RobjUK

Agreed. I don't know about the attacking plastics part, but WD40 is a very viscous oil plus a solvent. It's not in any way suitable for small parts where low friction is essential.

I can't make out all the connections in the plug photo, but it looks confused? eg. Red where black should be in the diagram & yellow where red should be? Lift the insert out of the shell and work from the "notch", comparing that to the sideways oriented notch in the diagram. If Gaguemaster have standard colours, I'd guess someone has rewired or changed the plug for some reason.

That is excellent, thank you!

Hi, I'm working on a 7mm Deltic brass kit (PRMRP). I've got a cab interior kit from Peter Clark models, but I'm stuck on what the most appropriate main cab colour is? I've decided the loco will be 55020 Nimbus, which also gives a bit of freedom as there is nothing anyone can compare to, to directly say some detail is wrong - but I'd still like to keep things sensible. The main body will be the two-tone green colour scheme. Looking at prototype cab interiors on youtube, one appears to have the front bulkhead in the main loco body green (though I think the exterior is blue) and another in the green colour scheme has the front in a kind of blue/gray colour. Any suggestions? Preferably with the railmatch colour number so I have something to compare to, if possible.. Thanks, Rob.

Look at the ESU Loksound 5 XL, if you need a really good high rated decoder.

Having recently started with soldering white metal myself; White metal to white metal seems to be pretty straightforward, just make sure its clean, wet with 6% phosphoric acid flux and add one or two small chips of solder cut from a bar with electrical side cutters. I've only use my normal electronics bench iron, that has a 2.3mm tip. The metal does not conduct heat quickly and the solder melts and flow rapidly, as long as it's still wet with flux when you start heating. White metal to brass is a bit harder. I've been using a fibreglass pencil from Halfords to clean the brass before soldering, then apply flux, solder chips and heat - then watch it melt OK but not flow out much.... Using the cotton bud I use to apply flux, to push the solder around, does seem to work and the brass tins OK. It's rather different to normal soldering with flux cored solder, it does not flow as freely. Once tinned, just heating the opposite side of the brass with the iron while holding the (fluxed) white metal part in position is enough for the solder to melt and flow well. Hope this helps a bit!

I received my Loksound 5 XLs last saturday and translated the German pdf manual myself, using google translate.. Funnily enough, it shows exactly the same overlaying of the date text on the front and the column misalignment in various tables.. Nice to have a single-file version though, I had to split it in to four sections to get the translator to accept it.

Hi all, Thanks for the info and advice. I've got a couple of sets of the Slaters plunger pickups for 7mm scale. They seem to perfect for the job. The drag is quite low, the centre (floating) axle turns under its own weight without any problem. I've also got some narrow phosphor bronze strip as a backup, in case they do cause any problems after running for a while. Rob.

It is hypothetically possible, but I don't know if it would be practical. A DC loco has the motor connected directly across the track. That means a fairly low resistance path when static, or back EMF when running. A DCC loco would not normally have a resistive path below a volt or two (due to the rectifiers) and would not give any back EMF when running. For the "sections", I'd make everything DCC and have some fixed DCC decoders that switch in to control the track sections with DC locos on? It's definitely not a simple or straightforward proposition. Edit - Or, have small enough sections and only power then after whatever loco bridges the isolation to the section it's coming from? Then it's either DC on the track, or alternative polarity DCC power; easily detectable. Either power system could then be switched in to the new section, before the loco gets totally off the previous section... A bit like automated lighting "following" someone along a long corridor; no power except where needed.

Being fairly new to building rather that just buying single manufacturer ready to run, I've spent a vast amount of time over the last few months studying kits and parts plus trying to find suppliers for specific components. Finding some things, such as certain detail castings and such as ready made pickups for home built seems to be a bit of a black art still; they obviously exist but apparently in some other dimension or something.. However, the single biggest problem I have had so far, is that when I do manage to find a specific part or kit via google - the suppliers never, or rarely, say what scale the thing is! It can take far longer again, or be seemingly impossible to figure out if the item is 7mm, O, 4mm, OO or N etc. I've had to resort to looking up the part number via Google to find another seller that does mention the scale, or use google image search on items. And of course they are useless if it's that sellers own custom products. With one supplier I was just looking at, the only mention on the entire site of what scale the items are appears to be in their "about us" page and nowhere in the store or catalog type pages... So please, if you sell parts, kits, models or whatever - add the scale to the item pages! Rob.

As a relatively new DCC user myself: For a minimal controller > track > loco setup, the only essential change from a DC loco to DCC loco is disconnecting the two wires to the motor and connecting an appropriate DCC decoder in line - the original two wires from the pickups to the decoder and two wires from that to the motor. Or a ready-equipped DCC loco. The first controller I got was a Digitrax Zephyr [DCS51] from ebay. That's a completely self-contained unit [not counting the laptop-style power supply brick] and "just works" The overall setup needs to be no more complex than with DC, with the instant advantage you can have more than one loco on the track and control them separately, without needing isolating sections etc. And forward is always forward! Plus the possibility of multiple lights, effects, sound etc. in locos, all with direct control from the same box. At the other end, the sky is the limit - it's totally down to what you want to get out of your layout. Rob.

Hi, thank you for that, I've sent them an enquiry. Rob.

Hi, I'm working on an 7mm Class 55 loco from a brass & white metal kit. It does not include the brake shoes (or blocks?) visible on many other similar models - and I have so far been unable to find these anywhere, over dozens of places selling cast parts. Does anyone know where they are available from? Thanks, Rob.

Hi, I'm trying to find some suitable power pickup wipers or plungers to run inside the wheels on an O gauge loco I'm building. Does anyone know of any suitably large ones? I've found plenty of OO gauge and smaller, but not heavier stuff for this. I can use phosphor bronze strip if needed, but purpose made ones could be better, with less wheel wear. ps. I did find something in my search that may be useful for making pickups on smaller scales - clamshell style SIM sockets. They have six or eight individual springy, plated, polished contacts in each and cost about a pound for ten from China on ebay. (Or a pound each from UK sellers, by the look of it). I may try the contacts from those myself but they seem a bit small for the scale of the bogies. Rob.

Hi all, I've just completed my first session of soldering white metal parts and I thought my results may be helpful to others doing this for the first time. Supplies: A bar of 70'C solder from ebay. Flux - 6% phosphoric acid. Having looked at "White metal flux" and various articles on modelling sites I bought a litre of 75% industrial phosphoric acid rust remover for little more than a tiny bottle of flux. I used a small glass jar, approx. 28ml of deionised water and 2.5ml of the acid, slowly dripping the acid in to the water while gently swilling the jar around (and wearing disposable gloves). I used disposable 3ml polythene pipettes for measuring and transferring the liquids; 11 x 2.5mm deionised water then one 2.5ml measure of acid. (Using two separate pipettes, to avoid any water-in-acid thermal reactions). That gives pretty close to the apparently ideal 6% solution. [Note - I needed some phosphoric acid rust remover for an unrelated job. If you only ever want some for flux, it's probably simpler just to get ready made]. The heat source was my normal bench iron used for electronics, a 50W Antex temperature controlled type left at at its standard heat setting. I thoroughly wiped the tip on a damp sponge immediately before the first white metal joint. The solder bar is far too large to use directly in small parts, so I cut small chips off it with electrical sidecutters. I adjusted the parts to get an exact fit first, so there was no stress on the joints. After holding together in the correct place, I used a cotton bud to wet the joint area with the acid flux then dropped one or two solder chip over it. [See the photos]. Then just holding the tip of the iron on the solder fragments, they melted and the surrounding metal got hot enough for it to flow well within about five seconds or so. The point the solder starts to flow and wet the white metal is quite obvious, at least with the relatively large parts I've done so far. Small items that would melt quickly would need a much reduced heat source. I used a rubber band to try and hold the parts in place for the first joint, but I there was so little heat transfer through the parts that I could just hold them together in one hand and apply the flux, solder fragments and iron with the other, without anything getting unpleasantly hot. The very intense, localised heat seems to work well - and the flux works perfectly as long as you solder before it dries out. I tried to do two joints one after the other, fluxing and adding solder to both before heating the first joint. The second did not flow well, I had to re-flux and reheat it for it to "take" properly. Photos: Iron type, cut solder chips then two examples of joints, showing the chips in place after fluxing then the joint after flowing it. And finally one of the bogie sides with the upper and lower castings fully joined. I hope this info is some use to someone! Robert.

Mike, your MX635 appears to have a SUSI bus? If you just want to add basic sound, a stand-alone SUSI sound module should work. I've used a couple of Uhlenbrock Intellisound 4 ones (part 32500) to add sound to some locos I originally converted to DCC using non-sound decoders. I've no idea how they compare to the Hornby module; it's just one possible option that should work without conflicts. Rob.

Hi, I've had an email from Ian, thanks. Rob.

Hi all, thanks for all the info, I've emailed dckits and I will see how it goes from there; sunbeam20 - I found the American dual engine stuff, that's how I discovered a single decoder can handle two separate sets of engine sounds. [Examples on here: http://www.sbs4dcc.com/tutorialstipstricks/esuloksounddualprimemoversoundfiles.html ] Rob.

Hi Richard, I initially thought you meant I would need two LokSound V4 XL at around £199 each ??? [Ouch...] However, having done some research on the Loksound V4, they are vastly different to the bits of gear I have used previously and it appears the sound processing is so powerful they can handle two totally independent engine sounds in a single unit! Thanks, Rob.

Hi all, I'm just about to start building a 7mm scale brass kit deltic loco and I'm trying to plan ahead and get ideas for suitable dcc decoder + sound modules. The body shell is mostly empty so I have a lot of space to play with for electronics and speakers! With the two generic O gauge locos of different types I've converted to DCC in the past, I've used a Lenz gold maxi decoder and an Uhlenbrock sound 4 module, which seem to overall work very well for both control and sound. One of those is a single engine diesel, the other is steam. With this model, I particularly want full sound to match a dual-engine loco, with independent start stop control. I know it's possible to connect two sound modules to one decoder via the SUSI bus, but I have no idea if that's the best way of doing it, or even if that would work to simulate two engines. Searching on here I have seen a mention of a dual-sound setup (by Legomanbiffo?) but I have no idea what hardware it was based on or how it would be controlled. I want to use a generously rated motor decoder with plenty of aux outputs, at least five amp motor rating & preferably higher (eg. Zimo MX695 or 699 type of thing, 6A continuous), but other than that I'm open to suggestions and any possible info is appreciated! Thanks, Rj.