peterfgf

Hard and brittle plastic is due to much filler, usually chalk. It's a cost saving device by the manufacturer, here Airfix. Revell kits used to be same 40-50 years ago. Peterfgf

Politeness in emails.

As said in marine engineering when something has gone wrong: "RTF" or Read the F****** (Friendly) Manual. Peterfgf

I started off with a Roco MultiMaus starter set, just to get up the learning curve a bit. I eventually bought a Z21 (black) and a booster with two WLAN Maus (Mause?) when I built my "proper" layout. I'm very pleased with it. The rotary controls are one of the best features for me. Support could be a bit better but it is adequate, especially if you can interpret the slight oddities of German-English and is preferable to my mind to USA terminology. Updates are easy using an iPad. Peterfgf

Thank you everyone for the informative posts on intergranular corrosion. Peterfgf

Just to confirm what the previous poster said, you can only have one source of DCC signal for the whole system - just imagine the resultant mess of waveforms and confusion of two sets of high frequency signals. I have two sets of tracks, fast and slow lines in my mind, which have isolated connectors in the connecting tracks. The inner tracks are connected to a black Roco Z21, to which the controllers are connected, but the outer tracks are connected to a Roco Booster. The DCC signal is the same for both sets of tracks but they are electrically isolated. Peterfgf

There are lots of different foams around and I took ages to look at some of the properties. In the end I used 3mm thick closed-cell EPDM foam from Rubberstock. It is resilient but relatively firm and the one I used had self-adhesive coating on one side which made laying it easy, It didn't need another layer of, for example, cork on top of it. In theory, the idea of a sandwich construction (stiff base/flexible insert/stiff top) is good for vibration and noise insulation but I found the 3mm EPDM more than adequate. Peterfgf

6mm marine ply ought to be good. You mentioned cross braces (presumably in the 14" direction), but nothing about longitudinal stiffening in the 5' longer direction. As suggested by a previous poster, I used 100mm deep transverse and longitudinal of 9mm birch ply and found they gave adequate stiffness without any warping in two years. They were glued and screwed to a 9mm top. I left the offcuts of ply in my dampish shed and they have started to warp. I think the trick is to get good strength/stiffness (not the same thing) in the vertical direction to support the top and prevent warping. The addition of diagonal horizontal braces would be even better at resisting warping (something I didn't do). I have reservations about the effectiveness of adding a second skin as a "guitar construction" to deal with warping. You can always drill out some large diameter holes if you are worried about weight (and to get the wiring through the transverse stiffeners). As another previous poster said, warping can be difficult to remove, but I had some success with an experiment with a steam iron on one of the pieces in the shed and managed to reduce the warp. I attached stiffeners before it tried to revert to the bent state. Peterfgf

What did Class have to say about the metal-locked crankshaft? Peterfgf

JMRI is a great resource which I use for my locomotives and greatly value. If one feels strongly about the omission of, for example Dapol decoders, then the answer is is in your own hands. It's all down to volunteers. I'd rather like the latest Zimo MS sound decoders to be inlcuded but I'm rather frightened off by the thought of doing it myself, and besides which, there are people around who know far more about the subject than me. (the nearest MX decoder files seem to work well enough bt the way). Peterfgf

Taking a tongue-in-cheek approach, shipbuilding is largely an assembly industry of blocks and equipment supplied by sub-contractors. The yard suddenly has to do some serious engineering itself when it comes to shaft alignment. Not many manage to do it well. The concepts of reaction-influence-numbers, angular mismatch in the aft sternbush, and the idea that propeller shaft might run in the upper half of the sternbush or in the oilways doesn't occur to most shipyards. Naval vessels in particular shouldn't have a problem with shaft alignment: their shaftlines are relativley long, thin and flexible - imagine them as cooked spaghetti. Peterfgf

Totally agree. Mazak corrosion is avoidable if the foundry ensures that the alloy is free of impurities when cast. Peterfgf

Yes, it gets wet but is normally protected with epoxy paint or similar (salt water really messes up the fatigue strength). There's a limit to how long you can make/forge/machine shafts. Peterfgf

I think it may be an outboard SKF oil injection shrink-fit coupling that has failed. These are superb couplings and difficult to mess up BUT the two shafts being connected must be absolutely in-line whilst the coupling is being fitted, otherwise......"Superficial damage to the rudder" suggests the coupling may have failed and the shaft may have come adrift and moved aft and was stopped by the rudder. Complete guess work based on very limited public information. Peterfgf

Yes, the containers will be off-loaded at the next port of call, Hamburg or where ever. The next problems are demurrage (cost of storage) and then finding a short-sea feeder vessel to take them back to Felixstowe or Southampton. Unfortunately, I think there is shortage of such vessels, so arrival in the UK might be delayed longer than expected. Peterfgf

For my pennyworth, I think oil might be better. You are trying to lubricate the gears and getting lubricant to keep the teeth separate whilst rotating and hence reduce wear and friction is the aim. I suspect grease is a bit too stiff/viscous and only adds to the drag on the rotating parts. I had a Heljan Class 17 where the gear towers with stuffed full of grease and which ran much better after clearing it all out. Peterfgf

Me too. Peterfgf

Trans Pennine units - classes 123/124 for me.

I'm building a model based on Buxton Midland but I'm puzzled by how the goods yard was worked by trains arriving from Millers Dale/Rowsley/Derby. It seems to be rather difficult, but perhaps I'm missing something obvious (probably!). Does someone know? Peterfgf

Have a look at Chadwick Model Railway on Youtube: Peterfgf

I think you are being very oprimistic to expect an accuracy (actually repeatability) of better than 0.5mm with a rule, plastic or metal. THat's before thinking about parallex errors in the methor shown. Look at the graduations on the ruler - if it has mm then you shouldn't expect any better than +/-1mm. If you want to get repeatability of say 0.1mm you will have to use a good vernier caliper, and if you want better than that, say 0.01mm, its got to be a micrometer. There is huge body of engineering knowledge about the subject called metrology and assessing the errors in a measurement makes you want to weep if you ever thought you being ever so careful in doing the measurements. Peterfgf

I used Cesfonjer or Wago-type lever clamp connectors attached to the underside of the baseboard by hot-glue. I found they provide a very positive and quickly made connection. Peterfgf.

The RCHS have the Midland distance diagrams available to view on their website (not download). I think you have to be member to access them. Peterfgf.

I was in Kiel that night, doing some work for a local shipyard and having a quiet meal in a bar. An huge uproar of excitement came from the other end of the restaurant which baffled me. I'm greatly pleased that I was there to witness their enthusiastic initial reaction to the news - the beers flowed freely that evening. It was a brave step then to re-unify Germany. Europe is all the better for it. Peterfgf

I did the same. The loose chain shorted out on several turnouts before I realised what was happening. Peterfgf