Sonic Models OO Gauge Robinson A5

[Helmdon]

9 hours ago, TheEngineShed said:

 

In my enthusiasm that first shot was red lining, lets try again...

 

 

Exactly, Sonic didn’t just make it up for one locomotive.

 

Gorton did.

[Butler Henderson]

2 hours ago, Helmdon said:

Exactly, Sonic didn’t just make it up for one locomotive.

 

Gorton did.

More than one - Gorton turned out locos in GC livery with LNER lettering. Locomotives Illustrated 98 features as yet to be renumbered "L&NER" 450 while 5165 (Aug 26) dated has a variation with a thinner inner lining band on the tank and bunker sides which also appears on  5129 (Jul 28). 

[Downer]

Apologies if I missed this, but are the headlamps glued to the footplate, and if so how tightly? Can they just be sliced off and the appropriate remedial work done?

[31A]

40 minutes ago, Downer said:

Apologies if I missed this, but are the headlamps glued to the footplate, and if so how tightly? Can they just be sliced off and the appropriate remedial work done?

 

They are glued; on mine they pinged off fairly easily by using a knife blade as a lever between the lamp and the footplate.  There seemed to be locating dimples underneath them on the footplate, which acted as a handy guide for where to drill holes for new lamp irons.

 

The lamp on the bunker was slightly more difficult and care was needed, as the bunker back is quite a thin moulding.  I cut off the lamp iron which has the lamp attached, cleaned off the remains on the bunker with a sharp blade and drilled a hole for a new lamp iron (made from nickel silver strip) to go into.

 

 

[teaky]

17 hours ago, micklner said:

Are there any known of 5045 in the white lined livery please ?.

Yeadon vol. 21 page 36.

[richard i]

If we are sharing.

my model of 450 which has had the detailing pack fitted, though I might swap out a better coupling hook and some coal added.

now it needs a light weathering on the boiler top / cab roof and running plate 

richard 

[PortlandStone]

I've had two e-mails from Rails saying "Your order has been dispatched". One dated 17 Feb and one dated 1 March. So far no A5 has reached me here in Oregon.

[cowanh00]

12 hours ago, PortlandStone said:

I've had two e-mails from Rails saying "Your order has been dispatched". One dated 17 Feb and one dated 1 March. So far no A5 has reached me here in Oregon.

I had the same. It looks like the 2nd email was the correct one. You can email Rails for a tracking number.

[Johan DC]

Same here for my A5 to Belgium. Two e-mails, one on the same dat as my A5 bound for Neville Grove, the other two weeks later. The second one was correct, now at customs, paid the Brexit-tax this morning. So I hope to receive it by the end of the week. 

[Tallpaul69]

Just had an email to say that my sound fitted 69820 has been despatched, so hopefully ,as a uk delivery point, I should see it this week!

 

Cheers

Paul

 

 

[jaym481]

Mine is still in transit, though at least the Royal Mail tracking shows it left the UK. Unfortunately it's not showing up on Canada Post tracking. Hopefully it'll turn up in the next week or so. I've only ever had one package disappear between the UK and my door. A book that was ordered during the first lockdown. It turned up in a plastic bag, damp and black with mold, about 6 months after it was originally due to be delivered.

[Ollie K]

The instructions supplied warn to remove the separately supplied accessory parts before placing the loco into the blister pack.

 

By way of experiment, I've gently tried packing up mine (LNER 5024) into the packaging with the brake rigging fitted and fire irons / shovel lightly tacked into place atop the tanks, and found they don't foul at all. Not sure if it's different with the other versions. 

[Tallpaul69]

Further update!

My A5 has arrived, but won't get looked at for a couple of days as we have a lot on. I want to unpack this one with care and plenty of time available given some of the comments on this site!

Cheers all,

Paul

[Helmdon]

59 minutes ago, Tallpaul69 said:

Further update!

My A5 has arrived, but won't get looked at for a couple of days as we have a lot on. I want to unpack this one with care and plenty of time available given some of the comments on this site!

Cheers all,

Paul

you might get lucky - mine is faultless, so pristine ones are out there!

[adb968008]

For those overseas…

 

Royal mail got hacked last month, out bound international mail is still delayed

 

https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin

 

 

[jaym481]

9 hours ago, adb968008 said:

For those overseas…

 

Royal mail got hacked last month, out bound international mail is still delayed

 

https://www.royalmail.com/international-incident-bulletin

 

 

Well aware of that. I had a parcel caught up directly in the middle of that, and it took over a month to get to me. On the other hand a parcel from another vendor arrived last week, tracked from shop to my door, in two weeks, which is normal. It seems some parts of the RM network are in better shape than others.

[K Hatton]

Fitted my driver/fireman today - wouldn't it be nice for more manufacturers to allow for easy access like sonic have 👍

 

Also genuine question, would it be feasible to fit a stay alive with the DCC sound chip installed from rails?

[Johan DC]

Mine (5045) arrived here in perfect condition, not had time to run it yet. 

Will be a pickle to fit real coal... 

[Dominion]

I just fitted an ESU Lokpilot 5 micro as it was the only Next18 chip I had to hand. The motor and gear train and this chip seem to suit each other well. It is Running nicely without changing any CVs except momentum. Tom

(I ran in as recommended, for an hour each way, using the factory blanking plate and DC first)

Edited March 15, 2023 by Dominion
Running in

[Johan DC]

Quite big, I must say. 

Can't find my DC controller, and I'm waiting for a bluetooth decoder, so running in will have to wait, but it passend the 9v test perfectly. Congrats to Sonic, I'm really looking forward to their next project!

[PaulRhB]

4 hours ago, K Hatton said:

Also genuine question, would it be feasible to fit a stay alive with the DCC sound chip installed from rails?

Depends which chip they’ve used, assuming it’s ESU or Zimo then yes but it’s worth checking with an expert at a shop like Digitrains, CoastalDCC etc which ones are suitable and find out how much space you have first. Various people offer fitting services and again probably worth asking a reputable shop like those above for advice if you don’t have experience of fine soldering. 
The Loksound 5’s and brand new Zimo ms have solder pads on them to attach one, the previous Zimo mx needs a pcb with pads as none on the chip itself. 

[jaym481]

Well, waiting for me when I got home today was this:

 

 

A bit of a postage ordeal ended well, thankfully. Gave it a run in on the rollers with DC and now to see if I can find that spare Next18 decoder I'm sure I have lying around.

Edited March 16, 2023 by jaym481

[peterfgf]

9 hours ago, PaulRhB said:

Depends which chip they’ve used, assuming it’s ESU or Zimo then yes but it’s worth checking with an expert at a shop like Digitrains, CoastalDCC etc which ones are suitable and find out how much space you have first. Various people offer fitting services and again probably worth asking a reputable shop like those above for advice if you don’t have experience of fine soldering. 
The Loksound 5’s and brand new Zimo ms have solder pads on them to attach one, the previous Zimo mx needs a pcb with pads as none on the chip itself. 

It's fitted with a Loksound micro v.5 chip with sounds by Wheeltappers - very good.  The blanking plug looks like it may be a Next18. The default acceleration and deceleration times are very long:  I've halved them as a start and may reduce them a bit further.  I know its proto typical but...

Peterfgf

 

[BournehamRob]

Received my sound fitted Robinson A5 yesterday, BR 69804. Very pleased with the model, no issues that I can see with the assembly. Bunker all likes nice and square with everything else on the model . Motor/drive train seems a bit loud but nothing that I can complain about really, It maybe that this will quiet down over time. As others have already mentioned the livery application looks great. My only minor grip is with the pre-fitted lamps, but I'm sure that can be rectified at a later date. The lamps themselves though do look good in my view. With regards to the sound, this being my first non Hornby TTS sound steam loco sound wise I'm impressed. The feature set on the sounds is exactly as I would have expected when going from TTS sound. Features that I've been impressed with are the different chuff levels for light, normal and heavy loads. Crank up the speed steps to much and wheel slip sounds. It would also seem that it has 'active drive' drop the speed steps to 0 and it will coast to a stop. or press F5 to apply the brakes. The only two issues I would raise with the sound, is the cost. Loco + Sound is more than an Accurascale loco, which this is not. If the sound fitting included a stay alive pack then I think I could accept the price. The other issue is the level of provided documentation provided for the sound fitted loco. All that is included is a an A4 sheet with the sounds and function key mappings. It would have been nice to have at least had some more documentation on the chip fitted. I appreciate though that Peterfgf has identified the sound chip used.

 

All in all though, very pleased with this loco and if Sonic Models bring out another loco that fits my modelling era then they've got a sale.

 

Rob

[Chas Levin]

On 15/03/2023 at 21:18, Johan DC said:

Quite big, I must say. 

Can't find my DC controller, and I'm waiting for a bluetooth decoder, so running in will have to wait, but it passend the 9v test perfectly. Congrats to Sonic, I'm really looking forward to their next project!

That's a very nice looking teak carriage there Johann, behind the loco: is that a kit-built, or an enhanced RTR? If it's purely RTR, who's the manufacturer please?