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1970's OO layout with battery/radio magazine article


robertc

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Hi, I read an article in one of the British magazines back in the late 70's/ early 80's of an OO layout with battery/radio control. Might have been by Fleetwood Shawe.

Can anyone point me to the article?

regards

 Bob

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Not sure about the article date, but it is going to be long out of date, as the frequencies, size of gear etc., has dramatically changed. It is entirely practical to control an 00 loco by RC nowadays, the receivers and power controllers are as small as DCC units. The power problem still exists, but you can use the track with a standing voltage, the on board equipment can be powered by re-chargeable batteries, with the controller handling the motor load from the track.

Very much an experimenters area to fit and get right, but working it rivals DCC control. I use the micro equipment in sub Peanut Scale aircraft R/C, the latest is 4 inches wingspan.

 

Stephen.

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Not sure about the article date, but it is going to be long out of date, as the frequencies, size of gear etc., has dramatically changed. It is entirely practical to control an 00 loco by RC nowadays, the receivers and power controllers are as small as DCC units. The power problem still exists, but you can use the track with a standing voltage, the on board equipment can be powered by re-chargeable batteries, with the controller handling the motor load from the track.

Very much an experimenters area to fit and get right, but working it rivals DCC control. I use the micro equipment in sub Peanut Scale aircraft R/C, the latest is 4 inches wingspan.

 

Stephen.

 

Many would say that is the problem but I am not one of them. I would say it is currently more like the early days of DCC before they had standard connectors etc. The new BluRail products are interesting given everyones current obsession with Apps. I currently use Deltang products which are solidly based on the R/C hobby which means it is not proprietary but uses the same protocols as all the other R/C stuff out there. In fact you can use an air transmitter to control a train!. Plus the receivers can control other stuff just by changing onboard settings

 

Peanut scale sounds interesting. someone on another forum mentioned he would need to see 00 scale 0-4-0 locos working. I now have a Smokey Joe in the workshop. I can fit the receiver in and I can fit the battery in but can I fit them both, that is the challenge.

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The sub Peanut scale is called Pistachio scale in the USA, Peanut refers to less than 13 inch wingspan, and Pistachio usually means less than 8 inch, with 4in as the minimum, in other words half a Peanut! Used to be purely rubber powered, but tiny coreless motors have made electric practical. Usually they are from phone vibrator motor types, with the weight removed.

 

Most of mine are balsa based, with micro thin laminations of balsa making my own ply wood. With carefully selected wood, the 3ply can be as thin as 10 thou or less, but still quite strong. Foam is used for the wings, or traditional ultra light paper, doped over the laminated framework. The R/C is two channel, rubber, and power on and off, the plane trimmed for level flight in a 50 foot circle indoors, the rubber being biased. The R/C activator, (a very micro servo), moves the rudder only a tiny fraction. They will just take off from the floor, but are better hand launched, saves battery power! Strictly indoors flying in a large hall.

 

Stephen.

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Size of battery and duration? no throttle?

 

You mean rudder?

 

I did some duration testing this morning and 5V delivered to the smokey joe will pull 6 wagons at a scale maximum of 18.5 mph. this is an ideal speed for the loco suffling wagons to and from a mine.

 

A 70mAh E-Flite type battery delivering 5V via a Pololu voltage regulator pulled the wagons for over 42 minutes before the low voltage cutoff stopped the motor. This means I could probably use an even smaller battery as required run times are only 15/20 minutes. It seems the motor is drawing almost exactly 100 milliamps.

 

So what battery do you use? and the R/C gear?

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These threads get off topic very quickly. The question has no bearing on the technology used at the time of the article, just trying to solve a puzzle as to where I read it.

Thanks Peter it wasn't Bob Symes. I remember the article in MR about his Gauge One German diesel however and the Hymek.

 

regards

 Bob

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Only limited help, I know, but I'd be fairly sure the article wasn't in Railway Modeller as I subscribed during that period and, having an interest in battery RC in 0 gauge, I think I would remember it.

 

Bob Symes' 47 was an interesting beastie, with a Taplin Twin diesel engine (more correctly a compression ignition engine) driving a Triumph motorcycle  dynamo which must have only just fitted within the body. Modern electrical components would almost certainly allow a more compact arrangement these days.

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If you are into retro R/C, there is a shop called IIRC "Al's Hobbies", in Wolverton, where the guy knows a vast amount about the topic, and has sets from all dates back to WW2 on display in the shop window.

 

1970s 'typical' was, I think 27MHz analogue, but it might have been the previous generation to that.

 

Out of sheer curiosity, why do you want to know? Are you thinking of recreating it?

 

Kevin

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If you are into retro R/C, there is a shop called IIRC "Al's Hobbies", in Wolverton, where the guy knows a vast amount about the topic, and has sets from all dates back to WW2 on display in the shop window.

 

1970s 'typical' was, I think 27MHz analogue, but it might have been the previous generation to that.

 

Out of sheer curiosity, why do you want to know? Are you thinking of recreating it?

 

as my old dad used to say "you always want to know the far end of the f**t" . I have not changed!

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Size of battery and duration? no throttle?

 

You mean rudder?

 

So what battery do you use? and the R/C gear?

Mainly Micron and Micro Flier Radio, both on the net. Lithium batteries from Phones etc. All 2.4Ghz gear.

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