hayfield

You will find individually the chairs are quite weak, but in numbers the strength increases, however you must use the correct settings (size) for the rail you are using, plus with plug version the smaller the size the more fiddley construction is

Jim Two different things and of course you must deal with every email with the respect they deserve. Having said this you must sift out both junk mail and emails designed to infect your computer To confirm most important emails were dealt with promptly, especially those which could lead to a sale, I was referring to the plethora of needless memos/emails with no real purpose from internal sources

Jim When I was in a sales environment I was bombarded with initially memos, then emails from employees (admin) which after a time I came to the conclusion were in the main employees trying to justify their existence. I quickly came up with the following procedure, after skimming the content it soon became apparent its importance. Important request were replied to, the rest (bulk) ignored, if I received a second request/reminder I gave it a bit more thought and answered if I felt necessary, if they bothered to send a second reminder it became obvious they wanted a reply. My rational was, I was paid to sell not reply to un-necessary memos/emails, the number I actually replied to was a fraction of what I received I to some extent consider both Junk files and unanswered phone calls where I do not recognize the number, I don't follow up. I recon if something is important they will try again

The maths are simple do you pay less by using your generated power than you pay your supplier at night. The other thing is by being on the standard rate with Octopus I get 15p per kwh export rather than 7.5p per kwh

I have just received this months bill and I was very surprised to see I exceeded my projection by £14 (£11 of Octopus) Firstly over Christmas we increased the thermostats temperature as my wife's elderly parents were staying, secondly my son in law gave us one electronic radiator valve to try, and as they were half price (£44 each )we brought another 5 We now have all the main rooms on their own programs, the unused spare bedroom is only on low, our bedroom is only on when we get up and go to bed. Each room has its only settings and only on when we use the area, though these can easily be changed if rooms are being used out of the sequence we have set. As I said we have spent 2 to 3 weeks refining the system which included that very cold spell. Rather than thinking what temperature we could live with, we are now nice and warm in the rooms we use which in itself is worth the extra Well I expected a large bill owing to increasing the houses temperature, as it turns out had it been set up as we now have it the usage would have been much nearer our projections, which is far from what I expected Now it will be interesting to see if we actually save money, as the valves cost me £220

You have hit a problem I decided was not worth it, going too big !!. I wanted value for money, when I ordered my system I was buying electricity at 16p per kwh and the companies were paying 3p per kwh for exporting Owing to the design of our house on the south face we could only fit 4 panels, the single story extension would take 8 panels. A small battery system would cost in excess of £5000 I quickly decided at the rates being charged at that time it would take at least 20 years to pay for the batteries and when I needed the batteries the amount (winter) my production will not charge the batteries fully that often As for how many panels to buy initially I thought to buy as many as I could, the main problem cost wise was the extra cost of fitting spread over 2 days and an extra visit from the scaffolders, so using both roofs was out of the question. During the buying process there was a facility to analyze cost and production according to how many panels you buy. For me and my requirements 7 panels came out as the best value I have looked (and will do this year) at the cost of adding a battery, the quote reduced last year but mainly due to a smaller battery being quoted for. When we brought our system we were able to obtain a 40% discount using Solar Together bulk buying arrangement, at the moment there seems no reason for giving away large discounts. My search for a good return on my investment has proved very beneficial to date, for both years power generation has been more than expected, fees have gone up by 300% for exports and value of energy saved has nearly doubled A second thing which has occurred is the effect on the value/desirability on our property. When we ordered it we were told it would only affect the houses energy rating, but it would be highly unlikely to increase the value of the property, well now according to one comparison I use 60% less than my neighbor's on electricity and that is not including my export fees Edit I have just seen that yesterday I used 2kwh of my own production for the first time this year, despite it being January the value (usage and export) was worth 81p, quite a difference from Tuesday's 6p. The past 6 days even in the month of Jan I have benefited to the value of £2.56, may even reach £3 which is 3 times the value of the first week

All of a sudden my spam/junk folder started working a couple of months ago, first time for over 4 years !!!

After saying this today my system generated 3.5 kwh, still chasing the previous 2 years production of 44 & 47 kwh, to date its up tp 35kwh this month with 5 days to go

I have had a chance of looking back at the inverters records (graphs) of daily production, it looks like I have another 2 or perhaps 3 weeks of reducing shading, where as there is evidence of shading in the last week of October. In the main it seems November, December and January are the main months where shading affects production (better than I expected I have also noticed even bad days in Jan are much better than December. Over the past 2 years my daily production average has been in the region of 1.5 kwh a day, todays been cloudy but we still generated 1.1kwh, Not had a 3 kwh day this year though !!

Tom s Very impressive

One issue with 3D printing the timbers is one of the the bed curling as there is more material on one side than the other, this may not be an issue in the smaller gauges but is in 4mm scale and over Another when using the cheaper machines is the size of print bed. My resin printer is 130 x 80mm where as my FDM printer is 180mm square, if you have not got a FDM printer it might be a option whilst considering the options to obtain the odd FDM timber print to compare with resin print

Join the Templot club, trials are going on in 2mm finescale and TT gauge, the smaller gauges seem to favor resin printing, as for TT its worth experimenting with both systems (all resin/FDM and resin)

Ian Mainly trees but one house for about a month or so, I take your point but thankfully these are mostly old trees or some lower growing species like a plum One large conifer is more or less stopped shading, the largest is very old and probably reached its maximum and again having less of an effect. The third group is now the main issue and within a month to 6 weeks will have no affect Its very difficult to see when the shading starts and stops, dur to weather conditions and its at a time when generation is at its lowest and affects a period of time where we produce about 10% of our total generated production. (220 kwh out of 2400kwh) At worst I guess we loose less than 100kwh over 4 months. Not a reason not to have the system !!! As I have always said we were warned about the shading and the shallower than normal rake of the roof, Though this must help when the sun is high in the sky ? As far as the returns from the system so much better than we ever expected.

The two items arrived and both were as described, the binoculars look unused. The loco is better than expected. The paint work needs repainting to the era I model, but I need to alter both chassis fixings. The rear fixing is a slot in the bunker bottom, the front is a screw through the footplate between the smokebox and buffers. But temporarily its OK as its to EM gauge. Also it would benefit from a new set of steps. As for the chassis itself, it does not pickup from the wheels as neither wiper touches a wheel, the motor is a DS10 and runs fine, the chassis is a Southeastern Finecast etched FS201, the gears are Romfords in a SEF motor mount the wheels are newer Markits, plus a pair of Gibson 4'8" EM gauge drivers Excluding the Gibson wheels If I brought the chassis, wheels motor and gears from SEF they would cost £124 and the body another £45. Its defiantly worth looking out for these little gems. In the short term I just need to clean up the chassis and bend the pickups I can now sell an old one with a HD R1 chassis someone else can restore and may get at least half of what I paid for this one

Its difficult to say exactly how we are affected by the shading as its directly affected by the weather conditions, and my wife said a few months back that the afternoon can be cloudier than the mornings. The morning shade now is much less now than at the start of the month, the midday shade is getting better but still affects the for a much longer time, I guess the shading in the afternoon will last a few more weeks But sunnier days do produce much more power, now 2.5 kwh are produced on the better days, the first week was nearly half that. On the other hand last year was a bit sunnier and producing a bit more

According to the BBC Cornwall Insight are forecasting energy bills will be coming down in April by around £300 pa I think its worth looking back and compare prices of a kwh and standing charges Electric gas April 23 32.26p + 40p 9.71p + 26p Jan 24 29.22p + 42p 7.31p + 27p April 24 23.66 + 58p 5.73 + 30p The standing charges have been frozen for the past 2 quarters, but CI are still projecting increases in the standing charge way above what I think would be acceptable given the profits energy companies have enjoyed ( suppliers less so) In April, May & June I have averaged using 123kwh of electricity, the new rates reduces my electric bill by £8.84 pm, using last May's gas usage as next quarters monthly saving, the reduction against this quarters charges per month is likely to be £10.67, equates jointly for the quarter to a saving of £59. I guess we have to accept the savings for the year given prices alter every quarter. But it must be good news with those struggling with their bills The savings against the crisis highs are quite staggering, but that's another story

We live in a semi rural village, our mains power is underground, but the village is surrounded by National trust woods and common land plus a few fields with a lot of SSI listings, many who are either on the fringes of the village or in the woods/common have overhead wires, quite often with very high winds we have the odd power cut. Several power cuts last night, the main one lasting 90mins, Part of the cost of country living, at least we are on mains gas, but when the power goes off so does the central heating (I have never bothered trying overriding it with the main thermostat) but it works with either the wifi or bluetooth on the radiator stats

I am always comparing monthly performance against the previous 2 years, with December (the worst month of the year) only producing 20kwh's January is a welcome sight when production increases. The past two years saw production of 44 & 47 kwh respectively The start of the month was disappointing but by the 10 had picked up to an average of 0.97 kwh per day, the second 10 days saw an average of 1.49 kwh per day. Another good sign is that yesterday was not a good day but the system managed to produce 1 kwh rather than nothing It must be remembered that my panels are on a shallow 22 degree rake and during mid day I have 2 periods of shading, we knew this when buying the system and its not a loss every day in winter when cloudy weather has a greater affect. And I have been trying to see how the effect of shading is reducing without too much luck. Certainly we seem to be producing power for more than an hour in the afternoon and about 20 mins earlier in the morning Another sign is that the value of our generated power increased from £1.34 in the first week to £1.76 the next and last week £2.94 which in itself is much better than projected 56p per day average, and 42 kwh average per week

My last model railway purchase was back in last August (with the exception of buying some track for a Christmas tree festival), I think both a lack suitably priced items and modeling focus in other areas (3D printing). Well I brought the wife a pair of binoculars for watching birds from a hide at a local wetland wild life area (we only have a small lightweight pair which is not much good at long distances for bird watching, but also a kit built Wills SR G6 kit built loco I collect whitemetal kit built locos and I am migrating to EM gauge, so I am looking for built kits to replace kits or better than built kits I have or parts to build or convert kits or kit built locos to both EM gauge and etched chassis/ parts to complete etched chassis I saw this Wills SR G6 built to EM gauge, the paint work is poor, also states motor works but chassis shorts, but it has an etched chassis with brake gear (make unknown) and Mashima open frame motor (I am guessing a DS10?), also a set of Markit Wheels. Given the SEF chassis cost £50, Markit wheels £45 and DS10 £15 My winning bid secured it for £45 inc postage, I have two of these kits, both Wills, one an unbuilt body, the other a slightly damaged body with a HD R1 chassis. The price will be reduced when I decide what to sell, even if I get £10 for a poorly built body it still only cost me £35 (or less) for a ready built chassis which would have cost £95 to buy excluding the motor and gears, which may or may not have much value

We tried downsizing 7+ years ago. Well we brought a smaller house, but the kitchen was too small and a larger lounge we thought would be useful, so a small extension was on the cards Well once we saw the cost of a 2 m extension across the rear we thought a 3m one would be better, then I got a quote for a railway shed for the side of the house, only to find it would cost the same to build it in brick. The architect said as we were spending so much to make full use of the extension it would be best to remove 3 (or was it 4) walls and a chimney breast. In the end about 33 square meters was added to the property, which was the same footprint as our terraced house 40 odd years earlier. When we brought our terrace house 55 years ago it was so much bigger than our flat, 7/8 years ago this 1920's semi felt too cramped after living in an extended 70's property. At least the garden is smaller, and more important we have a house which works for us. Good luck in house hunting as it seems a nightmare from what I gather now

James Walters has produced another video on 3D plug track, this time using a laser cut track base, in 3mm scale using 1 piece chairs rather than 2 piece chairs. As usual a very well made and informative video showing alternative building methods and a smaller scale Well worth a watch, Well done James and I am eagerly waiting the next video on printing chairs!! (I need a nudge to get going printing chairs)

I think anyone buying blindly without sufficient photographic and written evidence when buying collectibles/ brand new in box are asking for trouble Don't get me wrong I love eBay as the majority of model railway items I buy are from eBay, the items I buy fall into two categories The first category is for items that I can see from the photos and description exactly what the item is and its condition, for these items I am happy to pay what I consider a reasonable amount. But I rarely (if ever) pay top bucks, as I look for value in the items I buy The second category is where I have a punt !!!, I look for miss described, badly presented or where an undisclosed gem is within the lot, or something others have missed. needless to say unless I am certain a valued item is there I price it on what I see, mostly cheap lots In any form of auction its buyer beware, just tread carefully. I always think about its resale value which hopefully stops me overpaying

I seem to recall CSP have some of the Milestone range, I think these kits went off into a different direction after K's demise

My past 2 Decembers plus this one is within 1 kwh a miserable 20/21 kwh, but I have a small system, which is in the shade for half the daylight hours and the roof is on a shallow rake As for January it has been 44 and 47.3 kwh for the past 2 years, well the first 7 days I struggled to average 0.5 kwh, now its up to an average of 1kwh. 7 days ago on good days it was up and slightly over 1kwh and yesterday it produced 2.5kwh (todays cloudy 0.4 kwh produced) but with slightly longer hours and the shading starting to reduce the system is waking up On the downside I am using a lot more gas, our heating usage has gone up 57% on last year and to date this Jan (17 days) heated for 57 more hours (3.35 hours per day) we have decided to stay warm. It says its 3 degrees colder this month against last year (I think the national average is higher) and we have been in 7 hours more than this time last year. We are also bedding in electronic radiator valves, designed alter room temperature according to our average usage during the day (eg out bedroom only heats when we wake up and go to bed, off during the day) So we are tweaking things

On Sunday morning in our village I saw a postman on foot delivering letters and at least one if not 2 small vans I assume delivering packets/parcels, I guess these folk are taking advantage of overtime and I am sure the recipients are very pleased I think the (cheaper) 24 hour Royal Mail delivery services are not guaranteed for Sunday delivery, its a bit like the odd 2nd class letter/parcel some times being delivered the next day