Sir TophamHatt

JB Model World foam inserts and really useful boxes:

Are there detailed instructions how to remove the bogie cover? - found the video: Just received my replacement so gonna try absolutely everything to try and get it working properly.

Well... the stormy weather means freesat is off. Glad Little Topham Hatt is still sleeping! This is one thing that worries me with owning a house. Extreme weather. Don't get me wring, I love extreme weather but my house is a bit old and so I always get anxious on whether I'll find a leak or something will happen when it's really raining. Rain more than any other weather I think. I used to be more scared of electrics but an electrician told me that if the electrics blow, they'll just turn off. But if your house floods, everything is ruined. Wiser man level increase +5 points there. Luckily we live on a small (more of a slopey road really!) hill so pretty much all the rain simply runs down the road. But it still makes a little stream as it does.

No? I don't think so While I'm using DCC for the tracks, the points are all DC controlled with a good old toggle switch so it's a bit of a separate system. But I don't think the polarity is wired up as it's not needed. To be honest, I don't think I'll ever need to use the polarity switching facility as I'll probably never design my track in such a way to need it - I guess it's needed if you have a single line with a loop at the end, heading back to the single line?

Yeah, someone else suggested this elsewhere. I've thought about it but traction effort isn't really the problem. It's more the groove where the tyre fitted. Initially put off using snot as isn't it just as non-conductive as a tyre? I did think about simply filling in with solder but I don't think that would work too well for the long term.

Morning everyone. An early start (5am!) today - couldn't sleep any more. Catching up with some model railway channels on the Tubes (as the young kids say these days!). Lots of sheet lightening last night here in the Midlands. At least the garden is getting a good soaking! Today's jobs include planting out sunflowers, watering greenhouse stuff / getting that out for a bit of fresh air and perhaps finishing the Eckon signals. Cat food is arriving today, replacement (number 3) Class 66 is coming today or by the end of the week so that's something else to look forward to. Hopefully it'll be a productive day.

Hello Can a PM1 point motor signal (or power?) a route indicator? If so, can someone tell me how this works? How does the point know which way is "correct" for the route indicator to show? The signal will be powered and operated in a different way so it's just the route indicator that I want as a sort of indicator on whether a point is set to diverge the train or not. Cheers!

Really, I want to replace the wheel sets but I think it's just going to be too difficult. I'd rather not replace the traction tyres (they both pull okay without), but now have a groove in the wheel where the old tyre sat. It also makes them a little wonkey when running. Lima 2043 (208131): This loco has discs on the rear of the wheels that allow the strand of wire pickups so can't just replace them with any old wheels. Lima Bm 4/4 (18414): This one has gearing on the rear of the wheel so is difficult to just swap them too. Although I need to look at the old Lima HST wheels as they may be suitable.

I wouldn't shout that too loud on these forums!

I have a couple of super old lima locos. Will any of the "small" traction tyres fit? I measured and I think my wheelsets are about 16mm across but I didn't take them off the loco so that may be slightly out. Just thinking about options for the future.

Hmm. Two conflicting answers. I'll just wait until the control boards arrive to do what I want as this should be regulated 12v output. Unless I use the more modern Hornby controller? I thought they were all around 16v outputs though?

How much power comes from the extra bits on the end of a Hornby power controller: Is it AC or DC? Cheers!

And dangerous. I was in the market for an N7 (?) - had the money and waited... and waited... and waited for anything other than the grey livery. Ended up spending the cash on something else and now don't feel the need for an N7. Difficult one though as you can't really release them all at once but for something where there has to be at least 10-15 different liveries, 4 at the start to get the model out there and momentum going would have been good. Especially liveries that cover a wide area of operation. Whether I'll decide the £350 odd for a sound version is worth it down the line, I'm not sure.

Good day everyone who reads this. And what a mostly waste of a day it's been. The weather app said it would rain from about midday. That time came and passed. The app had changed to 1pm. It started to spit about that time so we packed up and came in. 20 mins into Jurassic World 2 and the sun came out, rain never came! Tut. However, look on the bright side Sir Topham Hatt - this loco has been sitting in my "projects" drawer for months. Only after having a fresh look at it did I see the screw to remove the motor. Chipped, Stay Alived, traction tyre off and it isn't half bad! Shame I couldn't fit lights and I bet I wasted a slightly more expensive decoder but what's done is done now. It's still a beaut! And considering I'm not really a steam loco person, the collection is fairly big (in a small way!) And as you can see, still have space for more so need to choose wisely now!

Yeah did it this afternoon. I'm sure modern Bachmann stuff had the Orange and grey wires too but I haven't converted anything in about 3 years so forgotten what's under the hood of those locos (all Thomas the Tank Engine ones). Test run was good. Put in a spare Zimo MX632 (comes with a stay alive), but (one step ahead of @AMJ !) hard wired a plug that I have in case the stay alive didn't work too well / didn't need it. Not so good with the 470uF stay alive the chip came with. However, the SC68 that's been in the drawer for over a year gave me what I was looking for - a couple of seconds of extra movement. Feel like I should put the chip and stay alive that could use it more but it's done now. Just have to house everything and screw the body back on before a full test tomorrow but shouldn't be a problem. Now to move onto the older (yet more featured!) version I have that has a solid metal block meaning much less space.

Morning all! 5th wedding anniversary today. What a weird but brilliant few years it's been. Buying a house, having a baby... proper adulting! Today's tasks: feed plants in the garden, mow the lawn, chip a loco, cook tea (or dinner, depending on where you live! ). Glad it's stopped raining too! The grass is looking great though. Fed and mowed it just before the rainy week and barely a week later, needs a mow again!

While popular, it's very similar to the EMT version so may not be that great of a seller. But then again, perhaps it would take minimal adjustments for a SWT version and thus could be done fairly cheaply. Although it's not a "bang up to date" livery now. A bit disappointing that they didn't launch with more options. Look at Hornby and Hattons 66, even RoS Terrier - all launched with a good few liveries compared with Bachmann's two. Hard though as popular liveries may have a very small operating area, but other liveries could fit into nearly every layout. But then again, rule 1 applies for most anyway.

This is it. I'm also worried about the possibility of breaking such a small coupling but without a doubt, it'll be when you can't get spares! I'd happily sacrifice some closeness for ease of getting apart.

Evening all. A pretty successful day. Went to IKEA (30 min queue) but straight to the warehouse to get a bigger unit than what we have. Managed to take the old one down and sell for £15 less than what we originally paid, so not too bad there. Sold a Razor late last night for £60 (bought for £40, but that was cheap, and it wasn't for me in the end). However, spent £130 odd on signal control boards, £70 on signals and I still haven't got my coach lighting sets or couplings paid for. But it's all swings and roundabouts - sell some stuff, buy other stuff! Cheerio

I wonder if it could be considered panic buying if something is a good deal and you want to stock up? For example, Fairy Platinum Plus dishwasher tablets were a fairly good price for a 100 pack, so I bought two (they've now gone up by £5 a pack). After Asda had put their dishwasher cleaner up to £1.90 (it was £1.60), I found some of the Finish version for £2 a bottle if bought as an 8-pack. So I bought two, meaning I have 16 months worth of cleaner. Done it with fabric conditioner too. Was half price so bought 4 bottles - enough to last 200 washes. But then with a baby in the house, we wash a lot more these days.

I guess it's too early to speculate what liveries will come out next and when we can expect them by?

I've read a bit about this. Do you know what CV to change? I have a Zimo MX632, which comes with the 470uF stay alive. I have a Zimo SC68, but it says it's suitable for MX633 - but I'd have thought surely the MX632 would work with it? Not sure whether I should try it. I think the last time I tried the SC68, it didn't work. Whether this is a faulty item, incorrect CV or simply incompatibility with the chip, I don't know.

Even more fun is I did make a huge capacity stay alive for the Lima Class 156. It must have been over a year ago now but it worked pretty well. About 20 seconds of movement with no power. But I think I had to go big or not at all as the caps needed to be wired in a certain way. If I had less of them, they wouldn't accept the track voltage and boom! But like I say, all this was ages ago and I couldn't remember whether it was these tiny ones that are often supplied, which are really not that great.

Why do you think it would be completely uncontrolled for a few inches? It may only be a few millimetres but by that time, it's stuttered and slowed. Because for me and my current layout, the inch or two will do exactly as you say, cover a multitude of problems, which some are quite difficult to solve. Nearly all my locos are fine without stay alives, even the shortest of wheel bases over insulfrogs (of which I directly power all rails apart from the moving part). But older stock, of which I have a lot of, is hugely benefitted from having some sort of stay alive. No amount of cleaning will change that and I'm not particularly in the market for adding extra pickups, which I see as more faff than adding a stay alive.

Just double checking, the 470uF caps are useless right? As in, the power they give is so momentary it's carely worth it. If I wanted a non sound loco to travel a couple of inches, I guess I'd need more power?