Kernow OO Gauge 02 Steam locomotive project

[DJM Dave]

This section will deal with questions and answers you may have on the above project and Kernow announcements

Please note that all questions will be answered where possible, but some will be left here in abeyance until such time as it is possible to answer.

[Verityboo]

I have an O2 on order and just wanted to say that I was really pleased to hear the news today

 

The only real 'extra' for me would be the facility to add sound reasonably easily but I realise that's quite a big ask on a small engine!

[roundhouse]

I also have one on order.

 

The abiltiy to add sound without cutting out chunks from inside the model would also be a great plus to me aswell even if it by making part of the wieght a removable section rather than having to saw some away.

 

Ian

[mvrnut]

Dave,

   Provision for sound would be nice, but would it be possible at this late stage to have an 02 in 1930's Southern Railway lined olive green livery ?

 

Cheers and all the best in your endeavours,

   Chris

[autocoach]

I bought one of the sound equipped BWT's from Kernow. Yes,  it can be done in such a small locomotive without too much compromise even if not in the original design. I do wish they had recessed the speaker into the coal bunker instead of gluing it to the bunker's cab wall but it is unobtrusive.  I am not entirely pleased with the Loksound special sound decoder either. Unable to re-program to increase the sound and playability of the whistle.  Perhaps TCS's WOWSound will work better in future when they have UK sound projects.  They have a design where sound projects can be coded at a PC and transferred on a micro drive and inserted into the decoder. 

 

I do have unrelated pickup problems with this sound equipped BWT and am looking to eventually add a Keep Alive in the boiler.

 

Interesting times we live in.  Now lets also talk about smoke, steam, steam smell and radio battery control.......flying coal dust?

[Horsetan]

Will it be convertible to P4?

 

The earlier Well Tank was notoriously unfriendly in this respect...

[PaulRhB]

The abiltiy to add sound without cutting out chunks from inside the model would also be a great plus to me aswell even if it by making part of the wieght a removable section rather than having to saw some away.

I'd agree with Ian's wishes if at all possible

[autocoach]

Kernow did it with the BWT. Without cutting out the back of the cab by sticking a black clad speaker stuck to the bunker wall.  The sound decoder fit in the boiler. I would have preferred a cutout in the bunker. But it was a way for Kernow to move the remaining unsold BWT 3314's in Southern Black.

 

However, I would suggest a sound decoder other than the Loksound 4.0 supplied by Olivia's Trains for the BWT as it is not easily re-programmable particularly for the whistle volume which is almost inaudible.

 

Try a TCS Wow Sound (with Keep Alive) or a Tsunami with a sound cube speaker.  The Keep Alive would be a good idea even if no sound given the majority of us still rely on the notorious 00 Peco switches/turnouts in spite of all the efforts of the P4/EM and lay 00 yourself evangelists.

[Mike Riley]

Please allow for fitting a speaker in the bunker without surgery which I have had to do on all my tanks.  Including the BWT.  The latest surgery was the bunker of the Hornby 2-8-0 tank which is very sound unfriendly.  At design stage it should not be difficult to allow for this.

 

Mike

[PhilH]

Surely this thing is going to be a featherweight which could impinge on haulage capacity anyway - won't leaving space for speakers etc. just diminish that capacity even further?

 

I have no intention of fitting sound, but I would like it to pull a prototypically length train. I can imagine that in a small loco such as the O2 there won't be too much scope for compromise on this.

[Oldddudders]

Surely this thing is going to be a featherweight which could impinge on haulage capacity anyway - won't leaving space for speakers etc. just diminish that capacity even further?

 

I have no intention of fitting sound, but I would like it to pull a prototypically length train. I can imagine that in a small loco such as the O2 there won't be too much scope for compromise on this.

0-4-4 tanks are notoriously difficult to balance, with sufficient weight over the drivers to enable worthwhile traction. I agree haulage is more of an issue than sound-readiness.

[PaulRhB]

Yep the balance is important but Ian's suggestion of a removable block would please both camps. Personally I'd rather have the speaker in the smokebox anyway but easy access to the bunker where they don't want much weight anyway would be my second preference.

[G-BOAF]

Just to throw my opinion in. Can we please not compromise the external appearrence and running qualities of the model for DCC and Sound purposes.

I.E abandoning daylight under the boiler to enable room for a speaker etc. Just doesn't make sense. Those that want sound can do the necessary surgery; please don't compromise the rest of the model just for 10%(if that) of the market.

 

Bunker would be good choice, esp if coal load could be removed to facilitate speaker fitting (or fitting of real coal..

Heres a thought - removable coal to reveal bunker detail, itself removable to facilitate speaker fitting. Thought I sense this is getting into the realms of complicated and expensive.

 

IMHO if the removable smokebox door on the BWT was only to facilitate chip installation, it was OTT. This is an operation that may be performed once or twice. We still have to dismantle locos for lubrication, much more often than to instsall/uninstall chips. If the removable smokebox door was to enable model to be posed with door open and save a tooling plug for BR/SR varients, OK, I can understand that.

 

EDITED - can we please not, i.e. this must not happen!

[PaulRhB]

Can we not compromise the external appearrence and running qualities of the model for DCC and Sound purposes.

 

I assume you meant 'we cannot' ?

 

.

I.E abandoning daylight under the boiler to enable room for a speaker etc.

 

I don't think anyone suggest we do this all those if us who like sound are suggesting is making a space into the design. Sugar cube speakers are so small there is no need to compromise the appearance. From a design point of view though it may be easier to leave room in the bunker than the boiler though. Ian's suggestion of a removable weight section would fractionally increase price but my alternative would be actually casting a split in the block with a thinner tab connecting it. This would eliminate a separate part and assembly piece but make it quick and easier to cut out.

Wanting sound is about wanting to add extra 'detail' not compromise it

[aussiebrfan]

Is it ready yet?? 

[Mike Riley]

A 4-4-0 doesn't need weight in the bunker - it needs all it can get in the smokebox and boiler.  So fill that area with metal and leave room in the quite capacious bunker for both decoder and speaker.  Yes, those of us that want sound can do the surgery - we normally have no option.  It seems that rtr tender locos often now have provision for a speaker (Hornby Star for example) but the manufacturers must think that tank engines don't need sound.

 

And why does anyone want to see the internal details of the bunker below the coal load?  The Hornby M7 has that which makes for more surgery.  I don't want the O2 to follow the same path as the M7.

 

Mike

[bigherb]

 

And why does anyone want to see the internal details of the bunker below the coal load?  The Hornby M7 has that which makes for more surgery.  I don't want the O2 to follow the same path as the M7.

 

Mike

Because not everybody wants all their locos with a full bunker of coal.

[Purley Oaks]

Am excited by the O2 - would have liked Kernow to produce a weathered version, though. Ready-to-run weathered products appear to sell well - on the other hand we can do the weathering ourselves to our own specs. Just a thought.

[Gwiwer]

Weathering commissioned by Kernow on other products has turned out to be superb but comes at a not insignificant extra cost.  Rather more than the few Pounds the likes of Bachmann charge for a factory dirt-squirt on their coaches but also very much more convincing.

 

But weathering is also very much an individual taste.  What one person regards as excellent simply doesn't suit another.

 

I can fully understand that Kernow might not wish to venture into weathering on this project owing to the fairly substantial additional cost they would have to pass on to their customers.  Most of those customers who want weathered locos could probably arrange that service through a friend, a commercial weathering service or even ask for help here.  It can then be done to individual tastes.  And it might not cost any more than if Kernow had the whole batch weathered to an identical specification.

[mvrnut]

Latest cad - cams are now displayed on the KMRC website for the 02. Looks like tooling for these locos is due to start soon !

  I hope, as probably many others do, that they would do the Adam's Radial 0415 4-4-2T loco next.

 

Cheers,

   Chris

[Jon Fitness]

Can someone PM me when the 7mm version is ready? Thanks....  .

 

Jon F.

[alfsboy]

Looks good so far .i wonder if the well tank will ever get another run ?.

[Gwiwer]

There seems to be an unjamming of logs in China.

 

Not only the CAD-CAMs for the various iterations of the O2 but also of the LSWR gate stock though that apparently requires a few more tweaks before signing off.

 

The O2, according to Kernow, should be good for tooling as we speak which (allowing reasonable time for test shots and corrections) might mean we have them by Easter.

[Paul.Uni]

According to the latest newsletter, the CADs have been signed off. Also a seventh model has been commissioned, no. 207 in Southern Maunsell Green livery with push-pull equipment.

[34040]

I have just read the review in the latest issue of Model Rail and am disappointed at the comments. I can live with the detail errors (I was brought up with flangeless drivers and piston rods poking through the front of cylinders) but am very worried about the model's difficulty in coping with medium radius curves. Having a fixed pivot, rather that one which has a slot, or which allows the bogie to swing from side to side seems like asking for trouble. I do not have my O2 yet but I am already thinking of ways that I can overcome this failing.