richard w

40 minutes ago, Revolution Mike B said:

How did you flatten off the ridge in the roof Richard? 

I outlined the area to be flatted with some masking tape and used a flat small file to gently remove material until the flattened area lined up with the masking tape edges.  I then filled in the holes from the etch with Perfect Plastic Putty and sanded that smooth with 1500 grit paper.  Glued the pod back on, masked off the body sides/exhaust and finally blew in some paint from the airbrush over the end of the roof.  I used a very old tin of humbrol 11, decent match to the Dapol shade of silver.

Edit - I scribed the two panel lines back on with a blunt scalpel blade before painting.

15 hours ago, PieGuyRob said:

will appear in an Everard Junction video?

I've been filming as I go of course.  The loco is still in progress (currently repainting the upper blue stripe) but I hope to have a video ready in a week or so.

Some alterations to the brightness and some Tamiya clear orange to improve the colour temperature.

Friend of mine just visited his local shop.  Rather shocked/disappointed by the poor colour match between coaches and power cars.  The transfers are bad enough but the gold difference is very noticeable.

1 hour ago, St. Simon said:

how visible the bronze pick ups were

They are easily painted black.  One of the first jobs I did, well worth it as they do stand out considerably.

24 minutes ago, trevora said:

have you set all the CVs as dapols list for the imperium on the sheet with the loco

Yes, several times.  I've tested it with other locos and it no longer outputs anything to the motor.  I've reset it several times and reconfigured the cvs with no luck on two different controllers.

I'm still working on a light fix as and when I've got some free time.  All the LEDs on the light boards have their own feed from a separate function wire.  They take their power from a single red wire with the other wires working which LEDs illuminate.  The red lights are wired together but all the white lights can be switched independently.

This applies to the Yeoman model of 59005...

Red - Power Feed

Yellow - Left Marker

White - Right Marker

Green - Tail

Blue - Left Headlamp

Black - Right Headlamp

I've verified with a bit of spare wire that you can jump the function wire connections and get the lights working properly.  From the factory only 2 white leds will work with you being able to switch them from side to side (which Dapol call day/night mode).  It looks like both headlights work but this is light blead.  Only one headlight and one marker work at any one time.

I've been experimenting with decoder pro and function mapping.  So far I've been getting very strange behaviour.  The imperium decoder I bought for the model has been getting worse and worse.  It now doesn't apply power to the motor or work the red taillights correctly/at all.  They flash on for about a second before going out when the model is powered up or changed direction.  Various other decoders I have to hand lack the necessary functions to control the lights but even the basic stuff like F0 mapped correctly results in only partial lighting that doesn't have a sense of direction. 

I get the feeling there is additional circuitry between the decoder and the light boards interfering with the signals.  Function mapping with decoder pro is quite simple yet setting a particular wire to F0 or F1 doesn't produce the result you'd expect.

I've ordered an ESU decoder and will see what happens with that.

I've had a little play with the CVs to try and improve the lighting situation.  Not had much luck.  I ended up resetting the imperium decoder in my model after changing a few values (write 4 to CV8).  Now it fails to run the motor in either direction and the tail lights only work for a split second.  Switched for a lenz decoder and the model runs just fine. 

Tried the imperium decoder in another working model and confirmed it's no longer sending power to the motor.

The lenz silver decoder now fitted to the 59 has no clue how to run the lights and they're all over the place.  Same goes for a Bachmann branded ESU decoder.  Setting the CVs on the lenz decoder to the ones specified in the Dapol instructions doesn't work either.

Strikes me as complexity for the sake of it.  The 59 is best used with an imperium decoder, just don't reset it!

5 hours ago, sanspareil said:

Has anyone else had a loco with the radiator etched mesh poorly glued?

Mine is okay, that's disappointing on your model.

22 hours ago, atom3624 said:

Nice job.

How does it perform?

How does it compare with the H66?

Thanks,

Al.

See my post on page 49

19 hours ago, WILLIAM said:

Thanks Richard. Did you take any pictures or video of the mod?

Here it is from the factory before I started.  Sits quite high, certainly noticeable if you're familiar with the class or looking at photos.  It's secured with 4 pins that are part of the mounting lugs.  Light pressure from behind the exhaust will allow it to pop free of the body.

Using a very sharp knife and a razor saw I cut it into the following pieces.

The silencer needs quite a bit taking off the bottom.  I used 80 grit sandpaper and finished with 180 grit.  The manifold is about right but I felt it was a bit too high working from photos.  I sanded some material off it but not much.

Glued it back together and touched up the paint.  I'll be lightly weathering the loco in future so any further imperfections should disappear with that.

28 minutes ago, Steadfast said:

You mention day and night mode for the lights, out of interest what do these do? The 59/0 doesn't have day and night lights, only the later /1 and /2s. As built the centre lights had a bright and dim setting, but this got wired to dim and had the switch removed.

The lighting is complex with several CVs needing to be set.  It's not accurate as far as I can tell having looked at real photos.  All 4 lamps at the front should be lit but the best the model can manage is 3.  The lower marker switches from one side to the other when toggling night mode.  You can switch both markers on but this turns off the centre headlights.

Some CV alterations might solve it but I wouldn't know where to begin.  The imperium decoder doesn't seem to have a published CV list.  The Dapol technical page on their website doesn't appear to work or have anything in it either.

3 minutes ago, BR(S) said:

Dapol have put them in the correct place.

Brilliant!  Thanks for the info, saves me a job.  Cheers

Brilliant, thanks for the clarification.

Is the centre pillar between the two windscreens supposed to be narrow at the top and wide at the bottom?  Is this specific to a cab variant I'm not familiar with?  I don't know the prototype very well but I can't say it's something I've noticed on the real thing or the CAD/DEMU samples on the previous pages? 

DEMU sample

Other than the grille which has already been discussed it looks stunning.  Very crisp and well finished, looking forward to them.  Apologies if this is a stupid question.  I've never seen a 56 in real life!

24 minutes ago, Hal Nail said:

Is there a ridge moulded round the edge of the glazing?

I think it's to represent the rubber seals although I'm no expert so might be wrong.  The ridge is so tiny I've not attempted to paint them. 

19 hours ago, Gray69 said:

@richard w

In the latest video, you mention the lack of photographs of large billboards.

I have attached I picture of a rather apt hoarding taken in Ashford during February 1990 that I hope you might find useful.

That's brilliant!  Thanks very much for posting, I'll add it to my stash of images.  I've managed to gather a few billboard images over the years but they're certainly not easy to find.  Cheers

Bachmann's existing 37 was a regular release until around 2019.  The silence since then had myself and friends speculate that this was coming.  I'll buy from whoever makes the liveries relevant to me.  Both will be good models side by side I'm sure.

Very pleased with them.  They look the business in a long rake behind a grubby 47.

I found each wagon benefits from a 5 minute check/service on the bench before running...

• Back to backs needed opening out anywhere from 0.25 to 0.5mm on almost all of my examples.  This cured some derailments over Peco curved points and setrack curves.  
• Small blob of grease to stop squeaking pinpoints.  Most of them had squeaky wheels so I greased them all with a tiny paintbrush.
• Some needed a tiny blob of glue for some slightly loose details.  Most of this concerned underframe detail and was an easy fix, about 4 wagons had 1 loose bit of detail.
• Loosen/tighten the bogie screw to allow for smooth bogie movement.  Only some were affected and this solved the remaining derailments.

I've now had them running for over an hour at various speeds with no problems or squeaking wheels.  The close coupling is a nice touch and really enhances the appearance of the train.  They do struggle/derail on 2nd radius curves which I expected.  Luckily I have more gentle routes through parts of my fiddle yard that use 4th radius curves. 

Some of the best detailed wagons in my collection.  Nice job lads!

22 minutes ago, Shaun66 said:

What length hunt coupling have your used? Will be changing mine over when I get the chance. 

Elite close ones.  Just stuck one on the end to couple to the IZA.  Works ok so far on 3rd radius curves, I'll change the rest over when I weather them.  Ultra close might work too but I've not got any to try at present.  Cheers

Edit - As Jack has said above the ultra close work work fine too

10 minutes ago, sb67 said:

Thank you, I'm guessing that's the first thing you did and the rest of the weathering came after?

Yes, I did all the weathering afterwards and sealed it with a coat of matt varnish when I'd finished.