MarshLane

1 hour ago, Bunkerbarge said:

Sadly, pretty much as I expected simply writing off feedback as grumbling with a condescending comment and avoiding the point being made regarding the inclusion of 32 pages of irrelevent content as a means of justifying a huge price hike.  If the only reply from the moderating team is to be as equally dismissive as that from the editorial team it only confirms what I see as a lack of respect for the readership. 

Horses for courses I suspect, what you don't like others will.  Your comment about getting home and discovering you'd paid £10 simply shows that like many people you pick something up and go pay with a card and don't look at the total. I'll make that assumption as if you'd paid cash you know how much you would have paid. I cannot dispute the advice your friend was given by BRM that it is your responsibility to check - nobody should ever tap their card or enter a PIN without checking the total.

Also you say "simply writing off feedback as grumbling with a condescending comment" - what exactly did you expect to happen? Oh we are sorry here is a refund? Thanks for your feedback we won't do it again? I suspect whatever response you received you would not have been happy about because you chose to purchase something, without looking at the price, without looking at the amount the retailer was charging you and then feel annoyed that you made a mistake because you assumed something.  Dont worry, we've all done it, we've all got home and muttered swear words to ourselves, but then we realise it's just a small thing and watch in the future. To say that you'll never buy another copy of BRM again is, in my view, a total over reaction to the situation.

TO balance this argument a bit, can I add that I know of two people who have both bought this issue of BRM specifically because Traction was included, both of them are modellers, one very rarely buys BRM unless there is an article he wants to read, the other is a semi-regular reader who purchases it may 5-6 times a year.  Both mentioned it to me and said they had bought BRM to have a good read and the addition of 'Traction' was a great advantage.  So it really is a case of what suits one might not suit another.

I am not sure how this works, but also consider if you had BRM on subscription from the publishers, I doubt you would have been charged extra for the bigger issue - I am assuming that subscribers got the same bumper edition as everyone else.  However, writing and making views know in a polite way, whether for or against any ideas such as this, surely has to be recommended or  how else does the editorial team know what readers want, and whether they like ideas or not?  

@AY Mod how does the different in price work with the digital edition of the magazine for those that buy individual issues?

You’re doing well Tony, looks nice! I look forward to seeing it running!

I really do like this entire concept Paul. A really positive and achievable way to keep things fresh, and workable. Also the size means each module can be finished within a reasonable time frame, while giving the flexibility to encompass new things and have reasonable operating potential.

Hi Duncan,

Simple answer get an Apple phone, I never have a problem!! Sorry sarcasm mode off :)

I have never used Samsung, but somewhere you should be able to export or send images and within the options for either there should be an option to remove EXIF data. If you clear that, then two things:

a) firstly the image rotation fields with IPTC should be cleared so the forum software will have assume it was taken right way up because there is nothing there to tell it otherwise!

b) it will also remove any GPS data which would pin point where you live, and hence where the photo was taken, and the obvious security concerns that brings.  I always make sure I select that from my iPad or iPhone before sending pictures over to the Mac to go on the web.  Its about time all of the forum software (for all forums and all forum type software, not just rmWeb) presented an option to users to automatically remove location data, which the individual user could switch on or off at his/her choosing.

For Mac Users

If anyone has a Mac and a phone or camera that includes GPS data, a quick way of removing it, is to open the image in Preview, go to Tools > Show Inspector, click on GPS, and click the 'Remove Location Info' button, then just close the image. Preview will automatically save it and remove all the GPS data.

I assume there is something similar in Windows, but as I have not used a Windows PC in 22 years, I have no idea about where or how you would do that!

Hope the above helps..

Rich

2 hours ago, Duncan. said:

These are the basic essentials of our hobby. However I do despair when I see a layout full of just out of the box items.....unmodified, un weathered stock passing similarly unchanged  out-of -the-box buildings and scenery....

i believe that Railway Modelling is a creative hobby, 'creative' being the salient point. If a ten year old child makes a house from card with glue and paint I believe that is more creative than a layouts worth of straight out of the box items..... and surely it is the making of the model that is the most satisfying part of this wonderful hobby, I guess my point is with all the wonderfully detailed products available we don't fall into the trap of arranging these in a thousand different ways to make a thousand different but also the same  layouts... we must continue to use those products with our own skill and creativity to produce unique models.

 

Cheers

Duncan

 

Hi Duncan,

In the spirit of a 'forum', I would say that I personally agree and disagree with some of your comments.  I think the wonderful aspect of this hobby is that it is a broad church and the congregation includes those from various walks of life, meaning that the hobby of railway modelling is different things to different people.

I am slowly progressing with a layout personally, and now have a dislike a Peco track work - it looks to 'modelly' for my liking, so am into the field of handbill track work.  Something I would not even have considered 10 years ago. But other people say I am quite happy with Peco, thats fair enough, and each to their own.  I think the same goes for the 'out of the box' layouts.  Should such layouts be at an exhibition? In my personal view no, my opinion is that exhibitions are to exhibit layouts that people have built, such as your Shirebrook which is a superb example.  But having said that, I have friend who enjoy running trains prototypically but have no interest in scenics and layout - one friend has OO gauge model that just has yellow sticky notes to denote the stations and sidings! Yet the enjoyment that he (I would say 'we' as some of us go and run it with him on occasions) gets from it is up there with the enjoyment you get from building Hobbs Bridge, or I get from the times I have the enormous privilege of running the historic EM gauge layout Buckingham with Tony Gee.

So to me if people enjoy using the 'out of the box' stuff then fine, thats what the hobby is all about relaxation and enjoyment.  I think if we all had to have things the same, then there would probably be thousands of GWR branch line terminus layouts and nothing else!!!  But equally, I do agree, that layouts such as Hobbs Bridge and Shirebrook (as well as the many others out there that have had hours and hours carefully spent on them building scenics, scratch building the buildings, working with MERG electronics, weathering scratch built, kit built or RTR rolling stock, what ever the roll the modeller plays, they all encourage other people to try things.

Different people have different skills, different abilities, but also of course different inabilities - health, mobility, dexterity can all impact on what people can do, and if somebody is sadly falls under one of those categories, then they need to able to enjoy the hobby however they can. And good luck to them!

Having said all that, I think in this day and age encouraging people not to turn to out of the box modelling, but to become creative is great and we need to see more of it - of course that now covers everything from PVA glue and cardboard through to 3D printing!  Its horses for courses, and long may it continue....

Love the update with Hobbs Bridge, and I also think the idea of finishing the viaduct in mid-air is a genius move.  Not one I'd have considered, but it works really well.

Rich

3 hours ago, Andrew P said:

OR, As Rod Stewart does, have an EXTRA room in Hotels when on Tour to make his Buildings between rehearsals and Gigs to chill out. Now all I need is for us to do bigger Gigs so that we can afford Hotels.  🤪

What happens with the extra breakfast at the B&B as a result of the extra room though Andy????

22 hours ago, Physicsman said:

I (again) have to say that it's good to be back on here and your response has certainly encouraged me to think more about the layout.

And who knows - in the next 4-6 weeks I may even have some EM steamers to test on Gill Head!

If we renamed the 10:00 St Pancras - Carlisle express the 'Saturn Adventurer' or 'Moonraker Express' would that help get you back any quicker! 😃🤣

31 minutes ago, BWsTrains said:

Except make them bend around curves in space.

😎

I am sure one of Elon Musk's little internet satellites will probably come round every 30 minutes and give a web connection for a bit.....

Great to see Wolfstatt on here Craig, look forward to seeing it in person and further photos/videos being added!  

Edit: Craig, as recommended I have just watched the video on YouTube from @PaulRhB of the layout at Alexandra Palace in March last year.  Great camera work from Paul shows off just what a wonderful layout you have achieved here.  Really well done.  For anyone else that wants to take a look I have put the link below! I'll go watch some of the others on YT of Wolfstaff now .. thats my evening gone :)

Rich

If it helps, I have just about got most of my Rhein Valley photos from a couple of years ago reuploaded after the server crash - they may help in someways.  I have got several hundred from that trip however, only a small number are on the thread as it is a bit repetitive, but if there's anything specific do shout I'll take a look.

Rheinland 2019

Rich

15 hours ago, Physicsman said:

However, the conspiracy theorists just claim this is all fake. Complete idiots!

Well obviously its fake - my nephew took his remote controlled buggy over the sands at Cleethorpes ... if you put a picture of the tracks from that into black and white its just as good as Nasa's 'close-up' shots of the moon ... a man on the mood pah! as if! 😉  Sorry I really do need to stop letting sarcasm take over!

Thanks for the description of your photograph process. Fascinating.  I have done video filming work running a 6K camera a 120fps in the past and know the amount of data that comes from that, so can imagine the processing power for compiling that lot.  Well worth it though, the quality of your photos speak for themselves.  Keep up the good work.

Rich

Hi Duncan,

You're making some nice progress there - what's the plan for the end of the viaduct? I presume thats the edge of the baseboard on the right hand side of the layout?

Rich

Stunning Images Jeff, you are going to have stop flying your drone over there so often tho - I mean if you can do it, while sat surfing rmWeb, what excuse does NASA have for these big rocket things!

Well done on the photography tho, really good. I presume they are focus stacked?  What was the original number of images for the composition?

Rich

3 hours ago, mikemeg said:

Hi 'Marsh Lane',

 

Your original iron, the one with the collapsed tip; was it a variable or fixed temperature and what was the temperature range.

 

I once had a precision gold variable temperature (180C - 400C) range digital soldering set, which was inadvertently left on in its stand for nearly 24 hours. When I came to use it the whole tip had oxidised and almost completely burnt away.

 

My current iron - a similar digitally controlled variable temperature thing - has an automatic switch off facility after a time interval of inactivity, which can be set - now set to 15 minutes. This system was bought new for less than £40, with temperatures 180C - 480C, 60 watt rating and five different bits; so not expensive.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

 

Mike,

Thanks - it's a fixed temperature iron ... it was only £35 from Amazon, so I wouldn't have expected a lifetime use out of it!  My 25w is an Annex Variable Temperature Control and that is a very different story!  

16 minutes ago, Chris Turnbull said:

This isn't the first time this problem has been aired.  

 

My suggestion  then and now is to treat yourself to, say, six inches of copper rod of a suitable diameter to fit your iron.  You can machine or file the tip to whatever profile you want and have several tips of various shapes if you desire which you can interchange.  A couple of years ago the tip on my 120W iron was showing signs of distress after many years use so I replaced that and was so pleased with the results I did the same for my 25W iron which must be 55 to 60 years old.  Copper rod is available from any model engineering supplier.  It's not cheap but will give you many years of faithful service.

 

Chris Turnbull

Thanks Chris, I am thinking that may well be the way to go.

Rich

Morning Peter,

Well that’s just not good enough! Have you been over to check the dry stone walling around the viaduct for dust and missing stones. Maybe your telescope can be set up to give us a view of whatever your looking at from beside Gill Head??? 😂

Seriously, glad to hear your keeping well. I think we all go through bouts of zero interest, somebody said it’s called human nature! Enjoy your astronomy, our next door neighbour (sadly no longer with us) used to have a motorised telescope concreted into his shed, with a motorised roof opening. I put my Nikon D850 on there a few times and had some lovely images, but you know far more about it so can only imagine what you’ve been getting! Another vote for the odd image on the ‘Space from Gill Head Observatory’ thread!!! 
 

Long as you’re enjoying yourself. It’s like @Andrew P who’s doing very little modelling at the moment … something to do with making a lot of noise with a guitar, which has replaced the trains apparently. In all honesty he’s bloody good, having seen some of his Facebook videos! But don’t tell him I said so, wouldn’t want to push him further away from the trains!!!

As ever look forward to the updates when you have something to share Jeff.

take care

Rich

Any progress Jeff? Surely you must have migrated back into what @Andrew P calls the Pit of Doom and away from those twinkly stars by now… 😃

Hope you are keeping well?

Rich

46 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

You would, as other makers have done, need to manipulate the computer model to make the rims and tyres attached to the mudguards at various points to support them. I doubt that you could print a spoke of around 1/8" Ø at 4mm scale.

 

The art of compromise and all that. It would be a great project though!

Maybe some aspect of encouraging modellers to scratch build the wheels could come into, or a fine etch for the spokes that folds a couple of times to give some depth and gently pushes inside a 3D printed tyre?  Sorry my brain is working overtime now - as you say a great project!  Sorry for the thread drift ...

@KNP I dont tend to comment often as I feel there is not much I can add to the remarks that are passed, but as I am posting, congratulations on superb modelling, great detail and a very enjoyable thread, that I do read/check in to every few days!

Rich

17 minutes ago, MrWolf said:

 

That is something that I have often thought.

 

Unfortunately ours are two from 1949 and one from 1951.

One of the two I'm after is 1946, basically the 1939 model, but with noticeably y the wrong front forks for a prewar bike.

 

It does however give me an excuse for the next addition to the equation being about 1936, which would be rather nice.

 

It's all down to opportunity and the asking price!

Either way I am sure @Modelu Chris would be interested in 3D scanning for their offering .. although I admit I am not sure if there are any bikes or whether the 3D printing could commodate the fine detail around wheel spokes etc.  Food for thought maybe?

1 hour ago, brossard said:

 

I bought a Weller 80W iron a couple of years ago.  A huge disappointment as the bit turned black almost immediately.  So, there's a non recommendation for you.

 

Depending on the thickness of the brass you might consider a mini torch although I've never used one.

 

My 50W soldering station has been man enough to tackle my 7mm kits up to now.

 

John

Thanks John,

What is your 50W iron if you dont mind me asking?

Rich

Just as a thought, can anyone recommend a similar 60W iron?  I am thinking it may be best to go for a different brand.  I dont want a temperature controlled iron (got a 25W one),  but as this kit is a 7mm Brass kit it needs the 60W power.  Just a simple iron would work fine - any recommendations appreciated, although I know a lot is personal preference.

Rich

3 hours ago, Darius43 said:

Looks like very severe oxidation of the tip.  Did you coat the tip with solder after each use?   This prevents oxidation as it seals the tip from exposure to the air.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Hi Darius, Yes tinned to start with, then solder after each use, and not touched it with a file or anything!

2 hours ago, Barclay said:

I'm certain the bit must be faulty, it looks like a whole chunk of it has broken away. Even a heavily used and abused bit should last ages longer than this!

Thanks @Barclay, that was my view, but I wanted to just make sure it wasnt me doing something stupid!

1 hour ago, brossard said:

Try a replacement bit.  I bought a Weller replacement wand (from Amazon) for my soldering station not too long ago.  At the same time I bought replacement tips.  Tips will wear out after a while but not in just a few hours of use.  My Weller 20W stand alone iron has been champion.

 

I have used the replacement wand quite a bit since then with rosin and regular flux without any issues.

 

One thing I swear by is the use of brass wool.  Frequent wiping of the tip on this keeps the bit shiny.  You could use a damp sponge but the wool is more convenient IMO.

 

John

John,

Thanks I'll return this one as faulty, and get it replaced and see what happens.  I have a temperature controlled 25W one for small items, but this kit needs more power, as there is a lot more brass to act as a heatsink.  Yes agree with brass wool, although I have used a damp sponge as well on occasions.

Thanks guys.

Rich

Hi @spamcan61

Its Liquid Rosin Flux, that I was originally recommended for track work but is working superbly on the kit as well!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005DNR01Q/ref=pe_3187911_185740111_TE_item

Edit: Should add, I have used it for track work for a while now, but havent noticed any issues with previous soldering irons, although they were all less than 30W.

Rich

Can anyone offer any insight into what's gone wrong here (or have I done something wrong) as I am somewhat confused!

I purchased a new Weller 60W soldering iron last week.  I have used it six or seven times in putting a kit together so it may have been on for up to 4-5 hours in total.  It was brand new and packaged when purchase, I have come to it today and the chisel tip (which was attached when supplied) appears to have collapsed.  Is this a fault with the tip, a problem somewhere or am I doing/not doing something?  

I am loathe to return to Amazon as faulty and request a replacement if the same thing is going to happen again.

Looks like I may have slipped on the sloap today ... purchased an RTB Cargo-liveried Vectron model in HO ... Oops!  Well just means ill have to push on with this and sort it out now :)

Had a tweak around with a potential layout plan that I'll post on here when I am reasonably happy with it, but manage to do away with the single and double slips to get around the issue with Tillig track.  

Did some research and discovered that the differences between diamond crossings, slips and point work is reasonably well known - which seems a really odd state of affairs, but at least its not just me that couldn't make it come together with the longer points.  Logically there must be some way, but hey.  Having got down to just pure points I think it's now doable and reasonably quickly from a trackwork point of view.

Paul,

Thanks for that - that last diagram seems to confirm that there is not a standard 'between track width' when diamond or slips are used.  Point crossovers seem to run at 59mm between the tracks, but when you put a slip or diamond in to the layout it has to increase, which leads to uneven spacing.  Maybe I am just too used to Peco in the past where everything work together!

Having been playing about in Templot last night, tho I think I may have the beginning of a layout and using hand-built pointwork with those ScaleFour OO gauge concrete sleepers, it gives another challenge.  I'll keep playing around with things!