Cofga

17 hours ago, locoholic said:

Is there any chance of a second run of Accurascale Manors, as I though I'd ordered one, but apparently I didn't. Maybe some different names/numbers?

It’s still not too late. There are 19 Anthony Manors and 29 Cookham Manors available right now on the Accurascale website. Plus more will likely be posted soon when the next order arrives from China. So you can either purchase one of those available now or keep an eye on the website to see what becomes available. I just ordered Anthony Manor a few minutes ago to double head with my Cookham Manor— Larry

Just spent the last hour breaking up a lump of coal I scavenged from the local fuel company, just so I can put real coal in my tenders. They still sell it by the bag for heating and farriers, but also have an old pile of assorted sizes they give away. The commercial coal from Woodland Scenics, etc. is just too regular in size and shape for my GWR tenders. I’ll use the commercial stuff in the small panniers and the like. Breaking that coal up with a 5 lb sledge hammer was no fun. It takes a lot of breaking and sifting then breaking and sifting and so on just to get enough for even one tender so I’ll probable cheat and put the real stuff on top—Larry

I am about to install Shire Scenes point levers in my goods yard. In preparation I have been examining photos to determine the correct color and orientation for these during the mid-to-late 1930s. I have found photos showing these with either black or white shafts with contrasting white or black handles. There doesn’t seem to be any consistency as to region or time period. I also have found photos with the “kink” or “dog leg” in the lever facing towards the frog as in the photo below, and other photos showing it facing away from the frog. Can anyone provide any clarifications on this topic? How about @StationmasterThanks—Larry

5 hours ago, MikeParkin65 said:

Sharing for info  and pretty sure this has been mentioned previously upthread but for anyone using NCE Power Cab with the 5amp booster changing the voltage on the power supply from 12v (which seems to be how it is supplied) to 13.8v via the slider in the power supply brings the Manors 'Stay Alive' into, well, life! No other CV changes required. 

Yes, I mentioned this in a post last Thursday and McC from Accurascale replied that he believes ESU says they require 14 volts to function properly, although 13.8 volts appears to be sufficient. 

5 hours ago, geoffers said:

Good to know, Mike. Thanks. My NCE PowerCab uses a DCC Concepts Alpha Power which delivers 18 volts and up to  5 amps. Stay-alive on 7812 "Erlestoke Manor" works fine. For some reason but not so on 7800 "Torquay Manor" but having fiddled with reboots and CVs it is still not functional so have given up now as everything else works on this loco fitted with a Zimo MN180 Next18 decoder.

I believe that Zimo decoders use 2 wire stay alives whereas ESU/LokSound decoders use 3 wire stay alives. Given that the circuit board in the Manors is designed to be used with a LokSound decoder I doubt they will function with decoders that use 2 wires. As far as I know only DCC Concepts and Lenz also use the 3 wire stay alive. The white wire in the circuit is used to turn the ESU stay alive on and off—Larry “The DCC Guy”

Thanks, makes sense that greased buffers would slide easier on curves, especially where screw links are employed— Larry

On 20/08/2023 at 09:16, Rowsley17D said:

Looks like I'll have to paint the tops of my point lever handles black.

In the BR era these seem to have been white with black handles, but in the GWR era the colors seem to have been reversed with black levers and white handles. Can anyone confirm this? Also is there any guidance on which direction the lever points when the points are set for a given direction? After looking at dozens of photos they seem to be random.

5 hours ago, IOW O2 said:

Just a couple of pics now Torquay is weathered, crew fitted, real coal added, and a mist of matt varnish. The front coupling was put on the hook I had no difficulty.  I managed move tender T/L coupling back so the front bar is @ 1.5mm behind buffers front.  There was a little room to cut back the coupling pocket after all, and then trim the T/L back. I decided on Pem Coast express to be different.

 

One area I think could be improved in future is the tender to loco kinematic action it could do with extending further like coaches do, if put in the closest coupling drawbar hole then it could really stay close on 4th and under radii.  One cab handrail was out of place and like AY Mod did just prise up gently, I touched in a bit of paint at roof line to hold in place.

 

It is also working fine now on the GM non inertia controller at slow speed, this is after about 18 hours use now, I have never needed this amount of time for a model to bed in, my other locos have been fine from the off really, so if others have somewhere they can leave it to run unattended for an hour at time and then reverse it, this may solve their issues.

 

Beautiful job on the coal load. One thing I’ve always wondered why is there a blop of grease on the face of the buffers?  Did they lubricate them for some reason? 

1 hour ago, Miss Prism said:

 

Assuming you are talking about the superheater/lubricator pipe cover, all Manors had them (on the right-hand side) from initial build. Many locos also later acquired covers on the left-hand side.

 

Prism—Ah, I was looking at the right hand side of Anthony Manor which did not have it at the time Accurascale modeled. However flipping the model to the left hand side photo it does have it.  Thanks for the info.

I do love the 1950 version of “The importance of being Earnest”. 

I have a question about external changes to the Manors. It was my understanding that during the early 1950s BR made modifications to improve steaming and operation of the Manors. Among the external mods were a narrowing of the chimney and an oil pipe added on the side of the smokebox. I also thought that the bulge or pipe (sorry but don’t know the technical term) from the upper side of the smokebox back onto the boiler was done at that time. However I just noticed that the locos with the “GWR” lettering on the tender (Accurascale’s nos. 7818 & 7819 ) also have this bulge and that livery style was limited to pre-nationalisation. So just when did GWR make that modification? Thanks—Larry

10 hours ago, McC said:

 

As far as I understand it, ESU recommend at least 14 volts. 

It’s not in the ESU PowerPack instruction sheet in the package I have. I have been using them since 2015 and this is the first time I’ve heard that. That’s the kind of tip to include in the loco instructions sheet on the next model—would have saved me pulling out my hair for 2 days trying to find a fix. 

38 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

OK St. 

No loco on the Layout is .19

Manor at rest added is .23

Manor with Nine nice free running Baccy Portholes, hauled easily and no wheel slip and a good turn of speed is .34/6 max

Hope that helps?

Phil

My measurements were done with sound off which does make a difference.

Now as to the motor amperage, I tested mine stalled and with wheels slipping at full speed it was pulling 0.090 amps, so a very efficient motor. So your 0.75 amp LokPilot should do well.

On another subject be aware that the onboard PowerPack needs a certain voltage to work. Over the weekend I changed my PowerCab track voltage to the 12 volt setting, then went about making some mods to the sound cv’s. Later I noticed that I no longer had any stay alive  functions. I figured I had inadvertently changed a cv and mucked it up. I messed with various cv setting for 2 days trying to fix it and then feared I had burned up the caps while messing with the internal speaker. Then last night I remembered the voltage change so I kicked it back up to 13.8 volts and the PowerPack sprang back to life! So apparently the PowerPack design requires greater than 12 volts to operate. 

I also did some work on the speaker and sound volume situation over the weekend and will be doing another video soon on my solution—hope you have an iPhone speaker handy—Larry

1 hour ago, Graham T said:

 

Did you ever get an answer to the cylinder guard question!  I can't figure out how to fit mine either!

 

Sorry but I still have no idea.

4 minutes ago, Trainsandtravel said:

So unfortunately this post isn’t going to be a very positive one. 
 

I had to send back my Cookham Mankiewicz that was purchased direct from Accurascale due to it arriving damaged. I very much believe the damage is caused by the lack of care taken when these models are packaged up to be sent at the warehouse. It arrived in a box with hardly any padding and the locomotive box was free to move and rattle around inside. 
 

Today, I received my replacement and exactly the same thing. But this time the model is in an even worse condition with the drain cocks broken off, the chimney broken off and the box battered to bits. I wasn’t too worried about the chimney as I can glue that back in, however the drain cocks are so tiny and I can’t find them in the box anywhere. 
 

I have ordered a few of these manors and they are excellent models. It’s interesting to note that all of the ones I ordered from rails of Sheffield have arrived perfect and they have taken lots of care when packaging the models up to be sent. 
 

On the other hand, all of the models I have received direct from accurascale have arrived damaged. This I believe is caused by poor packaging and DHL not taking care when the parcel is in their possession.

 

Now i am not criticising the help that I have received from the guys at accurascale. They have been very prompt in replying and sorting out a replacement, however all of these issues could almost be solved of they sorted out the poor packaging when sending from their warehouse. 
 

Sorry for the negative post on what is such a fantastic model but it really needs to be addressed. 

Interesting, mine arrived in excellent condition (with adequate padding) after DHL bounced it across the Atlantic and over our mountain roads to remote western North Carolina here in Asheville. You must have somehow pissed off the wrong guy in the shipping department! Better luck on the next one.

3 hours ago, chrisjwarnes said:

Hi everyone. I’m loving 7812. Absolutely amazing. The only slight issue I have is the sound being very quiet in comparison to all my other sound fitted locos. Is there a way to up the volume?

You can increase the master volume by programming CV63 to a larger value up to 192. The CVs for the individual sounds are on the included card. Also running it with heavy load turned on will increase the chuff volume.

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Looks like we need another hint - athough not black in this case.  A  view I got of Reading's 7808 on an LCGB rail tour, Platform 4 Reading 1963.

 

Those rivets look way oversized compared to the Dapol model, has it been Photoshopped?

In all seriousness how close to scale are the Accurascale and Dapol models with respect to the buffer beam rivets? There really seems to be a stark disparity between the models.

5 hours ago, Anoldpom said:

One thing that really has got my old blood boiling about that Sam review is his insistance that if a locomotive cannot travel at a scale .0000001mph it is an abject failure in his eyes. What a load of what Aussies call 'bullsh@#". Has this lad never seen a real steam locomotive moving on shed or on the main line. They NEVER crawl. They move smoothly and purposely with great power and might. 

 

For what it is worth I have attached a link to a short rather crude film of my new Torquay Manor running slowly and smoothly on straight DC using a Gaugemaster Combi! I should note that this film is just to show Sam and any other doubters that the engine can run slowly. In actual fact this is far slower compared to how steam engines move in real life!

 

This loco is brilliant and I can play for hours just backing this loco onto shed and moving it to the turntable and then backing back onto a train. And the starts and stops with 4 coach trains are absolute heaven! Thank you Accurascale, I would love a decent 47xx!

 

https://youtu.be/EGrmahldZn8

 

 

I have watched about a dozen Manor videos running under DC and DCC including Sam’s and most have no problems with the loco crawling.  In all cases that did require a good breakin run. On my video I ran the loco for 30 min in each direction on a Rolling Road after which it ran fine for me as I showed in the video, on DCC. Since the DCC version was not shipped with a blanking plug I could no do a DC run test as well. So maybe Sam got one with a stiff gear, or bearing that needs more breaking in, or maybe it missed the lubrication station at the factory. As for the 3 pole motor, size does not predict performance (just ask you wife) and there are good reasons for using a high quality 3 pole skew wound motor with a flywheel—just Google “3 pole vs 5 pole DC motors” for a quick lesson. If you go back about a year in this thread you’ll find one I wrote then expressing my concerns with 3 pole motors, however Accurascale has convinced me with this implementation.

This may be a tad off topic but someone questioned about how many coaches their Bulleid Pacific could haul up my 1.9% helix. So today after installing a new decoder I ran my Hornby Merchant Navy Holland-Afrika Line up the helix to see. It had no problems with the Siphon G plus 6 Hornby coaches. Since I was testing I also grabbed my Dapol Mogul and gave it the same test—the best it could do was the Siphon G plus one coach. I think I’ll keep it in the flatlands!

2 hours ago, jonnyuk said:

quick question on the stay alive, i've gone back through this thread and some say it only works on DCC, some say you have to change a CV to change the length it runs for. with a non ESU decoder, does the stay alive work and how long is it suppose to run for. this is my second manor and on dc and dcc with a non ESU decoder the wheels stop as soon as you lift it off the track, is this right?

Excellent question and one I am not sure of myself. Technically ESU Power Pack stay alives use a 3 wire connection which is also compatible with Lenz and DCC Concepts decoders. Most others use a 2 wire connection. While it is possible to use a 2 wire stay alive with a decoder that expects 3 wires it isn’t recommended and I always thought the reverse was not possible. So this is a technical question that only the DCC tech at Accurascale and ESU can answer. Hopefully Fran will get us an answer—Larry

7 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

...... but all those of us who use DC, (the majority?), have just bought a load of useless electronic gadgetry, and lost valuable space for adhesive weight.

 

I have yet to hear a DCC sound steam model that comes within a mile of sounding like the real thing - and I heard that from the lineside back in the 50s and 60s!

 

I wonder how many enthusiasts of my age buy sound-fitted models?

 

CJI.

But your widow will be able to ask a higher price after you are on to the big sleep.

6 hours ago, Cofga said:

I finally finished editing and now have my in-depth Manor review up on my YouTube channel. It’s been great to follow Fran and the rest of the Accurascale team as they went through the process of developing this model. I really want to thank them for allowing so many of us to participate in this project—Larry

 

 

I forgot to mention in the review that even the DCC ready versions come complete with the stay alive capacitors on the circuit board and speakers in both the tender and boiler. So all you need do is add a Next18 decoder with your choice of sound project and you should be ready to go. With some American loco models the manufacturers actually do not include anything but a DCC socket and may not have a space for a speaker of any kind. So I had not expected both speakers and stay alive.

1 hour ago, KeithAnthony said:

Very nice review, thanks for posting. Hope Idalia misses your area.

 

 

I am back out in the western mountains of NC so may not even see a passing shower, but thanks for the thought—Larry

9 hours ago, IOW O2 said:

Thanks, reassuring.

I thought Accu said the loco would be 400g on its own.  My 2017 Hby King weighs in at 320g (DCC ready) which makes the manor at 19g less at 301. Which makes it the same weight as the bigger W/C spamcan with a plastic body.  Will be interesting.🙂

I misspoke as the King tender was only 32g lighter not 68g. My King came in the Bristolian set about 2020 direct from Hong Kong via eBay so I figure it came out the back door of the factory or warehouse. I weighed them out individually and the Manor engine was 316g with a 100g tender=416g total. The King engine weighed 335g with a 68g tender=403g.  So The important thing is the heavier tender on the Manor along with it’s lighter engine reduced it’s pulling power compared to the King by a couple of coaches.