vulcanbomber Posted December 22, 2019 Author Share Posted December 22, 2019 Barkham Green gets it's own Santa Special. Happy Christmas folks 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KNP Posted December 22, 2019 Share Posted December 22, 2019 Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year..... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 Couple of more working lights added to the goods yard 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted December 23, 2019 Author Share Posted December 23, 2019 (edited) Oxford Dean Goods given the "Little Muddle " treatment, just need crew and lamps. I really didn't like the plain steel hand rails Edited December 23, 2019 by vulcanbomber added to many pics 11 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted January 2, 2020 Author Share Posted January 2, 2020 Well with Christmas over time to start on this years project Been thinking about fitting lighting in the coaches for a while, but been unable to find any stock of the DCC Concepts wheel sets However came across this https://www.petersspares.com/peters-spares-ps84-141mm-disc-coach-wheels-one-wheel-live-to-axle-x1-pair.ir … with DCC Concepts pickup springs https://www.hattons.co.uk/59657/dcc_concepts_dcf_ps2_0_pickup_springs_2mm_axle_for_oo_x_48/stockdetail.aspx Have now ordered 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 Wheels now arrived along with springs in boxes from Hattons and Peters spares which where about 10 times too big and lots of plastic packing what a waste. Still never mind the springs were easy to fit and just checking each set in my gauge, before fitting back to the coach. Now working on way to collect the current from the springs from the short length at the end. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Well finally got back to work on autocoach. However it turned into a disaster. When I tried to run it after wiring chassis, I found the weight of the wires kept pulling the bogies off the track. So will have to try with finer wire Eg decoder. However I discovered that the hangers on the side of the chassis had become very brittle with age and fell apart as soon as you touched them. In addition it seems to have lost one of its buffers over the years. So I think I will have to bite the bullet and buy a new Hornby one to mod. 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 9, 2020 Author Share Posted February 9, 2020 Had a bit of thought about it in the bath, may have a solution to try after a couple of days doing some DIY for my daughter 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 15, 2020 Author Share Posted February 15, 2020 (edited) Well I've solved the electrical pickup problem I originally set out to have each pairs of wheels connected to the left or the right rail to pick up DCC, therefore I would require 2 wires per bogie. However I realised if I make one bogie the left rail pickup and the other bogie the right rail pickup, I could use one wire. So I used some 7/0.2 wire and split the strands in 2 before adding solder to fix them in place. I then solder each set of strands to the tail of wheel spring. I drilled a whole through the centre of the clip holding the bogie in place and was able to pass the wire through that. I haven't fastened the wire down in any way so it means the bogie is free to turn as it moves up and down the track. The mess on the bogie was my previous attempt to hold the wires down using superglue paste I've solved the buffer problem by making one out of plasticard The broken hanger will be fixed by making one out micro plastic strip I am going to buy a Amber lighting strip from layouts4U complete with a latching reed switch and magnet. The only problem now is they are out of stock of reed switches until the end of the month and since I don't want to pay two lots of postage I will have to wait. Edited February 15, 2020 by vulcanbomber added to many pics 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 25, 2020 Author Share Posted February 25, 2020 on the way to my daughters popped into Gaugemaster in Ford West Sussex and purchased some Bachmann Suburban Street Scene Figures They aren't up to Dart Castings standards, but they are useful to populate the back of the shopping street A couple where good enough to at the front of the cottages, which are the the housewife scrubbing her porch tiles, The other one is the lady leading over the wall to talk to the grey haired old lady, to check she is keeping well. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold sjrixon Posted February 25, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 25, 2020 The people look quite smart, I tend to paint my own, but really hate the job, so maybe I'll check these out next time I'm on my travels. Your autocoach should you good with lighting. Interested to see the effect. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Bogie Posted February 26, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 26, 2020 I really really hate painting people as my eyesight ain't what it used to be. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 26, 2020 Author Share Posted February 26, 2020 As part of my visit to Gaugemaster also purchased an item which I have always been about to add a Ratio Loading Gauge Spent most of yesterday afternoon putting it together boy is it fiddly! 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted February 27, 2020 Author Share Posted February 27, 2020 Well it's almost finished Picture showing the Layouts4U say alive Pcb. LED Strip and hidden under the black tape is a Latching reed relay I was a bit worried about the capacitor on the PCB because it is rated at only 16V. The DCC track voltage is about 18v, however I measured the voltage across the output of the Rectifier chip and is it 15.5V. So we see how we get on. Coach with the lights switched on using a small magenet Lights off using same magnet 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 1, 2020 Author Share Posted March 1, 2020 I've decided it's time to tackle Signals, but to be honest I find it hard to decide what goes where. I want to start off simple, with just a few, with an idea to extend later. A very crude track plan of what I'm trying to signal. There are sidings coming off the goods line but I've left them out for the moment. Picture showing the 2 bay platforms and the up and down main line. I've made up some dummy signals from plasticard to play around with placings This bracket signals would be the starter signal for platform 1 and 2 A bracket starter for the down line and goods line A starter signal for platform 3 Comments please Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 3, 2020 Author Share Posted March 3, 2020 Well after much thought, I've decided my next step I will buy a Dapol Home signal and Left facing bracket Signal. The Home to go at the end of platform 3 and the bracket to go on Platform 4. I will see how I get on with those before moving on to platform 1 and 2, but it looks like they will have a be single post home signals I decided to go with Dapol because a) They come fitted with lights b) If I buy Ratio, by the time you add on the cost of trying to motorise them, with servo and control board etc. , it's not much cheaper than the Dapol one, but a lot less effort to get working Just need to wait for the funds to become available 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 4, 2020 Author Share Posted March 4, 2020 (edited) The Auto coach is now finished. I repaired it by cannibalising one Purchased on eBay for £5 Edited March 4, 2020 by vulcanbomber duplicate pic 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold sjrixon Posted March 8, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 8, 2020 You should pick out the droplights in the autocoach in a redish mahogany paint, I think it really lifts the model. Looks really nice with the people and lights in. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 8, 2020 Author Share Posted March 8, 2020 You are quite right it's something I forgot to do when replacing the body. I had actually done that on the original body shell. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold sjrixon Posted March 9, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 9, 2020 I though you had.... See, not going mad I've got some Hornby clerestory coaches on the bench right now, I'll do the same to them. Really helps take away the plain plastic feel a little in these earlier models. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 14, 2020 Author Share Posted March 14, 2020 Droplights now painted 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted March 15, 2020 Author Share Posted March 15, 2020 Getting ready to add lighting to my B set Coaches. Does anyone know whether I need Amber or Warm White Lighting strip? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neal Ball Posted March 16, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted March 16, 2020 11 hours ago, vulcanbomber said: Getting ready to add lighting to my B set Coaches. Does anyone know whether I need Amber or Warm White Lighting strip? I would go for an Amber, be a more typical colour for the period. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold sjrixon Posted March 17, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 17, 2020 Autocoach looks really good.. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vulcanbomber Posted April 17, 2020 Author Share Posted April 17, 2020 Not done much modelling recently, been too busy in the garden and the allotment Well with today's rain I've finished adding lighting to the Bset On the first coach I did I added passengers and pictures on the corridor divides. When I powered it up discovered the windows are so small you can only jst see the passengers and certainly no the pictures! Boy where those from Tiny Signs fiddly So when doing the second one I only added the passengers. As before you can use a magnet to turn them off or on. I made one big change however to the auto flicker unit from Layouts4U. I wasn't happy to see them fitted with 1000uf 16V capacitors, when I was reading almost 15V across them, they should be rated at 1.5 times the voltage, especially since years ago I saw one blow up.So I order a pack of 25V caps and hoped they would fit. which they did. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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