PeteN92

After firing off an email to youchoos I've had a prompt reply from John Gymer who advised me of the following cv changes. To assign random flicker to F0Fwd, you need to set CV#125=8. You also need to ensure that F0Fwd is operational in both directions, otherwise you’ll only be able to use it going forward, so set CV#34=3. This will also be to operate the LED on FKey0. Finally, if you would like FKey6 to operate both the coal shovelling sound AND the LED, then you need to set CV#40=1. Top customer service from the guys at YouChoos I must say. Hope this is useful for anyone who is trying to add a firebox flicker and DCC sound to newer Bachmann tank engines. Pete

Hi guys i'm in the process of fitting DCC sound and firebox flicker to the new Bachmann Ivatt 2-6-2T Ive been following the youchoos guide on how to do this: Purple wires soldered to the provided pads for speaker. Firebox glow wires soldered to the +VE and FWD pads on the board - we are using the FWD output for the firebox glow, as there is no pad provided for FA2/AUX3 - pity, but it doesn't matter as we are not going to be adding any directional lighting. Some simple CV changes required to ensure that the FWD output is non-directional and gives the random flicker lighting effect. The loco takes a next 18 chip and you see they advise how to attach the firebox flicker. Apparently its simple as a few cv changes, however they fail to mention how to do this in the guide and I cant find anything on the website either. Any suggestions as far as I can tell F6 is set up as default to Aux 3/FA 1/ Coal shovelling sound Where as the firebox flicker is currently on F0 So far the only thing i've been able to manage is to move the sound onto F0 so they work together. I would prefer to move the firebox flicker to the F6 key so I assume i need to swap Aux 1 and Aux 3 around. I'm using JMRI decoder pro so if there is a simple way to sort this then I'm open to suggestions or if it is just a case of re writing a few CV's. Many thanks Pete

Hi guys I'm going to need a couple of these lovely locos when they come out for my Ilfracombe layout. I've been holding off buying some older Bachmann examples with the hope that these new locos are going to be up to scratch. I was wondering if anyone might help me be able to identify which locos would be useful for converting to the following locos spotted on the line. I appreciate that the locos irl had to have cut down steps to fit within the loading gauge and assume this won't be catered for on the Dapol models but close as possible would work for me. I was hoping to have an early BR and a later BR version. Below are a list of the following locos spotted on the line. 5336 6326 6345 6346 7303 7304 7306 7320 7333 7337 6375 Cheers Pete

Although it's been over week since I last posted I have been busy. Mainly speaking to @chrisf about GWR coaching stock and formations for the line. He's been a massive help and his knowledge has been invaluable. I'm now starting to collect some more GWR stock as well as LMS stock so that I can recreate some of the more interesting Saturday services. I've also been renumbering and sound fitting some more locos which has been a nice change from scenics. The embankment was painted brown. Had dried coffee granules glued on as a dirt layer and then had a couple of passes with 2mm and 4mm static grass held in place with cheap hair spray. The sidings also had the same treatment but after static grassing I thought I'd overdone it a bit. I therefore got some strips of plaster bandage and wrinkled them up and stuck them to the sheer faces to recreate a clay rock face. A grey colour was then dry brushed to show the texture. A couple of bushes an maybe some 6mm fibres and this area will be done. Tonight I've been drawing up my designs firstly for the wind break. This was put in place to give the platform area towards the station buildings more protection from the elements. I've designed this from multiple photos I have and the space allowed. The real one had two extra single windowed panels on each of the ends and would have been a bit longer but I think it should fit in nicely with the scale station plans. I also drew up the designs for the station stores building this was built out of concrete blocks with two doors platform side and two on the yard side. With most of the buildings mocked up you can see now what it might start to look like. I've still got to design the taxi building that goes to the right of the station building and will fit in the corner. The canopy will also needed to be added along the length of the platforms on this board. Cheers Pete

There's even a picture of the time that western firebrand went over the line ( even though it wasn't authorised to go over the bridge as it was too heavy), the only photo I've seen of a Crompton on the line was one of the last inspection trains just before ripping the entire line up.

Your quite right I forgot about the western take over being early 60s. I plan on modelling up to that point as I understand you would have then seen westerns and hymeks ect. On the line. Alot of the goods yard was ripped up in 63 and the carriage sidings taken out afterwards. Pete

I'm modelling through the period of nationalisation so from around 1950 to 65 if that helps zone it in. I want to have a few different rakes I can swap about and use over the different time periods. Obviously as time went on more mk1s would have appeared and I'd imagine that because this was in the far west I wondered if it was the same case as the SR where lots of stuff was cascaded older stock on local trains then supplemented by the express stock from London trains. In regards to locos it was only the GWR moguls with cut back steps that are allowed as well as 45xx and 55xx locos. Alot of time you'd see n class moguls take the trains for the beginning of the journey. Pete

Cheers rovex that's a big help I guess it's safe to say the GWR had more of a Hodge podge attitude to coach formations compared to the SR and their sets. Pete

If I crop the images to just focus in on the coaches would that come under fair use possibly ? Rather than reproducing the whole of the original images

Hi harlequin, I did check and couldn't find anything saying not to reproduce photos ? Might there be any other thing I should be looking for ? I'll remove the images just in case for now and see if anyone is able to help out that I can privately share the pictures with. Pete

I am building a layout of Ilfracombe and I so far have a lot of southern rolling stock and locos. Until I recently read a copy of the district controllers view I didn't realise how frequent GWR services could be on the line particularly on a summer Saturday. I now need to get myself some GWR stock and I'll most likely wait for the Dapol 43xx to come out then get myself a couple of them for motive power. I hope if I post some pictures then some of you with knowledge on the GWR will be able to help identify which coaches and may be able to advise me of what I might be able to buy to make some 3-4 coach trains. Thanks Pete

Cheers David I might make an enquiry I think they would be really useful for when I build the goods shed. I guess I could pretty much get an entire kit for it laser cut. Windows like you say will also be handy. First off today I used newspaper card and masking tape to fill in some of the gaps between the edges and the celotex insert I had made. This also meant that the staircase now had something to properly attach to. Today I had a little help from my girlfriend. She used the plaster bandages to give a nice smooth surface on the embankment. Once this had dried solid I filled in the gaps and reinstated the pavement with some more DAS clay. I also added some more coffee grounds to the areas which would have grass added. Finally I gave the paving a spray of grey primer, tomorrow I'll re add the sand to the car park floor and will continue work on the embankment. Cheers Pete

The stairs are a laser cut scale model scenery kit. They are called something like harbour / station steps will be useful for all sorts however. If you don't mind me asking was it expensive to get something the size of the shed done ? Sounds like you had them do the CAD design work so I believe they add that to the cost? Cheers Pete

Lots done today and I'm really happy with how it's now starting to come together. All of the platform framing in ready for the platform face to be stuck down. This section is wider than previous and has to have parts cut out for the stores building to go at the end of the buffer stops and the end of the station building. This shows the the celotex I've been sculpting into shape the angles were a little tricky as I had to follow the slope of the steps and the slope of the car park so slowly I cut bits off and then smoothed it over with sandpaper. The hole is for the steps I made earlier to slot into. This was then all glued to the underside of the board. I've painted the railings green and the station steps are slotted in for the time being as I've yet to building the actual station building. This will allow me some play if my dimensions are out. Tomorrow I'll busy out some more DAS clay and plaster bandages to give a surface for the embankment and join it onto the pavement surfaces already in place. The final platform surface is in place with coping stones. The visible framing is where the stores building will be. The lower walls are currently just sat in place as I'm tempted to build it as another removable unit like many of the buildings on the layout. I've also laid some more kerb stones today where the taxi office is on the front edge of the board. I probably don't have space for the full building but will build part of the building in the space available. This view shows it all starting to look very much like Ilfracombe station if I don't say so myself. Cheers Pete

Cheers David I've been debating getting some bits laser cut for some of the buildings on the layout I may have a go at scratch building them first and once my patience runs dry and lots of swearing I might swap to that idea haha. I have also been toying with the idea of 3d printing as I'll need to use that most likely for some of the platform canopy bits. Over the last couple of days I've made some more progress with the platforms. I had added more framing for the foundations and realised that having added layers of plaster bandage and clay on top that my station car park was now a good few mm higher than the platforms. This lead to an obvious slope when you added the platform piece between the two. So I decided to slice off the top of part of the car park and lower the whole thing. This has taken a couple of days of plaster, clay and re adding the kerb stones to get it back to what it was, but this time at the right height that has eliminated the slope. I'll put some more pictures up of the platform later as I'm currently working on it. I've also started work on filling the hole in the board. I've glued some pieces of celotex insulation foam together and will be carving it to create the embankment. This morning's work has focused on building the scale model scenery steps kit. First I cut off a few steps so that they would fit in the space. At this point I hadn't realised the kit gives you two sets and that only one main wall was required woops.... I did a test fit of the steps to ensure the spacing was correct still for the railings. Luckily I had the perfect amount of steps to keep the spacing even. I laid the steps on the side and then added each step so as to make sure it was all square. You can see the holes for the railings on some of the steps. The railings were cut to size and glued in then the steps and a few other bits of platform were taken outside for a blast of primer. Next up I'll give the railings a paint into green and weather the steps a little they will then be added on the celotex insert that I'm working on. Cheers Pete

Looks good towards the end of the platform less cluttered IMO. Cheers Pete

Your right @Rivercider the crossings would have definitely been an issue with all the staff needed. The line was also very light on freight thought it's life let alone like the rest of the railways when roads started stealing business. My order from scale model scenery arrived today. It includes a station interior kit and the harbour steps kit which will be adapted for the stairs down to the town. I also received my platform coping although these are named as network rail coping stones they actually match what was at Ilfracombe pretty well. The real ones were a bit wider but since my platform is thinner than scale this will help to make it look bigger. First up I glued in cross braced from card to ensure that when I put the platform face on there was no bowing. These were just cut from thick card and glued into place. I then used 30thou plasticard for the base. They were cut into 3 inch strips and then poly cemented into the peco platform edges. Finally the scale model scenery coping stones were glued in. The centre will eventually be filled with a gravel or sand texture to simulate the platform surface. This section will be under the canopy eventually so I'll not go too heavy. The next board has the platform outside the canopy so I'll go for something more coarse. The second part of the platform will include the Ilfracombe station sign, flowerbeds and telegraph poles as well as the starter signal at the end of the platform. Cheers Pete

I imagine a combination of people moving away from holidaying in the UK didn't help to start with. It also didn't help the line when it was transferred to the western region around 1963 or so. I'm not sure they really cared about the line and didn't really see it as a viable source of income. Pete

Yeah they are the drawings I got from network rail. I've also edited some of them so they have the correct layout for the station building ie. Where windows and doors should be. So some of the drawings have real measurements on them so I've used my scale ruler to make sure they match up once scaled. The fact that the first building was too big was that I didn't measure properly haha woops. It was a little too wide and the floor wasn't at the correct height. I guess that's why you have test runs. Cheers Pete

A little bit more work has been done over the bank holiday weekend in the scorching heat. First up was to cut a hole in the board where steps and embankment will go. You can see I then laid out some of my building drawings to check everything is looking like it will fit. I've then made a couple of practice runs at the station building from card. The first was too big this second one is much better so I'll crack on in plasticard soon. I've also done some more work on the colours in the carriage sidings to have a little bit more variety in tones. Not sure if you can see this in the photos. A hole was cut out the cork in the goods yard so the goods shed can slot in once it's been made. It's all starting to come together I've also got to support the base of the platform before adding the floor. I've ordered some coping stones from scale model scenery which will also be used. Cheers Pete

Wow thanks I use them for all sorts of stuff for my bulleid's unfortunately they are out of stock on this item however. Thanks Pete

Today's project was adapting one of my N class moguls to represent one of the locos that was adapted by British railways between the late 50s and 60s. Alot of the N class had been running for a long time by this point and were pretty knackered BR allowed 50 N and U class moguls to have frame replacements. In some cases these were full and others just partial. Many locos were also fitted with standard 4 chimneys and blast pipe. This resulted in the locos gaining outside steam pipes and curved frames at the front. They were also a little longer beneath the smokebox after modification. This photo shows 31848 after modification it didn't have it's smoke deflectors refitted for a while so you can see the modifications that have been done clearly. First off came the original chimney which is just plastic into the diecast body. The smoke deflectors also just come off as they are glued into the running frame. You can see the frames at the front the left is the original sloped and I've started filing the right one down. Filing complete. I'm not actually going to extend the frames at all as one, it would be very minimal in 4mm scale and two the front of the loco is all metal so would be a right pain to do. I used some plasticard and cut out the curved frames and drilled a hole through the centre as per the prototype. I may add the rings at a later date but couldn't think of a good way to make them with what I had. The chimney is also from 247 developments and was giving a spray of primer and then black and was duly glued into place. The frames were also glued onto the loco and then painted black. These will blend in once the loco gets weathered further. All that's left to do is add the outside steam pipes. Unfortunately no one does any castings of something similar so I'll have to make my own. After a chat with @Graham_Muz it seems the best way to go about making these will be to get some square plastruct or evergreen tubing then round the edges off. The outside steam pipes arnt just conventionally round neither are they square. This will be added on my list of things to do and I'll try to gain a better idea of the size i will need to make them by looking through some more photos. Cheers Pete

I decided to change up my plan slightly when I came to refitting the chimney to the M7 I realised that what was left of the original if filed down would be a more suitable base for the new casting. Filed and glued back in I could then get a snug fit for the new white metal chimney. Once I had fettled the casting I gave it a blast of Halfords primer and then a spray of black and left to dry in the scorching sun. The chimney was then superglued into the hole and left to set. A few touch ups with black paint were needed but all in all it looks good to me. A convertible M7? The previous owner looks to have lost the original roof and had tried to make a new one with plasticard this was not cut very straight and was too large. I made a new one myself from 20thou plasticard as a base and 20 thou for the panelling. Another trip to the garden for priming and spraying black and we are nearly done. I gently bent the plasticard before gluing it to the roof so that it would already have some shape and not rely on the glue holding it in place. Again a couple of touch ups with a paint brush and voila all done. Not bad for 37.50 really... Now I said that I'd be selling it on however.... After finding a couple of photos on the Ilfracombe line of push-pull fitted M7's this loco will be duly renumbered and will join the fleet. Cheers Pete

I tried to get some modelling done today but it was too hot for my liking. In the morning however I gave the backscene boards a couple of coats of white to lighten things up. The exit road was also given a coat of light brown as a base colour. Cheers Pete