Wright writes.....

[Daniel W]

3 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

@Daniel W, using the on-line index with "Kent" as author turns up his series of articles on building hoppers.

I have most of the issues with the Iron Ore hoppers, so i will acquire the rest just in case. The search didn't seem to reveal any specific mention of that kit though. The index might be useful for future reference though.

 

Regards

Dan

[MJI]

Managers.

 

Well I am paid more than my team leader and more senior in techincal side.

 

Part of it is because I am not a people person and much better left to get on with designing and programming computer systems.

 

So I get my team leader to allocate stuff to me and sort my days.

 

Been writing software for the same company for over quarter of a century. Senior by age, experience and skills.

 

The Team leader who is about half my age knows with any techie programming questions he is stuck on can often ask me despite using a language I only have basic skills in.

 

My last decade in employment will need me to learn C#.

[Erichill16]

2 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good evening Robert,

 

I hope you get your bunch of fives, if you see what I mean.

 

 

I don't use acrylics, I'm mostly a wet painter, acrylics dry too quickly for me. I've seen some nice powder work, but sometimes I think it looks a little overscale and you can always tell it's powder work. In the grand scheme of things, I don't see myself as an expert at wagon weathering, It's too time consuming on a forty wagon train. Keep it simple, you can always do a bit more, However, it you can't tell if it is acrylic, enamel or powders, then that is quite pleasing to me because you are seeing the finish and not the materials. I've currently got twenty wagons on the go, most with bair wood visible, so I wanted a technique that gave relatively fast and predictable results. So this is what I did.

 

1, find a base coat that is both light but warm, perhaps like freshly sawn timber. I seem to consistently use lighter base coats than many. Humbrol 121, was airbrushed on to the areas I wanted to be bair wood. To be honest any warm cream colour will probably do. You can of course brush the paint on, it takes forever. I allow 48 hrs to dry.

 

2, pick out a few individual planks, a mix of Humbrol 121, Railmatch frame dirt, Humbrol 79 or and Humbrol 32 in different mixes to produce warmer or cooler, darker or lighter planks. Many years ago Humbrol 32 was an awesome carriage roof colour, it's changed so much, it is now a very acceptable pre war LNER wagon grey. Again, any substitutes will do, a weathered or subdued brown and mid to dark greys. You will be mixing your own colour and tonal applications anyway. The mix is more of a wash but still paintable, so that you are using the colour of the basecoat, not obliterating it. leave it 24 hrs to dry.

 

3, application of the first wash. You have a number of choices, Frame dirt will give you a warmer brown finish, Humbrol 32 a cooler look, or you can mix the too or use a lighter grey. The most important thing is that your brush is clean, your white spirit is clean and you paint mix and the surface that you intend to apply the mix too is also clean, no bits, bits will kill it.  A generous wash of thinned paint is applied from side to side, in the direction of the floor planks, Working down the length of the wagon from one end to another. Paint out the mix until you are happy with the consistency of the effect and don't let the paint start to bite. If you need to add more white spirit or paint mix, do so .The crucial thing is that the the wash is kept wet on the area of application, so you are painting all the planks at the same time. Thus, they are allowed to dry at the same time. This will produce a consistent finish without tell tail brush strokes or other grot that looks like slap dash workmanship. If happy, paint the wagon sides and ends in the same fashion and leave the lot to dry for 24 hours.

 

4, repeat with second wash, you can vary the tone or colour of the individual washes, a second wash may be pure dark grey for example, to pick out the groves in the planks. If you are not happy with the look of the washes, remove with damp cotton buds, this in itself can produce some nice effects. You can keep adding washes if you so wish, there was no one wood finish, though modelers worship the grey fashion at the moment. One of the grey worshipers posted a photo of wood recently and declared it grey.  It was alive with subtle yellows and browns ............. pinks ........... blues ...................... creams ............ greens .............funny how some can look an not see a darn thing. The important thing is to build up a subtle effect, don't go to dark too soon and obliterate the base coat, let it to do its job. 

 

5 Finally, I finish up with the airbrush, I can work wet on wet with this in a way you can't with a traditional brush. I set up a higher pressure to get a nice dusty dry  effect that gives more cohesion to the whole thing. Adjusting the pressure down, I will touch in darker areas, were dirt will collect around strapping and door edges. Then leave to dry, an important note here, the rest of the wagon is still in undercoat. I will not touch the rest of it until I'm finished with the bair wood areas that I am working on.

 

Lots of drying time, but the time spent actually painting the wagon is reasonably brief. most of the time goes on picking out the planks, don't go mad on that, keep it understated like the colour palette.  Remember that tone and contrasting tones will do a lot of the heavy lifting, rather than colour and brushstrokes. If I chose to go back and add more detail, you can at any time. I hope that has all been of help.

Thanks for all the information. It’s a lot more involved than when I weather my steel bodied wagons. 
l’ll give it a try when I’ve got the J10 finished!

Regards Robert 

[PJT]

1 hour ago, Daniel W said:

I have most of the issues with the Iron Ore hoppers, so i will acquire the rest just in case. The search didn't seem to reveal any specific mention of that kit though. The index might be useful for future reference though.

 

Just a suggestion - try searching on Tim Shackleton.  I seem to remember many years ago he did something in MRJ about the Tyne Dock-Consett hoppers.

 

Actually, I just did myself.  A second search on 'Consett' instead of 'Tim Shackleton' turned it up: MRJ, issue 117 (year 2000).  I've looked in my copy of the magazine, too, and it's a good four page article where Tim builds the Dave Bradwell kit and reviews it.

 

Pete T.

 

[Daniel W]

2 hours ago, PJT said:

 

Just a suggestion - try searching on Tim Shackleton.  I seem to remember many years ago he did something in MRJ about the Tyne Dock-Consett hoppers.

 

Actually, I just did myself.  A second search on 'Consett' instead of 'Tim Shackleton' turned it up: MRJ, issue 117 (year 2000).  I've looked in my copy of the magazine, too, and it's a good four page article where Tim builds the Dave Bradwell kit and reviews it.

 

Pete T.

 

Fantastic, PJT, thank you very much! I must have gotten confused between Messers Kent and Shackleton as to whom built it. Hopefully i can actually find a copy of that issue.

 

Edit: Having looked up that issues and re-read your post, it seems the article is about the Consett jobies. The kit i was referring to was the 13-ton steel bodied mineral hoppers to diagrams 1/142 and 1/144.

 

Regards

Dan

Edited June 21, 2020 by Daniel W
Update

[Iain.d]

10 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

... Eddie brought a lovely Manson G & S W 4-6-0 a

 

 

 

That looks stunning!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[Iain.d]

I have managed a couple of further coach refurbishments / rebuilds. The first is a LMS D2123 BTK that uses a 1980s Hornby Stanier as the donor; only the chassis solebars, interior, ends and roof survive. The roof ribs are quite prominent on this one – I know they’re not to everyone’s liking (I can live with them, just!). It’ll be at the end of an eight coach rake.  All will be based on these old carriages so hopefully they will kind of all merge together….

 

 

The second rebuild uses an old Airfix Non Corridor Composite where I have replaced the sides with Comet ones, the bogies are also Comet etches but I used the Airfix side frames. Scratch built underframe and some additional detailing on the ends. It’s sprayed with Model Masters British Crimson (2009); it’s a few shades different to Railmatch BR Crimson, but close enough.

 

 

It’ll be part of a two coach set, the other coach being a Hornby Non Corridor Brake Third in maroon – other than the glazing, an exquisite model. On the Hornby I’ve matt varnished the interior and painted the edges of the glazing, this has reduced the worst of the prismatic effect. I sprayed the roof and ends with matt varnish to take away the plasticky look and painted the bogies and under frames a mix of Vallejo German Tank Crew (333) and German Cam Black/Brown (70.822). Both are yet to be weathered.

 

To couple the two coaches together I bent up a length of wire to represent the brake hoses and added a few twists of wire to represent the hose couplers. I also made up a screw coupling and soldered the hooks to the pipes where they bend to go under the headstock. The screw works (a 14BA nut and bolt) so I was then able to tension the coupler. I added steam heating hoses to each coach but chose not to connect those.

 

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[jamie92208]

30 minutes ago, Iain.d said:

That looks stunning!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

Thanks Ian.  I've got to email the photos to Eddie and will pass the comments on. My only regret is that I didn't have time to sort out my M&GSW clerestories for it to pull. One of them was running on the up line but by the time we'd sorted things out for the Manson to run we didn't have time to re marshall the trains. The Manson was wired opposite way to all mine so we had to reset all the controllers for the down line where itvwas running. We had some fun shunting the compound off the down express to allow the Manson to couple up.  However it wws worth the effort as it looked good pulli g three Midland clerestories and an L&Y tri composite.

 

Jamie

Edited June 21, 2020 by jamie92208

[Tony Wright]

1 hour ago, Iain.d said:

I have managed a couple of further coach refurbishments / rebuilds. The first is a LMS D2123 BTK that uses a 1980s Hornby Stanier as the donor; only the chassis solebars, interior, ends and roof survive. The roof ribs are quite prominent on this one – I know they’re not to everyone’s liking (I can live with them, just!). It’ll be at the end of an eight coach rake.  All will be based on these old carriages so hopefully they will kind of all merge together….

 

 

The second rebuild uses an old Airfix Non Corridor Composite where I have replaced the sides with Comet ones, the bogies are also Comet etches but I used the Airfix side frames. Scratch built underframe and some additional detailing on the ends. It’s sprayed with Model Masters British Crimson (2009); it’s a few shades different to Railmatch BR Crimson, but close enough.

 

 

It’ll be part of a two coach set, the other coach being a Hornby Non Corridor Brake Third in maroon – other than the glazing, an exquisite model. On the Hornby I’ve matt varnished the interior and painted the edges of the glazing, this has reduced the worst of the prismatic effect. I sprayed the roof and ends with matt varnish to take away the plasticky look and painted the bogies and under frames a mix of Vallejo German Tank Crew (333) and German Cam Black/Brown (70.822). Both are yet to be weathered.

 

To couple the two coaches together I bent up a length of wire to represent the brake hoses and added a few twists of wire to represent the hose couplers. I also made up a screw coupling and soldered the hooks to the pipes where they bend to go under the headstock. The screw works (a 14BA nut and bolt) so I was then able to tension the coupler. I added steam heating hoses to each coach but chose not to connect those.

 

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

What beautifully-natural carriages. They've made my morning!

 

Thanks for showing us, Iain.

 

Regards,

 

Tony. 

[PJT]

5 hours ago, Daniel W said:

Fantastic, PJT, thank you very much! I must have gotten confused between Messers Kent and Shackleton as to whom built it. Hopefully i can actually find a copy of that issue.

 

Edit: Having looked up that issues and re-read your post, it seems the article is about the Consett jobies. The kit i was referring to was the 13-ton steel bodied mineral hoppers to diagrams 1/142 and 1/144.

 

No, Daniel, it was me who got confused last night at a time when under normal circumstances I'd have been asleep for a couple of hours!  I obviously had the picture in my head of one of the Consett hoppers after seeing it on this thread in the last few days.  That's my excuse, anyway.

 

To make up for it I went through all the MRJs mentioned in the on-line index with reference to hoppers this morning (a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so - I could have stayed there reading half the day) but couldn't find what you're after.  I looked in Geoff Kent's 'The 4mm Wagon - Part 1' as well and that turns up a photo of a Diag. 1/142 hopper, but that's all.

 

Didn't help you much, I'm afraid, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking and several issues of MRJ have been put aside for a re-read as a result.

 

Pete T.

 

[bbishop]

18 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

I have to say this Heljan Class 33 does look very good. 

 

However, my knowledge of the prototype is very limited (other than watching pairs of them dash through Retford on a block cement train - interesting, because, prior to their appearances, the cement trains were singly V2- or 9F-hauled; yet the diesel pair constituted a Type 6! Was their reliability questioned?). 

 

 

 

Not questioned on their home turf.  When I was commuting from Wimbledon, the "Exeter" was a Warship job.  Often replaced by a Crompton, which could be heard as it came round the curve at Raynes Park.  They could be flogged.  Bill

[30368]

Class 33 Cromptons managed quite well on the Bromford/Fawley oil trains. A fair load for a type 3. Providing you did not have a train to heat they had more power (1160kw or so) than a class 31.

 

Kind regards,

 

Richard B

[Dunsignalling]

22 hours ago, Tony Wright said:

The latest RTR model for photography................

 

 

I have to say this Heljan Class 33 does look very good. 

 

However, my knowledge of the prototype is very limited (other than watching pairs of them dash through Retford on a block cement train - interesting, because, prior to their appearances, the cement trains were singly V2- or 9F-hauled; yet the diesel pair constituted a Type 6! Was their reliability questioned?). 

 

I shall not be writing the review for BRM. 

 

 

In our neck of the woods, cement trains were normally reckoned to be Type 4 turns.

 

The BRCW Type 3 (later to become Class 33) was rated at 1,550 bhp with an axle loading of a bit over 18 tons (and only four of them) so a single one would have been regarded as underpowered for the load involved. As you suggest, two (which, in horsepower terms would constitute Type 5 and still be 200 short of a Deltic)  would romp away with such a working.

 

AFAIK, they had one of the best reliability records of any pre-1970s diesel, beaten only by the Class 37.

 

 

John

 

 

Edited June 21, 2020 by Dunsignalling

[grahame]

On 18/06/2020 at 20:33, Tony Wright said:

 

Having observed some examples of 3D-printing over the last two or three years, the quality of finish is now at a stage where it might well be viable. Some previous examples looked more like a washboard, with all the ridges in evidence. 

 

 

Yes, that has been the case. IMO there has been some gradual improvement in 3D printing although it has been very slow and there is still quite a bit of variable quality around. Often you gets what you pays for, and need to select the more expensive material and finish options from Shapeways.

 

I'm under the impression that Shapeways still use layer deposition printing, which can result in obvious stratification ridges that can need a fair amount of difficult preparation to eradicate. I understand that the newer stereolithography (SLA) print technology, a kind of optical fabrication or photo-solidification, provides a better (smoother?) print finish. But it's all beyond me and my understanding.

 

Here are some N/2mm scale, which means they are tiny, 3D prints that have had no surface preparation (apart from cleaning and priming):

 

 

The palletised cinder/breeze blocks and cement bags are from Shapeways. Of the three cement mixers the centre one is a white metal kit (Thameshead Transport Models I think) that I've had for a while while the other two are 3D printed efforts recently acquired - one from Shapeways (layer deposition) and one from DM Models (SLA - I think). I've added new larger wheels to one of them as they both had tiny things (as can be seen on the other) which I'd guess would make it hard to manoeuvre over a building site. But overall, and bearing in mind their small size, they are probably all acceptable for use as detailing items.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Erichill16]

17 hours ago, Headstock said:

 

Good evening Robert,

 

I hope you get your bunch of fives, if you see what I mean.

 

 

I don't use acrylics, I'm mostly a wet painter, acrylics dry too quickly for me. I've seen some nice powder work, but sometimes I think it looks a little overscale and you can always tell it's powder work. In the grand scheme of things, I don't see myself as an expert at wagon weathering, It's too time consuming on a forty wagon train. Keep it simple, you can always do a bit more, However, it you can't tell if it is acrylic, enamel or powders, then that is quite pleasing to me because you are seeing the finish and not the materials. I've currently got twenty wagons on the go, most with bair wood visible, so I wanted a technique that gave relatively fast and predictable results. So this is what I did.

 

1, find a base coat that is both light but warm, perhaps like freshly sawn timber. I seem to consistently use lighter base coats than many. Humbrol 121, was airbrushed on to the areas I wanted to be bair wood. To be honest any warm cream colour will probably do. You can of course brush the paint on, it takes forever. I allow 48 hrs to dry.

 

2, pick out a few individual planks, a mix of Humbrol 121, Railmatch frame dirt, Humbrol 79 or and Humbrol 32 in different mixes to produce warmer or cooler, darker or lighter planks. Many years ago Humbrol 32 was an awesome carriage roof colour, it's changed so much, it is now a very acceptable pre war LNER wagon grey. Again, any substitutes will do, a weathered or subdued brown and mid to dark greys. You will be mixing your own colour and tonal applications anyway. The mix is more of a wash but still paintable, so that you are using the colour of the basecoat, not obliterating it. leave it 24 hrs to dry.

 

3, application of the first wash. You have a number of choices, Frame dirt will give you a warmer brown finish, Humbrol 32 a cooler look, or you can mix the too or use a lighter grey. The most important thing is that your brush is clean, your white spirit is clean and you paint mix and the surface that you intend to apply the mix too is also clean, no bits, bits will kill it.  A generous wash of thinned paint is applied from side to side, in the direction of the floor planks, Working down the length of the wagon from one end to another. Paint out the mix until you are happy with the consistency of the effect and don't let the paint start to bite. If you need to add more white spirit or paint mix, do so .The crucial thing is that the the wash is kept wet on the area of application, so you are painting all the planks at the same time. Thus, they are allowed to dry at the same time. This will produce a consistent finish without tell tail brush strokes or other grot that looks like slap dash workmanship. If happy, paint the wagon sides and ends in the same fashion and leave the lot to dry for 24 hours.

 

4, repeat with second wash, you can vary the tone or colour of the individual washes, a second wash may be pure dark grey for example, to pick out the groves in the planks. If you are not happy with the look of the washes, remove with damp cotton buds, this in itself can produce some nice effects. You can keep adding washes if you so wish, there was no one wood finish, though modelers worship the grey fashion at the moment. One of the grey worshipers posted a photo of wood recently and declared it grey.  It was alive with subtle yellows and browns ............. pinks ........... blues ...................... creams ............ greens .............funny how some can look an not see a darn thing. The important thing is to build up a subtle effect, don't go to dark too soon and obliterate the base coat, let it to do its job. 

 

5 Finally, I finish up with the airbrush, I can work wet on wet with this in a way you can't with a traditional brush. I set up a higher pressure to get a nice dusty dry  effect that gives more cohesion to the whole thing. Adjusting the pressure down, I will touch in darker areas, were dirt will collect around strapping and door edges. Then leave to dry, an important note here, the rest of the wagon is still in undercoat. I will not touch the rest of it until I'm finished with the bair wood areas that I am working on.

 

Lots of drying time, but the time spent actually painting the wagon is reasonably brief. most of the time goes on picking out the planks, don't go mad on that, keep it understated like the colour palette.  Remember that tone and contrasting tones will do a lot of the heavy lifting, rather than colour and brushstrokes. If I chose to go back and add more detail, you can at any time. I hope that has all been of help.

Sorry for the brief reply last night, I’d been up late watching a film but thought it polite to reply straight away. As with my loco fleet Im trying  to update/improve my wagons  so most of the stock is already painted but I’m going to try your method out on some stock already built.
By the way  I’m having difficulties in getting some Airfix/Dapol well wagons to run without derailing, the axles are true. Do you run any and have any advice?
Regards

Robert

[Daniel W]

6 hours ago, PJT said:

 

No, Daniel, it was me who got confused last night at a time when under normal circumstances I'd have been asleep for a couple of hours!  I obviously had the picture in my head of one of the Consett hoppers after seeing it on this thread in the last few days.  That's my excuse, anyway.

 

To make up for it I went through all the MRJs mentioned in the on-line index with reference to hoppers this morning (a very enjoyable 20 minutes or so - I could have stayed there reading half the day) but couldn't find what you're after.  I looked in Geoff Kent's 'The 4mm Wagon - Part 1' as well and that turns up a photo of a Diag. 1/142 hopper, but that's all.

 

Didn't help you much, I'm afraid, but I thoroughly enjoyed looking and several issues of MRJ have been put aside for a re-read as a result.

 

Pete T.

 

 

No worries, Pete, it happens to the best of us sometimes!

 

Dan

[Iain.d]

13 hours ago, Daniel W said:

Fantastic, PJT, thank you very much! I must have gotten confused between Messers Kent and Shackleton as to whom built it. Hopefully i can actually find a copy of that issue.

 

Edit: Having looked up that issues and re-read your post, it seems the article is about the Consett jobies. The kit i was referring to was the 13-ton steel bodied mineral hoppers to diagrams 1/142 and 1/144.

 

Regards

Dan

Hi,

 

You could try MRJ 173: Suddenly Last Summer (Again) by Chris Pendlenton on page 43. He builds a number of hoppers, the Bradwell 13T  is mentioned and there is a picture. Not much on the building of the kit though, other than its a joy!

 

Kind regards,

 

Iain

[Tony Wright]

More progress on the Mike Trice V2................

 

This is going to be a Doncaster-shopped example, in BR green, with the boiler cladding band not lined (which Darlington did). All I've done is cut some strips of self-adhesive PVC insulation tape and placed them in position (were it a Darlington-shopped example, the lining would have represented the cladding band). In LNER green the band adjacent to cab was lined as well, so wouldn't need putting on. All the boiler cladding bands will be represented by the lining. 

 

Someone questioned the longevity of using insulation tape for this purpose. All I can say that the oldest loco I've got with them fitted is over 40, and no band has come adrift - as yet! 

 

The cab handrails are in place, but it's easier to fit the PVC tape bands before the smokebox/boiler/firebox handrails are in place. 

 

 

All handrails, wiggly pipes and smokebox dart in place - all fixed with superglue, with the wire soldered to the pillars - in and out VERY fast with the iron!  

 

 

Naturally, the resin body is inherently light. I've ballasted it with a mixture of lead strip and 'Fluid Lead'; the latter can get everywhere. 

 

There's space for more lead, but I'll test and 'weight and see' if it's enough. 

 

Just the front bit of the body to detail now.

 

I'm still getting used to how brittle this 3D resin is. Drilling holes to take the handrail pillars, I must have rested the model on one of the front steps - which snapped like ice! It's repaired, but now with a length of metal wire, superglued to act as a support. I reinforced the other step at the same time, even though it hadn't snapped off.

 

More later...............

 

 

 

 

[davidw]

1 hour ago, Tony Wright said:

More progress on the Mike Trice V2................

 

This is going to be a Doncaster-shopped example, in BR green, with the boiler cladding band not lined (which Darlington did). All I've done is cut some strips of self-adhesive PVC insulation tape and placed them in position (were it a Darlington-shopped example, the lining would have represented the cladding band). In LNER green the band adjacent to cab was lined as well, so wouldn't need putting on. All the boiler cladding bands will be represented by the lining. 

 

Someone questioned the longevity of using insulation tape for this purpose. All I can say that the oldest loco I've got with them fitted is over 40, and no band has come adrift - as yet! 

 

The cab handrails are in place, but it's easier to fit the PVC tape bands before the smokebox/boiler/firebox handrails are in place. 

 

 

All handrails, wiggly pipes and smokebox dart in place - all fixed with superglue, with the wire soldered to the pillars - in and out VERY fast with the iron!  

 

 

Naturally, the resin body is inherently light. I've ballasted it with a mixture of lead strip and 'Fluid Lead'; the latter can get everywhere. 

 

There's space for more lead, but I'll test and 'weight and see' if it's enough. 

 

Just the front bit of the body to detail now.

 

I'm still getting used to how brittle this 3D resin is. Drilling holes to take the handrail pillars, I must have rested the model on one of the front steps - which snapped like ice! It's repaired, but now with a length of metal wire, superglued to act as a support. I reinforced the other step at the same time, even though it hadn't snapped off.

 

More later...............

 

 

 

 

I'm convinced. 

How did you create the lamp irons?

Edited June 21, 2020 by davidw

[jrg1]

11 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Sorry for the brief reply last night, I’d been up late watching a film but thought it polite to reply straight away. As with my loco fleet Im trying  to update/improve my wagons  so most of the stock is already painted but I’m going to try your method out on some stock already built.
By the way  I’m having difficulties in getting some Airfix/Dapol well wagons to run without derailing, the axles are true. Do you run any and have any advice?
Regards

Robert

The well wagons are very light, in my opinion, and need weighting.

[Jack P]

I thought it would be worth asking here,

 

I'm in the planning stages of another kitbuild and the only wheels I was able to get for it were a standard Markits set. One side insulated, the other not. I am now wondering what the best course of action for building it with the intention of fitting it with DCC. 

 

My plan was simply to make sure the isolated pair stay isolated, run a conventional PCB board divided into 4, with pickups to both sets of wheels, and then wires connected to the motor. This should mean I can bridge the gap between the two, to get running smooth on DC, then remove the bridging wires, and attache the wires from the chip. Does the body being whitemetal impact this?

 

Am I over thinking this?

 

 Would it be easier to just get another pair of insulated drivers?

[DougN]

Looking Nice there Tony.  I was going to ask the question was the handrail completed with longer/ shorter handrail Knobs... However on going to bed last night I was looking through "Power of the V2's" only to find they were all short handrail knobs. The more I looked at the photos there is some very subtle rivets to the rear of the smoke box.

 

I will look seriously at your solution for the vertical band. The Finney kit allows for the one at the rear of the fire box/ cab interface.  Tonight I am intending to get all the handrail knobs installed to the 2 boilers.  

 

My last 2 weeks of losing parts has now stopped as they have all be rounded up and corralled. SO I hope to be able to continue to push forward. 

 

[Chuffer Davies]

1 hour ago, Jack P said:

I thought it would be worth asking here,

 

I'm in the planning stages of another kitbuild and the only wheels I was able to get for it were a standard Markits set. One side insulated, the other not. I am now wondering what the best course of action for building it with the intention of fitting it with DCC. 

 

My plan was simply to make sure the isolated pair stay isolated, run a conventional PCB board divided into 4, with pickups to both sets of wheels, and then wires connected to the motor. This should mean I can bridge the gap between the two, to get running smooth on DC, then remove the bridging wires, and attache the wires from the chip. Does the body being whitemetal impact this?

 

Am I over thinking this?

 

 Would it be easier to just get another pair of insulated drivers?

Hi Jack,

You appear to have been slightly confused by statements previously made on this blog. 

 

A live chassis (or split frame chassis) only causes a problem for DCC when one or both of the motor's electrical connections are earthed directly to the frame.  The old Hornby Dublo and Triang loco's are typical of this construction, I have also seen this on the old Mainline split frame models.  Things are always okay for conversion to DCC if there are individual wires going to both sides of the motor.

 

The problem that sometimes occurs with metal bodied locos is where circuitry associated with the DCC chip is shorted out by coming into contact with a body that is electrically live to the chassis.  This risks destroying the chip.  The risk can be mitigated by ensuring the chip is either fully insulated by surrounding it with some kind of sleeving, or by anchoring it firmly in place so that it can't accidentally come into contact with the body. 

 

You don't need to buy any replacement wheels.  I would recommend that you initially build your model with a standard analogue chassis, one wire from the motor connected directly to the frames and the other wire going to the copper clad pad on which your pickups are mounted.  Once you have finished building/testing the chassis and are ready to convert it to DCC all you need do is replace the existing wires with the leads on the DCC chip,  The input wires connect to the frames and the copper clad pad and the output wires go to the motor.   Don't forget to ensure that the chip itself is properly insulated so that it can't accidentally touch any metal parts and all will be well.  If the loco then runs in the wrong direction swap the wires connected to the motor around.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Frank

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[Clem]

19 minutes ago, Chuffer Davies said:

Hi Jack,

I knew someone would 'hi-jack' this thread eventually!

 

Hi Frank, I hope you are well. Looking forward to seeing you and Clayton (eventually, when all this lockdown/virus episode is over). 

[Jack P]

35 minutes ago, Clem said:

I knew someone would 'hi-jack' this thread eventually!

 

At least we're not discussing this on a plane..