Atchison

Update. Meanwhile i was able to get some mysteries of this decoder decyphered by try and error. This is now working on the Stratford 08: F0: 2 white front, 2 red rear, depending on direction of movement F1: 1 white and 1 red front, 2 red rear, depending on direction of movement F2: nothing F3: cab light F4: 1 white and 1 red on both ends simultanously and independent of direction of movement And i am a newbie concerning British outline and still learnig. For this my questions to the members of the forum: Is this correct? And which light configuration will be used for which purpose? Thank you in advance for answering. For the Guiness 08, i still struggle. Thinking to demount the PCB and tracking the circuit paths. But not for to long. Out of my experiences with US Diesel, sometimes the least hassle and quickest way to get lights working, is to remove the motherboard. Start over at point zero with electronic componets of your own choice. Lutz

The next task is the decoder. Meanwhile i have 2 of these Class 08. First tried with an ESU Lopi 5. Running the loco with this was vere satisfying. But there were some weird light functions. So i switched over to Dapol Imperium Mysterium (this term specifies it more accurate). Running the locos was also very satifying. But also weird light functions. There are two different PCBs. Upper ist HEX26-PCB-005 in the Stratford 08 Lower is HEX26-PCB-4 in the Guiness 08 Note the different number of wires and plug contacts. With the Stratford 08 there are only 2 lamps on the faces. Both can show white or red light. Moving forward, 2 whites front, 2 reds rear. And vice versa when moving backwards. No succcess to show one white and one red simutanously. The Guiness 08 shows this lighting. In a really weird seting: - F0 switches upper white lamps depending on direction; front on, rear off - F3 switches the lower lamps on the rear as shown in the photo; these are independent from direction. Also switches the cab light. - F1 switches the lower lamps on the front. But only when F0 is on and loco moving forward. When loco os moving backwards, they are off. And also the cablight is on when F0 and F1 are on. (Head scratching emocion) As long as there are no real information about the pin assignment of the 21MTC interface onto the Dapol PCBs, the Dapol decoder earn the title Mysterium. And the search continues ... my two €ents Lutz

The last steps were these little handles for the hatches. As some of them were missing, i decided to make new ones. This are simply little pieces of 0.3mm bronze wire. Bent rectangular and glued with CA into the bores. At least some riddles. The existing main board is not conforming with the owner's manual. The switch? And there 9 LEDs, 4 each of the fronts and one in the cab. Which pin belongs to which LED? And are there resistors for the LEDs? And as i am an newbie to British outline, how to use the lights? As conclusion, regardless this loco was not without faults, but still a great bargain. Lutz

Paul, in my last posting you can see the two snap fits onto the lower end of the cab fronts. These are acessible from the underside of the runnong board. There i pushed with a screwdriver upward to release their grip. This is the lest hassle for these snaps to release them without breaking them. The front end of the cab is now lifted a little bit up. Use this gap to insert the screwdriver blade. Gently lever and thrust your way to the aft end of the cab on both sides. At least the cab can be lifted off vertical. Pay attention on the right side of the cab. Spread it a little apart to get the door hings clear of interior parts. Here is a viwe of the cab interior. Note the cabinet on the right side which collides with the door hinge device during lifting the cab. The are plenty of possiblities to superdetail the cab interior by the means of paint, figurines and decals of scales. To refit the cab thread it on the front end into it's slotted duct and push gentls down until the snap fits are latching. Take also care of the door hinges. This traverse was also loose in the bag. Lutz

There were several window glasses fallen out: One of the windows in the sidewall falls out just as i touched it. Probably the glue is the cause, this glue is very brittle and not very robust. Part of the door hinges are very thin steel wires. To reduce hassle they were glued with a little drop of CA. But in such manner that the doors are still moveable. At least all of the windows were refitted with CA. The window wipers also. One of the grab irons on the front end shunter platform was missed. A replacement out of 0.8mm brass wire and a surplus stanchion out of the grab box was made. Lutz

The next task was to create here a fully compensated running gear. In short terms: - Drill for the first axle a bore into the frame for m1,4 and tap it. - A brass screw forms a new bearing in the center of the axle. - By measuring with a caliper you will get the correct height how much the screw had to be stick out. - Some milling, here crude free hand done, enables the axle to rock. - The original brass bearings are still there and guide it. - They could now move up and down in their seats (as the prototype also do). - Photo shows one of the original springs which are rather wimpy. - Thes were replaced by NWSL ones of medium grade. - To insert these springs, the bore were enlarged by 2mm. - Some milling and filing was also done on the retainer plate. - First axle can rock now. - The knurrled portion is some off set the center and so no worries about it. - Second axle has more spring defection now. - Also the harder springs ensured, that the middle axle is bearing now it's equal share of the loco's weight. - Third axle is untouched. If there is more interest how to convert older rigid frames into full compensated ones, i will write a separate thread. After this the loco runs flawless. No binds, problems with current pick up, all wheels stay permanemtly onto the rails. Fortunately the newer Dapol rolling stock is compensated. Like the Adams B4 and the 14xx. Lutz

Ray, bad experiences with this out of my past. Years ago i did exactly that. Fixing the loose wheelcenter of an 0-Scale 0-8-0 with Loctite. It did'nt last long and under strain the wheel became loose again. And this was not the only example. Later i learned, that the available area for a durable glueing was far too little to withstand the resulting strain. So the glued joint sheared off. After several fruitless attempts to fix the wheel center onto the axle by glueing, i developed this technique as described above. May be the fixing with Loctite works in other cases. But here in my case fixing wheelcenters to axles it did not. Lutz

T When the CA has cured, take a side cutter and cut off the overlaying brass piece. Then file it flush. A sharpie will cover the deed. As said, this is not the pure mechanic and engineering doctrine. But this crank now is stuck onto the axle. And never will became out of true. Lutz

Align the crank and secure it against twisting. E.g. by the means of a drop of CA. Take i drill bit and bear protective eye glasses. Here i choose a 1mm drill bit. Then drill carefully into the slot. Mostly the material of the axle itself is harder than the material of the wheel center. The drill bit will slide along the axle and will dig in into the wheel center. And just there i wanted it to be. Then drive in a suitable piece of round into the bore with the aid of a pincer. Here i had done a 1mm "bore" and a 1mm piece of brass wire. Any other suitable diameter will work too. Secure the wedged piece with CA. Let the CA cure.

First attempt: The axle ends were plain. For this the cranks only will be fixed by force fit. Then i aligned the crank by visual judgement and refitted it. The 90° skew was now correct. But nupe! The press fit was much to weak to keep the crank firmly onto it's seat. More action necessary. The following is not the pure mechanic precision doctrine. I apologize me to thoroughbred mechanics and engineers; this will become now some kitchen table bricolage. But at least (for me) with satisfying results. File a "D" shaped end onto the axle. Attach the crank again.

John, the crank of this axle was definite out of true of the 90° alignment. The two other axles were o.k. And for this the gauge for bore, better said the gauge for crankpins, was also out of true. As a rule of thump for checking: - Turn the wheels on one side of the loco such, that the crankpins are in the lowest position. - They are all straight in line due the connecting rods. - Now look at the other side. - The crankpins should now be 90° offset. - All crankpins should also be in line. - If this is not the case, there is something out of true. In this case there was too much distortion. This was causing the loco nearly jamming. True running was this definite not. First step; remove part of the brake rigging. Then remove the retainer plate. Then remove the wheelsets. Unscrew the rod from the respective axle. Remove crankpin straight ahead. As i was unsure if the axle end was knurled or not, this is the safest way to remove it.

My loco was a not so good runner: It runs, but have a look to the crank ofthe right axle.The crank should be in the same angle as the two other ones. Obviously the 90° angle of the crank pins is misaligned here. There some procedures have to be done. Edit: Misspelling

Hello, i did a personal risk assessment and decided to order one of these: https://www.Dapol.co.uk/products/7d-008-012r-o-gauge-class-08-guinness-unicorn-no-ladder-Dapol-exclusive-model-nqp?variant=45164684280031 Yesterday DHL brought it. At least the financial invest was: purchase direct from Dapol + Royal Mail shipping + EU customs + DHL handling fee = 168,48€. But as Dapol states it is a NQP Product - may have cosmetic faults (windows, badges and other detail parts may be detached). There were some faults and some missing parts. Just unboxed. Some Parts were in the little plastic bag.

As there where questions about pushing cars over this crossover, i made a little video: Supposed the worst case of my rolling stock. A Dapol Jinty which has the longest wheelbase of my stock and a SR brake van with the longest wheelbase. The Jinty has a full compensated chassis and the first and third wheelsets have reduced lateral play. The brake van has working sprungs and for this a compensated chassis.

Don't worry: Simply take off the flange extension rings. 😉