Hornby Magazine May 2011

[birdseyecircus]

Just arrived.

Contents include:

 

Layouts: Shadbolts Lock, Runswick Leamside, Poulter bank.

 

Features: BR Mk2s, Crosti boilered 9Fs, DCC (writing files for a sound 37), Skaledale builders yard feature, Deatiling an Austerity 0-6-0ST

 

Reviews include Lion, Bachmann 37/0, Dapol HST and others.

 

Also extra mag featuring Bachmann Scenecraft buildings and fiqures (even i did not realise just how many they had made)

 

Paul

[Peter Bedding]

This month's issue is, for me, particularly good, with plenty to suit my narrowest of tastes.

 

I had missed "Shadbolt's Lock" before now; probably because it wasn't Southern. Most unfair I will admit. However, the waterside warehouses based on those at Newport IoW caught my eye, in the same way as the prototypes fired my imagination some decades back.

 

 

 

I could wish I had done this myself. So it may be a tad churlish to point out that Newport Harbour was never a canal basin, and that the water lapping the lower bricks of the warehouses was tidal saltwater of a particularly putrid composition. Nice model though.

 

PB

[59205]

I liked the 'Reality Check' feature on Lion this month and also the 'Runswick Leamside' layout feature.

[spamcan61]

I see in 'The Clinic 'Phil P. recommends SCART connectors and AV cables for inter-baseboard connections. Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

[RedgateModels]

My own contribution, the Crosti build that I did back in 2009 will also feature on the Showcase soon.

 

Watch out for more from me next month

[Tim Hale]

Which issue of Hornby magazine featured the replacement of the 2P 4-4-0 tender mechanism with a BullAnt product?

 

DesA

[Barry Ten]

Which issue of Hornby magazine featured the replacement of the 2P 4-4-0 tender mechanism with a BullAnt product?

 

DesA

 

Seem to recall that was a George Dent article in Model Rail?

[Tim Hale]

Yes, it was.

 

Unfortunately both magazines are so similar that I cannot tell the difference when trying to rememberer specific articles - oh dear.

 

Now, I am off to the workshop to check.

 

DesA

[Phil Parker]

I see in 'The Clinic 'Phil P. recommends SCART connectors and AV cables for inter-baseboard connections. Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

 

I recomended them because they have worked for me. Your experience is different, care to let us know why ?

 

Phil P

[spamcan61]

I recomended them because they have worked for me. Your experience is different, care to let us know why ?

 

Phil P

 

Phil, the main reasons I hate SCARTs:-

 

They don't latch unless you buy expensive ones - I doubt that I'm the only RMWebber that has to poke around behind their telly now and again because the sound has gone or everything on the telly has gone green; due to a SCART working loose.

 

AV cables are designed for high impedance / low level signals at tiny currents, not the 1A+ that model railways are likely to use, creating voltage drop in the cables.

 

Bog standard 21 pin SCART cables aren't wired the same at each end, which could cause confusion and head scratching:-

 

http://www.leadsdirect.co.uk/technical/scartwiring.html

 

I appreciate they are easier to solder than good old D types, and ready made connecting cables are cheap, but the disadvantages outweigh this IMHO, given the ubiquity of D types.

[Phil Parker]

Phil, the main reasons I hate SCARTs:-

 

They don't latch unless you buy expensive ones - I doubt that I'm the only RMWebber that has to poke around behind their telly now and again because the sound has gone or everything on the telly has gone green; due to a SCART working loose.

 

AV cables are designed for high impedance / low level signals at tiny currents, not the 1A+ that model railways are likely to use, creating voltage drop in the cables.

 

Bog standard 21 pin SCART cables aren't wired the same at each end, which could cause confusion and head scratching:-

 

http://www.leadsdire...cartwiring.html

 

I appreciate they are easier to solder than good old D types, and ready made connecting cables are cheap, but the disadvantages outweigh this IMHO, given the ubiquity of D types.

 

 

I think you'll find most plugs and sockets don't latch, the common ones tend to be held in with friction rather than any specific lock. Computer cables can be different if you have some old serial printer leads to hand but otherwise it's friction. I'll admit to poking around behind the TV but suspect that there are lots of forces at play there, not least heating and cooling leading to movement. Combined with a bit of dust and the tiny signals going through them and you get a problem pretty fast. On the other hand, the output from a CDU isn't exactly subtle and can even be too great for the thinner cables and sockets - so you may need to make your own but it's easy to do. Maybe I've got away with it on exhibition layouts because the connections are reseated on a regular basis. The trick is not to hide the plug & socket away and you won't have to replicate the hanging over the telly to make the DVD player work game. If they put these things on the front, they would be a whole lot easier to use...

 

However, the questioner asked for something he could solder as the D-types are too fiddly. I can't really reply "Learn to make small solder joints or take up stamp collecting" so I've gone for the pragmatic solution. I'd prefer an older, chunky, multi-pin plug and socket combo but these are pretty rare nowadays whereas you can buy SCART in the high street from Maplin or even retrieve them from dead AV equipment if you are really stingy.

 

Phil

[spamcan61]

There are a few of the chunky multipole connectors available (OK probably not from Maplin), plus there's the option of pre-wired D types. I think we looked at most alternatives in this thread:-

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/31936-scart-sockets/

 

I must admit I have cheated in the past and soldered up 37 way D connectors, soldering the connecting wires between pairs of pins rather than doing it properly. I'd have been shot at dawn at work for doing that, but fine for model railway use provided strain relief is used, and easier to solder.

[EddieB]

However, the questioner asked for something he could solder as the D-types are too fiddly. I can't really reply "Learn to make small solder joints or take up stamp collecting" so I've gone for the pragmatic solution. I'd prefer an older, chunky, multi-pin plug and socket combo but these are pretty rare nowadays whereas you can buy SCART in the high street from Maplin or even retrieve them from dead AV equipment if you are really stingy.

 

Phil

 

Yes, but you only get all this:

with a D connector (RS232C).

 

[spoiler: the link is to a Spitting Image video, no railway modelling content]

[0O00]

Had a flick through in the newsagents yesterday and noticed reference to a new layout plans book (looked like a Peco publication) - it refers to a minimal space layout based on Pwllheli - any one know what the publication is called? I cant remember!

 

Thanks

[MooUK]

There are various multipole connectors based on the XLR standard available for a relatively reasonable price - though the limit is generally 6-8 pins at most.

 

http://www.thomann.de/gb/neutrik_nc_6_mdl1.htm <-- this for example is rated for 7.5A per pin, so more than enough. £7. Neutrik are the best known manufacturer but there are others.

http://www.thomann.de/gb/neutrik_nc_6_mp_b.htm <-- cheaper version of the same type. Neutrik's product info pages has electrical ratings and tech info.

 

XLR plugs do lock into place very well and can take a beating.

[kernowtim]

Seem to recall that was a George Dent article in Model Rail?

Issue concerned is ModelRail 134 August 2009,Masterclass : Midland 4-4-0s.

 

George Dent's step by step guide concerns Improving the Hornby 2P ,using the BullAnt major tender drive, model MBA16.5/2626S,fitted with 16mm dia spoked wheels,mashima 1624 motor with wheelbase of 26X26mm.

One problem mentioned was adding enough weight to the front of the tender to aid adhesion as there was not enough space to refit the original weight,voids such as equipment lockers were filled with lead shot,the rearward Hornby weight was retained.

Performance was "far superior to the original"

 

Delivery time quoted in article was 6 weeks

 

see http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php/topic/21782-hollywood-motor-bogies/page__p__215073__fromsearch__1#entry215073

[0O00]

It may well be this one

http://www.rmweb.co....-making-tracks/

 

Good mix of track plans, ideas and concepts, and he does cover Pwllheli with a couple of the plans .

 

Ah that's it PMP thanks very much.

 

Edit - after all that it wasn't advertised in the Hornby mag; it was in Traction!

 

Alex

[Dicky W]

Had a flick through in the newsagents yesterday and noticed reference to a new layout plans book (looked like a Peco publication) - it refers to a minimal space layout based on Pwllheli - any one know what the publication is called? I cant remember!

 

Thanks

 

It's not - it's an Atlantic Publication called Making Tracks by Paul A Lunn. We stock them here at Warners on behalf of Atlantic and I have a copy to review for British Railway Modelling. If you'd like to obtain a copy pm me!

 

Cheers

 

Richard