Spanishdriver

I had a similar issue with a couple of my locos for no apparent reason. Whether this would work for you or not I don't know but I cured the issue to both locos by placing them (individually) on the programming track and reset the decoder address with the allocated address code. They then worked fine.

Thanks Nile-Griffith and LongRail for that latest info. I am really learning a lot more now - you are never too old to learn! I have persisted in my spraying and have almost finished my latest project that I thought you may like to see. The first pic is the original Lima Class 31 and the second pic is the newly resprayed and renumbered Class 31. It is also my first attempt and heavy weathering to create an old work horse for the goods around my layout. I am reasonably satisfied with the results and have yet to fit the hand rails. New lighting has also been installed. Sorry about the state of my photography.

Thanks Doug for clarifying, I was a bit confused. Cheers

The biggest tip and needle that I have is 3.5mm which may explain my problems. That is very a interesting point. I have however finished spraying my first loco. Old paint completely stripped and primed (to the best of my ability!!) and then given it's top coats. I am reasonably satisfied with the results. I used an old loco that will not be used much anyway to experiment on. Transfers applied it just needs some weathering. The chassis has been given a coat of frame dirt. I will be using this as a practice piece. I have two further loco's on the go so we will see how they pan out too. I have also fitted lights which enhance the new 50008. See attached. Cheers Gary

I have just ordered some Vallejo primer. I will give it a try when it arrives. I have finished the respray of my first loco and using the Railmatch paints I had no issues but when I tried to use the Railmatch primer again on another loco, I encountered the same problems. ​I thinned the primer right down to a water consistency and still had issues. It seems that the primer is clogging up the airbrush irregardless of the viscosity. Normal paint has no issues. It will be interesting to find out how I get on with the Vallejo primer. Nile_Griffith said it can be used straight out of the bottle but Chubber said dilute to a milky consistency. I suppose it depends on the airbrush used and personal preference. I always mix paint prior to putting into the airbrush cap and every so often put my finger over the nozzle and mix the paint again with the bubbles produced during spraying. Anyway cheers again for all advice and once my primer arrives will report back. Gary

Of the loco's that I have sound chipped, 3 came fitted but they were bought second hand and the fourth loco was also second hand and I fitted it with a TTS chip. The 5th loco I fitted with a Lok Sound decoder. This was over twice the price of the TTS but boy was it worth it. The sound is far superior. The TTS's are all fitted in Class 47's and the Lok Sound fitted in a Vitrains Class 37. I run BR blue of the eighties. Looking back at your first question, I don't think that the Back EMF would be a problem. If you bought the sound chip 'as new' perhaps it might be worth a call to the seller to get their response. I presume from what you say that you bought the chip and speaker and fitted it yourself as opposed to buying the loco pre-fitted. Just be careful about altering CV's unless you know what you are doing. The sound chip should work straight out of the box without any alterations. The only thing you would need to alter is the preset loco number which is normally No3. Once you have a few more sound fitted loco's then you may want to go into the CV's and adjust the volume settings. Keep us/me posted. Gary

Hi Howy, I also own the Gaugemaster Prodigy but the advance version but I am sure they operate in a similar manner. First question - where on the track does this happen. If it is in the same place then it may purely be down to dirty rails. I have a number of loco's with TTS and from what I have experienced, if I get a faulty connection or I have stupidly set the points wrong and get a short, then I have to manually restart the sound on the loco. You say this happens when the sound reaches '8'. Try a different speed setting. I always run mine on setting128 as it gives you far greater control. Instead of gradually speeding up, try turning you speed knob straight to 50 (as an example) and see if the same things happens. Second question - is this the only sound fitted loco that you have? If not, try a different loco on the same piece of track and see what happens. Let us know how you get on. I am no expert and I am sure others on here will be able to help if I cant. Third question - is this actually a blog or just a one question query? I would anticipate you getting more responses in the forums under a DCC sound entry. Gary

I have had a more productive afternoon thanks to you guys. The airbrush seems to be behaving it'self more now. A good clean with a proper cleaning fluid, needle set up properly and more importantly running at 20 psi. I now have the yellow ends done on my first total respray and I have two more loco bodies soaking in brake fluid to strip the paint off. It will be interesting to see if I encounter similar issues again when using the primer. I do have a couple of jars of the stuff so may even open another one and see if that is as thick and gloopy. Thank you for the tip about the frequent flushing with cleaning fluid Mick, I have been using thinners in between sprays up until now. I will give it a whirl. We live and learn don't we? Cheers Gary

Thank you all for your replies and there is some very useful information within and I have learnt a lot from reading through them. Three airbrushes came with the kit but none of them are named. Hopefully the attached scan will give you the exploded view that you are looking for Mick. I have come to the conclusion however that the primer used was extra thick as I have put some normal thinned paint through and it behaves a lot better. The thinner I use is a water based thinner from Railmatch. Thank you for the tip about the working pressure of 20 psi. I was running at the preset figure of 50 psi so that has now been reduced to the normal 20. There was no mention of this in the manual. I will give it a try this afternoon and report back. The tip about the needle set up was also very welcome. Thanks again.

Hi all, I have a Voilamart AS18-2 dual action airbrush kit. Up to now it has worked faultlessly and I have been able to weather my track and a couple of loco's with reasonable results. Two days ago, I took the plunge and having stripped the old paint off a well worn engine, I decided to start a complete re-paint to enable it to reflect on my era and location. This is where my problems started. I am using Railmatch acrylic paints and the Railmatch water based thinners at a 50/50 mix. When trying to spray the primer coat, I was getting little to no paint from the airbrush. I could see a little bit of 'crud' withing the cup so decided to take the airbrush apart for a clean with the provided airbrush cleaning kit and fluid. All holes and nozzles were cleaned along with the needle valve. I re-assembled the airbrush and tried again with similar results and was not getting a good and continuous flow of paint from the nozzle. The compressor and airbrush manuals that came within the package give no advice on cleaning or indeed re-assembling the airbrush but merely give safety advice and part numbers. My question is this. can anyone offer me some advice on the needle setting? For example, is it re-inserted and pushed firmly home within the nozzle and then tightened or is there a margin of 'play' before it is tightened. It is a shame but this isn't covered in the manual. Or is it just trial and error. I hope this makes sense. Cheers Gary

Thank you DonB. I will give that a try later.

It is looking good so far and I wish you well with your project. Living outside of the Uk myself, I know how difficult it can be to source what you require. I look forward to your future entries to see how it is coming along.

Hi petertg and thank you for the welcome. I don't know if you have returned to Martlesham Heath of late but it has probably changed drastically from when you were there. They do however have a museum on sight on what is left of the old airfield. I spent 22 of my 30 years Police service at Martlesham HQ Traffic Unit. I think that that same old DMU is still running between Ipswich and Felixstowe. Read on through this blog and you will see the transformation (literally) of Ipswich station. Where are you in this lovely country? I am in the Alicante region.

No, they are not dado rails but the first bits of wood affixed to the walls for the start of baseboard construction. As can readily be seen, one of the problems I have is the water heater for the new bathroom (next door to the left). Slap bang where my new layout needs to be. More on this later. Research was still being done along with purchasing rail and stock. I had decided to go with OO gauge and DCC. Track was going to be Peco 100 streamline and I ordered numerous amounts of second hand items. Much need cleaning as it had previously been on old layouts but that is part of the fun - isn't it? I made my own radius curve templates. I am fortunate to have a fully equipped woodwork shop just outside. The construction began in earnest. I wanted to incorporate a full circuit of track which led to issues of access not just for me but also to be able to clean and maintain the window. The next picture shows the humble beginnings of my layout. I can't seem to get the images in the right place but bear with me.

Having never created a Blog before, I started to formulate what I wanted on a Word document. There will follow numerous entries until I manage to catch up with my self and start to post 'live' updates. Bear with me in case the images turn up in the wrong places!! It was now May 2016 and we were having the downstairs large storeroom renovated. We live upstairs on what is the ground floor but wanted a new bathroom fitted for the guest rooms downstairs. This opened up the scope for a model railway layout room. We are now finally getting there. I had ordered my first purchases off Ebay on the 29th May. I was now very up to date on DCC and in my mind, this was the way to go. On 21st August, I took the first picture of my model railway layout. Hopefully as the first of many pictures, it will attach here in the right place.