7mm King Street Goods

[puddlejumper]

Mark,

 

Well done for sorting that out.

 

I allowed for this sort of impatience when I created the sound project. Lol

 

If you are in a hurry, press F5 (latched) before engaging F1. This will cut out the start-up routine entirely; the engine will be running in 'Light Engine' idle. (release F5 to switch back to 'Heavy Train' mode before driving off if you have something on the hook).

 

Time to study the 'User Notes' again?

 

Kind regards.

 

Paul

So when all else fails Read the instructions??

[pauliebanger]

So when all else fails Read the instructions??

 

I could have put it more bluntly............. Lol

 

But, Mark has a new toy, it's a bit of tech and he's a man. What's to be expected? We'd all do the same. ha ha.

 

Problem is, it's the Lenz controller which seems to be failing, and their manual is, reportedly, unreadable.

 

Paul

 

PS. I should add, he's been remarkably patient/restrained. That loco has been in its Ixion box for weeks without being 'tested'. He must have an iron will.

Edited July 31, 2014 by pauliebanger

[Barnaby]

Very true Gents I know walk before run more haste less speed and so on.  

Definitely need to read the manuals while using the Lenz much more to become familiar with its operation .  It is written/ put together in not a very helpful way.  For me there seems to be a step missing in the manual, yes once I know what's wrong I can find the bit that I need to do to correct it, it's crying out for a YES/NO chart which I am starting to build for my own benefit. 

You know the sort of thing  * have you got a constant red light showing if yes go step 2 if no check fuse and so on.

 

Some of it is sticking in the little grey cells so onward and forward down the line we go.

 

Chris, yes something similar for me too as i've no idea how some settings had got altered. 

 

Paul the notes with the model are a bit small for me to read even with my glasses on so I've scanned and enlarged them onto 4 x A4 sheets for my future ref.

I shouldn't be in a hurry as I want to experience the sequence I'm afraid I just got too excited and crashed the software.  

 

So 2 lessons learnt slower is better and the reset is powerful yet simple to do.

I'll be having another play after cutting the lawns

 

Regards

[Barnaby]

PJ hi I think the term you are thinking of is RTFM for READ THE F***ING MANUAL but in my defence my 3.6 Lenz came with early version 3.6 manuals which show things in different pages and in different ways. It wasn't until I got hold of the 3.6 USA manuals and posted on here that things began to fit in place.  Remember I was coming new to Lenz and DCC and had no background knowledge to fall back on so when I did RTFM it was speaking gobbley g00k .

 

Regards

Edited July 31, 2014 by Barnaby

[pauliebanger]

 

Paul the notes with the model are a bit small for me to read even with my glasses on so I've scanned and enlarged them onto 4 x A4 sheets for my future ref.

 

 

 

 

Mark,

 

I didn't know the font was very small - I wrote it but Paul Martin publishes and prints the accompanying 'blurb'. PM me and I'll send you a Word .doc if you like.

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul

[Barnaby]

PM on its way - thanks.

Paul has condensed all 4 sides [A5] of info onto 1 double sided A4 sheet which makes the text about 8 point like this which is a bit too small for making a quick ref glance.  

 

Regards

[pauliebanger]

PM on its way - thanks.

Paul has condensed all 4 sides [A5] of info onto 1 double sided A4 sheet which makes the text about 8 point like this which is a bit too small for making a quick ref glance.  

 

Regards

 

Document sent,

 

Paul

[Barnaby]

Receive documents,, thanks for that.

[Simond]

Barnaby,

Weathering is a tricky business. Here is my 85A Hunslet, since sold,  before and after the dirt merchant got his hands on it. My green Hudswell Clarke is rather dirty, but my black respray will be relatively lightly weathered. I plan to name my red Hudswell Clarke after SWMBO (the brass fret with Hudswell Clarke contain plates with the names of the Ixion partners'  wives), but she has consented  on condition that it stays clean and is only allowed to work passenger trains. She does not share my enthusiasm for the grime and gloom of the South Wales Valleys.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

Is your wife really called "Asbestos"?

[Barnaby]

Giving some thought to my cassette fiddle yard I saw what Chaz & Dave Chris have done and I like their way of aligning and providing the electrical connections for their fiddle yards so much so that once again I've borrowed their joint ideas and come up with a third similar way.  See post #392 of Chris's Cwm Bach for their details.

 

I'll will have separate cassettes as I want to turn incoming trains through 360D but won't have room to pivot as I will have a on view track running the length of my fiddle yard.. I will add some copper clad board at either cassette end with a locating brass tube with an inner rod at each end.  I don't have enough space at layout exit into the fiddle yard to get my hand in to drive the rod through into the brass aligning tube so the rod will have to be on the cassette side.

TO BE CONCLUDED LATER AFTER TEA......................

 

My version will use copper clad  boards at each cassette end

Will only have one locating rod and tube mechanism per cassette end.

Will have beefed up tube and rod i.e. brass tube 3/16 or nearest with rod at interference fit, may kink the rod end slightly to ensure a good electrical connection for 1 rail.

The push rod & tube mechanism will need to be 6"-ish long to allow for the lack of space at the entrance to the layout.  I need to maximise my cassette length having already added a small extension to the original base board to accommodate my intended train lengths.

A flying lead for the other rail side with a bulldog or alligator clip for attaching.  This lead will need to be long enough to clip on at the rear end of the cassette.

Some pics should help to make this clearer but my cassettes already made may have the sides a little too close but we'll see.

 

 

Regards

 

 

 

Edited August 2, 2014 by Barnaby

[Barnaby]

Today I paid a visit to my local Maplin shop to pick up 2 of 6 x 4 copper clad boards for use on my fiddle yards.  They will supply the foundation for the alignment tubes and electrical connections to the rails.  Play time again tomorrow.

Edited August 3, 2014 by Barnaby

[Barnaby]

Creeping progress. 

Started cutting my already made cassettes so that I can fit my brass tube and rod locating pins onto the PCB which is soldered under the track.   Having to fit one set at each cassette end to allow for turning trains 180 D.

 

I may be  s  l  o  w  but my enjoyment is HIGH.

........... and I get to drive my Ixion EDM chipped loco daily whoo haaaa.

 

Regards

 

 

[railwayrod]

Glad to here that you are getting in with your cassettes. It is always nice to see one's train run even without any scenery but as I have said before even a little bit of scenery makes a massive amount of difference.

 

Glad to here that your enjoyment is HIGH.

 

Railwayrod

[Barnaby]

Today was a tidy up day in the paint store.  I kept coming across tins of paint and the odd spray can in both enamel and acrylic so I decided a better store away was needed.

After some head scratching thinking about making something out of ply and mdf I did a web search, well, there was all sorts but way too complex & costly to just hold some cans in an easy to find way.

While still thinking I went to make me a sarnie & opened the drawer to get a knife, B I N G O there's my answer a cutlery tray. My wife informed me that our local chandlers sells them for £2  so I'll be getting 2 in the morning.  I've attached a sketch I made to count the tin space plus it has a wide edge that will be drilled for some brushes etc.  Each tray will hold 80 Humbrol sized tins.

 

While I had the paint out I painted 6 x pallets, very sweet they look too.  I also built & painted a GWR lamp keepers hut.

At the same time I colour coded all my weathering powders & ballast stone.

 

All in all that made a nice interlude from prepping the garden for its first 6 new fence panels & removal of some boulder sized stone so I can relay turf onto the flower bed to create a place for a swing seat.

 

Laters........

Edited August 16, 2014 by Barnaby

[81A Oldoak]

Today was a tidy up day in the paint store.  I kept coming across tins of paint and the odd spray can in both enamel and acrylic so I decided a better store away was needed.

After some head scratching thinking about making something out of ply and mdf I did a web search, well, there was all sorts but way too complex & costly to just hold some cans in an easy to find way.

While still thinking I went to make me a sarnie & opened the drawer to get a knife, B I N G O there's my answer a cutlery tray. My wife informed me that our local chandlers sells them for £2  so I'll be getting 2 in the morning.  I've attached a sketch I made to count the tin space plus it has a wide edge that will be drilled for some brushes etc.  Each tray will hold 80 Humbrol sized tins.

 

While I had the paint out I painted 6 x pallets, very sweet they look too.  I also built & painted a GWR lamp keepers hut.

At the same time I colour coded all my weathering powders & ballast stone.

 

All in all that made a nice interlude from prepping the garden for its first 6 new fence panels & removal of some boulder sized stone so I can relay turf onto the flower bed to create a place for a swing seat.

 

Laters........

You clever boy. Let's see a photo of it in action.

 

Regards,

 

Chris

[railwayrod]

Hi Barnaby,

I have been using a cutlery tray for paint storage for many years and it is a quick way to pick out a particular colour - especially if the paint containers have a blob of paint in their lids or if they are Humbrel with the lids already coloured. I try to separate mine into glass, satin and matt but I have to say that with use they still get mixed up in the tray. My paint brushes I keep in a drawer in a metal filing cabinet purchased from Lidl's for a small sum (cant remember how much) and these drawers are also useful for storing other modelling items such as sheets of plasticard, card, plastic sections etc. The drawers are approx. 50mm deep and will comfortably hold sheets of plastic and I use a second drawer for off cuts so if I need a small piece I do not have to cut it from a full sheet - unless I do not have a suitable bit in the off cuts drawer.

 

Keep up the good work on the layout , I am enjoying your thread.

 

Railwayrod

[Barnaby]

Hy Rod yes the trays are a good idea.

 

Today I did a little more sorting of the paint & some building & painting of the Huts, they're not finished yet, here's a pic

In the background can be seen one of the 2 paint (cutlery) trays organised left to right, Precision sleeper & rail then concrete & weathered wood then freight wagon colours then mt tins & fluorescent colours while across the back some Railmatch GWR paint. Oh & some brushes sitting between bulldog clips.

The other tray (bigger) is up the garden in my hobby room full of Humbrol paint tinlets.

I'm thinking about connecting them smaller above larger on a piece of broom handle so that the upper one can swivel, thinking . . . . . . . . . . . I could use a piece of 2" plastic pipe instead of the broom handle and then that could double as a paint brush store. 

 

Regards

[Barnaby]

I Got a GWR question?  What colour was the corrugated tin hut roofs

 

Looking at various sources and photos showing the GWR huts etc the roof colour seems to vary from dark grey, brown, black and the same stone colour as the walls so I guess I paint it any of those colours.  I'm sure any surviving GWR corrugated buildings got painted black in BR days and that's the loose period I'll be aiming for somewhere where LMS and GWR would frequent and steam and diesel in existence about the time of early BR.

 

If such a place could exist.

 

Regards

 

EDIT

When I was searching I found this site, it could be useful if your trying to find a paint colour.  Only down side is it doesn't have all manufacturers but fun all the same.

http://scalemodeldb.com/paint

 

I found the search by colour very good as it lists the nearest colours made by differing manufacturers.  You set your colour by use of the infinitely variable colour screen then when happy hit FIND.

Edited September 14, 2014 by Barnaby

[peter220950]

Hi Barnaby,

 

A couple of pointers, though I'm sure there are all sorts of variations:-

 

 

Modeller's Guide to the Great Western Railway, Silver Link.

 

'Pagodas' and other corrugated huts: Black Roofs, Light Stone Main shell of building, Dark Stone Doors, White window frames

 

 

A Livery Register of the HMRS - Great Western Railway.

 

Corrugated Iron Sheds (Including "Pagodas")

Light Stone   Walls inside and out

Dark Stone   Window frames and doors; gutters and downpipes

White            Framing of window glass; sliding panel in windows

The outside was black gas tar, which rapidly weathered to grey, before the inevitable rust obliterated all trace of pain! Sometimes the lower 18" of the outside wall were black; gutters and down pipes were occasionally light stone.

Maroon Brown was only used for doors.

 

So it looks like anything from black, through grey to rust will be appropriate at some stage of their life!

[Barnaby]

Back in the garden today but taking a short coffee break I did a prover test for the cassette alignment. 

Here are a couple of pictures showing what I intend to do.

Left will be the LAYOUT side Right is CASSETTE.

Now to do the cassettes for real, and a littler neater. Cassettes just slide up to and push into alignment prongs, might try with some square section instead of the round bar so as to aid the soldering square process. The round bar keeps rolling over and my pinkies get too hot to hold it in place while square bar would lay flat.

 

For the electrical connections I will be using flying leads to the rear of the cassette as I will want to turn it through 180D.

I will be making the layout alignment track a 6" sacrifice piece of for easy removal if the alignment tangs get too brutalised but I'm hoping they wont.

 

Back to log chopping..................

 

Regards

Edited August 22, 2014 by Barnaby

[Barnaby]

Off to TELFORD this week-end yippee normally my wife accompanies me and does the local shopping centre but this year she's opting to stay at home.

Started my list of needs, Carrs brown flux, visit to skytrex etc etc then got the hi-lite pens out to tab my must visits in the Guide.  Well I've nearly coloured in most of it so decided I'd give that up as a bad idea as the hi-lite few became the majority.

 

Got a few meet ups too Chaz of Dock Green and Alan of Factory Lane, DLOS Isambard, Sandy Harper after missing him last year Chris Klein, NGTrains edm, some parts for my 4F Lima conversion, paints and so on nothing big but plenty of bits this year................ but you never know

 

Just had a thought ................... how about RM making available a lapel badge [to buy] so that we can wear it to make identification easier.

[peter220950]

Just had a thought ................... how about RM making available a lapel badge [to buy] so that we can wear it to make identification easier.

 A bit like this you mean????

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/89507-rmweb-live-badges/&do=findComment&comment=1572587

[81A Oldoak]

Off to TELFORD this week-end yippee normally my wife accompanies me and does the local shopping centre but this year she's opting to stay at home.

Started my list of needs, Carrs brown flux, visit to skytrex etc etc then got the hi-lite pens out to tab my must visits in the Guide.  Well I've nearly coloured in most of it so decided I'd give that up as a bad idea as the hi-lite few became the majority.

 

Got a few meet ups too Chaz of Dock Green and Alan of Factory Lane, DLOS Isambard, Sandy Harper after missing him last year Chris Klein, NGTrains edm, some parts for my 4F Lima conversion, paints and so on nothing big but plenty of bits this year................ but you never know

 

Just had a thought ................... how about RM making available a lapel badge [to buy] so that we can wear it to make identification easier.

I'll be there on Saturday. Look for the ghastly black Ixion shirt lurking in the vicinity of Dragon Models or Dock Green.

[Barnaby]

Well had an enjoyable if cut short visit to Telford but hopefully I'll get to go again tomorrow.

 

Good to meet Chaz @ Dock Green, smashing layout and the peckett was working well.

 

Got to meet Alan [Factory Lane sidings] while @ Dock Green for a little chat before dinner.  Thanks for the tips Alan on how your buildings are built, most useful.    Hope to see your layout in action at Wing this October               

 

Found the man in Black that's Chris Klein on Dragon Models stand and had a brief chat but I don't have the interrogation skills necessary to get the name of the new model but hopefully some actual news will be available March 2015 if not before.  Lots of nice Ixion models on the stand tempted but stuck to this years promise of bits not Loco kits.

 

Bumped into Martin of Templot fame and had a chat, we live close to one another but on opposite sides of the river Severn in Stourport.

 

Unable to chat with David as he was busy with customers on the stand on the couple of times I passed by.

 

Intrigued with a couple of layouts 

Chard Creamery   Richard Andrews

A micro layout with plenty of detail and shunting interest.  Labelling it micro belies the huge amount of fun this Pandora's box of track allows from the building to the operating.

Got me thinking about the idea of these so called micro layouts as they have a lot to recommend them.  Loved the very simple pivot sector plate aligned by eye.

Reely Grate and Primrose hill are 2 more from here on the forums that also have some fascination.

 

 

Courtover Town  Andy Goulding

This layout had a fully working crane which with some alteration will suit my wants admirably.  It was a big structure but did move overhead forward / backward and up & down via 3 motors.  I had been pondering how to get loads to square up when adding them to wagons or placing them down and I had thought about fitting slightly tapering cradles in the wagons to encourage them into position.  This crane did just that so out came the camera to record for later use.

 

 

 

Regards

Edited September 6, 2014 by Barnaby

[alant]

Hi Mark,

 

Good to meet up today, hope you got a few ideas for your layout.

 

I will keep a look out for your crane build !

 

Alan.