DrStroganoff

Just to follow up... I ended up connecting my tender pickups directly to the loco's pickups with a couple of short wires. Works perfectly now, no stalling or sound cutting out.

Thankyou Kaput, this is what I needed to hear. I think I see where I'm going wrong now.

Thanks for the replies. Richard, I have tried the TTS decoder in another loco (streamlined coronation), and works fine. I've connected my tender pickups directly to the tabs on the motor, to which the decoder is already connected. Should I have not done this? The decoder still works fine if the tender/extra pickups are not connected. I must apologise if I have not described the problem clearly. I'm having trouble processing it myself! To reiterate, everything works as it should until extra pickups are introduced to the motor.

Hi guys. Apologies if this is a bit rambling/wrong section etc... Yesterday I did my first DCC sound installation on a Hornby Crosti 9F. I used a Hornby TTS decoder, plus a bass-enhanced speaker from eBay. The sound installation went fine, but this loco is terrible for stalling on my not-quite-flat points, and obviously the sound cuts out/resets. The loco only picks up from the driving wheels, so I figure I need to install pickups in the tender to help it get over the points without interruption. Also, should mention the loco's polarity seems to be reversed. I had a go at adding pickups, and that's when things got interesting... I added bronze pickup strips to the front wheels of the tender, soldered some fine wire to the pickups and soldered the other end to the tabs on the motor. I thought that was going to be 'job done', but no! When the loco was placed on the track, a loud buzzing came from the decoder, but there was no short circuit. Lifting the tender from the rails stopped the buzzing, but the loco was lifeless. Swapped the wires over, and the layout shorted, which suggests I had wired them correctly on my first go. I disassembled the loco, detached the tender/pickups, but left the new pickup wires attached to the locos motor tabs. I then experimented with touching those wires to the rails, and the loco lunged forward at speed all of a sudden. This is all v weird. I had hoped adding pickups would be the easy bit! I'm thinking maybe I should strip the whole loco down and rebuild, removing any capacitors along the way. Any thoughts? Here are some pics of the inside of the loco, tender pickup wires removed... Should I remove the capacitor? Thanks for reading folks. I'd appreciate any suggestions, although I realise my post might be a tad unclear!

In case anyone is interested, here is how my attempt at 5239 'Goliath' (in preserved GW livery) turned out... The lining was challenging! There are a couple of dodgy joins. I used HMRS pressfix transfers and Microsol decal solution. I think the result is passable, certainly at a fair viewing distance! The only serious bodge I've made, is that I have spaced the 'GREAT WESTERN' differently on either side. And, they're not quite straight on one side. That'll teach me to be attempting such a task after a couple of pints... The body has been finished with Humbrol Clear gloss, and the smokebox and cab roof are matt varnish. I also painted the wheels matt black, and the connecting rods with Railmatch Oily Steel. The photos aren't great, the green is a bit darker. Anyway, quite happy with my first crack at lining.

Funny enough, Blu Tack did cross my mind earlier. I might just give it a go! Thanks!

Hi guys. Sounds easy enough, but I am struggling with fitting nameplates to the side of the smokebox/boiler of a Hornby 42xx that I'm working on. I am in the process of repainting/renumbering it to 5239 'Goliath' as preserved. The repaint is going OK, but now I am a bit stuck with how to fit the etched nameplates. As you can see in the following photo of the prototype, the positioning of the plates is a little unusual: As you see, the nameplate isn't flush to the smokebox, any suggestions of how I could recreate this raised look would be much appreciated. Thanks. Also, while fiddling with the nameplates, I've made one of them go slightly wonky at one end. Is there a trick to flattening them?

Thanks for the reply Michael. Yes, a re-paint is in order. I have just given the body a quick spray of primer to see how the tank sides look, and it looks good enough to me. Have just ordered a can of Railmatch GWR green. I have the etched nameplates/numberplates for 5239 Goliath. The location of the nameplate is a little odd. Haven't figured out how I am going to attach the nameplates to the loco yet. I visited the Dartmouth steam railway this past weekend and took plenty of photographs of Goliath for reference. Coincidentally, 10 years ago to the day, my wife and I got married on the Dartmouth Steam Railway. 5239 Goliath hauled our wedding train from Churston to Kingswear. The train featured the Devon Belle observation car. Trying to recreate our 'wedding train!'

Hey guys. So, what I'm attempting to do is re-name/re-number a Hornby GWR 42xx, to 5239 'Goliath' as preserved. The first step was to remove the decals, as I want the 'GREAT WESTERN' lettering without the big gap in the middle. After researching methods of removing decals on RMweb, I decided to go with cocktail stick/enamel thinners. The results are... not great. : My first question is, am I now looking at a complete re-paint? (Potentially a good thing, as I find the Hornby finish very dull.) If I am to re-paint, how would I go about preparing the affected area prior to painting/priming (ie - sanding)? Or do I need to completely remove all paint from the model first? Thank you for taking the time to read, I look forward to your responses...

Sam, I was just thinking of ordering one of these, as per your recommendation. Two questions though: 1. How would I connect this to the lighting bus ? 2. On the ebay listing, which version do I get? 72w 9-24v or 60w 3-12v Thanks in advance! :-)

@Dungrange Thanks for that info, I've been able to work out that the Hornby controller can supply approx 800+mA , so it should be able to power about 40 LED's (Much more than I'll need). I *think* I am getting somewhere now! I've had a friend come take a look this morning, and he seems to think that the LED's I have used are self-resisting. So now I have disconnected the lampposts from the bus, and the Hornby controller seems to be fine just powering the LED's inside the buildings. So I'm thinking I might have a lighting bus just for LED's inside buildings, powered by the Hornby controller. Then do a separate bus for the grain of wheat lampposts, and power them at 9v using the power supply that @SamThomas suggested above. Thanks again everyone. Hopefully I'm heading in the right direction with this. I shall report back! :-)

Hi David, Yes, they are connected to the track output of the controller. I did try dialling the knob down as low as possible, but I chickened out of leaving it on too long as I didn't want to risk burning them out. Another question guys... Would using a 6v battery as a power source be an option? Thank you everyone for the responses. To be honest, I'm struggling to process it all. I'm a bit confused, as I'm sure I've read many threads on here where the advice has been "Just use an old trainset controller" for powering lights! Sam, to make sure I understand your advice correctly... You would fit a resistor to the 4 internal LED's, but not to the 3 platform lights? And by running at 9v, would I achieve this by dialling the controllers dial down to say 3/4 power? I must apologise guys, I meant it when I said I'm a novice!

Hi Sam, thanks for the reply. No, there are no resistors. Like I said, I am a novice in this area unfortunately! OK, so the controller is cutting out due to too much load. I don't have a more powerful supply, I'd like to use this Hornby controller if possible. So, will I need a resistor for each LED, or is it possible to just put one at the start of the circuit? Thanks.

Hello guys. I need some help/advice with my layout lighting. I've spent the last day or so reading the myriad of topics on LED lighting, and I feel like I'm struggling to understand the basics. I'm very much a novice in this area. I've just finished building my Metcalfe station, in which I have installed 4x LED's (one in each 'room'), plus 3 platforms lamps. These are wired in parallel to a copper tape bus under the baseboard. This is powered by an old Hornby trainset controller. I must say, when I powered up the lights for the first time, I was most pleased with myself that it actually worked! Fast forward 1 minute and the lights just powered off. If I wait a little while and power them back up, they work for 30 secs to 1 minute and shut down again. Here is the copper tape bus: (Ignore the brown/green wires, they are the power bus/track droppers) And here is the controller: (Note the lighting is connected the 12v DC output, NOT the 16v AC) One thing I have learned from reading this forum today, is that I probably need some kind of resistors in there somewhere. Any advice in this area would be v much appreciated. The 4x LED's in the building are rated 12v / 20mA (info taken from the ebay listing.) And all I know about the lampposts is that they are rated 12v, I'm only just now realising that they aren't LED's. (?) I had figured that if I just bought lights that were rated 12v, that I could just power them easily with a 12v dc controller. As usual, I was wrong... So I'm hoping that you knowledgeable folk can offer some advice. Thanks for taking the time to read.

I realise now that I posted this in the wrong section of the forum, I guess it should've gone in 'Modelling Questions, Help & Tips.' Anyway, pleased to report that she is now running nicely, and this project has certainly boosted my confidence in tackling these sort of jobs!