charliepetty

There is NO shortage of ESU DCC Sound decoders at Legomanbiffo-DCKits as we will have a complete range of 300+ sound loaded decoders at Model Rail Scotland in Glasgow this weekend and at Preston the Weekend after. Also we can be seen at York (Easter) Jarrow (Newcastle) in April, Bristol & Aylesbury in May, DEMU Sutton Coldfield & Perth (Scotland) in June. SEE you there. Charlie & Team.

That is more or less our findings, but: All the rivets in the bodyshell have been made finer. All the rivets on the roof have been made finer. The body fixings have been altered, but 4 are exactly the same. The coach rear in exactly the same but the coupling is totally different. The chassis is a redesign with modern electrics and DCC features, shame about drivers cab light! How can this be on a 'New Model' In 2012 we had full underfloor safety labelling etc, but in 2023 we have nothing. As I said before, this should have been a show stopper for modern units, but sadly not, I suggest trying to change the speaker for one that works better/louder. I did, what a nightmare, 6 screws, resoldered wires and some filing to get it in to the ill designed space. 'Should we have to do this' Fitted it with our Legomanbiffo/dckits Regional Railway sound decoder with the York-Leeds destination announcements, that sound ok now with a £2.00 speaker not the 20p one. PPS Photo of the cab interior below.

The Dapol Class 59 Sound file is proving 'seriously popular when used with our twin mini bass speaker option.

Legomanbiffo does a good Class 45 on V4 or V5 and your decoder can be reblown. over the next couple of weekends they are at Glasgow, Preston and York at Easter. SEE: https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=253_68&product_id=1933

If you are running on Radius 1 trackwork we suggest making all 4 outer wires 5mm longer, as the coupling on Radius 1 , especially points stretches them too much, Charlie

I can see why they make this assumption BUT the model has 'nothing' to do with Realtrack Models, even though it bears a striking resemblance on certain detailed components and compromises that they we made on our Class 144 / 143 over 12 years ago. As before its a real shame that with some simple research this model could have been a stunner, but there is no excuses for obvious errors and mistakes, such as: Incorrect bus seating layout with missing seats & partitions. No dummy engine and underfloor equipment on non powered car (Just a blank area) DCC Fitted speaker which is so bad there is hardly any sounds due to its poor design. Unadjustable 'Bright' internal lights. Weird DCC layout for cab lighting. Incorrect passenger doors with & handrails. Wrong cab layout with two drivers seats.

He was a good guy, shame he is not here to 'Advise' the Marston vale Line operators.

IF someone cared, 2 x Class 153's could be borrowed from Transport for Wales OR 2 X Class 150s from Northern, you can operate I believe one carriage only with its doors. BUT its probably cheaper to run a bus !!!!!, OR nothing.

The Class 143/144 'WAS' started started 14 years ago and made in conjunction with Rapido Trains in Canada, 12 years ago when the 143/144 Pacer was produced we introduced some novel features which included full lighting, full interior, micro drive but with the limitations of a 8Pin standard decoder & plug as then Next 18 and micro decoders were only a dream, the design had 'compromises; as a 144 has many differences to a 143, not sure why the cute EFE model seems to have most of our compromises, such a shame really that a 'Cracking model could have not been produced. We have 'ALL' the works drawings so we do no the differences.

Back from Doncaster, WOW! 100% sold out of 143 & 144 units, 64 sold in total. Watch the website for more 'offers & spares'

There is a speaker fitted,I tried a sound decoder our Legomanbiffo sound decoder in it today, but as normal with Bachmann prefitted speakers the are poorly designed and cannot be hardly heard, shame really.

Thank you all for your support, ALL sold out before 1.00 pm. 20 more going tomorrow. Perfect ones too @ £180.00 See you there. Charlie

We are at BRM Doncaster this weekend with 48 Class 144 Northern & Northern Serco Abellio 'Seconds' @ £75.00. All are good runners but have slight defects like 'Missing Exhausts, Scratch Marks, Lamp Brackets broken & door Grab Handles or Windscreen wipers missing. First come, First served. Charlie

Yes it is, sadly 12 years ago there was no Micro Next 18 decoders, just 8Pin and 21Pin, they are quite big to put in a box under the floor.

Have you connected the common ?? Charlie-Legomanbiffo

We assume the decoders with sounds are from the same supplier and both 'current' decoders, who's projects are they. Charlie-Legomanbiffo

We supply a leaflet with the decoder that explains how to cure that!! Charlie dclits-legomanbiffo

Pacers to Buy (Not 142's !!!!!)

Class 143 compared to a Class 144 'ARE THEY THE SAME' When we made our model over 11 years ago, to keep the retail price reasonable (£120.00) we made various compromises to reduce the tooling costs. BODYSIDES: Under the first body panel after the front door on the Class 143 there is a large removable panel, this allows access to the chassis-body mounting assembly and dampers. Our original model had this missing as we adopted the Class 144 BREL smaller panel modification (143-144 photo below) which allows access to a modified mounting assembly. This at the time we thought would be a reasonable compromise, you can also see on the blue 144 a cast body lifting bracket on the real train (4 per unit), we produced our model with this on the Class 144, but missing on the Class 143, this plastic bracket is glued into a 0.55mm hole in the chassis frame, this hole is incorrectly featured on our Class 143 chassis as the real 143 does not have these four holes !!! On the roof above the drivers cab we have the NRN radio ariel receiver mounting plate which is made of steel, on Class 144 Units these had an Earthing Bonding Wire which connected the mounting plate to the bodyshell & the chassis, as they operated under 25Kv overhead wires. IF the unit came into contact with the OH wires, the whole two car train would be bonded to Earth (The Rails) all of the Class 144s has this. The Class 143 Units did not run under 25Kv wires so NO Class 143 was thus fitted, our Realtrack model as again had this as a compromise, and had this bonding wire fitted. Our new tooling would reflect these differences as todays standards demand this.

BRM Doncaster & Model Rail Scotland 'might' have some surprises. Charlie

If you have any more issues, please get in touch. charlie@dckits.co.uk HOT NEWS: Decoders shortage in the UK people keep telling me !!!!!!!!!!!!!! No shortages at DCKits-Legomanbiffo 'EVERYTHING IN STOCK ON ESU' Charlie

Yes we can do that, no problems. I assume they are all diesels !!! Its easier for us out of the locos, but it can v=be done. Bring them as soon as you can please. Simon & Charlie

SEE: https://www.dckits-devideos.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=253_68&product_id=299