muddys-blues Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 mrsDoyle-1a0icdh.jpg Sorry...had to be done JF Ha ha, I am teetering, just a quick question, do Westdale kits still trade ? I would like to have a look at their Class 128 DPU kit ...just looking !!! Happy modelling Craig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Fitness Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Ha ha, I am teetering, just a quick question, do Westdale kits still trade ? I would like to have a look at their Class 128 DPU kit ...just looking !!! Happy modelling Craig Westdale still trade and do quite a few DMU kits. Come on down to the trade show at Reading if you can on Saturday 6th December to see all the tasty 7mm scale goodies! JF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwales Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Ha ha, I am teetering, just a quick question, do Westdale kits still trade ? I would like to have a look at their Class 128 DPU kit ...just looking !!! Happy modelling Craig Hi Craig There is a blue one on Ebay at the moment, just search for Westdale. Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Hi Craig There is a blue one on Ebay at the moment, just search for Westdale. Ian Hi Ian, thanks for that, does anyone have any contact details for Westdale Kits ? can't seem to Google any information relating to Westdale, it mainly leads back to Easybuild information. Rod, sorry to have hijacked your thread for my own gain, I will start a new thread in 7mm. Best regards Craig. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianwales Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Hi Ian, thanks for that, does anyone have any contact details for Westdale Kits ? can't seem to Google any information relating to Westdale, it mainly leads back to Easybuild information. Rod, sorry to have hijacked your thread for my own gain, I will start a new thread in 7mm. Best regards Craig. Craig PM sent Ian Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Rod, sorry to have hijacked your thread for my own gain, I will start a new thread in 7mm. Craig, it's no problem!! From what I know of Westdale, he doesn't have a website. His kits do build up into nice models: I've not built one myself but I've had a couple done for me. My 2-car 108 is a Westdale kit. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted November 25, 2014 Author Share Posted November 25, 2014 Hi Craig. Referring back to one of your earlier posts where you said ".......but I am thinking of discussing the possibility of going O gauge. building it in the shed and extending into the garden, just need to have the discussion with Mrs B to get approval of running through her "what will be" beloved flower beds and ornamental garden sections ......" Just a word of advice when you are planning the layout, assuming you do actually get planning permission!! Plan the layout so that in the event of rain or cold, or even the dark, you can still operate - even if it's not to the full extent of the layout's capabilities. I am prompted to write this as I've just had 45 minutes operating my layout with the shed doors open and the covers off: the sky is clear and blue and the sun is shining. I had meant to play , oops, operate for a couple of hours but it was so cold I had to give up. Fortunately I have lights and CCTV in the fiddle yard with a screen in the shed and also the fiddle yard points are operated from inside the shed. It means I can operate DMUs, push-pull stock and even the inspection saloon but I can't use loco-hauled stock as I can't change engines in the fiddle yard. I just take the Mark 1s and parcels stock off and store them in trays if I need siding space. Building what I have done so far would have been a waste of effort if I could only operate on decent dry and warm days, during daylight hours. Just something else for you to think about!!!! Hope it's helpful. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted November 25, 2014 Share Posted November 25, 2014 Hi Craig. Referring back to one of your earlier posts where you said ".......but I am thinking of discussing the possibility of going O gauge. building it in the shed and extending into the garden, just need to have the discussion with Mrs B to get approval of running through her "what will be" beloved flower beds and ornamental garden sections ......" Just a word of advice when you are planning the layout, assuming you do actually get planning permission!! Plan the layout so that in the event of rain or cold, or even the dark, you can still operate - even if it's not to the full extent of the layout's capabilities. I am prompted to write this as I've just had 45 minutes operating my layout with the shed doors open and the covers off: the sky is clear and blue and the sun is shining. I had meant to play , oops, operate for a couple of hours but it was so cold I had to give up. Fortunately I have lights and CCTV in the fiddle yard with a screen in the shed and also the fiddle yard points are operated from inside the shed. It means I can operate DMUs, push-pull stock and even the inspection saloon but I can't use loco-hauled stock as I can't change engines in the fiddle yard. I just take the Mark 1s and parcels stock off and store them in trays if I need siding space. Building what I have done so far would have been a waste of effort if I could only operate on decent dry and warm days, during daylight hours. Just something else for you to think about!!!! Hope it's helpful. Rod Hi Rod, thanks for the tips, my "shed" will be made from solid breeze block, painted nice and cream on the outside to match the surrounding walls, the plans have allowed for an internal 3" Insulation from Kingspan, covered with a ply sheet, so the room will be toasty enough in the Winter, I am still unsure whether to fit windows or not, as I will definitely supply an "in & out" extraction system, so not too sure if windows would give any extra comfort or not, not having any would remove some of the security risk. If I was to supply natural light I will probably go for fitting it into the roof. My plan is to make sure the building is possible to use even on cold frosty nights, as it will be fitted with a form of heating, and even a reasonable mobile air-con machine can be bought for a modest price now. I have to admit, the more I think about going 7mm the thought does excites more & more each time, like I have said before, I think I would get more satisfaction from having 1 x 7mm Class 37 loco with a rake of 4 or 5 Mk1 or Mk2 coaches thrashing out of the station, round a nice scenic loop in the garden and back into the shed again, also if I get the agreement from Mrs B to integrate a 7mm Railway in the garden, I could work on her to build myself a test track in our Office combined Kid's playroom, I have a length of some 11.5 metres down one side of that room .... but keep that one under your hat for now The amount of 4mm stuff I have to sell would easily fund a decent foray into O Gauge .... the listing cull may start tonight. I love the 115 DMU set, who's is that one ? is it an Easybuild Kit ? I remember as a 13 years old riding one of those Allerton based 3 car sets from Man Picc to Widnes on the CC lines, it was something rather different for me, as I was used to the 100's, 101's, 104's & 110's at Man Vic. Happy Modelling Craig. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 (edited) Rod, sorry to have hijacked your thread for my own gain, I will start a new thread in 7mm. Craig, it's no problem!! From what I know of Westdale, he doesn't have a website. His kits do build up into nice models: I've not built one myself but I've had a couple done for me. My 2-car 108 is a Westdale kit. Rod Hi Rod, well I have finally entered the fray !!! I have just paid for my 1st O Gauge DMU kit this morning, got myself an Easybuild Class 129 kit off Rails on ebay, it was on for £199.00 or best offer including postage, stuck a cheeky little bid on it and they accepted, according to the pictures everything is all present and correct, even the motor unit. So I am now gathering pictures of the RTC "Red & Blue liveried" Hydra unit ... onward into the fray my Friends. Happy modelling Craig. Edited December 2, 2014 by muddys-blues 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 2, 2014 Author Share Posted December 2, 2014 Hi Rod, well I have finally entered the fray !!! I have just paid for my 1st O Gauge DMU kit this morning, got myself an Easybuild Class 129 kit off Rails on ebay, it was on for £199.00 or best offer including postage, stuck a cheeky little bid on it and they accepted, according to the pictures everything is all present and correct, even the motor unit. So I am now gathering pictures of the RTC "Red & Blue liveried" Hydra unit ... onward into the fray my Friends. Happy modelling Craig. Hi Craig. Welcome to the wonderful world of 7 mil! I do hope you find as much enjoyment in it as the rest of us have. I must be honest, now it takes a very good 4mm layout to turn my head at exhibitions and N gauge layouts have to be exceptional. I concede there are some good ones on here: " Minsterly" and "Prestatyn in N" are 2 I follow but not many more. To go back to your previous post, my 115 is indeed an Easybuild kit (well, 4 of them, obviously!!). Shawn doesn't produce such a kit as part of his range but based on his 116/117 kits, he cut me sides specifically for certain coaches - off the top of my head, I can't remember which at the moment but if you, or anyone else would like details, I can look them up. Shawn is obliging that way: he's done the same for my 131 kit - it's a 122 with slightly different sides that he cut specially for me. I note what you say about your shed and the line going into the garden but can I just add another note of caution. Outside is fine, but you do need to be able to "play"/operate when the weather's bad. I wonder if, in the size of your shed, you could get a fiddle yard coming back onto the opposite wall, making a "U" shape to the layout, with a junction going out into the garden for when the weather's fit. I mention it again because, whilst I think my set-up is effective, it certainly isn't foolproof and is still subject to some problems. I was operating the other night - it was cold, dark and raining. I was using the TV camera in the fiddle yard and I sent the observation coach, propelled by the 37, into the fiddle yard. When it was it's turn to return, I was watching it set off on the monitor: the loco set off, but the coach didn't - it had come uncoupled!! So, on with waterproof coat, off with the covers (and they are interlocked so they all had to come off to get at the far end of the fiddle yard!!) and carry the coach back into the shed. I admit the air was a bit blue!!! As my shed's only 6'6" wide, there's no way I can get a fiddle yard in it so I'm stuck with the outside one. Just some food for thought for you. Hope it's helpful. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 2, 2014 Share Posted December 2, 2014 Hi Rod, I was trying to gauge the width of of your shed from the pics you put up and I was thinking about 7' give or take, how wide are your station boards ? I am hoping to start some of my planning process next week, I need to start getting some of my geometry dimensions down on paper, 6' way, platform widths etc, I have 4 x 6' x 2' boards to use when the shed gets built, so I need to see what I can get one there for part of the station section. My shed will be around 12.5' wide, so the fiddle yard section on one side is part of my plan for real bad weather running, but I was also planning to utilise a couple of running lines through that section also when outside running permits. I will get a some plans drawn up and start my own topic on the proposed layout. Happy modelling Craig. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hi Craig. My station boards are 2'9" wide: I can reach to the back if there's nothing in the way, otherwise I have to stand on a little stool and lean over. Height from the floor is about 3'8" but then I stand on thin underlay, carpet tiles and spare bits of carpet! Why 3'8" I can't remember but it's a very convenient height for me. The platform is 6" wide. HTH. Rod Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hi Rod, thanks for that info, are you 6ft way to scale dimensions on the curves or are they slightly more ? And what radii are your curves to the outside section ? Happy modelling Craig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Hi Craig. The 6' distance is 80mm apart from the headshunt to the stabling point which is 90mm. On the curves to the outside, it varies from 82 to 85mm. This was not deliberate: more a result of trying to get flowing curves into/out of the curved crossover. The curves to the outside section are 6'6" not measured deliberately or exactly, more making sure the curves flowed. Rod Edited December 3, 2014 by Dmudriver Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pwr Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Hi Rod, well I have finally entered the fray !!! I have just paid for my 1st O Gauge DMU kit this morning, got myself an Easybuild Class 129 kit off Rails on ebay, it was on for £199.00 or best offer including postage, stuck a cheeky little bid on it and they accepted, according to the pictures everything is all present and correct, even the motor unit. So I am now gathering pictures of the RTC "Red & Blue liveried" Hydra unit ... onward into the fray my Friends. Happy modelling Craig. Hi Craig You won't regret up scaling! I too have a Hydra kit which is next in my list to build but my rate of progress is very slow due to pressures of work! See my Black Notley layout thread. Link below Paul R Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 3, 2014 Author Share Posted December 3, 2014 (edited) Hi all. Time for a quick update. Not that I've done much to the layout but I have been busy (ish!) behind the scenes. Mostly I've been fitting v4 Loksound 1.1A chips to my 108 DMUs, and also replacing the speakers. In addition I've altered the wiring to the lights so that I can switch off one end when I am running them in multiple. Sounds easy but it has in fact been quite a long job, made longer by other things happening like windows falling out, vacuum pipes coming off, etc!! I went round to my pal's who's got the Lokprogrammer and reprogrammed them for the revised lighting. That was all OK except for the 108 2-car trailer car which has a v4 Lokpilot FX chip just for the lights. I rewired it thinking the LED marker lights were 3-legged ones like on my other models. The chip took the instructions fine, the headlight worked fine but not the marker lights. Stripped it down yesterday and found the LEDs were 2-legged!! So, rewired today and now I'm trying to fathom out the instructions to get them working again - there's a reason why they won't but it's too long to go into and it's getting late!! If I can't do it, it's round to my pal's gain!! I'm also reprogramming all my v4-fitted stock so that I get the same sounds or actions on the same function, whichever the model. So, for example, the guard's whistle will always be on F4 (say) whichever DMU or loco I'm using. Similarly double and single tone horns, etc. (or whistle when I get my Ivatt). I've decided to sell my Class 31 - for a number of reasons. 1) I've got more than enough locos 2) the money will be useful to put towards payment for a) the Ivatt and/or b] archery equipment should I decide to carry on after I've finished the beginners' course I'm on (and the signs are looking like I might!!!) I'm going to put it in the Classifieds on this site and also the GOG website. Finally, for no other reason than that I like to put a photo or two in a post, here's 2 pics of the said 31 More soon. Rod Edited December 3, 2014 by Dmudriver 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 3, 2014 Share Posted December 3, 2014 Rod you have a PM on the 31 Craig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 4, 2014 Author Share Posted December 4, 2014 Hi all. I've made a bit of progress on the 3-car DMU tonight. As it's got 2 power cars I wanted sound from both of them but a single bogie is more than adequate to power the unit. The chip is with that bogie as is one speaker. So my solution to getting sound from the other was to wire through to a speaker in the other power car. Fairly simple, except that it wasn't very loud. It was only when one of the windows fell out (well, when I knocked it out!!) that the sound became much louder and realisation dawned. There was no decent way for the sound to get out!! So, I've drilled some holes in the floor under the speaker and will test it tomorrow. Too late now as I'm up at 6.30 tomorrow doing the grandkids' school run!! Anyway, this is how it looks: first the holes in the false floor to which the seats are glued: And then the chassis, just waiting for the bogie to go back on: The 2 wires going off to the right are for the speaker and the 3 wires are for the marker lights (this unit does not have a headlight). So that's today's progress. Fingers crossed it sounds OK when I test it tomorrow. More soon. Rod PS I've just thought: how daft is this - putting up pictures of holes??!!! 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 4, 2014 Share Posted December 4, 2014 (edited) Hi Rod, with regards to the sound enhancement "or letting it escape" how about some of the door windows in the down "open" position, this would allow some of the sound to reverberate upwards & outwards Best regards Craig. Edited December 5, 2014 by muddys-blues Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simond Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 PS I've just thought: how daft is this - putting up pictures of holes??!!! You're in good company; for most of their early history, that's pretty much all Eurotunnel did! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
muddys-blues Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Hi all. Time for a quick update. Not that I've done much to the layout but I have been busy (ish!) behind the scenes. Mostly I've been fitting v4 Loksound 1.1A chips to my 108 DMUs, and also replacing the speakers. In addition I've altered the wiring to the lights so that I can switch off one end when I am running them in multiple. Sounds easy but it has in fact been quite a long job, made longer by other things happening like windows falling out, vacuum pipes coming off, etc!! I went round to my pal's who's got the Lokprogrammer and reprogrammed them for the revised lighting. That was all OK except for the 108 2-car trailer car which has a v4 Lokpilot FX chip just for the lights. I rewired it thinking the LED marker lights were 3-legged ones like on my other models. The chip took the instructions fine, the headlight worked fine but not the marker lights. Stripped it down yesterday and found the LEDs were 2-legged!! So, rewired today and now I'm trying to fathom out the instructions to get them working again - there's a reason why they won't but it's too long to go into and it's getting late!! If I can't do it, it's round to my pal's gain!! I'm also reprogramming all my v4-fitted stock so that I get the same sounds or actions on the same function, whichever the model. So, for example, the guard's whistle will always be on F4 (say) whichever DMU or loco I'm using. Similarly double and single tone horns, etc. (or whistle when I get my Ivatt). I've decided to sell my Class 31 - for a number of reasons. 1) I've got more than enough locos 2) the money will be useful to put towards payment for a) the Ivatt and/or b] archery equipment should I decide to carry on after I've finished the beginners' course I'm on (and the signs are looking like I might!!!) I'm going to put it in the Classifieds on this site and also the GOG website. Finally, for no other reason than that I like to put a photo or two in a post, here's 2 pics of the said 31 P1030613 - Copy.JPG P1030618 - Copy.JPG More soon. Rod Hi Rod, that's a damn fine "Ped" I bet some lucky so and so rips your arm off for that model Happy modelling Craig. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 Hi Craig. "that's a damn fine "Ped" I bet some lucky so and so rips your arm off for that model". Would you believe some lucky so and so already has?!! I've still got my arms left though. Needed them to get the Christmas trees out of the loft!!! (Grandkids decorating them on Sunday). Rod 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmudriver Posted December 5, 2014 Author Share Posted December 5, 2014 Hi all. A short update: the holes are effective!! The sound is so much better now. I couldn't really do what Craig suggested with the door windows as they are each one solid piece which fits into the body moulding, plus the fact the speaker is right at the corridor end of the coach and doesn't go as far as the first set of doors. Just got to sort out the lights on the 2-car 108 trailer tomorrow and then I can move on to something else - mind you, I've got a Club member's 37 and Western to chip yet, so they may be the next job.. More soon. Rod 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
two tone green Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Hi Rod, I found doing this solved all the problems with getting sound out of the model by adding the speaker under the floor between the dummy motor units. Once its all painted up in black you cannot see the speaker and the sound is excellent. I have a Loksound V4 decoder in each car with the same speaker installation, one speaker per car and works very well. I have one very small two pin connector between the cars so that I have an all wheel pick up spread across the unit plus Railcom on all wheels. You have to turn Railcom off in one decoder as most detectors don't like two Railcom signals in one block. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
two tone green Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Hi, Here is the micro connectors and the jumper lead I made up. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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