Les1952 Posted July 14, 2012 Share Posted July 14, 2012 My first one arrived this morning- to add to the Papyrus I acquired last week. Papyrus now run-in for about 2 hours each way and getting very smooth. Lemberg quietest of the three pacifics so far straight out of the box- I think the smaller tender acts less like an echo chamber than the bigger one. After an hour of running-in I tried it out on Furtwangen Ost's 9" curves and setrack fiddleyard points. No problems, even liking the setrack reverse curve into the fiddleyard loop better than the coaches it was pulling. Nice to know, even though both Hawthorn Dene Colliery and Rise Park will have minimum 10.5" on the ends, and use Medium radius points in their fiddleyards. MOVES like an A3. Sorry about poor vid quality and state of Dining Room Table. http://youtu.be/KnxrMUk-XDA All the very best Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BECMAYE Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Hi, here is a video of Lemberg on my layout. It is still a little more noisy than the A4 I have but it still needs running in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Does anyone have a more detailed description of DCC fitting an A3 (or A4 for that matter). The enclosed instructions aren't very helpful when it comes to getting at the socket. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveArkley Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Does anyone have a more detailed description of DCC fitting an A3 (or A4 for that matter). The enclosed instructions aren't very helpful when it comes to getting at the socket. On the A4 the tender top comes off at chassis level. I had to pull a lot more than I felt comfortable with, but it did come apart, and after I fitted a decoder, went back together just fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 Got it, not fun, felt like it was gonna rip in half! Stuck a Bachmann 2 function decoder in and fitted fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 Been running 2750 on DCC last night and this morning. I'm not sure whether reassembling the tender, fitting the DCC or the chunky DCC jacket itself has caused it, but she sounds far smoother and quieter. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 What I hope is a better video- Mr Simon is playing trains, sorry, track testing on Gresby this afternoon. As he had the heavy fish train out I thought I'd get him to try Papyrus on it. The video shows the result. This train defeats quite a high proportion of the locos which are put in front of it. Again apologies for the hand-held jazz camera quality. All the very best Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanem44 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 The motion looks very good I must say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hi Everyone, Got my Scotsman the other day, running in nicely and looks fantastic on the front of a rake of Gresleys. Noise issues have been largely negated with the aid of a sound-equipped support coach (many thanks to You Choos). Very happy all round. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 How did you go about linking the loco and the support coach? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Hi Coldgunner, It's not linked directly, I have a Lenz silver in the loco and a CT sound-only chip in the brake coach. I'm gradually fiddling with the speed curve on the loco chip to match the motion better, it's a pretty convincing syncronisation at slow speeds though already . Back EMF doesn't operate of course but that doesn't appear to be a huge problem. You also have to disable the shunting function on the loco chip otherwise it will resort to half speed whenever you use the whistle!. John Gymer at You Choos was very helpful in tweaking the sounds and delays to suit the set up and he also included a coach wheel sound which complements the chuffs nicely once on the move. The chip, sugar cube speaker and a capacitor all fit into the guard's compartment, the light bar is shortened so it only illuminates the compartments. You could always run it on one sound decoder and run the wires through the corridor connection, however this set up allows you to use the coach with other locomotives. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Corridor connection wouldn't be an option for my Papyrus unfortunately . But the support coach idea is a good one, although I can see how getting it right would be tricky, like you say. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Gauge David Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Just received my new A3 and A4 (Andrew McKosh and Papyrus) and very pleased with how they look, but just a quick question about the oiling prior to use. The instructions clearly state that the mechanism must be oiled by removing the rear screw on the keeper plate to reveal the gears. However, the relevant screw seems to be at least partially obscured by the plastic rodding (unlikely to be the correct technical term!) underneath the loco between the wheels. How have others dealt with this? Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanem44 Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Just received my new A3 and A4 (Andrew McKosh and Papyrus) and very pleased with how they look, but just a quick question about the oiling prior to use. The instructions clearly state that the mechanism must be oiled by removing the rear screw on the keeper plate to reveal the gears. However, the relevant screw seems to be at least partially obscured by the plastic rodding (unlikely to be the correct technical term!) underneath the loco between the wheels. How have others dealt with this? Thanks The only thing I oiled was the motion. Did i miss something? For what its worth, it seemed to work great after oiling only the motion and running it in. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Gauge David Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Yes fair enough, oiling the motion appears to be sufficient at the beginning. The instructions state however that the gears will need piling after 30 hours of use so I was just thinking ahead... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymondhood Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 "However, the relevant screw seems to be at least partially obscured by the plastic rodding (unlikely to be the correct technical term!) underneath the loco between the wheels. How have others dealt with this?" You can still get a screwdriver on to the screw head, as you un-screw it the screw head just pushes on bit of plastic, if fact the bit of plastic helps to hold the screw in the keeper plate, but I have had times when it has worked loose, just pop it back in. I have always oiled the gears as soon as I unpack the engine (I'm no good at tracking if the engine has run for 30 hours, so getting this out of the way ensures that I don't forget to do it in time). Don't panic, hope this helps. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coldgunner Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 All was going well today until this started happening... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu1OI5ibdic&feature=youtu.be She is DCC fitted with the Bachmann 6-pin chip, but I've no idea why this is happening, it simply started doing it. Apologies for the low light, but what you're listening for is the on/off buzzing sound. edit: swapped the chip out with Deltic, appears too be the chip . Chip blown or can it be fixed? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Al Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 I've recently received 4472, and there are a number of issues and improvements that can be made: What seem to be QC issues on mine: Initially the motor ran reasonably, but soon completely seized. I found a piece of swarf in it which caused this - fortunately no damage done The loco was lifting the tender fractionally - this resulted in even poorer pickup from the tender. This needed some fettling of the loco-tender connection to allow the tender to sit correctly On one side of the loco the combination lever on the valve gear on one side clashed with the cylinders on each wheel rotation. Part of this was due to a tag remaining where it had been removed from the etch The footplate was crudely attached on mine with a gap at the back end - I removed it and attached properly - this helped the cab moulding sit down correctly also. I don't DCC but apparently some retailers have had to return quite a few A3s/A4s due to some PCB faults according the the NGF - worth checking in case it cooks your expensive chip! What (IMHO) seem like design issues: The loco body does not sit straight. It's fractional - about 15 thou difference between the front and rear of the stepped footplate above the drivers. Having stripped mine down, this looks to be inherent in the way the model is made, and does give a slight nose down appearance. This should be correctable at the front end 9and also serve to raise the front end, which is needed), and I know how I will achieve it, but have yet to actually do. This is also shown by the fact the loco's front buffers don't line up to it's own tender buffers. It would also explain the necessity for the front bufferbeam cutout, which shouldn't be needed if the body is straight. Pickup. This is poor again, as I've seen with the A4s I've worked on for others. The tender pickups simply do not work very well at all since there is a fair amount of slop and more crucially the design does not use pinpoint bearings any more, instead simple holes the axles run in. I can understand more play is needed for the 8 wheel tender to negotiate curves, but this solution seems unreliable. There is not enough compensating pickup from the loco as only really the front drivers make good track contact (since the rears have tyres on). I've fitted additional pickup to the rear bogie on this loco to help, and weighted the tender significantly. Cosmetic improvements: The front bogie wheels seem slightly plain, and looking at pictures they are missing white lining and black centres to the axles - I've added this. Additionally the driving wheel centres should be black rather than green The smokebox hinges and locking handle were almost always polished silver rather than plain black. The top handrail on the smokebox has varied over the years - sometimes polished silver and sometimes black. I've painted them all to represent polished silver. Also, the pipe running to the smokebox on the left side of the boiler should be black at the smokebox end - I painted this out. No representation of the cylinder draincocks are supplied so I fashioned some from handrail wire The chimney on my loco was not on straight, and fairly crude looking. I removed it, thinned the lower lip, drilled it out and replaced it. (this required removal of the body and boiler weights to allow drilling out) [from the pic it looks like the reason it's not straight is the moulding isn't symmetrical, if so most of these will have crooked chimneys] All valve gear painted gunmetal and toned down to remove the odd black plastic crosshead and retaining pins. I painted the footplate edges black to tone down their incorrect green colour as others have mentioned. There is still some green present but to completely remove it would need the footplate relining! The loco actually looks really good after all this is addressed and will run well. But needs a fair amount of fettling which is less than ideal. My loco after all the work was done is shown below. It still needs the tender buffers replaced with accurate ones (N brass), the body fettled so it sits straight, the front bufferbeam cuttout filled in, a dusting of better coal in the tender and a short shank Farish rapido fitted at the rear. Cheers, Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
S.A.C Martin Posted August 5, 2012 Share Posted August 5, 2012 And don't forget Alan...after all of that excellent work you will need to paint the running plate black and line it out in vermillion as per LNER practice. I am yet to find a single photograph or written documentation of green/orange/green lining out on the running plate. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
N Gauge David Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 I've fitted additional pickup to the rear bogie on this loco to help, and weighted the tender significantly. Hi Alan Interesting review of potential improvements to be made to the A3. I was curious to know how you weighted the tender? I have some liquid gravity pellets that I have used in rolling stock, but I obviously don't want to foul the motor or the blanking plug DCC socket. Thanks David Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Al Posted August 7, 2012 Share Posted August 7, 2012 Interesting review of potential improvements to be made to the A3. I was curious to know how you weighted the tender? I have some liquid gravity pellets that I have used in rolling stock, but I obviously don't want to foul the motor or the blanking plug DCC socket. The rear upper area in the tender is completely free space so I essentially tried to fill it with a wedge shaped piece of lead. If the PCB concerns you, you could put a piece of insulation tape on it to ensure it won't contact the weight and risk shorting. I also shaped a piece of lead to fit under the coal load area above the motor which adds a couple more precious grams. I suspect there will be less room in the GN tender for weight though, plenty of space in the high sided corridor tenders though. You could of course completely remove the PCB and wire the pickups directly to the motor if you feel you need more space (and don't ever plan to DCC), but I've not found this necessary. Under the chassis there is a lump of weight also, factory fitted running between the axles and the footplate - I suspect replacing this with lead could help too, though haven't done this on mine. I'm not sure what it's made of - if it's tungsten then there would not be much point changing it, if something less dense then it could be a good idea. Cheers, Alan Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium 7013 Posted August 8, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 8, 2012 Yes interesting review, with that much wrong it would have gone straight back to whence it came from! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NZmodeller Posted August 8, 2012 Share Posted August 8, 2012 Hi Everyone, Thanks to Dr. Al for his observations and illustrations. There's probably some variation in the pick up performance between individual models, my Scotsman hasn't given me any difficulty in this regard (unlike my Britannia). I didn fill the void in the tender with some blutack for a different reason though. Doing this reduces the size of the sound chamber and damps the vibrations from the wheels thereby reducing the noise level considerably. Peter Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seanem44 Posted August 11, 2012 Share Posted August 11, 2012 Alan, Thank you for pointing out these flaws. I have Lemburg awaiting me at home, as I am away on work for two weeks time. I hope it doesnt have the same flaws. These too me are a deal breaker. After paying over $130 USD for something like this, I find these issues inexcusable. The chimney issue is horrendous. I feel with the release of the WD and 5MT, Dapol now will be forced to evolve to match the standards set by Bachmann. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Les1952 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Another haulage video- this time Lemberg lifting 67 Dapol Hoppers and a Farish Brake on Gresby- slight uphill start as my workshop floor isn't quite level. Why 67 wagons? I ran out of hoppers....... All the very best Les Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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