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Wright writes.....


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Being serious (difficult for me, I know), if ever there were a fundamental modelling technique which must be mastered by all (serious) participants in this great hobby, it's SOLDERING; both electrical and constructional. 

 

Without acquiring the requisite skills, wiring up a layout will be well-nigh impossible (unless some 'modernists' know otherwise) and as for building anything in brass/nickel silver/white metal, if glue (of any kind) is used for the basic construction - ugh! 

 

Unless 'one' pays someone to do it all for you. The problem is 'one' is then stuffed if anything goes wrong, and, anyway, parsimony is a most useful item in my own modelling 'toolbox'. 

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IMG_0003.JPG.6d79747330dad060087180df722e8c31.jpeg.970454dd601225a90d00f7ec0a1dcd63.jpeg

 

That vacuum cleaner must be 50 years old:sungum:

My parents had one back when I had long hair. The blow end made a really good hair drier. Proper job as well, none of this bagless stuff with loads of filters to get blocked up then need cleaning out with the attendant huge cloud of dust:cry:.

Thought, when I typed in blow end, why did the auto prompt suggest I used the word job:no:?

 

Edit: No edit changed my mind:wacko:

Edited by great central
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4 hours ago, Barry Ten said:

Some recommended soldering iron holding techniques will also be demonstrated:

 

sEshbm8.jpg.92013a7afe4fb3ed827fb51803c646d4.jpg

If you can smell chicken cooking you know you are holding your soldering iron incorrectly !!

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7 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Returning (very briefly) to the discussion regarding RTR and kits...................

 

709954210_HornbyJ3606.jpg.a43559a4a5bf8eaf6fd117e576a76064.jpg

 

I concede! I have never gone to this much trouble in detailing any loco I've made.

 

BRM now has the video of the Hornby J36 uploaded for all to see on YouTube. 

I have to say mine is the smoothest running RTR loco, straight out of the box, that I have ever purchased.

 

 

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3 hours ago, great central said:

IMG_0003.JPG.6d79747330dad060087180df722e8c31.jpeg.970454dd601225a90d00f7ec0a1dcd63.jpeg

 

That vacuum cleaner must be 50 years old:sungum:

My parents had one back when I had long hair. The blow end made a really good hair drier. Proper job as well, none of this bagless stuff with loads of filters to get blocked up then need cleaning out with the attendant huge cloud of dust:cry:.

Thought, when I typed in blow end, why did the auto prompt suggest I used the word job:no:?

 

Edit: No edit changed my mind:wacko:

What's a job end then?

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4 hours ago, Manxcat said:

 

BRM now has the video of the Hornby J36 uploaded for all to see on YouTube. 

I have to say mine is the smoothest running RTR loco, straight out of the box, that I have ever purchased.

 

 

Lights the blue touch paper...

 

"That's coz it's DCC"

 

...and retires.

Edited by St Enodoc
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1 hour ago, Manxcat said:

 

BRM now has the video of the Hornby J36 uploaded for all to see on YouTube. 

I have to say mine is the smoothest running RTR loco, straight out of the box, that I have ever purchased.

 

 

 

I have studiously avoided viewing sound-equipped models because I could not imagine that such a complex audiological experience could ever be reproduced digitally. However, I thought, digital sound has been around for a while now, so why not watch a video of the latest offering?

 

It certainly is an improvement on the 'tender axle cam and sandpaper' of the old Tri-ang Hornby B12, but it doesn't in any way produce anything that resembles a working steam loco. The sounds are so 'compartmentalised'; nothing blends; it's all somehow so stilted and 'overacted'.

 

When I operate my DC, non-sound fitted locos, I recall the sounds of the prototype and I 'hear' them in my head - a far more convincing experience than anything that could possibly be artificially produced; (even though the individual sound elements are recordings of the real thing).

 

Sorry, this Luddite is not convinced, and I will continue to rely upon memory and imagination.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

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5 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Seriously, Al,

 

Are these from advertisements or Viz? 

 

I think they are genuine stock images, Tony!

 

I was tempted to post a "Rude Kid" cartoon here but thought better of it.

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17 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

I have studiously avoided viewing sound-equipped models because I could not imagine that such a complex audiological experience could ever be reproduced digitally. However, I thought, digital sound has been around for a while now, so why not watch a video of the latest offering?

 

It certainly is an improvement on the 'tender axle cam and sandpaper' of the old Tri-ang Hornby B12, but it doesn't in any way produce anything that resembles a working steam loco. The sounds are so 'compartmentalised'; nothing blends; it's all somehow so stilted and 'overacted'.

 

When I operate my DC, non-sound fitted locos, I recall the sounds of the prototype and I 'hear' them in my head - a far more convincing experience than anything that could possibly be artificially produced; (even though the individual sound elements are recordings of the real thing).

 

Sorry, this Luddite is not convinced, and I will continue to rely upon memory and imagination.

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

 

John, TTS is a budget sound option, you get what you pay for

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4 minutes ago, steve45 said:

 

John, TTS is a budget sound option, you get what you pay for

 

Agreed, I wouldn't judge a good quality sound installation by the noises on that clip. That whistle sounds terrible, for a start. My guess is that the volume is turned up way too high for the speaker, causing the sound to fragment.

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I posted this on my own thread earlier but I thought I would share with those who do not venture there.

 

"Last night I had a short operating session, it was as two suburban trains were whizzing around, well meandering cos they were doing a scale 50mph I realised that the locos pulling them had been in use since my first operating session, just over a year ago. One was hauled by a Bachmann Fairburn class 4 tank and the other by a BR type 2. The reliability of these two classes of model along with the BR standard 4 tank and the Bachmann DMUs is amazing. I haven't had any of them fail, only derail because I have done something silly and they have all run smoothly.

 

Other regular locos that have not been problematic include the Bachmann BR class 4 4-6-0,  BR class 4 2-6-0, Ivatt class 4 2-6-0 and the Ivatt class 2-6-0. Apart form dirty wheels the Lima Brush type 2s and Lima powered Triang type 3s have been good.  Lima DMUs have worked well despite being a tad noisy.

 

This reads like an advert for Bachmann but having reliable motive power does make operating fun. "

 

Best not mention locos that fall apart from a manufacturer who uses red boxes.

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10 hours ago, Manxcat said:

 

BRM now has the video of the Hornby J36 uploaded for all to see on YouTube. 

I have to say mine is the smoothest running RTR loco, straight out of the box, that I have ever purchased.

 

 

Thanks for putting this on here, Archie,

 

I did the filming, and Howard Smith did the driving and editing. I used the company camera, which is both a still and video model, and didn't get the focus right all the time (the first time I've used it). 

 

Still, it shows what a remarkably smooth-running this wee J36 from Hornby is. I'm still ambivalent about digital sound, though. Watch and listen closely and the 'chuffs' aren't in sync with the wheel revolutions at times. 

 

Why Hornby now configure their DCC on-board locos NOT to run on analogue at source still puzzles me. However, as can be seen, LB (at least for an afternoon) was DCC! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

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7 hours ago, Clive Mortimore said:

I posted this on my own thread earlier but I thought I would share with those who do not venture there.

 

"Last night I had a short operating session, it was as two suburban trains were whizzing around, well meandering cos they were doing a scale 50mph I realised that the locos pulling them had been in use since my first operating session, just over a year ago. One was hauled by a Bachmann Fairburn class 4 tank and the other by a BR type 2. The reliability of these two classes of model along with the BR standard 4 tank and the Bachmann DMUs is amazing. I haven't had any of them fail, only derail because I have done something silly and they have all run smoothly.

 

Other regular locos that have not been problematic include the Bachmann BR class 4 4-6-0,  BR class 4 2-6-0, Ivatt class 4 2-6-0 and the Ivatt class 2-6-0. Apart form dirty wheels the Lima Brush type 2s and Lima powered Triang type 3s have been good.  Lima DMUs have worked well despite being a tad noisy.

 

This reads like an advert for Bachmann but having reliable motive power does make operating fun. "

 

Best not mention locos that fall apart from a manufacturer who uses red boxes.

Thanks for posting this, Clive,

 

What I find surprising is that you find, just after a year of running, the performance of some Bachmann locos and DMUs 'amazing'. Why? Surely modern RTR locos/units should run perfectly; for years, which ever firms make them. 

 

You say your post reads like an advertisement for Bachmann, and mine now is going to read like an advert for kit-built locos. Some of mine have been running for well over 40 years now, without fuss or failure. Not on some pithering little system (not yours, I hasten to add), hauling light trains at a crawl but on a succession of large, main line depictions hauling really heavy trains, day after day at loads and loads of shows down the years. 

 

During my stints of loco-doctoring at exhibitions, I've attended to scores of RTR locos made in those last 40+ years. These range from tender drive, where the motion has locked solid and traction tyres have disintegrated, split-chassis examples where the chassis has literally split and the axles have fallen apart resulting in mangled motion, original motors which ran so hot that plastic fireboxes collapsed around them (the first Bachmann A1s), feeble pick-ups, big locos which will hardly pull anything, bits falling off all over the place, splitting gears, crumbling mazak components and valve gear so flimsy that it falls apart as a loco is taken from its box. 

 

Yet, in all that time, other than routine cleaning/oiling, replacing brushes and (on one or two occasions) complete motors, all my scratch-built/kit-built locos have just romped around. I've never found that to be 'amazing', just expected. 

 

Bullet-proof Tri-ang and Hornby-Dublo RTR locos brought to me as having failed, usually need no more than a good clean, pick-ups adjusted, new brushes if necessary and an oiling. Then, away they go for another 60 years of hard running! That's 'amazing'!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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8 hours ago, Jesse Sim said:

Tony this might come in handy for the workshop weekend. Pass it around at the beginning of the day, get the soldering iron out and let the madness unfold! 

DA72C08E-67AA-415B-A71E-DBF174DCC05B.jpeg

I always thought I was highly-proficient at swearing, Jesse,

 

Then I had the privilege of visiting Australia!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

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42 minutes ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for posting this, Clive,

 

What I find surprising is that you find, just after a year of running, the performance of some Bachmann locos and DMUs 'amazing'. Why? Surely modern RTR locos/units should run perfectly; for years, which ever firms make them. 

 

You say your post reads like an advertisement for Bachmann, and mine now is going to read like an advert for kit-built locos. Some of mine have been running for well over 40 years now, without fuss or failure. Not on some pithering little system (not yours, I hasten to add), hauling light trains at a crawl but on a succession of large, main line depictions hauling really heavy trains, day after day at loads and loads of shows down the years. 

 

During my stints of loco-doctoring at exhibitions, I've attended to scores of RTR locos made in those last 40+ years. These range from tender drive, where the motion has locked solid and traction tyres have disintegrated, split-chassis examples where the chassis has literally split and the axles have fallen apart resulting in mangled motion, original motors which ran so hot that plastic fireboxes collapsed around them (the first Bachmann A1s), feeble pick-ups, big locos which will hardly pull anything, bits falling off all over the place, splitting gears, crumbling mazak components and valve gear so flimsy that it falls apart as a loco is taken from its box. 

 

Yet, in all that time, other than routine cleaning/oiling, replacing brushes and (on one or two occasions) complete motors, all my scratch-built/kit-built locos have just romped around. I've never found that to be 'amazing', just expected. 

 

Bullet-proof Tri-ang and Hornby-Dublo RTR locos brought to me as having failed, usually need no more than a good clean, pick-ups adjusted, new brushes if necessary and an oiling. Then, away they go for another 60 years of hard running! That's 'amazing'!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Hello Tony

 

The layout has only been operational for a year and a bit. I operate my layout through a time period of early to mid sixties. I can pretend it is the early sixties, with lots of loco hauled trains and quite a few steam locos to just before the disappearance of steam with very few steam locos. The Sulzer Bo-Bo and the class 4 tanks feature in all my operating sequences, along with certain DMUs so are run 4 to 5 times a week and I have had no problems with them which in turn has added to my enjoyment of my layout. The regular old Lima locos and units perform really well. Conversely with Hornby class 4 tanks gears splitting and my L1 with its pony truck disintegrating and Hornby having no spares....enough said. As for older Hornby, they are Ok but can play up at times. Other makes are not in constant use, so cannot be compared. It is amazing the enjoyment the reliable locos and units bring to operating the layout.

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3 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I always thought I was highly-proficient at swearing, Jesse,

 

Then I had the privilege of visiting Australia!

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

Come November I’ll teach you a few more! 

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4 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

Thanks for putting this on here, Archie,

 

I did the filming, and Howard Smith did the driving and editing. I used the company camera, which is both a still and video model, and didn't get the focus right all the time (the first time I've used it). 

 

Still, it shows what a remarkably smooth-running this wee J36 from Hornby is. I'm still ambivalent about digital sound, though. Watch and listen closely and the 'chuffs' aren't in sync with the wheel revolutions at times. 

 

Why Hornby now configure their DCC on-board locos NOT to run on analogue at source still puzzles me. However, as can be seen, LB (at least for an afternoon) was DCC! 

 

Regards,

 

Tony.  

Chuffs can be synced on the better brands of decoder but not TTS.

 

It would be interesting to give the same type of loco (sans TTS sound) to one of the expert DCC sound installers and then compare the resulting custom installation with the out-of-the box Hornby sound.

 

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A little request for info if you please Mr Wright!

 

Some years ago I think, you reviewed a range of new coaching stock in BRM and also described how you close-coupled said items in your rakes. Although I have trawled (not trolled) through the records I have, I cannot find those details. I am looking to make up a couple of rakes of four clerestories using the old (60's / 70's) Tri-ang bodies, fitted with new Bachmann 9' bogies, paintwork updated etc. I am not sufficiently confident to take a saw to these not quite to any prototype design but the finer connections that could be achieved using your wire loop and hook arrangement does appeal.

What gauge of wire did you use for both part please? Would you also kindly show the underside of your coach at the hook end (the bar end is simple enough) if I can copy that? I have in mind to upgrade an old Hornby Saint that someone has kindly donated to something more accurate and the idea of the Saint pulling 8 clerestories really appeals.

 

Thanks in anticipation,

Signed

A very basic modeller who knows he can't reach the standards of LB!

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Well, I’ve just taken the plunge Tony and purchased my very first locomotive kit. Just got of the phone from Dave at South Eastern Finecast, a J39 will be on its way down under soon. 

 

Be prepared for countless phone calls and RMWEB posts Tony! It’ll be the chassis that I’ll need help with! Just need to get a jig now...

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5 minutes ago, Jesse Sim said:

Well, I’ve just taken the plunge Tony and purchased my very first locomotive kit. Just got of the phone from Dave at South Eastern Finecast, a J39 will be on its way down under soon. 

 

Be prepared for countless phone calls and RMWEB posts Tony! It’ll be the chassis that I’ll need help with! Just need to get a jig now...

The chassis goes together really nicely. I have just packed away mine which runs under a Jamison j39 body. That being the earlier end of kit offerings needed much detail adding to it. 

Good luck, hopefully you won’t look back.

richard 

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