Vecchio

Great film material. Have enjoyed that after a tiring day of work!! Vecchio

For David C and who else may be interested: the source for the station is Krois Modellbau. The series of buildings is called Lasercraft by Krois. Small range but very good. Vecchio

This is the one I made, based on Strobl, Salzburg. Also a narrow gauge station. Still not on the layout. slow progress.... IMGP5410 IMGP5418 IMGP5411

I like the station building. Didn't know that Roco had laser cut station kits in their program. Did a smaller one from Strobl/Salzburg (but it is still big enough, as all these laser cut buildings are exactly to scale, so they come out larger than the normal modeller expects) Looking forward to see more!

If you want a remote set up switch you need to make it yourself. And right there are no leds so you need to count or use a mirror below you board.... I can tilt all my boards so a first set up can be done like this. The mode set up will normally not change and the point positions you can do with the board in normal position using a remote switch. Can show my remote switch later - I am currently on a business trip.... greetings from Barcelona

This is what I normally do. Instead of the hat I use electric adhesive tape

Haven't seen the new videos - an update was necessary as he had for instance the possibility to use lever switches not inside the old video. But the boards can do it since some time. The only negative thing I have to say about the Megapoints controller are the 2 leds - one red and one yellow - which show you the channel you are currently on(red) and the mode (yellow) they do that by a number of flashes. so for instance you are on channel 11 it will flash 11 times - then a little break - and then again 11 times. While you are on the channel you want to change the mode as you have a point which is running into the wrong direction or you want to set up signal bounce or whatever. Try to count the number of yellow led flashes when the red one next to it is flashing its 11 flashes to tell you that you are on channel 11..... I asked Dave to replace one of the leds with a numeric display. I would be happy to pay a few pounds more to have my freedom. Dave said with the new version of the boards the leds are SMD and therefore smaller and it is easier to count... Have two new boards for the club layout, didn't try them yet as I am just at the basic wiring stage.... Vecchio

Like your spray booth. I think of using a large plastic storage container - this is normally from polypropylene or polyethylene, so the paint can easily be wiped off. About my shed - it was from Billyoh and the model is called Dorset. With the extras I took (thicker wall, thicker floor boards and roof boards, double glazing and my own rooftiles) it was approximately 3500£. This is a lot of money, but I do not have the intention to move again (well - this is country number 3 and house number 10 - so you never know....) Vecchio

Just fell over your thread as I wanted to see who is the man who gives me a like... You did a great job and you made it a good size too! I bought a house 3 years ago and I did more or less the same - but as I am lazy I used a ready made summer house. So I had just the Lego-like game of finding the right piece and build it up from flat pack to a building. And I enjoyed that a lot. Together with a mate it was up in 2 days and another day to finish the roof. And it is much smaller. I have 5.5 x 3.5 meters and I use it mainly as a workshop and storage for my modules. I can put 2 modules up for building and testing, but when I want to put the complete layout up I need to do that in the garage (which I currently refurbish - as it is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. Insulation and dry lining is the answer and will take place this summer. Vecchio

No, you are not the only one. I use the Megapoints controller (x4) on Donnersbachkogel (not yet ready but points are working on the 2 middle boards) and I am currently installing 2 on Frimingham (7mm club layout). And I have no issues with this system. Vecchio

Nice price! Paid 2.15 for Hobbyking's 10g analog servo....

I read in this thread that several people recommend digital servos. The digital servo doesn't improve the servo chatting. You just get a higher torque at small movements as the servo motor gets a digital input. And for free you get some high frequency noise from them... In my experience they are of no help and unnecessary expensive for the use on a model railway. We are not flying 1000£ plus fast model airplanes that need fast and precise reactions. We do not need a lot of power. I use the small 10g servos for 0 gauge - no problem at all.

Really? In this case we should all throw out our layouts - as they all will be more or less a fire hazard - they are mainly made of wood and plastic. They all use electricity - and I consider the low voltage part as more dangerous as the mains as you have there much higher currents. SO do you have a layout made of concrete and steel?? Vecchio

When we consider the speed of the trains and the specific weight of steel (approximately 7.85g/mm3) I do not see a big problem of the rails being moved by the slipstream... OK, may be I have grown up in a time before extreme H&S measures... Vecchio

The German name for these cars is Rollwagen or Rollböcke. You find them at companies like Glöckner or Weinert (and they have the price of a small locomotive....)

Like your wiring idea. Fool proof is key - especially in a shop layout where a quick finger (and here it is not only the smaller fingers flicking switches.. ) could flick a switch.

This was a bad runner before the DCC conversion as well - even after. Just the stay alive made it.

Now the LEDs need to be prepared. I mark the anode with black marker pen so I can clearly identify it also after I cut the leads shorter. 20170305_135023 I glue the LEDs into the loco using 2-component epoxy resin. Important to have a bottle of methylated spirit within reach as this is the solvent for epoxy resin - but only as long as it hasn't set. So if there are any glue stains you can wipe them easily away. I prefer epoxy for this reason against superglue. 20170305_140912 The photo has no mercy. It shows clearly that I slipped with the drill for the red light... 20170305_141106 After the glue has set it is time for wiring. 20170305_141135 I use one of the helping hands - adapted with a wooden peg - to hold the piece in a convenient position 20170305_155945 As a wire I use fine enamelled wire. This doesn't use a lot of space and follows the shape I want. 20170305_162632 Now the second side with the little PCB. The PCB has been glued to the roof using a self adhesive rubber pad. 20170305_162642 Here you can see the connector plugged in - I think this method allows working with a minimal "wire mess". 20170305_162735 The first trial showed that the white LED is much too strong. 20170305_162853 This photo shows the red warning light and the 2 headcode lights. In the meantime I reduced the light intensity by dimming the light down, I used CV60=30. It is still strong enough. 20170305_170855 Finally 2 small videos showing the lights but also the performance which is exceptional if we consider that his loco has a Lima pancake motor. Click on one of the following 2 photos to activate the video. 20170305_170921 20170305_171025 For those who are interested - I also set a shunting mode on function key 4, by CV124 = 23 All Configuration Variables are related to Zimo decoders, and may be different on other decoder brands. The first loco is done, and I can say it works very well, better than expected. And as usual - I had fun during the making...

1000 Ohm are the standard resistors, the SMD ones are 2000 Ohm. There is almost no noticeable difference in brightness. For the headboard lights on the 37 I will probably need to change the resistor to a higher vale as they should not be too bright. After some dog walking it is time to go back into the workshop....

Was in Austria the last time by car in 2012 - and you wouldn't believe it - in upper Austria (Salzkammergut), I got even a comment by an adult that the steering wheel is on the wrong side. And he was not joking...

Now we have a plug - were do we plug it into? Also we need to add resistors to limit the current for the LEDs. A way avoiding messy cables is to fix all on a small piece of PCB. I found a very thin piece in my electronics parts- so here we go. Using normal leaded parts they will be mounted on the top while the "wiring", means the side with the copper cladding, is on the opposite site. As this little PCB will be glued to the inside of the roof of the loco I will make it the other way round. Resistors and copper clad are on the same side. 20170304_192345 A short time in the etching solution 20170304_193104 And here we have the result. Not very nice, was a little bit to long in the solution, so the acid started to attack the copper under the mask. But it is still good enough to be used. 20170304_195150 ​The first one was for SMD resistors - I made quickly a second one for normal leaded resistors. It came out a bit better, but also here we can see traces of over-etching. No problem for what we need it. 20170304_202045 Time to put the parts in. First the SMD version 20170304_200325 And now the slightly bigger one with normal resistors. 20170304_203159

Now we need to understand how to get the power to the lights (leds). Again not a problem as there is a lot of space. I decided to make a small PCB with a connector. So -what is the connector to use? I go for a IC socket. They are cheap and I have several at home. 20170304_185934 20170304_185928 I cut a piece off so I have 5 pins. Now the cables need to be soldered in. 20170304_185906 20170304_192334 Now the connector is ready. 20170304_192334

I started already some description in another thread, but I think I create my own as I have 3 diesels to convert and I do not want to kill somebody else's thread. So here we go. Who are the candidates? 37506 Railfreight British Steel Skinningrove 59005 Yeoman Kenneth J Painter 73126 NSE Kent & East Sussex Railway I start with conversion number 2, and will come back to number one later. This is the victim, found it recently at the Milton Keynes model railway show, was used but in my opinion on display as it looks like it has never run. . And what goes in? I use a Zimo MX600, first I will just do a basic wiring, later also the lights. On the left side you see the capacitors, there is a lot of room, so I use 6 x 3300uF. This is probably a bit of an overkill, the engine runs approximately 4 seconds when you take the locomotive off the track. DSC04319 All six capacitors are wired in parallel, behind the blue shrink tube is the charging resistor. DSC04318 Here the charging resistor and the bypass diode. They are necessary to limit the charging current, otherwise your controller may detect a short circuit as the charging current can be rather high. I looked for a maximum charging current of 300mA at 20V - so I use a 68 Ohm resistor. . I changed the motor control according to Zimos advice for (Fleischmann) pancake motors: CV 9=89 and CV56=91. I think the engine runs a bit smoother with this settings. I am happy with the running characteristics, you may think this is not a Lima engine when you see it.

Leds arrived, but no time to put them in. I found a mistake in the wiring - now the stay alive is properly working and the old loco performs like a new one. Can only recommend to do it. It is worth upgrading them. Will start a new thread showing the complete upgrading of my old Lima fleet.

Something for PaulRhB today!