Sir TophamHatt

I should have kept mine and resold it instead of a straight refund from Hattons

Watching 12 Years a Slave. I get really angry at how, in the past, people treated other people. It's a long film (could do with editing it down) but I struggle to watch it. I wonder why people who have been taught that black people are somehow a lower form of human continue to think that way.

I hardwired two Lenz chips into mine and my PA2 sees them fine. Is there another method of testing you can try, like with a Sprog? Might be worth making sure they're not touching anything inside the motor car and that all the wires are fine and connected properly. It's fairly simple so shouldn't be much of a problem

So. I've figured, when you have lots of time AND are waiting for deliveries, that's when things seem to take an age to arrive. I bet loads will arrive next week and I'll have no time to do anything with any of it. Been really inspired by a recent video I watched of someone weathering rocks so have ordered some moulds and will give it a go. Might try it with my retaining walls - I just painted those boring old grey.

Quality seems to be a little hit and miss. Half of mine were nice and sturdy, the other half may have been made from cooked spaghetti. 30 mins in the sun (not just in open air but direct warm sunlight) seemed to help a bit.

Well, a fairly successful day. Put away the bulk load of wipes I bought (36 packs!). Found out the control boards for the signals are coming next week - hooray! Still no answer on some other lighting I've had on order / shown interest in for nearly 2 months now. Still haven't found the correct size tubs for loft storage... BUT figured I can get free delivery to the store as I'll be ordering over £30 worth. I wonder if I can use my discount from work to get a gift card and use it online. Talking of work, in for 3 days next week (out of 4 per week) so at least I'm able to do something instead of sitting at home getting a bigger waistline at home

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07M77JW2S/ Powerland 41Pcs Drill Screwdriver Bit Set Combo Drill Set in Solid Plastic Case Buy one get one free. £9.99

Well, didn't get those 45L boxes from the shop - even the one in the next town didn't have any! So it meant today I sat and went through my photos, nearly all day. Must have deleted about 1000 so far, mainly older ones of nothing interesting. Keeping many of the ones in and around stations though, for prosperity. But I did find a very nice and simple renaming program that allows me to rename all my photos by date. Some older mobile phone ones were just IMG_1234 or whatever (iPhone naming?) but I much prefer date order - IMG_20200701_201133 (date + 24 hour clock time with seconds). It's whether I take the plunge and get it to rename all the SLR photos... a very big job. However, my fate is decided on whether the camera can default name photos in the same way. If it can't, no point in changing the others. Hurrah for tomorrow!

There seems to be a lot of "ifs" and guesswork here. Has nobody thiught to simply ask Hornby? I get people love to theorise and conspirise (yes, I know it's not a word but sounded cool!) - but seriously... nobody? Did nobody call Hornby and simply ask?

Well, another day over. And another day of no contact from work, despite them saying they would let me know by Monday. Have a plan to buy some elusive 45L boxes tomorrow. I need about 10, which is a big investment but they're to store stuff in the loft. Trying to shift everything I have that's temporary into cardboard boxes and leave the plastic tubs for long term storage. Yes I know we should all be reducing plastic waste but these are long term and I doubt I'll be getting rid of them for the rest of my life. Got to pick up some stuff for Mrs STH - she's doing the best with Little STH as he's just hit a grumpy stage. She's amazing!

372pcs Rotary Tool Accessories Kit Buffing wheels Cutting Discs with 1/8 Shank Universal Fitment for Polishing Cutting Sanding and Grinding £8.17 https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07FCQFL85

Morning all. Was up a bit in the night wondering if I had ordered 1 or 2 of a particular signal control board. Checked this morning - I've ordered 3 - even better! AND (finally) looks like the lighting for the coaches is ready too! And here endith my £500 splurge, of which I did not get the ECoS but stock and signals instead. Heading out to see family today - socially distanced - a phrase I feel will be the word of the year. Apart from Wilko, who use the perhaps more correct term of "physical distance".

Your post seems to be aimed at me... yet I have never moaned about the polarity of the magnets I was also well aware of another brand already selling a similar product but still chose the Hunt Couplings as they were what would work better. The aftersales support has been great too. But it's about opening my mind to what others may think. To you it may not be much money, but others may have bought 10, 20 sets - quite a lot of money. But you'll see I edited my post to better reflect my evolved thinking. It's okay to think one way and change your mind isn't it? Sorry if my thoughts and opinions don't align to yours. Your post hardly screams diplomaticness and is actually offensive. Shame really.

And while product development is great, I wonder if some nievety has been shown here. I'd say these newer couplings ( which have been produced by magnem couplings for some time now.) will annoy early adopters who will no doubt feel they have a now inferior product that, while is good at it's job, is perhaps now worthless. But then again, there is probably no "right time" to launch a new product. I guess both have their uses. For example in HST sets, the coaches are usually fixed in a certain way - using the non-elite couplings would make sure the set is always formed the right way. Same with DMUs a 2 coach DMU will always be fine, a 3-coach is usually formed with the middle coach in a particular way. I guess the elite could be good for wagons though.

Long-ish but worth the read. If this ever happens to me, I'm gonna do it!

That's okay. I run HO with OO anyway Quite a bit at £50 a coach, so I'll have to start saving. I only want a couple of coaches and the control car though. Well... and probably a loco to go on the other end... and maybe some more coaches!

Thanks. Will have to take a look into this and see. I guess nobody updated it to more modern standards?

Lots of good things happened today. 1) Did 4 loads of washing. 2) After the initial disappointment of the postman not delivering my Class 67, a post lady arrived shortly afterwards with it. 3) Mrs STH went out for a walk with baby meaning I had time to fit the sound chip + upgraded speaker. 4) Even had time to test! 5) The temperature gauge in the bedroom finally went over the 26.9°C it's been stuck at - I thiught it was broken. 6) The heat will be cooling off a little tomorrow. 7) Pay day tomorrow! Now got to go back and catch up with everyones postings!

https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/lima-h0-9151l-steuerwagen-bdt-der-sbb-1101432694/ Does anyone know the model numbers of coaches that would go with this? Not sure if it's Swiss or Austrian? Cheers!

Please, take some time to proof read your posts. Any modern browser will tell you if you've made a mistake. If you're accessing on a phone, it should do that too! It makes your posts fairly difficult to read. And thanks @Hattons Dave for setting the record straight!

Last question for this moment in time: What's the difference between the 50200 and the 50210?

A couple of years back I bought a bunch of weathering things. Didn't do that well on some wagons I bought (specifically to try weathering) (see photo) so forgot about it. (although I wonder if I could rub some thinner on a cloth and go round each of those wagons so it'll clear off a lot of the paint but leave it in the cracks?) Now I'm coming round to it again and I don't have any idea what the following things do. All by Humbrol. I have: Matt Cote Enamel Thinners DecalFix Enamel Varnish I guess the thinners will water down the mix and allow me to manipulate it around the item I'm weathering? I guess the varnish will "seal" it all at the end? Cheers for reading.

There are slightly more expensive Lais decoders that come with a more powerful Stay Alive (like this one). The tiny ones you get (even with Zimo) are usually 470uF. These last less than half a second - pointless. I'd recommend one that will last a good few seconds at least. Someone said I was silly to say that as they didn't want a loco out of control for 20 seconds. I said the loco would likely be back in communication with the command station after a few seconds - the 10 or 20 second stay alive is a "just in case" basis. Your locos won't go crashing anywhere. I'd also suggest if you want to try them out, buy them. Yes, cheap but if it's going to teach you and help you see what's best what's not to like? I made my own stay alives that last 20 seconds. I can upload the drawings if you wish but it's more complicated than what you may think. From what I understand (completely not from an electrical background here): The capacitor voltage needs to be higher than the track voltage (or something like this). Unfortunately, the more power you add to the stay alive, the less volts it has. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what I'm talking about. I just know that the capacitors I have must be added together properly or they simply won't work / may blow. I can't add any less than 6. You need a resistor yes - this stops a rush of current, which may identify to the command station as a short. You also need a diode. This will force the incoming power to go through the resistor. I have the kit to build about 4 or 5 more huge capacity stay alives but don't know if I'll buy the stock that can hold them. Here's a video of the one I fitted:

I've also had a thought about the axles and why the little stub of a rod to push the axle box cover on to isn't much longer? Because the ends of the axle box are only just on the metal rod, it's easy for them to come off. And if the axle box end isn't completely flat, it won't fit on very well and will encourage it to be wonkey. If the rod was two or three times as long, it would be straight from the wheel and more secure for the axle box to slip over it.

Well... Loco number 3 is going back. Tried to drill out the holes to make them bigger, which seemed to work. But I've now wasted 2 hours today, plus more at other times and I just don't think it's worth any more of my time. Glued in the axle boxes, which seemed okay, the wobble was still present but somewhat reduced. The motor seemed to "pulse" a little on speed step 7 (out of 28), which was the problem with the first loco, but I'd have looked at that later. Came to test and some axle boxes were on wonkey. Moved them before the glue cured and it seemed okay on the rolling road. Gave it a whirl round the layout. Derailed in three places... I think it's because of the wobble. The axle box pushes against the bogie enough to make it jump the track. After it shed one axle box, much better running. Another whizz round and it'd shed another axle cover. I don't want to have to check the loco after each session. On reflection, my Class 68 hasn't had any problems, no derailments, no problems. It's a great loco and perhaps in 5 years time, I'll pick one up but I'd rather put the money towards something else I think.