Izzy

Welcome to the world of the innocent party being worse off due to no fault of their own. Many cars are economic write-offs in that it would cost the insurers more than the cars notational trade-in value so they won’t do it. But it will cost you far more to replace it. Unless it’s in your insurance they won’t pay for car hire or any costs you incur. Like for like replacement only happens with cars under a year old as I have previously found out to my cost. Bob

This is what I do, file a small flat at about 45/60 degrees on the very end. Roughly 1mm max diameter. I think I mentioned it in a previous post in passing. It’s all a bit trial and error. Soldering seems to be one of those aspects where everybody finds a method that suits them that often differs to others. Bob

Well that's one half of the equation, what about locos? Oh, that's where we came in......😀 Bob

Yeah I know. Although I've been handbuilding track and locos in a variety of scales for about 50 years as I don't live in a perfect world but require, nay demand, perfect running I try and do whatever is needed to reach this level. Others such as yourself are lucky to reach this without trouble but for myself I'll just have to keep trying .......😀 Bob

Those dumbo speakers really are good but I think it’s the actual design of the 3D printed enclosure that makes the difference. Are the tantalum’s 16v or 25v? I’ve recently started using the latter and seem to find they are better per identical capacitance. It might just be subjective on my part though. Bob

To be honest I’m bemused that people want stay-alive capacity that can keep a loco going for more than perhaps a wheel revolution at most. I never fit more than 1000uF, and mostly between 660uF -880uF. I know there are videos around showing locos going over sheets of paper but this seems a party trick to illustrate the advantage stay-alive can give. A bit like in the past locos ‘climbing’ over sleepers to illustrate the advantage of sprung/compensated chassis. Bob

With using mechanical means - (I favour loose rodding rather than say wire-in-tube) - I have found it best to have a relatively large throw at the lever end, wherever that may be situated, and use cranks and omega loops to absorb any excess travel at the point/signal being operated. The advantage is that this can even out/allow for expansion contraction due to temperature changes. DPDT slider switches can be good and cheap levers. Just drill a horizontal hole through the switch and glue the wire/rodding into it. For pointwork the switch can be used to change crossing/frog polarity. Bob

When I moved from using 3-link/screw couplings to S&W auto with my current plank I found this too-free running aspect a real problem, which I eventually solved by filing the ends off the pin-point axles so they all have a measure of resistance. It does seem contrary to general advice but also has the benefit that rolling stock doesn’t jerk back & forth which it did before with some being freer than others. Bob

I use this for most of my soldering these days - An Antex 15W. This is a new one as you can see which I have in reserve in case the current one expires as it gets a lot of use. I've used it mainly for 2mm scale but also 4mm and 7mm with appropriate bits, and it's over 10 years old now. I did not expect the element to last as long as it has given how much work it has done. I have Antex 18W and 25W and Weller 40W and 75W, but this is really all I ever use. The big advantage is it's small in size and so easier to wield around with smaller work. However the standard bit it's supplied with is a fairly large chisel and I use a 1mm tip one a lot of the time. You can see the difference here. I also usually file a small oblique flat on the end. Speaking of the MX615 here is one up against the 1mm tip bit showing how small it is and the solder pads the wires go on. People more skilled that I can do it with ease but I wouldn't trust myself with trying to use a larger iron and tip on a £40 decoder. Adding wires onto Zimo sound decoders scares me rigid when I do it .......! I only use leaded/rosin cored solder along with reduced Phosphoric acid as flux. The latter quite strong at around 20% which I reduce myself (with Tap water) from a bottle obtained when Boots were still a proper chemists. Most commercial acid fluxes are generally about 10/12%. Henkel still produce these Ersin solders. Here is a reel I use. Came from Axminster tools. Red is leaded while the lead-free they produce has green reels. The key I find with adding these wires is to tin both the wire end and solder pad. Add some solder onto the tip of the iron. And then apply it while holding the tinned wire onto the pad. This gets the quickest heat transfer. Never ever apply flux to the decoder. This will act like a bridge and cause a short so possibly destroying the decoder, well some of it's parts. Only brush some on the end of the wire if you must before placing on the pad. Hope this helps, Bob

I believe the L’s first appeared in 1881. Bob

Thanks Tim, glad it's been of help and interest. Being able to switch controllers is rather reminiscent of the Pentroller, the controller designed and produced by Stewart Hine which had this ability built-in, to control and adjust the level of feedback or switch it off. I've never had one myself. My interest in this thread and what is presumed the intent by Rapido to produce I/K/L MW's in 4mm is that I have built (scratchbuilt) examples of both the I and L class in 7mm so have an understanding of the task facing Rapido in doing them in 4mm. They are not big locos by any means, so trying to produce them at all let alone satisfy all the wants and needs of buyers, easy to dis-assemble, DCC and sound options etc. will be a tall order. That they have done the J70 tram and others that all run well suggest they have the neccesary skills but it will be a challange. For example I have used 16x30 Mashima cans in mine, and after recent re-builds now use HL 60-1 gearboxes (originally 80-1 home brew ones made well before HL came on the scene) to enable sound fitting. The size of motors I used suggest those 7x16 coreless I mentioned earlier would be the equivalent size to use in 4mm .......... I have posted shots here-abouts and done a small thread on the latter but here is a shot of each anyway. Like many loco classes these got 'improved' over the years with subsequent builds. So all the 6-coupled I/K/L/M look similar in general but were subjected to specification changes which alongside alterations many got in later years by one means or another mean they all have subtle, or not so subtle, differences, ad-hoc cabs etc. Bob

When Portescap's first arrived and I was asked to fit them into locos I found that the AMR had feedback that was quite strong and although motors such as the larger Mashima's could accept it they didn't like it at all. The late Len Rich (owner and producer of AMR) tried to turn down the feedback for me and produce a version more suitable for use with them but found it impossible. So I made my own emitter-follower hand-helds based around the Gaugemaster controller kits they then produced which don't feature feedback as such and rely more on high gain and half-wave attributes to produce a kind of half-way house which suits all types of DC motors. Although I still have the AMR when I want to run DC locos these days I still use these controllers. These days much has changed with regard to what are now know as coreless motors but which were originally were called Swiss precision or instrument motors and first arrived in around 1959 (IIRC). These days they are produced in vast quantities but the standards vary widely between the orignal (very expensive) Swiss/German made types - Faulhaber/Maxon/Escap etc. and those from, say, China. Size also has a bearing here. Localised heating is the main feedback problem with them not having a metal core to absorb it, besides their much quicker reaction to very small current changes, and larger ones will be more capable in this respect. The general 'bigger is better' saying runs true here. Here the problem is that these days makers want to try and fit the smallest motors they can. DJM for example fitted a size ( 7x16mm) which I use in 2mm but wouldn't consider capable of use in normal 4mm scale locos. So they struggle in many cases. Not their fault. Generally they suffer because people confuse 'more efficient', which they are, with 'more powerful', which size for size they are not. Less so actually in the past - why Portescap's came with spur gear gearboxes - they didn't produce the power to cope with worm gear drive, but with newer magnet designs about the same now. They are however seen as 'green' because they consume less current so are being seen as the way forward similar to how LED lights are versus filament bulbs, so investment and production is being geared to their production over cored types. If like me you use DCC then there is no problem with using them because the feedback frequency of DCC is much higher and so less problematic. And with the better quality decoders can be adjusted to best suit them. Sadly DC feedback is low frequency, not adjustable, and can cause excessive heating of coreless. Bob

Just to add to the mix here are a few shots of the 2mm S&W's I use adapted for 4mm on my P4 plank (currently being re-built). I haven't fitted 3-links but rather some soft iron wire set forward so that one small 6mm round magnet can be sunk between sleepers and operate them. I had to do this as there is no room to fit elecro-magnets under baseboard as it's only 30mm thick and made of layered foamcore. Bob

A high PSA can be the result of urine retention caused by the prostrate squezzing the water pipe which is why you can't empty your bladder properly and need to go more frequently. This can also cause UTI's, which in men are serious as it can easily and quickly back-up into the kidneys causing sepsis. It's another reason to get a PSA check if you have any issues. When my PSA gave a result of 14 I was put on a fast track system by my local NHS trust, had a MRI in 3 days and saw a consultant in 7 days, on a Sunday! Luckily for me tests showed I had benign prostrate enlargement (BHP), was seen 3 monthly over the next year by which time my PSA had risen to 20. I was put on medication to relive the pressure after a further MRI and given the further option of laser surgery, which I took, but involved a 18 month wait - this was just as Covid arrived. This surgery basically 'bores out' the water pipe and now, 18 months after that I am pretty much back to normal. But regular PSA tests are now the norm to ensure I stay that way. I am always thinking of those, including some I have worked with over the years, who have not been so fortunate and so add my advice to anyone to make sure you get a PSA test. Bob

You don’t have to use a bar across the buffers with S&W. I went through all the options of auto-couplings for my little P4 plank and eventually went with 2mm scale S&W’s adapted to suit and square loops that come out from the buffer beams for all stock. Used quite fine wire throughout and while the result isn’t perfect they work okay with the fixed magnets I need to use. Bob

I keep reading of people saying such things aren't neccesary but I can only think they haven't had any experience of the difference they make and especially with smaller locos in 2mm. Sometimes it's subtle, at others it's like night and day. Once you discover the benefits it becomes silly not to fit them but finding the space can add to the fun! Bob

I always remove any when fitting a decoder as it does often make a difference. No harm trying as it won't run any worse without it. I understand that using decoders means interference isn't the problem it can sometimes be with plain DC although I think this was more of a problem in the past with the older high current draw motors than present day ones. I've never fitted any with the kit or scratchbuilt locos I've made down the years, never even think about it to be honest. Bob

There are quite a few variations/combinations of details to be wary of I have recently discovered. It appears there are three main ‘types’. The originals with small 3’3” wheels and square windows all round. Then the same with larger front windows. Then larger wheels at 3’6” ( and eventually 3’7”). Larger sliding cab side windows next. And further changes with footplate and steps. All coming at different stages with subsequent batches. Although some of the first original ones became skirted - for the W&U and docks, later versions also got them at times. Tracking down shots and numbers of specific locos seems key to getting them right it would seem, as is so often the case. Bob

I suppose the problem with finding usable works drawings is where to start looking. Drewry didn’t manufacture anything this being outsourced to both Vulcan & Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns in respect to the 04’s. That there were incremental design changes just adds to the fun…. Bob

Back in the days before Microsoft did built-in AV & malware protection AVG used to be quite good and reliable. But since those times in common with most others it’s about generating income by ‘persuading’ users they need the paid for versions. Worry/scare tactics are a common tool used like with so many other spheres of everyday life. Recently my sister-in-law had a door salesman try and persuade her she needed a new £5,000 composite front door because the inside handle on her UPVC one was a bit loose. Worrying her by saying that the lock et al was about to fail. Having been burgled twice it wasn’t nice. Yesterday I went around, undid two screws on the inside and fitted new inner and outer door handles, a standard fitment I discovered and easy to replace. All that had failed was a nylon washer that couldn’t be replaced due to the nature of the design. Cost? £ 27.50. Bob

Here's a link to those on the GER society website: https://www.gersociety.org.uk/index.php/forum/layouts/112-cratfield Bob

That would be the late John Watson who actually lived near Diss and where the MSLR used to run. Laxfield appeared in the inaugural MRJ O issue, Kenton was featured in MRJ 72. He later went on to make a 7mm S7 MSLR layout Cratfield which was in MRJ 287 and published after his death in his memory. Bob

I would agree getting a decent controller first is key. The motor looks to be one of the open frame Mashima DS10’s and if so should perform reasonably well with decent gears. Of course nothing really beats a High Level gearbox these days for the combination of correct meshing and virtually silent operation but you’ve got to be able to put one together. Not hugely difficult, just needs a bit of care, but it does help if you are used to kit building. Definitely get a controller first though. Bob

I always feel that one of the newer model Farish bo-bo's 20/24/25 are an easy and excellent way into 2FS because they are DCC ready if that's your fancy plus the running quality gives a useful benchmark for future builds. The best bit though is that using drop-in wheels means that if later on you want to move them on then the original wheels can easily be re-fitted. Bob

The driving wheels do look rather undersized in comparison to the bogie ones, massively so when compared to the front splashers. Going by the description that both driving wheels will lift off the rails if pressure is applied to the chassis above the bogie does rather suggest that there is a real mis-match somewhere either between the wheelsets or in the chassis/bogie design. U Bob