It’s still not too late. There are 19 Anthony Manors and 29 Cookham Manors available right now on the Accurascale website. Plus more will likely be posted soon when the next order arrives from China. So you can either purchase one of those available now or keep an eye on the website to see what becomes available. I just ordered Anthony Manor a few minutes ago to double head with my Cookham Manor— Larry
  2. Just spent the last hour breaking up a lump of coal I scavenged from the local fuel company, just so I can put real coal in my tenders. They still sell it by the bag for heating and farriers, but also have an old pile of assorted sizes they give away. The commercial coal from Woodland Scenics, etc. is just too regular in size and shape for my GWR tenders. I’ll use the commercial stuff in the small panniers and the like. Breaking that coal up with a 5 lb sledge hammer was no fun. It takes a lot of breaking and sifting then breaking and sifting and so on just to get enough for even one tender so I’ll probable cheat and put the real stuff on top—Larry
  3. I am about to install Shire Scenes point levers in my goods yard. In preparation I have been examining photos to determine the correct color and orientation for these during the mid-to-late 1930s. I have found photos showing these with either black or white shafts with contrasting white or black handles. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency as to region or time period. I also have found photos with the “kink” or “dog leg” in the lever facing towards the frog as in the photo below, and other photos showing it facing away from the frog. Can anyone provide any clarifications on this topic? How about @StationmasterThanks—Larry
  4. Yes, I mentioned this in a post last Thursday and McC from Accurascale replied that he believes ESU says they require 14 volts to function properly, although 13.8 volts appears to be sufficient.
  5. I believe that Zimo decoders use 2 wire stay alives whereas ESU/LokSound decoders use 3 wire stay alives. Given that the circuit board in the Manors is designed to be used with a LokSound decoder I doubt they will function with decoders that use 2 wires. As far as I know only DCC Concepts and Lenz also use the 3 wire stay alive. The white wire in the circuit is used to turn the ESU stay alive on and off—Larry “The DCC Guy”
  6. Thanks, makes sense that greased buffers would slide easier on curves, especially where screw links are employed— Larry
  7. In the BR era these seem to have been white with black handles, but in the GWR era the colors seem to have been reversed with black levers and white handles. Can anyone confirm this? Also is there any guidance on which direction the lever points when the points are set for a given direction? After looking at dozens of photos they seem to be random.
  8. Beautiful job on the coal load. One thing I’ve always wondered why is there a blop of grease on the face of the buffers? Did they lubricate them for some reason?
  9. Prism—Ah, I was looking at the right hand side of Anthony Manor which did not have it at the time Accurascale modeled. However flipping the model to the left hand side photo it does have it. Thanks for the info. I do love the 1950 version of “The importance of being Earnest”.
  10. I have a question about external changes to the Manors. It was my understanding that during the early 1950s BR made modifications to improve steaming and operation of the Manors. Among the external mods were a narrowing of the chimney and an oil pipe added on the side of the smokebox. I also thought that the bulge or pipe (sorry but don’t know the technical term) from the upper side of the smokebox back onto the boiler was done at that time. However I just noticed that the locos with the “GWR” lettering on the tender (Accurascale’s nos. 7818 & 7819 ) also have this bulge and that livery style was limited to pre-nationalisation. So just when did GWR make that modification? Thanks—Larry
  11. It’s not in the ESU PowerPack instruction sheet in the package I have. I have been using them since 2015 and this is the first time I’ve heard that. That’s the kind of tip to include in the loco instructions sheet on the next model—would have saved me pulling out my hair for 2 days trying to find a fix.
  12. Now as to the motor amperage, I tested mine stalled and with wheels slipping at full speed it was pulling 0.090 amps, so a very efficient motor. So your 0.75 amp LokPilot should do well. On another subject be aware that the onboard PowerPack needs a certain voltage to work. Over the weekend I changed my PowerCab track voltage to the 12 volt setting, then went about making some mods to the sound cv’s. Later I noticed that I no longer had any stay alive functions. I figured I had inadvertently changed a cv and mucked it up. I messed with various cv setting for 2 days trying to fix it and then feared I had burned up the caps while messing with the internal speaker. Then last night I remembered the voltage change so I kicked it back up to 13.8 volts and the PowerPack sprang back to life! So apparently the PowerPack design requires greater than 12 volts to operate. I also did some work on the speaker and sound volume situation over the weekend and will be doing another video soon on my solution—hope you have an iPhone speaker handy—Larry
  13. Interesting, mine arrived in excellent condition (with adequate padding) after DHL bounced it across the Atlantic and over our mountain roads to remote western North Carolina here in Asheville. You must have somehow pissed off the wrong guy in the shipping department! Better luck on the next one.
  14. You can increase the master volume by programming CV63 to a larger value up to 192. The CVs for the individual sounds are on the included card. Also running it with heavy load turned on will increase the chuff volume.
  15. Those rivets look way oversized compared to the Dapol model, has it been Photoshopped? In all seriousness how close to scale are the Accurascale and Dapol models with respect to the buffer beam rivets? There really seems to be a stark disparity between the models.
  16. I have watched about a dozen Manor videos running under DC and DCC including Sam’s and most have no problems with the loco crawling. In all cases that did require a good breakin run. On my video I ran the loco for 30 min in each direction on a Rolling Road after which it ran fine for me as I showed in the video, on DCC. Since the DCC version was not shipped with a blanking plug I could no do a DC run test as well. So maybe Sam got one with a stiff gear, or bearing that needs more breaking in, or maybe it missed the lubrication station at the factory. As for the 3 pole motor, size does not predict performance (just ask you wife) and there are good reasons for using a high quality 3 pole skew wound motor with a flywheel—just Google “3 pole vs 5 pole DC motors” for a quick lesson. If you go back about a year in this thread you’ll find one I wrote then expressing my concerns with 3 pole motors, however Accurascale has convinced me with this implementation.
  17. This may be a tad off topic but someone questioned about how many coaches their Bulleid Pacific could haul up my 1.9% helix. So today after installing a new decoder I ran my Hornby Merchant Navy Holland-Afrika Line up the helix to see. It had no problems with the Siphon G plus 6 Hornby coaches. Since I was testing I also grabbed my Dapol Mogul and gave it the same test—the best it could do was the Siphon G plus one coach. I think I’ll keep it in the flatlands!
  18. Excellent question and one I am not sure of myself. Technically ESU Power Pack stay alives use a 3 wire connection which is also compatible with Lenz and DCC Concepts decoders. Most others use a 2 wire connection. While it is possible to use a 2 wire stay alive with a decoder that expects 3 wires it isn’t recommended and I always thought the reverse was not possible. So this is a technical question that only the DCC tech at Accurascale and ESU can answer. Hopefully Fran will get us an answer—Larry
  19. But your widow will be able to ask a higher price after you are on to the big sleep.
  20. I forgot to mention in the review that even the DCC ready versions come complete with the stay alive capacitors on the circuit board and speakers in both the tender and boiler. So all you need do is add a Next18 decoder with your choice of sound project and you should be ready to go. With some American loco models the manufacturers actually do not include anything but a DCC socket and may not have a space for a speaker of any kind. So I had not expected both speakers and stay alive.
  21. I am back out in the western mountains of NC so may not even see a passing shower, but thanks for the thought—Larry
  22. I finally finished editing and now have my in-depth Manor review up on my YouTube channel. It’s been great to follow Fran and the rest of the Accurascale team as they went through the process of developing this model. I really want to thank them for allowing so many of us to participate in this project—Larry
  23. I misspoke as the King tender was only 32g lighter not 68g. My King came in the Bristolian set about 2020 direct from Hong Kong via eBay so I figure it came out the back door of the factory or warehouse. I weighed them out individually and the Manor engine was 316g with a 100g tender=416g total. The King engine weighed 335g with a 68g tender=403g. So The important thing is the heavier tender on the Manor along with it’s lighter engine reduced it’s pulling power compared to the King by a couple of coaches.
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