nabber

27 minutes ago, John YouChoos said:

Hopefully Zimo will produce a firmware update for the decoders to help.

 

Hi John, do you know if firmware 4.237 shows any improvement? The release notes show Mfx and RailCom bugfixes, though don't specifically mention overheating. I saw problems with 4.228 and 4.229.

Many thanks,

Neil

20 hours ago, John YouChoos said:

As an aside, we also tried the model with a Zimo MN180 standard decoder, which works well, except that the decoder has a habit of heating up a lot and tripping its' thermal cut-out logic.  The solution to this is to disable any unnecessary protocols, such as Mfx, Motorola etc. by setting CV#12=4 (DCC protocol only).  If your system does not use RailCom, it is also worth disabling RailCom (switching off Bit3 of CV#29, value 8).  This reduces the amount of work that the MN processor needs to do and keeps the operating temperature down.

 

Hope that's useful.

John

YouChoos

 

Thanks John,

I've seen similar behaviour, but it looks more like a bug rather than just the amount of work being done. Current consumption when running is around 80mA, but I would see it jump by approx 100mA intermittently for a few seconds. No effect on motor speed, and the extra current was still there with the motor stopped. This is about 1W that has to go somewhere, and is basically heating up the chip until it trips.

For me, turning off RailCom stopped this happening. Turning off Mfx etc made no difference.

It's not specific to the Class 128 - I have a Farish Class 40 and Rapido Class 28 with the same behaviour.

Neil

13 hours ago, Jayk said:

  

   The two center-top I think are bogie mounts but the fold back portion not having a matching hole leaves me unsure. The other four pieces I'm just stumped on, if no other ideas present themselves I'm considering using the two larger panels as blanks behind the bodyside foot / hand holds. The thinner one and the L-shaped one I can't even see where they might be used.

 

-Jayk

Hi Jayk,

this looks similar to his coach etches, which are built in a similar way to the Comet Models 4mm kits. Instructions for those can be downloaded from:

https://www.wizardmodels.ltd/shop/carriage/bctcw/

The two pieces center-top look like brackets to join the ends to the sides. The hole is for a bolt to fix the body to the underframe.

I don't know about the other bits though.

(Edit - missed the previous responses so no new information here)

Neil

Does anywhere apart from Rails have these for pre-order yet?

I have nothing against Rails, but happy to buy from elsewhere if somewhere else has them.

thanks,

Neil

This looks great! Not my area, but an interesting coach. Thanks for attaching the SVG. I'd like to get my own sides etched in future, so it's very useful to see an actual file. Who did you use? PPD?

Neil

1 hour ago, Nig H said:

The recent article in the Two Mil mag by Bob Jones dealing with his LNER triplicate set motivated me to progress one of my LMS articulated pairs. The one I'm attempting is the BTO/TO set and here are some pics of the first underframe. Progress was slow at first as I couldn't make my mind up about the articulation joint. In the end I decided om something similar to the prototype. It looks promising but I'll need both underframes built to test it out.

Nigel Hunt

I'll be watching this with interest - I have plans to make a CO/TO pair, since I have some spare Worsley Works D1981 sides that are very close if you chop one end off.

Neil

Thanks David. I've been following your thread for a long time, picking up tips. I bought two Masterclass kits years ago, and worked on them slowly, then bought a lot more a couple of years ago when Chris made them available briefly. I also don't remember seeing any Southern or LNER builds here - not sure why?

I built these 4 as a batch with some others, and it was much easier than building one at a time. Though 14 etched bogies got a bit tedious.

Regards,

Neil

14 minutes ago, PaulCheffus said:

Very nice.

 

I assume the couplings are the Dapol NEM conversion type.

Thanks Paul.

Yes, Dapol NEM conversion pockets glued onto 2mmSA bogies. Then some with easi-shunts, and some with the simpler fixed couplings where they will stay together.

Regards,

Neil

I haven't posted on this thread before, but I've recently completed a set of Masterclass Models LMS period 1 non-corridor coaches.

Nice to build, and unlined crimson is a simple livery - but still looks good with these panelled coaches I think.

First a D1685 BTL:

D1700 T:

D1703 BT:

And D1686 CL:

Regards,

Neil

Hi Nigel,

thanks for the info. I'm not in a massive hurry for dynamos - plenty of other jobs can be done first - so I'll wait for progress.

Regards,

Neil

Hi, I was reading the October-November 2018 magazine, with an article on 3D printing - including an example of a coach dynamo. This includes the comment:

Quote

the 3D model can be rendered and viewed interactively and even printed (if these aren’t back in stock in Shop 3 yet).

I don't remember seeing these in Shop 3, and this is something I'm looking for at the moment - have I missed them, or are they coming in future?

thanks,

Neil

Might this be him on the N Gauge Forum?

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=45781

Regards,

Neil