Izzy

Thanks Paul, I do think I should follow your good example and start making notes. I’ve always done this with layout wiring, produce a schematic to refer back to but never for anything else. I also find multiple builds draining and especially as anything seems to take me an age to do in recent times. In the past once I’d gathered all the info together - which I often find can be the major part - the actual build has been done in one go relatively quickly. Now I tend to dip in and out of different projects to give me a refresh on the change is as good as a rest basis. Bob

Ah, thanks, it does get confusing! Yes that might change things. Bob

I believe the issue with the Manors - if these are the locos the OP has just got - centres around the stay-alive which apparently needs 14v to work, ( I only use Zimo decoders so have no experience of this aspect). But the OP has a PA2 so should have enough voltage. Bob

I think there is confusion between the Express and Advance 2. The former has according to the Gaugemaster website info a track voltage of 13.8v while the latter is 15v. Both power bricks are quoted as being 15v with the Express being 2amp and the Advance 3.5amp. This is of course the latest supplies, earlier ones may have had different specs but my PA2 power brick quotes these figures and is around 12 years old. I’d look to the Accurascale locos as to where the problems lay. Some have been discussed on the loco thread but it’s a lot to wade through. Bob

My PA2 produces 14.9v at the rails so I doubt that is the issue. I'd seek the views of Gaugemaster but I'd be very wary of feeding it a higher AC input voltage. Bob

Where to start? Circumstances have been such that I haven’t undertaken any 2mm modelling since the last week of February. At that time I had three projects on the go along with several others being developed. When things come to an unplanned abrupt stop and have to be put to one side it subsequently then becomes quite difficult to know where to restart. Trying to remember where you had got to, and which one to deal with first. This is the situation I encountered with the three projects, the Thompson non-corridor coaches, J15, and class 16 when I was recently able to resume. In truth all had actually stalled in respect of needing parts. The J15 needed them producing on the lathe, all the boiler fittings and more, the class 16 2FS wheels either bought and/or again made on the lathe to progress the bogies, while the coaches needed a mix of re-working and completing to get them all to a reasonably accurate and consistent state. Since it turned out I still needed to order further parts for both locos and the Thompson coaches were the initial project to be started, finishing them first seemed to be the best choice as I already had locos they could be used with, the N7/3 and the 2MT. Thompson non-corridor coaches in 2mm – pt 3 When I had stopped the brake third had been finished apart from the need to replace the roof ventilators with the correct type, having wrongly used shell ones. Due to the issues that had been raised I did consider whether I should start again with these coaches but eventually I came to the conclusion that getting them finished to as good a state as I was able was overall the best route for me even if they weren’t as truly accurate as they should be. With that decision out of the way I thus dealt with the roof ventilators on the brake, fitting the very nice 3D printed ones now available from shop 4 that had arrived. Then I made the lavatory compo in the same way as I had the brake third, replacing the floors, solebars, and footboards with ones cut from brass sheet. I had actually cut all the parts for all three coaches at the start when I realised they were needed, so it was fairly quick work. Adding the door and grab handles was equally easy as I had also made all of those in the beginning. I found myself glad that I had done this as it made sure all these parts were of consistent sizes. I’m not sure I could have remembered what those sizes were and exactly how I bent them up if I’d done them in separate batches. As it was all I had to do was solder them into place using the simple little jig I’d also made from a piece of scrap etch. However one issue has come to light in that I made the brake third interior out of some black plasticard and over the time since it had distorted and curled up pushing the roof up at both ends. I’ve not had this problem with the interiors made for the two 309 units but to ensure I didn’t have any further problems I ditched the interior and have made new ones out of 200gsm black card stock instead. That just leaves the 6 compartment brake composite to make. This is actually very slightly different from the other two coaches in that they were produced late on in response to requirements for less 1st class seating and at this time rounded corners to windows were used instead of square cut. So two brakes with slightly differing styles and helping to make an interesting local passenger set although of course these coaches were used on quite long distant cross country trains such as those from Colchester to Cambridge via the Stour/Colne Valley. These short coaches seem ideal for smaller layouts and I’m really glad I decided to have some. My basic idea is that they can be used on Priory Road to represent said Colchester to Cambridge service when composed of all three, brake third, lav compo, brake compo, and as the Brightlingsea service with just the two brakes. The J15 was envisaged as the engine on the latter service and the 2MT on the Cambridge one. An E4 for this would be nice but is perhaps a case of getting a bit ahead of myself since two other locos are other projects to be done first. But then again that might change if the fancy takes……. However, best get the brake compo done first and then the J15! Bob

You can get square section plastic tube - plastruct - that slides one size inside the other. Some use it for under baseboard tie-bar units. Could you use that instead of brass? Then of course just a plastic strip on top. Bob

Thanks, glad it’s sorted, it’s good to know what solutions to problems raised are as they can be of help and interest to others. Programming just with the Prodigy system isn’t always either quick or easy which is why I invested in a Sprog/JMRI for that and just use it for minor on-the-fly POM (Program On Main) changes. Bob

Oh thanks Simon, didn’t realise that. It does looks good, tempting if you’ve got the bodies…..! Bob

Possibly the tender underframe if that isn't included with the tender body. There are no spares for the loco on the Bachmann spares site. Bob

Thanks Mikkel. Should add the magnets are glued on using Evostick for a bit of resilience. These thin type magnets can fracture quite easily under force and it usually stays a bit rubbery if put on thickly which you need to do to get a good fix on the brass wire rod. Bob

@sulzerman have you been able to fix this, get it working properly? Bob

Quite a few modellers I understand use 3mm scale S&W's in 4mm, smaller and less obvious. When I decided I needed to fit some type of auto-coupling rather than carry on with 3-links my first thought was to get some. But as someone whose main scale these days is 2mm/2FS I already had some of the 2mm size ones I had tried before choosing D&G's as better for that scale. So I thought I'd give them a go. But to do so meant making a few alterations. Obviously as they are made to suit 2mm the hooks are a lot smaller so much finer wire needs to be used for the loops. I chose 0.3mm/30swg phosphor bronze simply because I had several coils of it. Mainly coming with the packs of 2mm DG's I get..... As the hooks are just 2mm deep there is far less leeway with differing loop heights so care is needed here. Since the hooks haven't enough length to work in 4mm with the pivot holes these need moving back by about 2mm. Drill new ones and then file away the excess in front of them. The pivot holes need to be at the headstock to get enough clearance over the buffer heads, so the hooks stick out far enough even with moving the pivot point back like this. The pivot loops are more of the PB wire. 0.3mm holes drilled into the headstocks into which they are pushed. How much lower than the underside of the headstock they are determines the height at which the leading edge of the hook rests. If the headstock is too thin then pad it out with plasticard at the rear before drilling. To give balance weight to the hook I add the etched fixture plate soldered onto the rear crossways. As I wanted to try and just use small 6mm round magnets fitted in-between the sleepers I ditched ideas of using links and instead solder soft iron wire onto the hook and angle it forward so both are pulled down at the same time. I also angle the hooks to one side so they don't catch each other on curved track. In use I have found that the fineness of the hooks etc. the small measure of leeway, tends to mean they can un-couple over fixed magnets when not wanted, so I would suggest that they need to be used only with electro magnets so this doesn't occur. I can't do this, fit these, the layout baseboard design won't allow it, so having removed the permanent magnets, and made magnet 'paddle sticks' ( from the old 3-link coupling hooks) using thin disc magnets to un-couple stock in the fiddle yard also now use this method on the layout itself. I just poke them under the couplings and the rolling stock can be moved apart while they are pulled down. Rather crude and simple, but easy to do. For a purely home based layout it's all I need, not much different to using 3-links but far, far easier! Anyway, hope this is of help and interest. Bob

To use the 2mm SW's for 4mm you need to make a few alterations. I can post a few shots of these, how I've done it, and what they look like, but wouldn't want to do that on your blog unless that is okay with you Mikkel. Bob

One aspect to be aware of with canted rail is that it will tend to curl upwards/downwards when curved/bent so needs to be worked to lie flat at that 1:20 angle. This is seen with the inside rail with curved track where the ends will rise - with the outside it will rise in the middle - but is most noticeable with wing rails at crossings. I find the need to use pliers to get these bits to lay flat after making the sharp bend. You have to fit the chairs and see how it lays and then bend it to suit as one end or the other will otherwise stick up in the air. Bob

I’ve just been reading about Martin Finney’s P4 Semley in the latest BRM where the track is all ply & rivet with no less than 10,000 individual whitemetal half chairs added. It does look good but boy what a task. And while pointwork is nice and sturdy plain track can be ‘swivelled’ if not careful (the rivets turning in the sleepers) so the gauge is lost. It was the introduction of whitemetal chairs by the scalefour society that took me down the route of using them functionally glued down with evostick, a long winded process but still easier but plastic chairs are so much easier still. Bob

Oh, should just mention the cable is just standard cat5 Ethernet as are the plugs so any broadband cable will do to check it’s not a faulty cable connection. Bob

Not sure why you are trying to reprogram your locos. First off if the command station base light is on then check that you have a connection between it and the handset, that the lead/plugs are okay (assuming it’s not a Wi-Fi handset). That the link light doesn’t light up when sending a command suggests this is where the problem may lie. Bob

It’s a really good issue all round, not just for Braughing and Standon but Lockdown Fen with Martin Finney’s P4 Semley being the icing on the cake. Bob

Yes, the new Zimo decoder designs are certainly denting the cast iron reliability reputation Zimo used to enjoy which is a shame. Still better than others though even with the disappearance of the budget range save for the older MX600. Bob

There’s a topic on the N gauge forum about standard non-sound Zimo MNNext18 decoders not working properly. Acting like they are overheating in the manner you describe. In most cases a reset appears to sort the issue but info from John Gymer of YouChoos gives things to do to offset the problems if not. Turning off Railcom and such like. Zimo are aware it seems and trying to sort it. https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=59502.15 Bob

You’re not allowing for rail thickness which with 4mm code 75 bullhead is around 1mm so 45mm is correct, 4 x 11’ 2”. The ‘six foot’ between the outside faces of the rail is just the - minimum - straight line distance that results when the correct gauge is used. It will increase with both track curvature and elevation to allow for end swing and chordial differences. It will also increase with under correct gauge model track which is why going by centre line figures is better/easier. Bob

Doesn't the Scalefour society provide these details? They used to at one time. Anyway, back in the '80's I drew these up for a magazine article I wrote. They were drawn up with full size measurements as these are easier to convert to whatever scale is being used, 7mm, 4mm, 2mm etc. I have put them on RMweb before but forget where now but perhaps they will help you in your particular endeavours. Bob

I’d try another speaker just to be sure but in my experience with the TTS the amp will have blown. They can do this at the drop of a hat, very susceptible to the slightest hint of static with some. Hornby were very good at replacing them but whether they have stocks any more now is another matter since they moved on to the bluetooth ones. Bob p.s. I always use insulating tape everywhere to make sure there is little chance of shorts and to damp static. A reel of Tamiya masking tape is your friend here….

If it’s for Dapol with pin-points I’d wait for the new parts coming. For it’s not just about skimming the rear of the wheels but then shifting them on the stub axles to get the correct b-t-b that is needed. And because of those pin-points you can’t just tap them along with a hammer etc. you need a reverse type centre punch with a central bore so the force is on the shoulder. Bob