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Darius43

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Posts posted by Darius43

    Oxford Rail announces - OO gauge Mk3 coaches

    in Oxford Rail

    Posted

    I measured the narrowest part of the underframe module on an RFM today, it’s approx 1900mm across the width. I haven’t converted that into 4mm scale, I’ll let someone else do that!

    Cheers

    Shane

    Let’s see now:-

     

    1900mm / 25.4 = 74.8 inches

     

    74.8 inches / 12 = 6.234 feet

     

    6.234 feet x 4mm = 24.9mm

     

    So at 4mm scale the narrowest part of the RFM module should be 24.9mm wide.

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    EBay madness

    in Ebay Topics

    Posted

    His granddad used to drive it

     

    Funnily enough my Grandad did work for the railways - specifically the Great Indian Peninsular Railway - as a permanent way engineer and then as an area engineer/inspector.

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    • Like 1

    Hornby announce Class 800 IEP

    in Hornby

    Posted

    If a Mk 3 goes round, I would have thought that these ought to.

    These coaches are longer than a Mk3 but the bogies are at the same centres. There is this a greater overhang on curves - hence the reported issue.

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    Peter's Tussle with Tesco

    in Wheeltappers

    Posted

    Pay people minimum wage and give them jobs with no future and wonder why they are unmotivated and apathetic. They also seem to excel at finding members of staff that hate people and putting them in customer-facing roles.

     

    Still I am sure the management keep telling themselves how superb and wonderful they are. That was my experience of the useless plonkers that ran Carillion when I worked for them 10 years ago.

     

    Darius

     

    PS fortunately I left Carillion 8 years ago.

    • Like 1

    EBay madness

    in Ebay Topics

    Posted

    Found this today. It’s “professionally converted and painted”. Apparently professionals remove gangways with an axe, and forget to glue at least one of the windows back in.

    https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F202079451601

    To be fair they don’t specify the actual profession - could be a professional wrestler...

     

    The missing gangway looks to have been chucked into the end of the coach as it looks like there is something rattling around in there - besides the missing window.

     

    Darius

    Hornby announce Class 800 IEP

    in Hornby

    Posted

    On the third coach, I can see a small amount of material has been removed from the inside of the white pieces on the body, similar to what Darius reported. When I tested each coach on my test track (settrack with a mix of 2nd and 3rd radius curves), the two unmodified coaches consistently derail on the curves, but the modified one does not.

    /Tom

    Given that at least Tom and I have coaches that have plastic carved away by third parties in the Hornby supply chain, I am wondering where this leaves us warranty-wise if, for example, we were to be accused of carving the plastic ourselves...

     

    Darius

    Best and Worst Western Movies.

    in Wheeltappers

    Posted

    There is this film trilogy, which I rather like:-

     

    - Rio Bravo

    - El Dorado

    - Rio Lobo

     

    Essentially the same film plot with John Wayne in each film. The first also stars Walter Brennan and the last, the brilliant Jack Elam. The second stars a very young James Caan.

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    • Like 2

    Hornby Class 87 - Confirmed Newly Tooled Version for 2017 !

    in Hornby

    Posted · Edited by Darius43

    I thought i'd get ahead of the game and buy a sound chip for one of these in the hope they arrive on time! I've had a quick search on this topic and also searched the Hornby forum but found no information on the following.

     

    What type of decoder will the 87 use? 8pin?

    What provision is there inside for a speaker?

     

    I emailed Hornby last Sunday, but no response so far, and the man i spoke to on the Hornby stand at Model Rail Scotland last weekend was useless!!

     

    Any info much appreciated!

     

    Thanks

    According to Hattons it has an 8pin interface:-

     

    http://www.hattons.co.uk/244021/Hornby_R3580_Class_87_87035_Robert_Burns_in_BR_Blue/StockDetail.aspx

     

    This is consistent with Hornby’s previous dcc ready locos. I am not aware of Hornby ever using a 21pin dcc interface.

     

    Can’t comment reference speaker space. Hornby’s track record in this respect is somewhat less than spectacular - their recent Class 71 had precious little room for a decoder let alone a speaker. Their new class 800 seems to be similarly afflicted.

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    Hornby announce Class 800 IEP

    in Hornby

    Posted

    Obviously, Hornby thought they’d got this right so therefore released the model - after all, there’s only a certain amount of R&D before you have to say ‘right, let’s get the product out’

    Alas, for those of us that have bought this model train, the amount of R&D required from Hornby was more than that.

     

    Darius

    'Cambrian Street'

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by Darius43

    Hi Guys.....

    Been 'dangerously' thinking again about Mercontrol....if I use Gorilla Glue (which I believe is epoxy) to repair the torn 'pip', when hardened would this allow me to re-drill a hole for the control wire to be reinserted and hold fast....especially if I then applied the glue to both...?

    I don't like being beaten or throwing on the towel without a fight....?

    Regards always...

    Bob

    That’s the spirit!!! :)

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    'Cambrian Street'

    in Layout topics

    Posted · Edited by Darius43

    Hello Bob,

     

    I have been following your exploits with Mercontrol in this thread with interest as a friend and I are building a layout in his shed and intend to use Mercontrol to operate the points/turnouts.

     

    We are just about to start building the baseboards and so tracklaying is a way off yet. Nevertheless I decided to have a go with Mercontrol and built a trial double track crossover assembly on an old bit of kitchen cabinet door that the previous owner of my flat had left in the meter cupboard.

     

    post-29162-0-06474300-1519832781.jpeg

     

    Like you I found the wires hard to bend and the cranks a bit fiddly but after a bit of trial and error I found the following method seemed to work:-

     

    1. Mark out where the wires and cranks are to be and pre-cut the wire to the required length with a bit extra (about 1/2 an inch).

     

    2. Insert the wire into the tube with about 1 inch extending proud at each end.

     

    3. Bend the ends of the wire using pliers to a 90 degree-ish bend.

     

    4. Hook one end of the wire into the crank and the other into the point tiebar pip/hole. The wire does fit into the crank hole but it is like threading a needle.

     

    5. Hook the other end of the wire into the turnout and hold the wire flat against the baseboard on the desired alignment with a weight.

     

    6. Repeat this for all of the other wires to be attached to the crank and attach them to the crank - it is very hard to attach wires to the crank once it has been fixed down to the baseboard.

     

    7. Attach the crank and ist whitemetal boss to the baseboard with its cenral pin using a small hammer. Use gentle taps and you dont need to hammer it in all the way at this stage.

     

    8. Check all is working as required and if it is, hammer the centre pin in suffcieunt that the crank moves freely, i.e. not so that the crank is nailed hard to the baseboard.

     

    9. Secure the white metal crank boss to the baseboard using the smaller pins. A centre punch is useful to do this to avoid damage to the crank and I only used 2 of the 3 pins provided.

     

    10. Repeat as necessary.

     

    post-29162-0-42346700-1519832796.jpeg

     

    post-29162-0-33086700-1519832808.jpeg

     

    post-29162-0-31730100-1519832818_thumb.jpeg

     

     

    To prevent the lengths of wire in tube from springing sideways I held them in place using staggered pairs of 8mm long hex head track fixing screws as shown in the photos above.

     

    I did not have any omega loops and so connected the control wire to the centre hole of the three available in the lever. This lifts the wire clear of the baseboard and I think this curvature takes up any slack in the movement.

     

    One lever throw now operates the two points/turnouts of the crossover - marvellous :)

     

    Cheers

     

    Darius

    • Like 5
    • Informative/Useful 1
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