Vecchio

If there is restricted room tantalum capacitors will do it. As it is a small loco it will not need a lot. Problem is the next 18 socket. With a good eyesight and a very small tip you can solder wires direct to the socket. Did so on an H0 model. But do this only if you are pretty good at soldering, as otherwise you may ruin it. In the example below I used enamelled wires as connection for speaker and stay alive. Being very thin the wires are hardly noticeable in the model. I painted the capacitors in a colour similar to the interior of the model. Tantalum capacitor bank in a small draisine (Austrian version of a Wickham trolley) 20200531_155225 Soldering iron used 20200531_155317 ready model 20200531_162353 Model will be on show on the 12th (Roade) and 19th (MK Silverfox) of August.

Have to celebrate the arrival of my new toy in style... Waited since my last Scotland holiday (2022) for this moment and kept the bottle in the rear of my cupboard... No fear, I don't drink at this time of the day, may be a little later... IMG20230802141336

Couldn't resist, ordered a black 5, BR, Stanier 5MT 'Black 5', 4-6-0, 44726 With Steam Generator - Era 5. I own an older Hornby one, but it has some issues and wobbles. so the new one needs to pull my west coast railway MK2's over the Banavie bridge...

And let's not forget it was a set of medium tires.... Vecchio, Hamilton fan

Still fixing small hick-ups on my layout and check out rolling stock. Well my double decker fleet had an issue with a function decoder so I wanted to replace him. Put an old Hattons one on my program trolley (old Kleinbahn chassis) - and after some signs of life it gave up. I can still read CV's but no motor, no lights. Changed to an old Roco decoder (which was so terrible that I replaced it some years ago with a Zimo one). I just want the function outputs, but I need some load for programming it. And: surprise: same thing happened. First it worked, suddenly it stopped. Again, I can read and write CV's, but nothing else. Well - then I found that I made a short between the grey motor wire and mass (black) because of a lose screw which held the weight... Now I had to order a cheap decoder (Lais) to finish the job. Getting expensive to fix the light on that coach. 🤐😐

Not 100% sure but it may be a V5 problem. I noticed on the AC class 37 that when you throttle down, lets say from step 70 to 40, it goes idle and stays idle (which is wrong, as it should throttle up after having reached the lower speed). Same happens to a continental steam engine (also V5). At the moment you go up a couple of steps (so in our example 42), the sound is back to normal. Zimo chips throttle back up once the lower speed is reached.

Even I am not that old I have grown up in a town with trams which had at the time open platforms, where people where jumping off at low speed and jumping on at crossings, also railway coaches, well those for local trains, had open platforms. Of course, they are all gone now, but in my first 10 or 15 years of my life they were present. I do not remember that there were excessive death rates because people were jumping off while the train was running between stations. Have we all mentally degraded in the last 60 years or so that we are jumping out now, even when there is written not to open while the train is running? I know I will get a few negative comments now, but have we thrown all common sense over board?

Long time has passed, and now the wood in my garage goes on my nerves. So I have to finish it. Why the long break? Well I had a head-scratching phase as the turntable warped. No idea why, it is dry in my garage/workshop. In the end I had to take the 2 pieces of stripwood on the sides of (which didn't go too well as I used cyano acrylate...). After re-shaping the surface with some polyester filler I used screws. With them I can give the whole thing a bit of pre-tension. Working? well, partially. One corner still thinks he has to stick up in the air. But it is much better than before. So where are we now? IMG20230721120428 IMG20230721120414 What's missing now is an index pin (I make 2, ,gives me also the power supply) and a safety guard, so the trains cannot roll off the turntable when turning. Myplan is to have the thing out of my workshop by tonight (ready or not, the rest can be done in the clubroom) Happy modelling!

Just fell over that thread. A&H models Brackley - excellent service, and Chris has always something on offer that I want. Dangerous place to go, always come home with stuff I didn't have on my list. Specialized on continental models, but I also purchased my Dapol 0 scale 57xx there.

You are not the only one!

Handset prices are eye watering. I am happy that I have mine... What about the solution by Jamesed? Tablet connection via ethernet cable.

This is how I used it on Donnersbachkogel - this is the fiddle yard (operator) side of the layout. The connector next to the board is for the mimic board (Megapoints controller) IMG20230717150940

You can use all lokmouse variants, or Fleischmann controller as well as Lenz controllers. For the Lenz ones you need an adapter (different connector) but this one is available for instance from Chris at A&H for reasonable money. I have one in my layout Donnersbachkogel. It is a very neat solution, looks professional and gives you the opportunity to connect 3 handsets without crawling under the layout (were my Z21 lives...). I have been on 2 shows so far, I never had a problem with the WIFI control, so the handsets were staying in the box. Will be on show with Donnersbachkogel next month and I hope the Lenz and Fleischmann handsets stay again in the box... The DIN sockets are for the Lenz handsets, the Western plug is for Roco / Fleischmann handsets. Lenz 80152 LA152 Adaptor including Front Panel This adapter is used for connecting further input devices to XpressNet. the LED is used for controlling the XpressNet voltage two five-pin DIN sockets and one Western plug at the front for connecting manual controls to XpressNet terminal screws for connecting XpressNet connections

If you know the Megapoints controller system you will also know that the servos are completely switched off between moves. They do not need any power to stay in one position. I use the system on 2 layouts. You normally will not switch servos at the same time, other than in switching a complete route. And this is done in sequence. One servo switches after the other. Sometimes it is difficult to have all the servos on the same board as your servo controller. Also I use Megapoints controller and I use 4 boards, one under each baseboard, but two on one of the baseboards. I do not see any problems in going over a longer distance (which will be in most cases less than 5 ft), never had any servo twitching. And the power problems mentioned in another comment further up (Suzie) do not exist as Megapoints fires the points in sequence. So there will be only one of the servos work at a time. Also if your servo draws 900mA then you better check if everything runs free or if there is a mechanical block. No need to put a copper mine under the baseboards...

👍👍

Yes it is. Cv8 is one of the standardised cv's, it is the same for all brands (as long as they follow NEM or NMRA) Zimo does 100% follow the standards. I use Zimo wherever possible. (Well not on the new class37 from AS)

Try cv8=8 (reset), after that the address will be 3. Sound will not be affected by the reset.

Sometimes it is difficult to have all the servos on the same board as your servo controller. Also I use Megapoints controller and I use 4 boards, one under each baseboard, but two on one of the baseboards. I do not see any problems in going over a longer distance (which will be in most cases less than 5 ft), never had any servo twitching. And the power problems mentioned in another comment further up (Suzie) do not exist as Megapoints fires the points in sequence. So there will be only one of the servos work at a time. Also if your servo draws 900mA then you better check if everything runs free or if there is a mechanical block. No need to put a copper mine under the baseboards...

Yes, no problem with that. I did the same on my layout Donnersbachkogel, as otherwise I would get into trouble with the connectors from board to board.

I just noticed that my layout doesn’t have any ‘Grenzmarken’ (Limit markers, next to points, to show how close a railway car can go to the point without blocking the other track) How do they look? Photo taken by Priwo, 2006 There is no excuse, first I am Austrian and know about them, second I had them on my last Austrian show layout. So into the workshop and let’s start making some. There are commercial available products, but I have a well-stocked workshop, so it would be a shame buying them… Material: commercially available products are normally 3D printed resin. The real stuff is either concrete or even wood. So, for me it will be wood as well. What I need is some very dense wood, olive would be perfect, but I run out of this precious material. Next holiday in the Mediterranean will get the stock up (will purchase a cheap cutting board). Next best material, also more local, is oak. I normally keep nice pieces of oak in the workshop, which I cut into the necessary stripes with my trusted circular saw (Proxxon FKS). IMG20230706151948 Next step is the profile, which I mill in with an R1 concave mill cutter. With a 1.5mm cutter I mill the length and with a 90 degree cutter the sides. IMG20230706134124 IMG20230706134924 Now it is time for painting. 2 coats of white matt (or 1 coat cellulose filler and one coat white), and then the black ends. IMG20230706151234 Now it is time to cut them apart and remove any burr if there was one. Here we go. Time to fix them on the layout. IMG20230706155439 And finally in position. IMG20230706170341 Of course I am 3 pieces short, so I have to make another batch...

Dcc doesn't run 'worse' than DC, a loco that runs well on DC will run well on DCC. Sometimes even better, as DCC always has the full voltage on the track, no matter which speed the loco is running. DCC also gives you the possibility to use energy storage devices (stay alive) which makes them even more robust if it comes to contact problems between loco and track. This is of course depending on which decoders you use. The very basic ones will probably not give you such an option. Another point is the motor regulation. Different motors may need different set-up. Some newer systems have self adjusting features. This is probably a point were an experienced trader may be of help. What may help help is to join a club, there will always be some 'gurus' who may help you with your problems (and they do it for free). I personally switched to DCC in 2005 and I would never go back to DC. The advantages of DCC are more than one loco can be controlled on the same track (no sectionalisation necessary), smooth control, best slow speed behaviour, acceleration and braking inertia adjustable, top speed adjustable to a realistic speed, various light functions (depending on decoder), automatic breaking or shuttle mode (ABC etc), electromagnetic uncoupling, moving pantographs and last but not least sound functions (just to name a selection).

Read CV2 (starting voltage) and change it to a value slightly higher, probably 2 steps more. Example: read CV2 = 2. Write CV2 =4 repeat until behaviour is better. Hope this helps.

After a day of setting up/error searching and finally a bit of playing I can say the following. Of course there were the usual spider webs, some bent overhead line and the obligatory short circuit at the beginning. The short circuit I could cure within seconds, as there is one point which always has a problem after a longer break. one time switched and problem gone. Probably I shouldn't be lazy and change the microswitch to a frog juicer... But then some more trouble started. Half the signals didn't show lights and also the station lights didn't go, even I heard the relays clicking when I operate the switch. Well a bus wire from the DC bus was lose. Quickly written, but I took quite a time to find it. Mulitimeter and soldering iron are my friends... IMG20230702190643 Finally this is solved, but there is still one signal where the red light is not working... Also there is a switch at the mimic board I need to change, I cannot switch off the station lights... View through the window, there is no space to stand behind the layout. The background/scenic break isn't set up, as it makes life easier for testing. IMG20230702190456 IMG20230702190551 Some smaller issues were also found and corrected, at one board end the rail fixings were lose (temperature?) and had to be re-soldered. Also the shed door doesn't close, will have a look later this week. Shed door not closing. IMG20230702190821 A debut for the 1245 from Roco, it went quite well considering I didn't clean the tracks at all. VID20230702193838 So I am quite happy, I have more than a month time to get everything as it should be. If you are around and have time: why not coming for a look? 12th August in Roade (close to Northampton) or 19th August in Milton Keynes (Silverfox exhibition)

Donnersbachkogel fell into a deep sleep, and even couldn't be set up as my sauna project was in the way (or rather occupied half of my shed). My better half found a used element sauna for little money, and I refurbished the elements during the summer of 2022. As I have some bookings this summer I need to set up the layout to see if everything is working . So I was busy the last few month to get the sauna project out of the way and into summerhouse two, where it belongs. For who is interested what I do if I am not working or playing with trains - see yourself.First the summerhouse IMG20230630173457 On the right hand side the sauna IMG20230630162357 And inside the sauna IMG20230630162418 On the left hand side a bathroom with shower and toilet. IMG20230630162823 Now that this is finished I clean up summer house no1 to get the layout back up. IMG20230701195857 And here is the sleeping beauty which will be woken up tomorrow... IMG20230701195908 The planned new fiddle yard is unfortunately no finished and has to wait for the next season... Only 2 hands and a bad back - this is my excuse... I am not that far away from finishing the fiddle yard, but I do not want to risk anything a few weeks before the shows. State of the fiddle yard today... IMG20230701195951

Probably a bit cooler than here.... 😆