Caley Jim

1 hour ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

 However it seems odd that the Precursor needed three tender refills  (15 tons) whereas the I3 managed it on one bunker full of coal (3.25 tons). That would have meant that the Precursor was consuming about 125lbs of coal per mile, five times that of the I3 and something even the strongest fireman might  have found difficult to do for 135 or so miles to do.

I suspect the refills were of water, not coal.  water was always the commodity that any steam loco used the most of and the superheating would reduce water consumption.  I've never heard of locos being topped up with coal èn route.

Jim

I fully agree with @Izzy.  There's absolutely no need to use the biggest motor you can fit, in fact I would say the opposite.  Fit a small motor so as to leave plenty room for stay-alive capacitors.   The majority of 2mm Locos will run out of adhesion long before the motor runs out of power.

Jim

DCC will do nothing for a chassis that isn't already mechanically sound.  Best to get them running smoothly under DC before fitting the decoder.

Jim

4 hours ago, Doncaster Green said:

I know this is simple and straight forward for a basic chip, but I have visions of £30+ worth of chip going up in smoke at the approach of my soldering iron!

There should be no need to put the soldering iron anywhere near the chip, unless you are needing to replace a wire or are fitting stay-alive.  Even then, if it's a Zimo decoder the attachment points are plenty big enough to keep the iron away from delicate components.  One of the few occasions where I use a small, pointed bit.

Jim

Squires list it in the Railmatch range http://www.squirestools.com/files/12-18a.pdf .  199-633, near top left on p263.

Jim

2 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

 At some stage we will have to get a smidgen of honesty from our politicians. 

Nae chance!

Jim

So why does an 0-6-0 diseasal shunter have a tender?  🤔

Jim

Sandboxes and brake gear now fitted.

Because the sandboxes are hidden behind the front steps, I thought I might have got away with just a piece of brass with the sandpipe attached, but then I realised that from an oblique angle that would leave a bit of a gap, so proper sandboxes were created from the end of a pin from a 13amp plug.  They and the brake gear have been treated with Beechwood Casey Aluminium Black which i feel gives a better representation of 'in service' condition than black paint.

Since taking the photo I've added some thin strips of scrap etch in the area between the firesmokebox and the driving wheels, not to try to accurately model the valve gear, but just to put some 'clutter' in there to fill what would otherwise be an empty space.

With all the etched parts now fitted, apart from the cab side lamp brackets, which won't go on until just before painting, and the number plates, which won't go on until after painting, attention will now turn to the 'round bits', So the trusty Black and Decker will be coming out!

Jim

She'll get on well with DJT.  He wants to  is going to rid America of all socialist lefties in order to 'drain the swamp'!

Jim

For loco driving wheels I have a Minitrix wheel cleaner.  You sit it on the track with the two brass strips on the base in contact with the running rail, apply power, then hold the loco stationary on the two strips of brass wire 'brushes' on the top.  Power passes from the strips to the brushes and drives the loco wheels.   There's one listed on the Bay of fleas, but it's marked as out of stock at the moment.

For carrying and tender wheels I use a brass wire wheel in a minidrill, applied to the rim of the wheel which makes it rotate and cleans it in the process.

Jim

X-acto razor saw is another option. 

Jim 

18 hours ago, airnimal said:

What has attracted me is the overlapping sides with the ends set inwards and the unusual brake handle along with the wheels. These wheels have an extra rim like some early Scottish wagons. 

This type of wheel is described in Mike Williams' book on CR Wagons (p35, drawing on p34).  In it this type had welded joints between the spokes and tyre, reinforced by two bolts, one either side of each spoke.  The drawing is from one for a 7T mineral 'bogie' and dates from 1878.  The same wheels are shown on a similar drawing of 1882.

Jim

Post script to the above.

Although the loco is running well, I found that when I either turned off the track power (when testing with a SPROG and JMRI), set a turnout against it, or lifted it off the track the motor gave a 'kick', enough to move the loco c1cm, which I realised was due to the CT decoder taking power from the capacitors.  I hadn't experienced this with locos fitted with Zimo decoders.   In consultation with my consulting electronics engineer, AKA @Nigelcliffe, it turns out that 'Zimo, being smarter, can tell the difference between "track DC" and "stay-alive DC".  
Most decoders cannot'.

Changed the setting to 'NMRA digital only' and problem solved!

 Moral is, if you fit stay-alive to a CT decoder, don’t enable DC!  At least with this loco I can unplug the decoder and plug the motor straight to the track supply for DC running (e.g. for running on Dunallander, which is why I enabled DC).

Jim

The buffer beam, valances and footsteps, cab inside splashers, reversing lever, smokebox door and bogie were all fitted in quick succession.  Then I found I was back experiencing short circuits.  Now this didn't surprise me as the clearance between the rear coupled wheel flanges and the rear of the cab splashers is very tight, but even after I had filed the inside of the splashers back a bit and lined them with tissue, the shorting was still there! 🙄  Much checking and partial dismantling followed, revealing shorting where I thought I had made sure there was none, including some of the thin double-sided PCB pads.

(That bent step support on the LHS valance has been straightened)

Having got that problem dealt with I then had to spend some time getting the front bogie to behave itself.  The wheels weren't for rotating  and adjusting the springs taking the current from it either had one set rotating or the other, but not both.  It also wasn't happy going through a turnout.   Eventually I replaced the 8thou wire with 10thou and the stronger springs seem to have done the trick.   Thanks to a new circuit from one of our group members the stay-alive is now wired up and it's running rather nicely, though traction is still not great.

Just as well it won't need turned on Kirkallanmuir as the combined wheelbase of loco and tender will barely fit on the 50ft turntable!

Sandboxes and brake gear next.

Jim

13 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

 

Oh, you've spoilt it for me now!

There doesn't seem to be a 'sorry about that' button. 'friendly/supportive' seemed to be the best alternative! 

Jim 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

..... .it puts me in mind of the themos flask; it keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, but how does it know?!? 

It doesn't need to know. Heat it is not readily transferred through a vacuum, therefore a hot liquid inside does not lose heat to the outside and a cold liquid inside does not gain heat from the outside.

Seemples Igor! 😁 

Jim 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

The doors could just about pass as 4mm scale, but here, pictured with one of Andrew Stadden's figures, which. as true scale people of the past, tend to be smaller than most figures sold as 1/76th, we see that it even the main door is pushing its luck with a 4mm scale gent. 

 

Well, that will make sure he takes his hat off before he enters the sanctuary!  🙂

Jim

All mine have a projection on the crank at the turnout end which operates the arm of a microswitch.  See centre right in this photo.

(The other crank operates a catch point, so no crossing to change)

Alternatively you could have the microswitch at the lever end, but that involves longer wiring runs.

Jim

Never having had to deal with emails in a business environment I have not been in that position.  As Data Officer for the 2MM SA I have to be diligent and keep an eye out for members sending changes of address in order that our database is kept up to date as required by GDPR.

Jim

I would be perfectly happy with that, but then, as I've said before, my standards are nowhere near as high as yours!  ☹️

Jim

3 hours ago, hayfield said:

 

All of a sudden my spam/junk folder started working a couple of months ago, first time for over 4 years !!!

It's worth keeping an eye on the spam folder, not only on your email app, but also on your ISP's email server. I've frequently found messages on both which were not spam. Sometimes when I find myself getting messages on the VAG which are in the middle of a conversation, the start of the conversion having been marked as spam.

Jim 

Here in Biggar, about as far from the sea as you can get in Scotland, one of the double skinned polycarbonate roof panels in my greenhouse has gone AWOL. The base of the greenhouse itself is screwed to 2ftX2ft slabs, so it isn't going anywhere in a hurry🤞.  Our bins were intact, but all higgledy-piggledy even though they are a bit sheltered between ourselves and our neighbours houses.  Slightly calmer today, but rain coming down in stair-rods.

Jim

I sometimes find that you have to play about with the quartering, making tiny adjustments, to find the sweet spot which is as good forwards as backwards.

Jim

I was going to suggest making the junction part of the RLS station throat, but you beat me to it!  With a brick lined cutting trains will pretty much disappear before they get to the tunnel, depending how far along you make the entrance.

Jim