Jack374

Well, over a month without an update. This is because the only achievement between the last post and this Monday was that I weathered the ONE container with a wash of RM 'Frame Dirt'...nothing to write home about. However, last Friday was my second of 3 assignment deadlines, the last being 3 weeks away, so this week I’ve done some modelling! The first project to be tackled was my DRS 20, 20303. The powered bogie was intermittent with the gears sometimes not meshing properly. Upon taking it apart, the final gear before the worm drive had lost the pin through the centre, allowing about 2mm of movement so it could disengage. This was rectified with some brass rod, secured after with a piece of tape either side, and all is now well: Then to the lights. I want full independent control but had to settle for day running directionally due to time constraints. This week however, I un-soldered the wires from the 21-pin breakout board and started afresh. Thankfully, I’d given each LED its own resistor and soldered in a wire for each light 'set', leaving the cab and night light wires as loose ends for connection later. For the nose end, wires were soldered to the breakout board whilst the cab wires were all soldered straight to the decoder to make use of the powered function outputs on both solder pads and the 21 pin interface. And a dodgy diagram of wiring positions, taken from the ESU LS V5 manual: Then mapping on JMRI DecoderPro took place. F6 and F16 show marker lights only at cab and nose ends respectively, and if either of these are active then directional (day/tail) lights are disabled at that end, achieved by directional lights needing F6/F16 to be off to work. F20 and F21 control whether headlights are on or which are on during normal F0 directional light mode respectively, which works for both ends. All other lights are controllable from F23 upwards. Hopefully it’s clear as mud! DecoderPro function map: My function list: And full test. This was achieved with F6, F7 (cab), F16 and all of F23 to F28 active. This can actually be prototypically achieved as each individual light (except red pair) have a separate switch on the real 20/3s... A couple of paint touch ups and she’s ready to roll. I might tackle the 08 next, although I don’t expect it to be as plain a sail.... In light of the current global situation, I hope everyone is keeping well, and stays safe. An important thing to remember during this time though is to not panic (buy) and keep modelling! Thanks, Jack.

Looking great Will, now following. I’ve been tempted by EM before now but I’ve concluded (for me at least) there aren’t enough hours in the day, but I can fully appreciate the effort put in and resulting realistic appearance of the trackwork and overall scene. You’ve worked wonders with that track! Looking forward to more progress, and hope you’re keeping well in these uncertain times. Thanks, Jack.

A couple of recent shots and videos from me, the first at Stenson with 60091 letting off a bit of clag on the tanks: Then 60055, which was running as 1Z99 from Toton to relieve 60028 which had failed on 6X20 to Carlisle from Derby. 60028 then ran light to Toton, and sounded fine to me! Reports are it's now back in circulation. And videos: Thanks, Jack.

Banger blue 31 on freight in 2020 anyone? Thanks, Jack.

I don’t think they have any special couplings between them, the coaches appear to have buffers in my shots below, and AFAIK from Flickr searches they’re only used for HST stock transfers, so putting 2+2 together they probably have drop-head buckeyes... Coach nos. 6393 & 6394. Thanks, Jack.

Not a clue, the Multimaus instructions say a long press may be required so I’d maybe have a play? I couldn’t find any reference to F2 in the instructions from a very quick skim read. I reckon Mick will know more. Jack.

Now I’m sure Mick will be along with more knowledge, but I’d heard some DCC systems have F2 as momentary (I think that’s what it’s called) in the controller instead of latching, so it’ll turn the output on and off quickly whereas what you want is constantly on (with the F2 key pressed of course). IIRC it’s to do with F2 always being the horn/bell sound. Hopefully this is the issue and nothing more sinister, but if it works on another DCC system then this might be the cause. Jack.

I don’t believe so. The lighting issue only affects large headlight models, not WIPAC headlight cluster (like 66789) variants. The models affected are those with outer headlights around twice the diameter of the smaller, inner marker lights. Jack.

Excellent work Phil, great use of lights...it'll stand out from the rest for sure. Not seen anyone else try this on Tornado's support coach either. Jack.

A question for Hattons and any other manufacturer generally...who checks these models before production? I ask because on the Hattons 66 (I’m using this as a prime example, however many other manufacturers and products have also fallen foul) there are now 2 (AFAIK) pronounced and yet relatively simple livery errors - the Colas colour transition position and Freightliner yellow/bufferbeam issue. In addition, the lights on the large headlight variants do not work as intended. In each case, these errors have been picked up by consumers. I spotted the Colas error because the text didn’t look correct to me. Upon checking, this was confirmed as an error with the livery. It didn’t take long (5 minutes) to search for and check dates to ensure it’s always been this way on the real thing. The light issue could’ve been checked by carrying out a full light functionality check of all variants (both WIPAC styles and larger headlight style). I saw a pre-production sample (Freightliner PowerHaul) running at a show before release, and questioned the colour of the lights (look too orange) and the fact that the marker light on the headlight side wasn’t illuminated. From the pictures supplied by pteandy1402 amongst others, it appears these are both errors on production models. For both of these issues, it was agreed (between myself and the custodian of the model) that this was a pre-prod sample and that the issues would most likely be resolved, however this was never confirmed with Hattons. I don’t believe they had the model on the premise of checking any detail accuracy. So my point in all of this is a question - would it make sense for manufacturers to ask modellers to comb over final livery specs, functionality and any other considerations before manufacture? I have absolutely no doubt that Hattons have staff in house or did consult people externally to check, however clearly their methods were not robust enough in the case of the 66. As has also been said, would this extra time and possibly cost be worth it for a small proportion of livery/light/detail errors? Consumers will undoubtedly pick these up and discuss them more than the correct details - of which there are plenty - on this stunning model. If the full, final (from manufacturer's POV) livery graphics were released then modellers can view them at their leisure, however I feel this isn’t enough as I personally wouldn’t go through all with a fine tooth comb: it’s not the consumer's responsibility to do so. Having a relationship like this where the consumer provides feedback is absolutely a great way to identify errors, however it cannot be relied upon to illuminate all errors. All this is only my own view, and with little industry understanding. I simply don’t want to see excellent models marred by (often simple) errors. Jack.

I'm not sure tbh, although all decoders can be configured to suit. As Pete says, it'd be nice for Hattons to supply a spec listing which pins on the 21MTC interface in the loco are connected to which lights, and which pins need full power capability or must be logic. As an aside, ESU have just released their LokPilot 5, which is stated on the website as having "at least 10 amplified function outputs", so providing these align correctly with the 66 wiring, this may allow full lighting control. In any case, the ability to control every single lighting option should be seen as a blessing, and I hope more manufacturers follow suit. Jack.

I doubt any soldering is required at all...from the below extract from ESU's own LokSound V5 manual, the 21MTC interface supports 12 function outputs: http://www.esu.eu/download/betriebsanleitungen/digitaldecoder/ AUX1 to AUX7 inclusive, and AUX10 to 12 inclusive makes 10, plus FOF and FOR (headlight and rear light). From what I've heard, a 'full' fat version has been used in the factory sound-fitted 66 giving more powered function outputs (not logic level) than any standard variant, and thus there may be trouble getting other decoders/other variants to reproduce this functionality. Having not had a play with one though, I wouldn't know for sure. Jack.

It appears that way but there's a pic of the 60 on a low loader if you open the post fully. A couple more from me, of all 3 DC Rail 60s in Derbyshire over the last month or so... (Click on photos to link to Flickr) Also it would seem 60029 is closer to a main line return proper as it is now in the Toton Paint Facility. Jack.

Bad luck Al, I’ve been there and done that and tbh I’ve never achieved a totally satisfactory finish with Humbrol rattle can matt varnish. I even had one spray turn white once... For transfers I always spray with gloss first before I do anything else as I’m paranoid about damaging the transfers. I’ve had transfers crinkle up under varnish before like you’ve described...varnishing really is a dark art to me! Personally I think if you get some gloss rattle can varnish from Humbrol and spray over the whole PC it should remedy it...in any case it’ll improve the look from what you have now. I’ve never had any issues with gloss but have had plenty with matt. HTH, Jack.

Cheers Tom...I had no idea you were there! I'm never too busy for a chat, but if when I'm crashing things then I might have to sort that first. We'll bump into each other again Jack.

1.5Hz gives 667ms time period, so 100ms on and 500ms off is near as damn it then. And as for the 37, the PW gang (of one...) were quick to rectify the misaligned fishplate that caused the issue! All good fun. Thanks, Jack.

A great weekend was had with Mick, Cal, G, Spike and Andy...many thanks for allowing me to crash trains operate! Some photos below. The first few are of already completed projects, some of which may feature again soon for updates... And some new projects. A relatively quick one was 37558, which had suitably-sized holes cut in some Bachmann mini snowplough mouldings and then Kadees pushed through. I also took out the drive shafts, worms and driver to allow shunting: And the Eurostar was airbrush weathered using Railmatch frame dirt, as was a full container rake made up of Dapol FEAs, Megafrets and a KTA/KQA 'pocket', a Hatton's FEA and a Hornby KFA. The containers received frame dirt washes and all locking points were painted too to tone them down a bit. I bought another pink 40' ONE box at the weekend so this will be added in time and all will be weathered properly, and the E* graffitied... Finally, my pair of Megafrets had a flashing tail lamp added. This was done using phosphor-bronze pick up strip from Slater's and was wired to a Zimo MX681N function only decoder. This fed an 0805 SMD LED via thin enamelled wires. I'll post a photo from underneath when I'm back at the workbench. The flash rate was controlled with CVs, with a 100ms 'on' time (lowest permissible) and 500ms 'off' time, although this will be adjusted to 400ms as it flashed a little slow when compared to others Mick had. As I said, some projects may get revisited for fixing/further improvements, although with uni having started again I think updates will be few and far between. Keep modelling! Jack.

It only came out for 5 minutes or so before it was removed...must be like 50008 and must've broken down...... As for odd things going mainline with yellow coaches, we had that in the crazy hour at the end of Saturday courtesy of G. I'd keep any Rockets and jinties well away! Jack.

Another excellent weekend was had with the lads...many thanks for putting up with me! I did wear the chief train crasher's hat a few times over the weekend... Below are some shots I took, with some of Mick's superb work on the Accurascale PCAs and twin jib crane: And not forgetting G's yellow charter, which had a spin on the main line, much to Mick's disgust.... Finally a shot of the monstrous extended 20-road fiddle yard: Cheers Mick, and the rest of the team...see you all in a few weeks at Ally Pally. Jack.

Thought I’d heard the name, saw this in my YT feed... I’m not a ship spotter but clearly following this channel had its use! Jack.

Sad to hear this Will, but hopefully a new owner can be found and the layout can be finished. You need a new project to keep you occupied! All the best, Jack.

I’ve just spent an enjoyable half hour or so scrolling through this thread Andy, once again a top quality layout by yourself, and the pictures!!! I had to do a double take on the one above of 56049...superb! Now followed so I can stay tuned, although I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll have another project on the go by next week Thanks, Jack.

Anyone can run these wagons, even with one loco and one set: Even more variety to add to a rake of container wagons! Jack.

I received my pair yesterday with the morning post...well worth the wait! They capture the look of these unusual pieces of kit very well. Like Mick, I’ve got a few improvements and additions earmarked for my NR pair, to create an ex-works pair as they are when they leave Derby RTC after overhaul. A nice touch was the little note inside from the owner to say sorry for the delay. It’s not often you get an acknowledgement like that, and whilst the delay didn’t affect me in the slightest it was a nice touch for those who expected the models before Christmas. Even Father C has to deal with production delays and communications with the East nowadays! Great work from Flangeway/Footplate for producing another run of these unique models. Jack.

Seeing electrics off route on non-electrified lines is no new occurrence, but fairly uncommon now except for ECML diversions...or taking locos to the Toton paint facility: And quite recently a few class 60s have done test runs around Toton in shabby liveries, but this 90 looks like it’s been filled and not primed; perfect excuse to run an unfinished model that's used filler! Jack.