Revolution Mike B

Hi Stu There’s a longer coupling in the box. We recommend this when running with the 68. 👍 Cheers Mike B

I’m doing pretty well for someone that doesn’t like 56s and 60s……another one to add to the purchase list!

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

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.

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.

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!

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

These will only be the ARC version that worked out of the Mendips.

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.

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.

21 MTC offers greater flexibility over Plux 22. We didn’t announce them with any particular interface, just DCC Socket.

21 MTC interface with two speaker to suit. There is space for larger speakers however you may need to remove part of the interior if you go too large.

To keep everyone in the loop, emailed Joel to ask for the MOQs on both wagon and liveries. Once we have those then he can work out an RRP per wagon. Cheers Mike

Let me be perfectly clear here. The price will be reflective upon the MOQ and what the factory charge Dapol to make them for. Small detail parts will fall off - it’s inevitable. As with any inside bearing bogie, there will be some drag in N Gauge. It’s near on impossible to get needle roller bearings like we would use in OO. To be fair on the O&K version, once you’ve added 0.25mm shims to the bogies, they run very well. I’ve got quite a few now and there’s no issue. Cheers Mike

Last year, I spoke to Joel (Dapol) and asked if we’d see the PD JHAs in N Gauge. Unfortunately, he doesn’t think it would be viable as the O&K ones didn’t sell as quickly as they’d hoped. With that in mind, I asked him if he would consider making some if I could muster enough people to ‘put their money where their mouths were’ and make it happen. As with most things, my day job has rather got in the way so this is as good a place as any to drum up some interest. I’ve not got any figures yet but when I get five minutes, I’ll ping an email off to see what the MOQ (Minimum Order Quantity for those that aren’t familiar) is and we can go from there. Obviously, the lower the MOQ, the more chance we have of making it work, but the higher the unit cost will be. If anyone is seriously interested, please register your interest here (as my friends at Dapol monitor the RMWeb posts) and we’ll get the ball rolling. Cheers Mike

One thing to check is your spam folder. Unfortunately, emails have a habit of finding their way to it! Cheers Mike B

Make up some 10thou plasticard shims. They run a dream afterwards.

One thing to remember with unpainted samples is that every detail looks a lot more pronounced. The reason for this is so that the detail doesn’t get lost underneath the paint. cheers Mike B

For those interested, here’s a brief update on the OO scale units. Just before Christmas, we took delivery of the first EP samples of both units. For anyone who isn’t already aware, the units are driven from one end using a low profile chassis, cardan shafts, universal joints and integral bogie / gear towers. DCC control is via one decoder, and power transfer through the unit is provided by a 14 pin ‘plug and socket’ coupling system. Lighting incorporates day and night time running headlights, tail lights, illuminated destination boards, central door locking lights and interior lights. There is also the ability to turn the head lights, or tail lights off independently, as well as the ability to display parking mode with both ends showing red. There is a sugar cube speaker in both driving cars to enable the sound to be spread out across the unit, regardless of 2, 3 or 5 car formations. Unfortunately, the horn will sound from both ends but we had to make some compromises to allow ‘one decoder’ operation. The speakers are mounted towards the inner ends of the cars which helps to disguise this. DC users have a blanking plate with DIP switches for control of interior lights, head lights and tail lights only. As they both share a common chassis and drive train, the factory only sent the 180 unit with electrical components inside it, and I had this set for assessment over the holiday period. The coupling system works extremely well with the corridor connectors almost touching in a straight line but opening up around corners to allow the unit to traverse Peco radius two curves. It also ran through back to back Peco medium radius points without any issues at all. The working ‘dummy scharfenberg’ couplings lock together well and also allow coupled units to traverse the same radius track as the main couplers. As a first EP, we are very pleased with the factory’s progress so far. The next stage is to amend a few minor things that we’ve picked up and crack on with the painting diagrams. Mike H will have the driving cars on display this coming weekend at Rails of Sheffield, and for those of you attending Model Rail Scotland, they’ll be on display there too. Cheers Mike B

Unfortunately, the ‘big orange connector’ would prevent the kinematic motion of the coupler, which is why we’ve omitted it. You will find it’s very similar to another manufacturer’s front end coupler which provides function over form. Hope that helps. Mike B

When you say “lack of detail around the couplings”, in what respect? Cheers Mike B

It’s that time of year when most of us down tools, eat and drink way too much, and watch constant repeats of the last twenty years worth of TV. Whatever you get up to…..Merry Christmas from me to you.

We’re actually all full time now but as you’ve quite rightly said, there’s only four of us, we wear many hats at once, and we can only juggle so many balls at any one time. Posting out thousands of parcels for example, is very time consuming and evidently eats in to other tasks. Cheers Mike B

Just to clarify on the coaches. The open thirds have two different types of mesh. Diamond and Square, depending on year of build, with both currently running. Bernard has covered everything else. Hope that helps.

We will have some news about the non sound decoders shortly Cheers Mike B