Revolution Mike B

Well that’s a wrap as they say!!

After 18 months of being stored in the container, the layout ran pretty much faultlessly all weekend. A huge thanks to Paul and Ian for their assistance, and to Nick, Jo and Ben for helping me crash the trains.
 

Also thanks to Rhys for his company along with Paul and Ian last night for dinner.
 

The Cavalex 56 is an incredible piece of engineering and was a joy to run (once we’d figured out the controls). We also had some EP samples of our Revolution Trains Cartic 4s (that I’d not actually seen in person)  and even if I’m being biased, they look fantastic and run brilliantly. Our EP sample of the Class 18 Battery Loco ran well too and we have made a note of a few minor tweaks we’d like to make before we go into production. Our KSAs also made an appearance and these followed suit.

Steve Pike and his team need a huge round of applause for once again putting on one of the best exhibitions and we thank them for their hard work and hospitality.

So now, I have a dilemma……sell it, or keep it…. 

Today has been absolutely manic with the layout 3 people deep at times. Ben, Nick and Jo soon got the hang of crashing trains. Same again tomorrow. 

Well we arrived….eventually! 
 

Paul and Ian kindly helped get the layout up on its feet and apart from a short on one fiddle yard board (my doing as I’d left a wire trailing from break down at DEMU 2022), and an accessory decoder not working (again my fault as I’d forgotten to U.K. the power supply voltage) fixed with the help of James at DCC Train Automation, it’s all working fine and dandy! 
 

Looking forward to the ensuing carnage tomorrow when three people who’ve never operated the layout before have a baptism of fire! 

Steady Mick….😂

28 minutes ago, treggyman said:

Hi

Just mix them up in the rake.......

Weathering isn't always the same/uniform within a rake of wagons....

Cheers Bill

Unfortunately Bill, the new JNA-Ts look virtually identical inside. They’ve all got a really odd pink tinge from the ballast they carry which also highlights the ribbed framing. I think I’ve managed to fudge it a little. 

Note to self: Never, ever…..weather half a rake of wagons. You’ll never remember what colour paints you used, or in what order when doing the rest of them three years later. Second note to self: You should already know this. Many many pages back in this thread I’m pretty sure I said the same about the platform tops!! 
 

D’oh!! 

1 hour ago, Southwich said:

All good thank you sir - busy with work but some occasional modelling is happening. 
 

The man that hated grids has changed his tune eh! 😉

 

Will

I think it's more of a necessity as I've found a video of a Colas one passing through Cary 

7 hours ago, Southwich said:

Hope the show goes well Mike - enjoy! Look forward to seeing the grid running again on your layout

 

Kind regards,

 

Will

G’day possum….hope all is well in Straya? 
 

Having had a play around with one on the buffering up challenge, I’m looking forward to it too. It sounds great and runs like a dream.

I’ve just arrived home from GETS with a couple of things for next weekend. First of all, 37418, to run with Caroline, and secondly, a Colas 56 made by a company called Cavalex? Can’t say I’ve heard of them before but they seem like nice fellas 😀

While I was at the show, both Ben and I had the chance to operate Making Tracks Three….which was not only fantastic, but mind boggling too. Waiting for a few minutes for a train to arrive after coming in to view takes a bit of getting your head around!

So for now, it’s a few days wait, and the layout will make the track down to Somerset for its second appearance at Taunton RailEx and Mike H will now be helping crash some trains too. 
 

I feel this coming weekend could be chaos………

With Taunton show rapidly approaching, yours truly managed to break his arm / wrist a few weeks ago playing in a charity football tournament! Rather than withdraw from the show, the layout is still going and I’m grateful for the help of Nick who’s going to help me get it there, and Ian and Rhys to help put the layout up on its legs once it arrives. 
 

if anything is running around unweathered, you’ll just need to turn a blind eye to it - painting with my wrong hand hasn’t gone well as there’s more paint on the desk, walls and carpet then on the models!
 

A couple of things will be making their debut, my Caroline Inspection Saloon and my Accurascale 37/6.  
 

Cavalex are loaning me one of their new Colas 56s along with a DC Rail liveried one, and there should also be one of our new Class 18 battery shunters running backwards and forwards in the stone yard.

There’s going to be some excellent layouts at this year’s show including Rhys’s Cornish China Clay layout ‘Porthlevan’, Steve Jone’s Chilcompton Tunnel (making its last appearance) and Mike H is taking Oldshaw.

So until the next update, stay safe folks, and don’t play football if you’re old and past it!! 

On 05/09/2023 at 14:25, Adam1701D said:

Therein lies the dilemma. When we do the next batch, do we change the colour to silver or keep the grey to maintain compatibility?

 

I am inclined towards the latter but would be interested to hear others opinions on this matter.

Posting as Mike the modeller, I’d like to see them done in silver but I fully understand that you’re stuck between a rock and a hard place. 

I’ve got 19 of the later Yeoman ones which once weathered look acceptable and I see no need to replace them. I’m sure with some sensible weathering I could get the silver ones to match the grey ones.
 

I feel that the fact you’re inclined towards the latter indicates that you’d like to get it right. And there’s certainly no harm in that Adam. 

18 hours ago, TomE said:

On display at TINGS: 

 

Tom. 

If it looks as good as your photos, Adam and Dapol have done a fantastic job!! 

3 hours ago, JSpencer said:

 

I am sorry to ask the most annoying question, but do we know what the tightest track radius it will handle please ?

(in terms of Peco OO-9 set track).

 

(Kind note for other posters, I'm interested in seeing if it will suit my layout and I am not insisting that it should cope with every piece of settrack out there. I already have 1 Heljan 2-6-2 which is very limited to where it can run).

The original project brief was that the loco should be able to traverse a minimum radius curve of 457mm. However, during our shake down tests, it comfortably ran around 263.5mm radius curves. 

5 hours ago, BernardTPM said:

 

I have to say the motion looks paticularly good, capturing the prototype's chunky appearance.

Thank you. 

We worked closely with the VoR to ensure we replicated the motion as near to the original as we could within the constraints of the model. 

16 minutes ago, MRDBLUE17 said:

One of the Revolution wagons comes blanked out as an empty wagon too which is nice attention to detail. 

I was going to mention that earlier Mark but I noticed that Mick needs more than one so I assumed it would be easier to blank out the hazard labels than try to renumber the wagons?  

Hi Folks

Please ignore my earlier comment on using a full 6 power output decoder (as originally mentioned). 
 

You will need a 6 function (4+2 logic output) decoder to access all of the lighting functions. As decoders are often a personal choice due to manufacturer or budget, there isn’t a particular one that we recommend as what would be right for one person, wouldn’t necessarily be that of another. 
 

In regard to some decoders not working even though they are 6 function (4+2), please make sure that you have pushed the decoder firmly home on the pins. 
 

For any warranty queries, or help with anything else, please send an email to support@revolutiontrains.com (as per the instruction manual) and our Customer Service and Warranty Manager Simon will assist you. Please be mindful that he’s just returned after a two week holiday and his inbox may be a little full with emails relating to other RT queries.

4 hours ago, Revolution Mike B said:

Hi Folks, the FNA-D that we’ve produced is the latest version and they were built in 2014. Hope that helps. 

For clarity, I should’ve said that while they were built in 2014, they were built in three batches (which is what @newbryford was alluding to) with the last of them built in 2019. Dates below:

2014

2016

2018-2019

Hi Folks, the FNA-D that we’ve produced is the latest version and they were built in 2014. Hope that helps. 

By offering the FNA-D as a single wagon pack, it provides a win win situation. Firstly, you get a highly detailed wagon for just £32.95, and secondly, you can run the older style FNA-D with our newer version, allowing you to model the change over period if you so wish.  

For those of you waiting for your orders, we are working our way through them. As you can appreciate, we've just had two different models arrive at once......in their thousands, and we only have two people in the packing department which is presently Ben and Mike H - 50% of our team. There are also only so many hours in a day, so we would welcome your patience.

The NSE logo is taken directly from this 

26 minutes ago, G-BOAF said:

According to Wikipedia, a Class 37 is 12ft 9 in high (at highest point)

A Hastings DEMU vehicle is 12ft 6 in high (I presume this is over roof ventilators, but someone can advise)

So if my calculations are correct, Caroline should be around 1mm lower than a Class 37 in 4mm scale

The model will sit at different levels to a 37 roof depending on which model 37 you own. There are some small spacers fitted to the bogie mounts to enable the vehicle to traverse trainset curves, which can be  removed if the owner so wishes. This may cause the bogies to foul on the solebar and other detail. The coach was measured and so were the drawings and it is 100% to scale. 

Folks, it would appear that some of you have had a bit of a bad experience with Royal Mail, whereby some models have parts that are loose, or damaged. If you don’t feel confident in reattaching them, or they’re broken beyond repair, please email the support address listed in the instruction manual and we will endeavour to help you. Our Customer Service and Warranty ‘Guru’ Simon is on holiday until next Monday, so we thank you in advance for your patience. 
 

3 minutes ago, Kaput said:

 

Thanks for that, was planning on using an Imperium in mine. Decoder documentation for the Imperium could be a challenge being that there practically isn't any 😀

 

 

For reference, the 6 function Imperium is a 4 full + 2 logic level function decoder.

There are two versions of the Dapol Imperium. One is a 4 power +2 logic and the other is a full 6 power output. 

20 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

For clarity are you referring to any documentation provided with a decoder or a separate document that was not enclosed with mine.

 

The supplied instructions reference F0 as working headlights, marker lights and headcode and F1 as being the interior lights. Tail lights, searchlights and solebar footsteps lights have DC switch settings listed but no DCC function.

 

Are the DC switch settings entirely redundant for DCC?

 

Found the body needs a seventh thin card on the opposite site to that shown to  release it and best done with model upside down. 

 

This is the interior along with the inside of the roof (blanking plug removed)

 

The documentation that comes with the decoder.