47137
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Posts posted by 47137
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I think the guy is trying to hide something.
He might have replied, "I cannot see signs of handling or indeed of use on a layout; the wheel treads are fresh and bright, so I think 'new' is a fair description"
you might still disagree with him over his vocabulary, but you would know something more about the model.
The analogy with a can of baked beans tells you nothing.
- Richard.
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You have my full sympathy.
So far, I have had only one problem seller, the guy did something rather clever with PayPal and ended up taking my money into a substitute account, demonstrated "I hadn't paid", and never sent the goods. Ebay customer service were sympathetic but unhelpful. No real "problem buyers" except for the odd ones who give the damn thing a name or other some other anthropomorphic qualities and want to discuss it well into their period of ownership :-)
- Richard.
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I am very wary indeed of listings marked "no returns". Why ever not? If you cannot show some trust in your buyers, you cannot expect them to trust you. I always allow returns, 14 days, buyer pays return postage, and no-one has ever taken it up. What you need to do, as a private seller, is describe items as well as you can, with plenty of photos. If you are selling model trains, many buyers want quality information and this needs to be rather more than saying "you are selling on behalf of someone else ...".
- Richard.
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8 hours ago, Esmedune said:
I've reported this one. Looking at the feedback, they are a repeat offender at claiming stuff is new. Half the underside is hanging off or missing and some of the HT on the roof is bent and broken.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402924854654Good.
I suppose a cynic might point out it is a Heljan model and bits drop off, but the seller needs to point out faults even if the model appears unused.
A feedback rating of less than 99% looks bad for someone with so few sales.
- Richard.
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A query by Steve @sb67 has taken me to the web site of Model U. I had associated this firm with custom scanned figures. In fact, they are offering a range of detail parts for a British model railway, in many scales including 1:87.
For example, figures for early railways:
through to the possessions of a present-day freight driver:
https://www.modelu3d.co.uk/product/2764/
Food for thought.
- Richard.
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Yes. If you look at the location in Google Earth and scroll back to 12/2002, the spoil heaps are really bare.
- Richard.
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There is some weird and wonderful perspective going on in this backdrop. The manufacturers have taken a montage of photographs of “some things receding into the distance” and stitched them together with some foreground and background subjects “relatively parallel to the viewer”. It is very clever, and this particular scene fits here perfectly.
I think I have had some beginner’s luck here. This is my first attempt at a curving backdrop in a corner. The structure behind it is 3mm bendy ply glued onto sheets of flat ply fixed at right angles to each other. When you bend sheet ply you want to get a curve like the surface of a cylinder but it is very easy to end up with something like the surface of a cone. When this happens the curve throws the photo backdrop out of alignment. I was pretty close to a cylinder for this first curve but at the other end of the layout the “top radius” was maybe 6 mm bigger than the “bottom radius”. I ended up trimming the vertical edge of the backdrop to make this edge crooked, and then making cuts top and bottom in the backdrop before persuading it into position and trimming the top and bottom to suit.
Making cuts into the edge of the backdrop material is a bad idea because it encourages tearing. I ended up with a tear in the sky:
This will have to get touched-in or disguised as some kind of vapour trail.
- Richard.
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I like the sound of phosphogypsum.
My layout is an imaginary private railway with some exchange sidings for Network Rail. I have some English China Clay wagons letter up "ECC" and I have been toying with the idea of these representing the 'English Chemical Corporation', this being a post-devolution incarnation of the British Chemical Corporation from an episode of Yes Minister.
I don't know anything about phosphogypsum (or indeed chemistry) but looking online it sounds just right for the layout. Many thanks.
- Richard.
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I have added a commercial backdrop to my layout, and on the backdrop there is a heap of whitish or pale grey slag in the middle distance:
Please, what industries can create this sort of a thing? The only activity I can think of is lead mining, and in this case on a larger scale than I've ever seen. Even the Shropshire lead mines didn't create slag heaps this big.
This is part of "239 Industrial pack B" by id Backscenes / Art Printers.
- Richard.
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I found a way to put portrait photos into topics - edit them to add broad white stripes each side so their bitmaps become landscape.
I ought to be following this build, it is reassuring to see someone else who has been on the same project for 5 years :-)
- Richard.
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I have spent most of year pondering whether this layout should have a backdrop at all. I could see strong arguments for a plain white backdrop, but when a commercial product is this good I think it is worthwhile.
The backdrop makes the model look bigger and it brings opportunities to write new fiction. The grey iron railings behind the passenger platform are clearly showing the route of a former line to the town nearby! And, the backdrop helps to define the colour palette for the scenery.
I am now having a bit of a "dress rehearsal" using my various models of structures, these being in various stages of completion. I will spare the World photos of this. My main feeling is, the whole scene is all a bit intense. I thought this would happen - I think this scheme would work very well in about 8 x 3 feet, but I don't have room for 8 x 3 feet. The layout is pretty much a proportional reduction of a plan by Iain Rice for 4mm scale and intended for smaller locos and wagons (see the first post). I think I am going to end up with "a layout for 1:87 scale trains" rather than "a 1:87 scale layout", but it does fit well into the space available. I can still just about pick it up and move it around the room single-handed too, although negotiating the staircase will need a helper. And it will end up as a single, self-contained "cameo-style" model.
- Richard.
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A pond near Pleshey, Essex.
A hundred yards from here we realised we could not see or hear anything man-made except for some electricity pylons on a distant horizon.
This pond is beside one of numerous footpaths and bridleways around Pleshey, there must be dozens of permutations of walks around here. Easy on-street parking in the village.
- Richard.
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When I built my layout (16.5 mm gauge) I put a 4 inch straight between opposing curves or roughly 2nd radius. This scheme was intended for small shunters and four-wheeled stock but has rather surprisingly worked out fine with most of my RTR locos and wagons up to about 8 inches long.
I have since discovered, if you intend to run a Rapido APT-E (tilting) the straight section must be as long as a coach. Otherwise the tilting mechanisms are trying to go in opposite directions at the same time. And bogie coaches having a close-to-scale ride height really do need a straight as long as themselves, even though they will negotiate the curves at each end without trouble.
- Richard.
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I have made a start on the scenics!
The whole layout now has a backdrop. I went for '239 Industrial pack B' by 'id Printers', this is a pair of photographic panels printed onto a thin and self-adhesive plastic film:
Adhesion onto my bendy ply panels already painted with a Rustoleum all-purpose paint is very strong indeed. If I change my mind I will have to stick something else on top.
Who says you need a tunnel or a cutting to hide a sharp corner? This should work pretty well with the chemical plant in front of it too.
- Richard.
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You have my complete sympathy. In the circumstances, I fear you must say to yourself "you win some, you lose some". Hopefully you will sell your layout to someone who actually wants it, and for a little bit more money to recoup the losses on the fees.
There is a way to block specific buyers, it is best to search online for the method but straightforward to do. Sometimes I want to start a "blocked buyers" thread but this wouldn't be in the spirit of the hobby, and anyway I think my list contains only two. You have been unlucky.
- Richard.
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1 hour ago, Les1952 said:
The EFE J94 has a slightly smaller smokebox door than the DJM, I have both and it is less easy to get lots of bits through an EFE smokebox door for sound or stay-alive. Is this also true of the Beattie?
Les
I put a Zimo 617N into my Beattie. This is longer than the factory blanking plug and I felt something of a sense of relief as it worked its way in far enough to get the smokebox door back on. I don't think there is room for a stay alive - not enough height or depth. The Zimo 617N is very small (by my standards) too.
- Richard.
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I have just bought one of the Beattie well tanks. IIRC this has taken me nine years, because I saw one at Ally Pally in 2012 and decided to defer because I was out of work ("between jobs" in contractor terms). Then the model was sold out and then I overlooked the next three batches.
Anyway, if I have a point to make it is this. To fit the decoder, you lift off the smokebox door (a finger nail works), put in the decoder, and put back the smokebox door. The first loco I have ever chipped without having to use tools to dismantle. The first loco I may never need to take to pieces.
Surely, this kind of approach ought to become a standard practice? Even if this adds a few pounds to the works cost price of the model, surely there will be less damage during DCC fitting and fewer models returned for repair or replacement. Then again, I don't buy many 00 models but I'm guessing this hasn't caught on?
PS. The model I received from Kernow seems to be perfect.
- Richard.
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Yep. Realism has got to have some limits ;-)
I am going to promise myself, I won't post again here until there is some kind of landscaping in place. Please give me loads of time - I need to sort out a rotating mini digger and a delay circuit for the track first.
- Richard.
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My correspondent suggests,
Hi Richard
You need to eat a lot of liquorice (chocolate coated preferably) and purge this Arduino thing out of mind and body. You have met the Arduino enemy and vanquished it.
I reckon I should have one of these Faller structures behind the utility building, to hide its foreshortening against the backscene and remind me of this sound advice:
Photo lost, cannot be restored
- Richard.
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On 31/05/2021 at 13:34, caradoc said:
I made my first journeys on Class 755 over the last few days and found them to be excellent trains. The lack of underfloor noise and vibration as per a conventional DMU, and the excellent level boarding provided by the low floor and extending steps, were particularly noticeable. Linking the Norwich/Cambridge and Cambridge/Stansted Airport service into one through route is also a great idea, and of course the units can run on electric power between Ely and Stansted Airport.
I think they are a good-looking train too. This one was approaching Woodbridge on 14th April 2021, this was the first time I saw one.
(The pedestrian gate is forward of the vehicle gate here).
- Richard.
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10 minutes ago, Ian Simpson said:
Craftsmanship/clever for sure, but I can't help thinking there's an element of witchcraft involved here too!
Really well done, a brilliant job!
Yes. The clock face here only exists because someone with the necessary skills (RubyB) happened to design it and put the source code on the Internet. I do get a high level of satisfaction from the Arduino, at least when it works, but it is just too darned difficult for me. I have just written this elsewhere, part of a long-term correspondence, and I can best write it here too:
It (the display) is a bit too far away to see clearly, though at a glance you do see the display is changing. It photographs nicely with a small camera. I thought about a second sign nearer the front of the layout, but both signs would have been obscured from view when there is a tram at the platform.
I am still glad I have done it, but I do not really enjoy the Arduino at all. It seems to be both obsessive and difficult, and the combination just seems to wear me out. I am glad I did it for my Magnorail project, but I am not sure whether I would do it again.
What I ought to do is start the scenics on the layout!
This project probably deserves a blog post, but instead what I am going to do is pack up most of my Arduino stuff. Photograph it, put it on eBay, and clear my head.
- Richard.
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I have settled on having one display. I have built this into the side of a building, so here is a link to my layout topic to avoid cross-posting:
The Arduino side of this project is probably now complete, but the model needs finishing.
- Richard.
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Thanks for the applause Ian - fortunately relatively few folk here ever saw this alcove in its original state!!
The tram platform now has an information screen:
Photo lost, cannot be restored
This is a tiny ("0.91 inch") OLED display glued into the side of the building, and driven by an Arduino microcontroller tucked in behind the backscene.
Photo lost, cannot be restored
This is a bit of fun but arguably also something of a folly because the text is so small and the display is so far away. I need to put my head inside the layout or take a photo to be able to read it 🙂
There is some related discussion in the "computer control" area here:
- Richard.
Edited to add two photos.
Photo lost, cannot be restored
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I have found and downloaded the "specification and user manual"(!) for I2C
https://www.i2c-bus.org/specification/
and to be honest with you, it is really good. I think it is easier to understand than the tutorials I've seen on the subject.
Yes - a bus multiplexer is ideal to connect multiple identical slaves to the bus. And indeed, the address of the displays I have is hard-coded into their firmware.
Having glanced at the pictures and a few of the words in the spec for I2C, it is pretty clear I can have multiple masters sharing the same slave(s). So if I decided my layout was going to have a real time clock module, then every master on the bus could poll the same module. And if I decided to have a character-based display to show (say) a simple narrative description of the layout, I could use the same display with a configuration menu running on a different Arduino.
Of course, now I can see how to provide a second platform display, I'm not sure if I really want one. This is because I have realised, with a tram in the platform, I would not be able to see either display.
- Richard.
EBay madness
in Ebay Topics
Posted
Silver Fox Models is a legitimate business, a "smaller supplier".
I bought one of their class 07 shunters many years ago. They are resin bodies on RTR chassis, and built to order. Mine came in a hand-made box, I don't want to sound "contrary" but I thought it was a nice touch. I felt I was buying a hand-made RTR model, and it is still in my collection of 4mm locos. Silver Fox would have sold me just the body shell if I had wanted, but the RTR version cost much the same as body + Bachmann donor.
Usual disclaimer.
- Richard.