Meld9003

I'd be interested in two P4 chassis. I'd be happy with either approach to the design, although I do think it makes sense to reuse as much of the original chassis as possible.

I think there is something to be said for the turn-in of the bodyside or the valance at the front on the Hornby model is slightly more accurate, the angles are very hard to see though as the direction the light falls seems to make a difference.  The cab windows too, are slightly better.  But the rest, DJ knocks it into a cocked hat for body & bogie detail and sophistication of the mechanism.  As for the panto......'oh yes it is'.....

Really? To my eye the Hornby one has a much better 'face' and finer moulding. The DJM bogie detail looks superb and the seperate fittings are nice though. Other than that it's pretty much a wash unless you are into DCC sound.

Have you had a chance to build the test etch for the Harton No. 2 chassis yet?

Can I have two sets of guard irons and wipers please.

I'm waiting to see what the Lenz is like to use.I thought the LH100 with the firmware 3.6 was surprisingly good and a lot easier to use, even if the hardware needed updating. I did some investigation last year of handset systems last year (I was worried about the long term future for my LH100 etc) and ended up finding a cheap Uhlenbrock Daisy II on eBay. It's not perfect (the highest functions can't be toggled), but the ergonomics and usability are very good indeed and probably better than anything else other than perhaps the new Piko handset. If the LH101 gets close to the Daisy II then it would be a worthwhile upgrade.

Having said that, I do think Lenz could have gone a little further and the ability to assign icons to functions so you know what you are triggering is becoming a necessity I think.

Not sufficiently impressed by what I've seen here of the Dapol ones to invest.  They are probably an improvement on the old Hornby model but with a fleet of those already it will take something very good indeed to part my credit card from its wallet for what would be a one-for-one replacement.

They are definitely an improvement on the old Limby model - they look to be the right shape for a start!

Well we were initial told by Hornby that they wouldn't be producing a 71 (not a cat in hell). 

DJM announced a 71 and then Hornby said that they were doing one after all. 

Kernow said that the DJM one would be out long before Hornby but that turned not to be the case. 

As I had already paid for the DJM, I stuck with it, even though Hornby were doing the running number that I wanted. My DJM will need to be renumbered. 

The Hornby one comes with or without (I want without) rain strips but as yet we don't know if DJM will come without rain strips on certain versions. 

Now Hornby's 71's are being knocked out for £99 at Rails, it does try my patience and loyalty a tad. 

If DJM weren't also doing the 74, it would really be a pointless exercise having a choice of two 71's with very little to choose between. 

I don't think Hornby ever said anything about doing/not doing a 71 until they announced it. I think some in the trade/press were aware that it was on their to do list. Dave has certainly said on here that he was aware that it was on their list of future projects. It seems to have been on the back burner, although they had the basic research. Simon Kohler has said that a loco ahead of it in the queue needed more research so the class 71 was bumped up the list to fill the gap in their announcements.

V4 firmware is/was supposed to be undergoing testing on larger layouts so hopefully might be out next year too... The handset doesn't look that exciting, but it all depends on the software and the interface. You can tell some thought has gone into this compared to the LH100, just have to see whether or not it's enough.

Oh Dear, it is an RTR loco after all, the flycranks are a bit far out, but OK, the face should be flat, but it is correctable, and all the smaller details may not match your particular prototype, but they can't cater for everybody. I am adding windscreen wipers. but that's about it, ...somebody mentioned lifting rings, where exactly are they as most photos do not show the roof. These should be easy to add without affecting the finish.

To much disassembly to put the flycranks opposite the weights at present.

Were the drivers standing to operate these shunters or did they sit? Just trying to get a realistic driver figure to fit to the cab, most spotting/photos of these were too far away to see the driver. Also were they one man crew or two? (BR days in the1950's).

 

Stephen

The two photos of 08176 and 08177 above show them.

I did not like the conduits, toy like IMHO. Mine are now black using a Sharpie Permanent Marker. Best to put a piece of thin card or paper behind the conduit ot protect the body finish. Black on black, easy to make a permanent mistake.

Colour-rail have a photo of 13240 at York in 1956 where the conduit is white or very light grey. It does have the more normal layout though, rather than the one Dapol have chosen. On a more personal note and thinking ahead, does anyone know when D3245 got wasp stripes? Or better still know of a photo of it in 1964?

Yes it does, that video dates from May 2016. It shows all 4 lamps as white. It does not show any red lamps.

 

I'm not relying on a video of a pre-production model; I'm talking about the two I have in front of me and I cannot get the centre bottom lamp to illuminate on either one at either end.

 

I have a little experience with DCC, but of course there's always room for error. If anyone can tell me which Function Output the bottom centre lamp is connected to, I'll give it a go.

 

It appears that the lighting available on DCC is a directionally operated top white lamp, a pair of 'shunting lamps', one red one white, at each end and a cab light which operates in both directions.

 

If you download the sound-fitted operating instructions from Dapol using the link I provided earlier there is only mention of F0 'top white marker light', F11 cab light, and F10 shunting lights -  one red one white at each end.

 

Dapol also say that a ZIMO 5 function decoder (is there such a beast?) will be offered. This supports the view that the Function Outputs have been used as I suggested much earlier in this thread. i.e no additional lighting functions fitted.

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul

Will you be doing ActiveDrive sound for the 08?

I think most laser printers should be pretty good in terms of accuracy, as long as you make sure you print at 100% and don't scale to fit. Ink jets should be OK on thick photo paper, but anything less and they will probably soak the paper causing it to stretch slightly. This can also happen with laser prints as they absorb moisture from the air. If in doubt, add a dimension to every line.

A bump for this thread and a request for an UK seller of the Coffman clamp as usrd ny Nick, Chris and others please.

Branchlines sell them

If I remember correctly, the issue is the start-stop cycle as coreless motors are only rated for so many starts. Coreless motors can stop very quickly when current is removed. Old school feedback controllers or pulsed controllers can have big enough gaps at slow speed that the motor effectively starts and stops many times a second. More modern controllers use a higher frequency so the motor should never stops spinning. This is also why some older and cheaper DCC chips are not recommended for coreless motors.

I would definitely be interested in a long bunker J72, especially if it could do the BR built versions. The Bachmann model is starting to show its age now.

But what are these?  Somewhat peculiar looking they seem to actually be some of the latterday route learning car variants with modified bodywork etc rather than the original branch line cars.  Did they say anything about doing one in original condition or even one in the condition in which they later ran in passenger service prior to reconditioning changes?

They did say they were doing several variants including as orginally built with two-digit headcode and that they had identified several differences - I can't remember them I am afraid, but one might have been brake compartments.

I`ll bet, its not this coming summer, either.

I asked about the 21/29 at the Diesel and Electric Show. The rep I spoke too wasn't sure of the exact details as it wasn't his project, but he did say that they had been delayed while they got some more information about the bogies. They hoped to have some test shots by late summer/Warley

They look nice.  I wonder if the "further announcements to come" might be 116 flavoured?

They did say that they were going to use the model as a spring board for other DMUs and I did mention 116s...

I've seen a lot of criticism of the reviewer's knowledge of history, but not much of his actual points. A lot of the people having a go at him are picking up on very minor points (e.g the 'business card' issue) to try and invalidate his genuine issues with missing parts and incorrect assembly.

These things happen with all suppliers and I am not sure why some people are so defensive about it.

I doubt Hornby has any knowledge of individual pre-orders. They are between you and the retailer. The retailer will place an order with Hornby for X models and Hornby will try and supply them with that number. If shops want to try and sell models at inflated models that is up to them, and Hornby can't do much about it.

I think people need to take a deep breath because it becoming rather sad watching them massively overreact to the slightest problem. Do we have any actual reports of a short delivery or is it just retailers selling out quickly? And is anyone really surprised about shops receiving their models on different days at this time of year? There are loads of reports in the media of couriers backed up and other major retailers experiencing delays.

And as for the complain about a TMC advertising a weathered version already....

The cab roof looks a bit funny to me, like it's got a thumbprint in the corners.

Try here: http://www.abrail.co.uk/DandEdepots.htm. And here's No 56: http://www.abrail.co.uk/Images/Darlington3.jpg