Simond

Well, I’m near t’oggin too, maybe only 200m or so inland but if my feet get wet, I pity the Romney Marsh as I’m about 50m up!!

Obviously good quality stuff! Generally, around this time of year, I and a few pals get to spend a few evenings, and the occasional Saturday afternoon, repairing my pal, John’s garden 0 gauge line. He used Peco for the plain track, and handmade all the P&C from copperclad, and I fervently wish he hadn’t, as replacement of commercial products with more of the same would be quick & easy, if expensive. to be fair, the line is well over twenty years old, and it has run faultlessly for the majority of that time, but tempus fugit, and John was older when he built it than I am now, and I suspect more flexible, but the same cannot be said of the track. In general, the Peco has weathered well, but the copperclad is, at least in parts, not copperclad at all! It’s difficult to solder to grubby paxolin or glass fibre…. I guess the proximity to the sea, and the resultant salt laden air, may be in part responsible, and this isn’t a problem you’ll face. I’m much impressed with the pull-off strength of the joint. I do recall a similar experiment in MRJ many years back, trying to convince the old school that plywood sleepers and moulded plastic chairs glued together with MEK was the future. Again, not a debate you’ll need to worry about!

Try Barry, prices are better. Usual disclaimers http://www.metalsmith.co.uk/metals-materials.htm

The only concern I’d have with that design is that the isolated bit of copperclad supporting the centre rail is very short, and there is a risk that the copper delaminates, particularly whilst soldering. If you put the securing screws outside the rails, the insulation gap could be half way between centre and running rails, which will reduce the risk of failure.

And it’s lighter than plaster…! :)

I rather liked the oil firing. It was not at all strenuous! it is a long time since I was there, I see Linda has grown a tender cab too.

Many moons ago (about 13 x 48 = 624) I used to fire the ladies, Linda and Blanche on the FR, We used oil in those days. I haven’t worked on the FR since, so I don’t know if they’re still oil fired.

Coal supplies to preserved lines have caused concerns of late, not least due to the Ukraine situation. Whilst steam locos are clearly a hugely inefficient means of moving goods & people, the preservation movement is an important part of the tourist sector, and it won’t be without an adequate supply of suitable fuel. hopefully a sensible solution will be found

Sorry, one more thought about footboards milled brass angle is an expensive, but effective alternative

For those who don’t speak French, “Bonne Maman” translates literally as “Good Mummy”, but actually means “Mother in Law” :)

JLTRT Toplight coaches (7mm) came with GF PCB strip as footboards. It’s quite handy, as, of course, you can solder it onto wire brackets. I was discussing footboards with a pal last week, and we concluded that they are probably around an inch thick, some PCB will be too thick for this, but conversely, sheet brass is likely too thin.

Believe what you want to believe: https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/wood-burning-stoves/article/wood-burning-stoves-what-you-need-to-know/stoves-and-pollution-aIPXC8g7lbu5 DEFRA's Clean Air Strategy states that wood-burning stove emissions are now the biggest source of PM pollution in the UK, making up 38% of UK air pollution. I don’t think WHICH is overtly political, and I don’t believe that DEFRA are a bunch of angry middle class seventeen year olds… anyway, it’s not the point of the thread, so I’ll say no more.

There is Bonne Maman in the local hypermarkets in Brittany, and the copy-in-the-similar-jar in the local supermarket on the quayside in Plerin. The Bonne Maman Orange Amere is my go-to since my mum stopped making Seville orange marmalade some years back. She’s probably still cooking on her cloud somewhere… I shall look out the Andros stuff next time we get across the channel.

Ah, but, you’re probably safer. It seems that wood burning stoves, lovely though they are to sit by, emit more nasties than a jumbo jet at take off… (this may be a slight exaggeration :) )

French marmalade in Brizz…. Whatever next?

Hi Steve, I wasn’t trying to make work for you! Really just wondering how you & the team keep track of what must be a massive data set. all the best Simon

A single cell does not need to be balanced. When you add more cells in series, you must balance them during charging, so that they are all the same voltage - they won’t “share” the supply fairly, so they need the balancing charger. You cannot use the above diagram with a multiple series cell arrangement, but it’s fine for a single cell. You can hide the switch wherever convenient, the electrickery doesn’t really care how long the wires are! Adding cells in series will give a higher voltage, which will give you more speed, but it will also help haulage capacity. Imagine turning the voltage up on a conventional dc analog controller. Adding cells in parallel will give you extra run time, it would also help haulage capacity, but only if the cells were the limiting factor, which I would not expect to be the case. lights won’t have much effect on the run time, particularly if they are LEDs which take very little current.

Ensure you use a charger suitable for Lithium batteries. As you’re working on 3.7V, you have only a single cell (or cells in parallel) and balancing is unnecessary, though I imagine your loco is rather slow, and can’t pull much. I’m using 2S & 3S batteries, which do need a balancing charger (3 and 4 wires respectively), but give a higher voltage to the motor. (Don’t just charge with the + & - as you would with a car battery!) You can fit any suitable, polarised, socket, anywhere convenient on your loco, and make a lead to connect to your charger. Make absolutely certain that you connect it up correctly! And equally, that you cannot inadvertently connect it up incorrectly! Most definitely fit a switch that isolates the battery from your receiver, and ensure you turn it off, or the battery will discharge to a level where it cannot be recharged (safely). hth

Rover Russett brown in Halfords rattle can is very effective. Might be a bit glossy for NPCS but you can always Matt it down after putting the transfers on.

Steve, good to see the latest news. I don’t think we touched on it during our visit, but I guess the documentation for the layout is a significant project in itself. I’m thinking of; mechanical drawings for the boards, transport/storage bogies, stock boxes trackplans wiring diagrams for subsystems; Controllers track feeds, pointwork, Signals Sound system Video Trams & road traffic Scenic effects & lighting Display lighting Timetables stock rosters and whatever else I’ve missed. it’s not the “sexy side” of the model, but a few words might be of interest? MCAD? ECAD? Templot? What else? cheers Simon

It seems that it’s getting lots of folk. My wife got it 10 days back, I moved into our son’s room (he’s flown the nest!) and tested negative throughout, but I got something which I’ll be the happier for ridding myself of. I may have tested neg, but I had the headache, cough, snotty nose, sore throat, “brain fade”, tired, grumpy and p155ed right off feelings. If it quacks like a duck… And whilst I’m mostly better, it’s still hanging around. happily triple jabbed, it seems no worse than that. What amazes me is how common it currently is. I guess with nobody wearing masks, and very few paying for testing, the actual incidence will go up, but the reported cases will go down, and the media will move on to the next disaster. Either the media, or the public, seem to struggle with more than one issue at a time. I guess that’s how famous people get away with bad behaviour.

I suggest you add a couple of photos too, certainly one from underneath.

Have a look here; lasers are affordable, CO2 or Diode. Or outsource it to an agency or a pro modeller. But you need CAD skills: there are lots of packages, I use TurboCAD. Choose carefully, and learn it, because that’s where the rubber hits the road. I got a lot of satisfaction from my loco shed build (see my Porth Dinllaen thread), it’s an amazing way of having the model you want, rather than what’s available in the shops.

I use 3 link/screw couplings on my FS 7mm models. I'm happy to take the time when shunting, to couple and uncouple, it's part of the immersion in the unreal model world. Where it goes all wrong is corridor coaches. It is simply not possible to couple them from above, and from the side, it's a trial of patience to say the very least. And if you have all the bufferbeam paraphernalia like vacuum and steam heat hoses (and heaven help you ETH & air brakes if you are so modern in your tastes), you "may be some time". David Jenkinson did offer a solution with his home made coaches, and there are some neat cast connector assemblies that can be inserted between coach and bogie, and connect to the bogie pin of the next vehicle. I use kadees within rakes of coaches, and I am aware also of magnetic couplings. But these are of limited effect in a fiddle yard where access is not easy, and in any case, not a great deal of help to attach to the loco/tender. I'm pondering...

That's about the only similarity between my brain and a computer