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FoxUnpopuli

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Everything posted by FoxUnpopuli

  1. Looks like you've got the scaling calibration of your printer absolutely bob-on. Nice. The planking looks as if it's grained wood, presumably a corollary of the print direction. (As you can see the same on the angleirons where you don't want it!)
  2. Um, have you guys heard of: 1. DCC++ 2. Arcomora 3. Dave Bodnar? @bkkboy DCC++ sounds like what you want. The Youtube channel DCC++ is a good place to start, it will lead you to the GutHub repositories. If you search for 'DCC++ commands' on Google, it will take you to the GitHub Wiki page, and you can see what it is capable of. A gentleman by the name of Dave Bodnar has developed a DCC++ Arduino throttle which simply outputs serial commands according to the inputs. He's also developed a wireless version which uses a HC-12 radio link. With this, you don't need the software, although I found his coding a little crude. With a bit of development, the handheld could control individual turnouts, or be customised to select routes. The way the HC-12s work, fortunately, you can have multiple handhelds transmitting to the basestation, with no errors. Dave's website is worth exploring from top to toe - hunt down every link, as there are some gems in there, and it's not particularly well organised! Mentioned here in other threads is Arcomora. If you haven't looked through that, you're missing out. DCC++ and Arcomora MARDEC/ARSIGDEC allow you to create a complete manually controlled automated layout - points, signals and locos. Arcomora ARLOCO is a sensor interface which outputs to Loconet, allowing you to automate a layout with block sensing in something like JMRI... as long as you spend a bit of cash on a Loconet to USB interface. I've some stuff to add to this (like, I don't want to use JMRI or Loconet, however I do want to automate a layout) but I'll post that when I've got all the above stuff working first! (My bits are in the post.)
  3. https://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/timelyrain001 This vendor has a variety of plastic 0.5Mod crown gears... and also a nice range of geared N20 units.
  4. It does beg the question... are any other model shops on eBay with the same 20% discount? Edit: Yes... ModelRailMarket SouthDevonRailway
  5. You might be able to persuade one of the 3D printer owners on RMWeb to do you a print - especially if they have a GWR layout like yours... Look up the Anycubic Photon/Elegoo Mars threads and try some PMs.
  6. As the LMS one is now nigh-on impossible to get hold of (at what my wallet considers good value) I've been considering something similar. I'd be interested to see how you get on.
  7. Or perhaps take the support to the edge of the platform and cut an archway into the front side up against the front panel (fancy.) (first part not done, but archway illustrated.)
  8. I now would dearly love a thread starting that covers 'possible station locations which could have homed all of the Big-Four'. I was thinking of trying to model a revised through version of Waterloo, but I lived in Oxford for a while (and as I'm a big fan of alternate realities, I'm a fan of Philip Pullman too) so this sounds very interesting. However, back to the matters at hand... how's this? Useful? (200mm grid.)
  9. Quick FYI in case it's not in the general press: I had a response from Elegoo service saying that Amazon will be supplying the Saturn in November.
  10. Not so unique in UK: Midland 'Flatiron' for one. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midland_Railway_2000_Class https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrb1552.htm https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrbg143.htm
  11. Tilbury: Interesting arrangement of tracks, plus it has a shed, goods facilities etc... Jinties, Tilbury tanks, plus the lovely Stanier 4P 3-Cylinders. I've a soft spot for all the LMS 2-6-4 tanks. https://maps.nls.uk/view/103200049 https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=16&lat=51.45516&lon=0.35912&layers=193&b=1 http://shedbashuk.blogspot.com/2017/02/plaistow-tilbury-1935-1962.html
  12. Have a rifle through Trainstop of Knighton, my Father's local shop. It's not the nicest website, but the search is ok if you're after something specific. Lots of new old-stock collected up in there. Dai's a nice chap too. My focus is on big-four, so I haven't really hunted for BR bargains, but these don't seem bad IMO: Hornby R2355 - Bulleid Q1 BR 33037: £76.95 Hornby R3414SP - LNER J15 5444: £69.51 Hornby R3411 - SR S15: £85.18 Bachmann 31-433 - LMS Johnson 1F Half-cab: £81.96
  13. I copied this over from @Harlequin's 'Minories are made of this' thread. Bentley are my local group, I've popped in a couple of times and threatened to join before all this recent Covid nonsense. @Calnefoxile's comment is interesting, because I'd been fiddling with my Minories-inspired concept previously posted and had come up with this: which I think is becoming quite interesting from an operational point of view, and gets me a roundy-roundy for when I just want to watch trains go by. One of th initial issues I have is that I have lots of stock, so making the traverser be multi-deck, movable in the Z-axis, and even arranged to join with six further sidings under the 'south' end of the layout gives me plenty of storage yet faced off with scenic options from the light blue 'SX' headshunt.
  14. I agree - sorry Julian, so quick answers to Phil's qs. Oxidation retardant: Yes, and yes, this is because it's a thin coating over the rails that is an oxygen barrier that happens to be conductive. Preventing dirt oe dust buildup, techncailly no - although dust won't 'stick' to graphite as well as it would cling to surface with more friction (think of waxing your car) but most 'dirt' on the rails of Nickel Silver track is corrosion anyway. If your track is heavily dusted or dirtied (from say, plaster dust from renovation work) then unfortunately yes, you will need to physically clean your track - probably more a vacuum cleaning exercise. If you've graphited the rails, further cleaning might be simply a dry felt pad - a Hornby or Dapol rail cleaner - run dry under light pressure. Further discussion - selected from a Google search: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/magazine/mrh-2015-05-may/fight-dirty-rails-with-graphite OK, for the thread's sake, anything much more on this, shall we find other threads on RMW discussing it and take it there?
  15. Sorry. You do not need to do it often. Full layout, once a year, local problem spots do as and when. It's a much more common practice in the US and one model railroader stated he'd done it once when he built his layout three years previously, and had not really done a complete wipe since.
  16. I vote for Fowler's original Patriot - and of course, someone agrees because of 'The Unknown Soldier'.
  17. Perhaps we can ask @Michael Edge for his practical experience of graphite on nickel silver track? As for my experience, from 20+ years ago: you don't need a lot. It's basically a thin layer of a conductive material, that in itself is chemically stable. It sits in the pores of the metal surface so it will redistribute. If you can see graphite dust, you've used too much. Aside from a imparting a subtle change in colour and slight dulling of the rail (iirc) you shouldn't be able to see it. Because it's a lubricant, dirt actually doesn't stick to it very well either - at the micro level. At the macro level, you might see a small decrease in traction. Graphite as a chemical substance is a flat hexagonal matrix of carbon atoms. These matrices sit so flat they form layers - which is why it lubricates as the layers can slide over each other. It shares electrons so well across the hexagonal matrix it becomes a fair electrical conductor - unusual for a non-metallic substance. Its chemical makeup is very stable - it doesn't in itself oxidise or boil away. If you want to stop a susceptible metal corroding, then you need to coat the surface with something. Metals like aluminium or stainless steel form chemically and physically stable oxide layers so we don't worry about them so much. With steel, to combat that unstable oxide we know as rust, we try to separate the oxygen in the air from the metal surface by painting, plating or otherwise coating it. With copper or brass, polishing the surface to a high sheen works well, as you're reducing the surface area available for the oxygen to get a grip on the metal - and thus, it works with steel too. If you want a fun experiment, take a piece of mild steel, scuff half of it with some 400 grit emery, put the other half under a polisher until it's as reflective as chrome, and then leave it out in the rain. It will all rust eventually, but the polished half will take a good while longer. I suspect if you wiped a portion of the polished side in graphite, it would be improved further still. Nickel-silver does oxidise, and the oxide layer is a combination of copper, nickel and zinc oxides, mostly coppers. In theory, they are insulators - or at best semi-conductors - but in practice the rail can be heavily visibly oxidised and still conduct enough current to propel your locomotive. The black/green mix is relatively easy to clean off, but will embed itself into the pores of the metal surface - and also transmit itself as a 'dirt layer' onto anything running over it, depositing itself on your locomotive and rolling stock wheels.
  18. Alternatively: Try stripping the wires out of mains solid copper cable - 2.5mm² for example. To connect to it, you can thread the terminals stripped out of chocolate blocks onto it. If you use a larger type of block, you might be able to slide them over the insulation, so you'll only need to strip it back locally. If you want to make it neat and protect it from damage, you can rout a slot into the wood.
  19. I don't want the thread spammed, but I await an 'after' photograph.
  20. Either very early 1939, or March onwards. 4813 was damaged in an accident in 29 January 1939, and not put back into service until 11th March. It doesn't seem like a cold winter day... so later, maybe? Looking at other photographs of 48xx V2s and the photo I have of 813, I do agree that it's 4813 we're looking at, not 813. Good catch.
  21. From the Hornby 'Queen of Scots' train pack - R3402. I managed to pick one up for £200 - some places advertise it cheaper, but not in stock (or not online.)
  22. Clever live frog setup, would work well on something like Z or T gauge (if it doesn't already.)
  23. Wonderful. 813 was a King's Cross loco, renumbered in May 1946, and there's a photo of it on an express freight running north from Finsbury Park in Tuffrey's V2 book. 813 had a plain stovepipe chimney and a U-shaped smoke deflector surrounding the rear of it - don't know if that was unique, but it was certainly unusual.
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