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Revolution Mike B

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Everything posted by Revolution Mike B

  1. The green stuff appears to be growing but I need to do something about that tree….it looks a bit bedraggled! I’m kind of stuck for a bit until this all dries out as I can’t risk soaking it any further otherwise it will end up warping and become a right mess. In the meantime I started airbrushing the old static grass, not that it looked bad, but just to make it look more late spring / early summer. A few blasts with some MIG Ammo bright green has broken up the uniformity and made it look a little more ‘fresh’ grass. You can see here how it’s created a nice patchy effect when the grass grows at different heights. I’d like to get the bridge end finished by the end of next month and make a start on getting the station looking like a station again rather than a construction site. No work on the layout over Easter as I want to run some trains!
  2. Cheers Stu. As with Oak Road it’s set in late spring so I may just get away with it.
  3. This looks way too ‘green’! The colours are going to need to be toned down a bit as they’re very bright…. …..although some of it my be the wet PVA and the poor lighting in the loft. There’s not much I can do now until it dries out, which given the current cold spell, could take a few days. I won’t lie, I’m finding doing things in 1:148 a little challenging as everything looks way over scale and I’m still finding my feet with the different techniques. I’m sure I’ll get there but it’s not as easy as it is with 1:76.2 where you can more or less make anything look right without too much effort. Right….back to the day job!
  4. Well it’s been absolutely ages since I’ve posted anything relating to either layout on RMWeb, so it’s time for a N Gauge update. I’ve had a rethink on the new layout and rather than waste time and effort trying to modify the existing one, I’m going to start from scratch with new baseboards. This means that Market Lavington can stay complete, which is just at well because it will be going to Taunton RailEx this year come hell or high water! Over the last month in between having a stinking cold and going away with work, I’ve managed to start rebuilding the end I’d ripped out. There’s a new bridge and embankment, and I’ve started creating a new scenic break. It’s been slow progress but things are moving forward somewhat. Once I’ve finished the construction of this end, I’m going to get the station finished and then move up to the other end to relay some track, and modify the scenery for new over bridge. I’ve also bought a YaMoRC power booster from DCC Train Automation so that I can split the track and accessory buses. Busy Busy Busy!
  5. There’s an easy fix for that. Remove the motor, drive shafts and gears, then you’ll have a dummy unit.
  6. I find it really odd that people don’t understand why it’s better to call a halt to a project and correct any errors, but instead would be happy to have a model that’s completely incorrect? just stop and think about this for a minute. Dapol have sunk a fair amount of money into tooling - we’ve seen that as they’ve already shown an EP sample. However, as mentioned by a few people, it was quite far off the mark to even come close to how it should be. Rightly, they decided it was far better to offer a model that wasn’t riddled with errors. As for cancelling pre orders, I find this even more baffling. It’s not a hardship to sit on a pre order, and it’s not as though there’s an abundance of ready to run, O Gauge Sheds being offered by alternative manufacturers! And one final point. If there’s nothing to update, then there’s no need for an update. When they have something to announce, they’ll do it. That’s nothing to do with customer service…..that’s common sense!
  7. I’ll bring a Symoba up to MRS Cav 👍
  8. The whole idea of the kinematic mech is to allow the coupler to extend out in an arc when traversing curves to enable close coupling - something which you cannot do with bogie mounted couplers (my comment is not directed at Cav), and the couplers on the 56 do their job well as they will pull with the curve and weight of the train behind it. The reason bogies have a cut out with kinematic systems is to allow the coupler mech to move without fouling the bogie and not, as assumed, to make the bogie move the coupling mech. There’s a bit of a dark art when designing the things in terms of spring tension, arc, and physical shape, but putting that to one side, on the whole, as a modeller, I would always prefer body mounted kinematic couplers over bogie mounted ones, as with the sprung buffer vs fixed buffer argument. If I didn’t have sprung buffers on certain stock, it wouldn’t go through the fiddle yard on Oak Road when close coupled, or in this case, without kinematic mechs on the couplers. As an aside, the best kinematic coupling system I’ve ever seen is made by Symoba and its tiny but has an unbelievably smooth mechanism. It’s also a very simple design that eradicates any stickiness within the movement.
  9. On Monday, we took one of the EP samples along to the VoR for them to have a look at. What we didn’t envisage is that the little Rheidol Tank would make its way around various parts of the real Rheidol Tank, and even get to erm……run on the real railway! We (Revolution Trains) are waiting for livery confirmation from Model Rail Magazine, which I believe is fairly imminent (although please don’t ask me which liveries as I do not know), and then the next stage will be to display some decorated samples. For those of you who saw the other EP sample at Warley and have commented directly to myself, we are waiting for the factory to return from Chinese New Year and will be making two small changes. One to the crank arm assembly, and the second change will be to the lower buffer beam guards in order to allow the loco to run on slightly sharper inclines. I must add, the Vale of Rheidol Railway have been very helpful providing information to help us refine the model, and having visited a few times now, it’s an incredibly wonderful narrow gauge railway set in some stunning scenery. Cheers Mike B
  10. Everything is is the right place 👍
  11. Well, despite having a real dislike for Class 56s, I was brow beaten in to getting one for Oak Road, and here it is….. ….Colas livery, and the detail on those bogies is fantastic…..and before anyone says ‘the cab steps are wrong, they don’t line up’ ……. they didn’t in the real thing! Technically, this loco never got to Cary, only Westbury, but I won’t let that put me off! Roll on September when the layout is out and I can give it a run.
  12. Ok folks. I have an update. Given the MOQ, and unit cost, my friends at Dapol are still unsure and would prefer not to produce the wagons, so, to avoid anyone being disgruntled, I wholly respect their decision and will not pursue it any further. All is not necessarily lost though….please watch this (well not this one) space……
  13. I’m not sure you’ve entirely understood the design of the floating centre axle, and I have explained on your YouTube channel exactly why this model doesn’t need all axle drive. The 56 was designed by a Mechanical Engineer, to provide maximum tractive effort. The 60 will be exactly the same. There is a YouTube video showing the 56, with a train weighing three times the amount of your short TEA rake, starting on a helix without out any wheel slip whatsoever. The biggest question here I guess is: Why would you want to make what is possibly the best RTR locomotive the U.K. market has ever seen…..more inefficient?
  14. Hi Stu There’s a longer coupling in the box. We recommend this when running with the 68. 👍 Cheers Mike B
  15. I’m doing pretty well for someone that doesn’t like 56s and 60s……another one to add to the purchase list!
  16. For those of you inquiring about decoders, we will be selling pre mapped Lokpilot Nano 5s directly to suit every loco. We have just listed the Class 59 decoders on our website at £36.95 each and will list the Class 66 decoders nearer the time of release. Cheers Mike B
  17. Absolutely no need for all axle drive when a model carries as much weight as this one, and it’s strange that people get fixated on it. If anything, it aids traction due to preventing see saw motion. The Deco sample I borrowed pulled 38 coaches on my layout without struggling. It also managed to pull every wagon I had at the Taunton show.
  18. My point is that the locomotive has prototypical lighting and not ‘toy train’ lights that would be too bright by even the most modern railway practices.
  19. Fantastic effort all round chaps. Not many people would take the time to accurately model features of the real thing like raised grills and exact livery colours. Other features that go unoticed such as the light lenses and correct light projection are something never seen on a model of this scale. The removable roof panel is seamless, and the relief on the bogies is something else. You’ve certainly set the bar high for the 60!
  20. Can I just remind folk that Mike H has mentioned several times, when a balance invoice is paid, it automatically generates a dispatch email. This doesn’t mean your models have been shipped, it’s just a glitch in the payment system. Ben, Mike H and Simon are currently packing the TPE sets as I type, but there are only so many hours in the day….and all three of them have a fair amount of other work to do within the business too. Remember….theres only four of us. The orders will be worked through in time and we thank you for your patience. Cheers Mike B
  21. These will only be the ARC version that worked out of the Mendips.
  22. Because we partner ESU for our sound decoders, the 21 MTC interface is more suited to how we’ve arranged the auxiliary outputs. This has been designed for us by ESU so that we can access all of the functions we’ve asked for. The Plux interface does indeed mean just one decoder type but ESU weren’t keen to go down this route, despite them making Plux 22 decoders.
  23. The original announcement was for a Plux 22, but on the website for pre ordering it was changed to DCC socket. The 21 MTC decoder has one extra output which gives us the flexibility needed and is the reason we’ve chosen to go with that interface. Hope that helps.
  24. 21 MTC offers greater flexibility over Plux 22. We didn’t announce them with any particular interface, just DCC Socket.
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