lezz01

They change 16 volts AC to 12 volts DC. The rectifier changes the current from AC to DC and the regulator changes 16 Volts down to 12 Volts. Whether you need them or not depends upon your control requirements and whether you built you're own controller or just used plug and play components. Regards Lez.

So I'm converting the other 3F. Yes I know I wanted to do something else but I've spent almost a year making jigs for converting Bachmann locos and decided that the only way to see how much faster they made the job I really should do like for like as a comparison. Anyway with jigs in hand I made a start and the tender is complete except for the brake rigging which goes on last after the loco and tender have been reconnected. I've built up the coupling rods and fitted and quartered the wheels on the non driven axles. It then dawned on me that I wasn't happy with the method of knurling the drive axle for the final drive gear. Everything else is precision right but the method of knurling the axle is to mark the place on the axle where the gear goes and then laying the axle flat on the bench roll it back and forth with an edge of a file pressing on the axle and that my friends is about as precision as throwing a dart over your shoulder whilst facing away from the dartboard. SO I built another jig..... It's in two parts first part is to mark the centre line or the position of the gear on the axle. once marked you then fit the axle onto the knurling jig with two collars fitted with grub screws with the centre line just covered by the left hand angle. then run back and forth with the edge of a file between the two angles. and hey presto one accurately knurled axle in less than one minuet that hasn't had the file wandering all over the place. Bingo! I've now stripped the loco and retrieved the final drive gear and fitted it to the axle and tomorrow I shall fit and quarter the wheels and spacers and drop in the wheelsets and see how it runs. More soon guys. Lez.

Grain in and flower out I think, maybe animal feed as well. Maybe coal but I think they had a water mill down at the quay. Regards Lez.

Well I have to say I'm going to download that right now. Regards Lez.

I use these for mixing and thinning. https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B65G4W43/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2XTPDLL0J8EW0&psc=1 0.8 pence each you can just throw them away after use with enamel and wash them out with acrylics. When thinning acrylic you can just use water with a tiny drop of washing up liquid to brake the surface tension. Don't waste money on thinners even with enamels, I just use either white spirit or lighter fluid. Regards Lez.

Yeh but when you zoom in they look too dirty to be going on a beano. Regards Lez.

I would say that almost all paint needs thinning before spraying. I always mix my paint in a 30ml plastic medicine cup. How much you thin is determined by how well it flows. So I pour paint into the cup and then give it a good stir. Then I get a good amount on the stirrer and blob it onto the inside of the cup and see how well it flows down the inside of the cup. You are aiming for a consistency that flows freely down the cup, add thinners a few drops at a time until it flows well but it's not so thin that it just runs off the plastic. Even Vallejo air needs thinning to some extent. Regards Lez.

Vallejo aim at military modellers and fantasy modeller market they also do many useful weathering colours as well. AK Interactive is another range that has very useful colours along with MIG who are into washes and pigments in both enamel and acrylics. Life colour has some dedicated railway modelling colours, all are water based acrylics apart from MIG and include ranges formulated specifically for airbrush use. Regards Lez.

They are like Kirtley, Johnson and Deeley 0-6-0s you can never have too many. Regards Lez.

What they both said. Deeper is better. Regards Lez.

The problem is that you can't scale gravity and gravity runs everything. It determines the force acting on an object within a gravity well and everything reacts in proportion to it's mass. You also have to factor in inertia to move an object you have to apply a force strong enough to overcome inertia and once that force falls below the point that it can no longer overcome inertia then it all stops and will topple over in the direction of the pull of gravity. Regards Lez.

It should stay on the track. It's the coning of the wheels and the inclination of the rails that keep the wheels on the track not the flanges you understand, you can assist this with super elevation to cancel out the centrifugal force but if you put on too much then you come back to the weight at the rear working against the propelling force from the front and straightening out the curve. Regards Lez.

If you imagine your train as a piece of string with a heavy weight on each end if you try to pull this in a circle the weight at the rear will always try to make the circle into a straight line. To stop this happening make sure each wagon is as free running as possible, try to make sure that each wagon is as close to the same weight as possible if some wagons are heavier than others put them as close to the loco as possible and have the lighter wagons to the rear. If a wagon has a binding axle remove it and replace or free up the offending wheelset as this will act as a weight. Objects will try to move in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force in this case a heavy brake van at the rear will induce a lateral force to the train and straighten out the circle so it will fall off the rails towards the inside of the curve. Newtons first & second law of motion are in business here. An objects reaction to an external force is proportionate to it's mass. Regards Lez.

The concentration will be clearly marked on the bottle Philip it should be between 70-100%. Let it down to around 50% and try it on a bit of sprue first, if it makes the sprue very soft add more water. Get yourself a 150ml glass medicine bottle and fill with 50ml of the butanone and add 50ml of water shake well and try it if it's too strong add another 10ml of water. This is assuming that it's 100% if the conc. is 70% adjust accordingly. Try it out on the sprue rather than an actual chair first mate and open a window and do NOT smoke if you have the top off the bottle if you're a smoker. I would also suggest labelling the bottle with BUTANONE X% once you have the final concentration and the word FLAMABLE. Regards Lez.

Thank you for the kind words Tony. My instability does stem from having a high IQ. Without wishing to blow my own trumpet as they say it's tested out in the low 150s with a heavy mechanical bias. I grasp concepts very easily but struggle to connect with people in any sort of social context. I'm almost a recluse and I'm very intolerant of people who are, to me dumb. This can come across as arrogant but I just don't understand why they aren't as clever as I am and become very frustrated which is my failing not theirs. When I'm unwell I can be a danger to myself and others as I can become very violent very quickly. Fortunately I know the signs and can control myself long enough to be able to retreat to my safe space. I have learnt from bitter experience that no mater how well I'm feeling at any given moment I'm never well enough to stop taking my medication. I'm totally incapable of holding down a full time job and have been for the last 20 years. I become overwhelmed by lots of people at one time as I suffer from paranoid delusions and given that I'm a highly trained killer that isn't good. Things never used to be like this but after I suffered my first stroke I lost the ability to control myself properly. You say that I'm brave but I don't see myself as brave just damaged. I never expect nor ask for pity but I do need to be up front about my mental conditions as I have an alternative personality and the monster can take over when I get overwhelmed as the monster feels no pain. I'd really love to be able to interact with people more but it's not really wise for me to do so. My Kimmy is the only person who can switch off the monster so I don't tend to go out without her and should she proceed me into the next life I will join her by my own hand within 24 hours. Regards Lez.

Apology accepted. I went through secondary education being told I was stupid and wouldn't amount to anything! However I've qualified and worked as a toolmaker, served my country in the army where I produced fire control data for tactical nuclear missiles, and yes often on the back of a cigarette packet just because we could and it was fun to race against, and beat, the computer. I've also gained a 2:1 in biochemistry and worked for 25 years as a pharmacy technician. Seems my teachers, who told me I was stupid didn't know the difference between stupidity and dyslexia. Yes I still need a spell checker to spell dyslexic but that's the way the cookie crumbles. I'm what is termed as an unconscious compensator which can be a pain in the ass but I can do calculus and 6 gun fire missions in my head! It also makes me unstable, hence the fact I'm registered disabled and I don't always play nice with other children but I always try to do my best. So you'll have to forgive me if I come across as a bit highly strung and a little touchy, that'll be the personality disorders you understand. If it wasn't for my lovely, extremely patient wife I would have put myself out of my, and everyone else's, misery a long time ago. The truth is I don't get on with people so I don't get out much. Although through even the worst of it I've managed to keep my very part time gig in the local pharmacy but they keep me well away from the punters you understand as dead customers can be a bit heavy on the paperwork and doesn't make for good reviews on line but I'm an absolute whiz at the paperwork so they keep me in a box out the back. I can just about manage 1 exhibition a year and although I say I'm building an exhibition layout to be honest I'm kidding myself that I'll ever have the confidence to actually exhibit it and although I'd love to be in a club again I don't think it's really going to happen either. Regards Lez.

You will need to watch the concentration of butanone in larger quantities Philip. I have dilute mine down as it's 100%. If it's too strong it'll eat right through or turn plastic to soup in short order. MEK a la Slaters is I think 35% and it isn't strong enough for ABS plastic, Plasweld which is strong enough is around 40%, 50% is fine although you have to be careful with 10 thou and under. Regards Lez.

Whilst it's very kind of you to correct my errors in English I would just like to point out that I'm dyslexic and find such correction offensive. Regards Lez.

Yes but once you've made the master and the silicon moulds it's just a case of building a wax tree and a casting mould, burning out the wax and pouring the melt. Then you remove the casting mould with acid. You can do a couple of hundred at a time even more. Jewellers do it all the time, the hard bit is making the master. The shrinkage value of all metals is known so you make your master oversize by the % of shrinkage value of your chosen casting metal and off you go. I won't say simples because it isn't but it is an established process that's well known. Regards Lez.

I love the chassis it's very tidy. Regards Lez.

Perseverance chassis yes. Maygib wheels no. The trick with those kits is to put the motor in the tender and drive through a UJ and fill the loco with as much lead as you can get into them. However that's not the point I was trying to make. I was suggesting that it might be possible to use the arcing effect to weld two mazak parts together. Regards Lez.

Roger Webster of Ratio once told me that the reason they stopped doing the two loco kits with wheels was because they were mazak and had a tendency to weld themselves to the track if there was any arcing. Now it seems to me that you could use that to fix the two bits of mazak together the problem of course is how to induce an arc between the two bit's of metal making sure that they in the correct place when the arc welds them together but I'm thinking you could do it with an RSU maybe or even a fully charged car battery but if you get it wrong it could blow a hole in one piece or the other instead of welding them together. The way to go would of course be a miniature spot welder but you would need to make it as an attachment to an RSU and it would have to be small enough for the job and at the same time be strong enough to be able to apply enough pressure to do the job. Regards Lez.

Here you go Philip. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185987213176?var=694006084897 Regards Lez.

I've seen 3D printed nuts and bolts in 1/72nd scale on eBay. Regards Lez.

Try Silver Tay Models on ebay Tricky. I have an email address as well. silvertaymodels@gmail.com The chaps called Douglas Cook he's done shed plates for Bristol and Gloucester in 4mm for me. I know he does 7mm stuff. Regards Lez.