Sir TophamHatt

I have a model village which comes out at Christmas. The buildings are lit by what could be described as Christmas tree lights, but only about 7 or 8 on a string, battery powered. Thinking about upgrading it to LED but not sure how to do it or whether it would work. I'm sure there was a reason you can't just buy some Christmas tree lights, cut off most the lights and fit the ends together? Or whether I just replace the bulbs with LEDs, fit a resistor between the battery and the start of the line of bulbs and it'll work okay? Thoughts on this welcome.

Nothing to stop you doubling up on the cork to make it 6mm if you want though.

Some good thoughts - thanks

I have a Swallow emblem from 43085 (or 84 I think?). It's about 1m square. Bought it years ago and since it's still how I received it, in bubble wrap in card. I know some of the black paint is coming off, but wondered whether I should: Get it restored professionally (but don't really know how much it would be)? Hand paint using masking tape to mark out the lines, seems simple enough but don't want to ruin it (I'm not the best painter ever!)? Just leave it as is? Again, not sure if I should hang it on the wall (I know it has screw points on the face) or just keep it - the latter seemingly almost a bit sad, but will 100% protect it for the future. Sorry I don't have a photo at the moment.

Probably but I am finding an increasing number of ebay users to be plain lazy these days. I have recently sold two items (together with about 7 other auctions) that both have not been paid for. One was a seller abroad, the other simply didn't reply when I messaged them about collection. I just hope I am not so ignorant in life!

Just to say I really appreciate you coming and updating us. It's great to have a company rep actually interatcting with people instead of being some faceless monster like so many others.

I wonder if sometimes this is what holds the hobby back from younger modellers. Yes, steam looks nice, and has lots of moving parts, but I would have thought the younger generation aren't really interested in such locos, but want modern units to run.

If anyone missed it, manufacturing is underway.

I knew someone who said to the caller they were on their holiday in Australia. That ended the call pretty quick. I've told someone I was expecting their call about £10,000 compensation they are due to send me, which throws them right off! While I don't particularly like people who waste time with these calls, I did have a thought about asking a simple mathmatical question ("I can only talk to you if you can answer, what is 2+2?"), then argue that the (hopefully correct) answer is incorrect! I feel bad for the people who have to call, as I suspect many times they're not the scammer, just some person doing a job

Can you give details of your bridge? What parts you've used and such?

Not cheap but you could always use the DCC Concepts versions in a permenent gauge. IE, buy two sets, keep one OO gauge, change another to N gauge?

Out of interest, what flaws did you find in the DCC Concepts one? I have it after a bit of thought and it works fine for me, although I only need it for one gauge.

I prefer a fixed direct debit. Means: 1) I know how much is coming out every month. 2) I don't really have to worry about huge bills. In the summer, my account will go into credit. In the winter, it'll bill more than the DD, but use the outstanding credit I already have. Been doing it this way for years. You can say "I'd rather keep that extra money in my account" but the extra it'll be is probably equal to less than £1 a year in interest gained. But I understand people who want to pay for exactly what they use. I don't really give a monkeys whether I'm have a smart meter or not. My approach is to delay to get the best meter possible. Those who have already got one will have version 1 (or whatever) so in 10/15 years, it'll be old and out of date. I'm hoping within 10 years, it'll be version 4 or 5 and will come with various extra features, perhaps Hive connections for example.

I hate playing the blame game but I wonder who is at fault here. Is it Hattons for accepting the stock? DJM for the design - maybe limited by Hattons' requirements? Or just a bad factory? It's a puzzle but makes me worry about mine, which seems to be a good runner out fo the box but I'm almost afraid to run it now!

Really glad this has been a success.

I must come back to comment though that DCC Automation has emailled back and quickly too. Despite their website being a little clunky in the P&P regard, the service has actually been quite good. Digitrains also deleted my account when requested within about 10 mins. I try not to create accounts unless it's something I will use regularly. So mixed experiences but ended better than at the start. I understand that 50 locos won't cost the same as one card kit in terms of postage, but it's the fact both state FREE when it isn't really.

DCC Automation takes until step 3 to tell you the total cost, despite saying "free" until then: Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: I appreciate it's selected pick up at store here, which is set by default. However, I would argue that most web orders are likely to be sent by post rather than being collected. Digitrains: When the "Grand Total" isn't actually the grand total: Paypal payment (although this was different to yesterday when I had to log in). Note the sudden price rise I wasn't expecting: ... or after step 3 of the checkout process. Adding an address: Only now, after registering, then having to re-add stuff to the cart, then signing in again, then typing in my address does it tell me the "grand total" isn't actually the grand total: By contrast, Coastal DCC show you whats what straight away when adding something to the basket: And as I say, Hattons show it on the product page. I know it's only a few pounds but that's really not the point. And over 15 years of buying online, I have only ever seen this with railway modelling websites.

Ha ha, no. I've sent in "best offers" where the buy it now price is £50 of no more than £20 and it's been accepted. I wonder if this is to inflate the price of the best offer and make the product seem more expensive than it really should be? Indeed! I admit I half read about this when building an auction but it didn't quite register properly. Then I completely forgot I was away when the "new" auction ended. Ergo, I get a negative as I had to cancel the sale because I wasn't going to be back for another week to post it.

The issue is that shipping ISN'T free. Digitrains adds a shpping charge when you're on the PayPal website and literally about to click "Pay Now". Do it yourself, head to Digitrains and add a decoder to the basket. You'll see it's free shipping. Lovely. Choose to pay with PayPal and you'll be transferred to the PayPal website. It'll ask where you want to fund the payment from - all straight forward. It'll then ask for you to confirm the payment, which suddenly isn't the £20 it was anymore. DCC Automation doesn't give any shipping indication until after filling in details. It's automatically selected "collect from store" so when looking at the basket at any point, it'll always say "free shipping". This isn't about paying or not. It's about hiding costs to make things appear cheaper, so it appears? If I go to Amazon, for example and add some stuff to the basket, then "view basket", I can see the shipping charges right there under the Total. I'm sure Rails of Sheffield is the same. Hattons tells you on the product page how much postage will be, so at least there's some indication. When it says "free shipping", then it's suddenly not, that's an issue. Shipping wasn't free though. The basket says it is, but it's not. Postage charges are added during the process. I question why it's being hidden when many other websites seem to have no problem adding the charge to the basket so the customer can see what the actual total is. No where does it say "total (minus shipping charges). Sorry, nothing to do with the VAT.

I've only found this with a few websites but it's only on modelling websites. I just don't get it. Digitrains: Says free shipping until you are ONE click away from paying through PayPal. ONLY then is it added. DCC Automation: Again, shows free shipping until you specifically add it afterwards. I would have thought the majority of sales through the website will be shipped, so why have a default of "pick up in store" selected? I'm sure I found at least one, if not two others a few weeks back that had the same sort of thing - no word of shipping charges until the last second. It's the waste-my-time sneakiness about it that I don't understand. To what, make them look like the cheapest/best deal website? All they've both done is made me waste 10 minute inputting my details/being forced to sign up with an account for nothing. And in the case of the latter, now I have to wait for them to refund money back to PayPal to spend it on a website that is fully informing me from the outset what the costs will be. Rant over

This is something that I get really annoyed at. I just don't understand someone's thought process. Yes, eBay does things automatically these days but when someone lists a couple of books for £75, when singluar books from the same series sell for less than £5 a pop, I don't understand why the seller doesn't accept nobody is going to pay the £75 asking price. Why can't they just accept the book (that was originally RRP'd at something small like £2) isn't worth what they want it to be? I've even asked a few what they've used as a valuation. None have ever got back to me with anything more than "I think...".

Is there anything you don't pay your money and take your chance with in this world though? I honestly can't think of a single thing.

Ha ha, I had a barmy with DPD as I left a note with a map of where to leave parcels! (it's not that criptic, just more fun.) Did they? No. They asked if the note was signed. I said I didn't want any Tom or Harry seeing my signature if it was stuck on my front door and to be used as authorisation. I said the note directed to a semi-secure area that many parcels have been left before and that is my instruction. DPD didn't seem to understand. Left a rubbishly note with no signature as such, just my name, which was then duely accepted and the parcel left. So much for "security".

They're still not selling your details. Parking companies can request the details (perhaps under some sort of licence) and get them, but there is no financial transaction for your specific vehicle details as far as I was aware. Happy to admit I am wrong, but I also need some sort of evidence from the DVLA website telling me, specifically, they sell details. Companies cannot sell your details without permission. Usually this is wrapped up in tiny terms and conditions but for something like the DVLA, which everyone has to use, I find it hard to believe. I will ask them what the score is. The problem is the broad range of the word "selling". When someone says that to me, I compare it to a supermarket shop. Someone who pays a licence fee to access details isn't exactly "buying" the details, but I see how some people may see it that way. I note, though that my local Asda had these signs removed during a recent upgrade. I think the whole "don't use phones" was an over reaction to a fire risk. I mean, you can use MP3 players or a torch which both have batteries Unless you have a Galaxy Note of course

In that case, the OP may well have given their email address to a dodgy company. The scam like this has been around for years. PayPal was the usual suspect about 10 years ago. The easiest way to see where you're going is: > Log in to the ebay website by typing in the address. If the email came from them, it should be in your messages. > Hover over the link and look at the status bar (bottom left) to see where the link is going. Remember ebay-payments.com isn't ebay.com. payHSBC.co.uk isn't HSBC.co.uk. It's nothing innovative really.