letterspider

White 2mm tower LEDs 3V were sourced and painted black all over except the ends. At each corner 4 diagonal holes were drilled with a 2mm bit and after widening the hole slightly I was able to glue the LEDs in place. For this project I decide upon inserting a coin cell battery operated by a simple pin switch in the end of the coach

How does the tool work on flexitrack curves, which are really hard to keep in place without adjustments?

Large laser box has also been 3D printed and painted. Just waiting on the LEDs

Here is my attempt upon the NMT overhead monitoring coach using this donor body The tooling is ex-Lima and is very hard to dismantle as the glazing and roof is one unit and a very tight fit. The method I used was to prise off the end corridor connections, snap off the transparent tab and cut through the end of the body, this gives a bit of lateral flex to allow the glazing to prise free The angled edges of the pantograph well look curved but are actually a straight diagonal cut and can be fit with flat plastikard; a plastikard base was also glued into place. Well made 3D design in Sketchup - about 85% accurate - some details have to be exaggerated as I have an extrusion printer (if these are of use to anyone PM me) These are coarse test prints (0.15mm layer) but far exceed anything I could achieve by scratchbuilding

Link to Facebook page here:

Dapol I think they have backed themselves into a corner with the Class 59 because the Class 68 (which was exceptional) will be compared against it and the 59 may be found wanting. They have to balance reputation, profitability on the 59. Market research may indicate they can sell more and make more money if they go for less detail (better than Hornby but not quite Hattons 66 standard) and lower price. What if the economic conditions may be unfavourable and they can't make a profit at all should they decide to sell the tooling perhaps to recoup development costs? What would you do under the circumstances? After all these years ?

Dapol have already tooled their model and got as far as decorated samples.

Are the two power cars different?

Seriously? I don't have a Maths degree but 2x7 = 14 2x5 = 10 okay disregarding the trailers it is less outlay to buy 2 coaches instead of 6?

I have ordered the 7 car set and expanding towards 14 cars - I have gradients and curves - now what to do with the dummy NDM now that one power car won't cut the beef? I imagine they will be appearing upon online marketplaces, or perhaps Hornby will make spare motors and cardan shafts to motorise the dummy (although I imagine you will find that more expensive than buying a NDM which is not even available) So now my other option is two 5 car sets and sell the driving trailers but I want black surrounds... I guess a good retailer can manage to sell you stuff you didn't want!

Does the power car have traction tyres? it would be surprising Hornby didn't opt for traction tyres like in their VEP, perhaps they did try them out in testing and they wore out too soon

I seem to recall somewhere in this thread that you may have to put the decoder in a different loco to reprogram CV's - otherwise you end up with erratic behaviour due to interference between the DCC chip and the other components; (and this has happened to me too on two different Class 90's) however I found that resetting to factory defaults with chip in the loco does work and will cure the problem but then you are stuck with address 03 Isn't this supposed to be one of the reasons the 2nd batch is coming with a new chip?

I would think the Rapido APT E is better value all around better internal details high detailing on the bodywork through wiring between twin power cars twin sound lighting throughout average £110 per coach however the extra trailers are expensive at £120 each

The 7 car set sold out very quickly on pre-orders _ I couldn't find (m)any when I tried to order in October This may be a case of Hornby extending the production run due to high demand?

I would prefer Bachmann to do the DBSO - even with a price point around £110 it works out a lot less than a repaint of their existing liveries (I know from experience) - and you also get very nice DCC lighting and separately fitted handrails What I don't understand is why Hornby haven't been producing TTS chips for the Class 56, Class 59, Class 87 (okay it is tight in there), Class 90, 91 and the APT - they already have been producing the chips in volume - they just need to put different sounds on them.

If anyone hasn't seen this on a well known auction site https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/KR-Models-GT3-OO-Gauge-DCC-Sound-BR-Blue-/403385294337?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286&mkrid=710-127635-2958-0 An interesting fictional livery! (no connection to the seller)

Where did he get the model from?

First ever HST Running session - although BR executive Blue and Grey is my favoured time period - there are so many excellent models from the privatisation era!

A running session to check the rails after spraying them; as it seems to be all good the next step will be ballasting the viaduct.

Playtime and time for some simple modelling The Knightwing portakbain is a simple kit to assemble. I have added some interior detailing and lighting. The lighting is powered by a coin battery controlled by a reed switch. Unfortunately I could only source reed switches on Aliexpress which are closed when in a magnetic field Neodymium magnet glued to the underside of a pallet Lighting on and off just by moving pallet above the reed switch Also had time to fettle a locomotive inspection platform from West Hill wagon works - still needs final painting The 3D print is incredibly fine but very flexible and robust

They are a very small outfit, and it is very tough tines

Received this update today from The Model Centre "We have just heard from Bachmann that due to problems with lorry driver shortages and customs clearance the tube stock will now not arrive until mid January." So as usual it looks like no tube trains running over Christmas!

Had a similar problem with a Class 90. You can get dry solder joints on the chip causing intermittent working like you describe. In any case you have manufacturer's warranty on the loco and the chips themselves have 1 or 2 years from Zimo but you need proof of purchase. I don't think that will be an issue here as the model is less than a year old.

The blue Class 73 looks really good Jerry and it is a mystery why Dapol didn't produce that livery (corrected) in the 2nd batch.

At that scale maybe corrugated strip? Something similar to this https://evergreenscalemodels.com/collections/0401-0mm-opaque-white-polystyrene-corrugated-metal-siding