justin1985

I've ordered a Zimo 616 and an ESU Lokpilot Nano, so I'll see what fits! It looks like the ESU decoder has three extra wires trailing from the board - would these help with StayAlive at all? Or are they just for functions. I can't find the Nano in the ESU manual! Has anyone else tried that decoder? Justin

Thanks for all the great tips on cutting motor shafts. I just used masking tape, and as Mark said the the Association can shaft is only 1mm, so it didn't take much cutting, or make much mess. Still, I took it slowly in about three passes, letting it cool down between. The Jinty has come together really well this time around, and I've even soldered on the crankpin washers - that's a first for me! (Picture mid way through). Still struggling to plan where to accommodate a decoder though - at least without grinding more of the inside of the body away. Maybe taking the motor out and cutting some length off the end of the shaft I am using might give a bit more space at the back. It's a shame the really tiny CT decoders seem so difficult to get hold of now. The smallest decoder I have spare here now is a wired Zimo MX617. It looks like the 616 is a few mm smaller? Any other suggestions? J

Ingenious - great work David! What were the dimensions you arrived at for the jig in 2mm? What are your non ply sleepers made from? Looks like ply or maybe even card, rather than plastic strip? J

Does anyone have any tips for cutting down the motor shafts on the Association can motors? I've dug out the chassis I'd built for an old Farish Jinty, and despite having previously mangled it when trying to make some tweaks, now have it running nicely. However as I used a UJ to mount the motor to be "removable", it sits quite a way back. The motor shaft on the other end pokes a long way back, and basically fills what seems like it would otherwise be the best space for a decoder / stay alive components. I'm a bit cautious about taking a cutting disc to the shaft - I guess I have to take into account both forces on the bearings when cutting, and stray metal bits potentially getting into it? J

I don't know which kits you found Jerry, but the Czech manufacturer Valom makes some exquisite 1:144 WW1 aircraft, almost all as twin packs. I bought a few a while back with the intention of making some little dioramas, but haven't got beyond opening the boxes and admiring the parts! They all have really nice detailed plastic mouldings, and etched brass struts etc - a world away from the old Airfix I knew from when I was a kid! https://www.hannants.co.uk/manufacturer/valom?per_page=50&sort=0&search_direction=asc&scale_id=957

So much brown! I had lazily assumed the Met went straight from varnished teak to cheerful LT red - I guess we're looking at their equivalent of "LNER Teak Brown paint"?

For some of us the fun in modelling is seeing how much we can improve something! The cl.17 definitely has some compromises which I see as opportunities for improvement, so I enjoy seeing how far I can take that. I'm not saying its a terrible model, or a waste of money, or anything like that. In a sense, I almost find it more fun to have something to get my teeth into improving, rather than something being perfect from the box. The gap at the top of the exhaust stack is perplexing! The whole bottom of the cab moulding could be filed down to bring the cab down sit more flush to the bonnet (which would lose the clips, so cab would have to be held with tacky wax or something) - but the top of the stack must have been deliberately designed to be too short - bizarre. Perhaps more likely, the stack is the correct height, but the curve of the roof is too steep? Either way filling the gap might make a visual improvement, even if it would require a bit of a repaint. All of the little compromises add up to giving it a bit of an upright "startled rabbit" look, whereas the real thing has more of a long, low, lumbering look to it. Funnily enough I don't think the close coupler mechanism actually accounts for the height issue at all - its all accommodated within the height of the sole bar really. It seems like the height is accounted for by two things: bogie pickup tab being made too large, and an error in the design/tolerances of the cab moulding. J

It's a shame Adam of Electra doesn't use his artwork to produce full-side waterslide decals, instead of vinyl. It might need two layers (white blanking layer + livery layer) but the result would be much better.

Oh I'm very much aware I'm at an extreme end of minimal car use, and I'm lucky with public transport options I have. My point was just that because some people have felt driven to use cars more by COVID, that doesn't apply to everyone. We have access to a car, basically shared with relatives down the road, but we use it even less than ever. In fact lockdown helped us realise the milkman delivers compost at a very reasonable price - one less reason to visit the retail sheds!

Completely agree that the "secondary location" in a town, as per Richer Sounds, is ideal for model shops, Phil. But there is a broader point that rents for shops in all locations, including London, would be cheaper if they were set by actual demand for those shops, rather than financial markets creating such distortions. I called in to Ian Allan quite often, and always came out with something. It was even better when there was that rather random discount Book Warehouse on the corner next to the old Fire Station pub, which also tended to have lots of railway books (including many "serious" ones) - presumably they deliberately catered to the people visiting Ian Allan around the corner. I think that shop became a Pret, funnily enough? Lower Marsh felt quite seedy until relatively recently, which is kind of surprising really. But as it got more gentrified, Ian Allan felt more and more out of place. It was a bit of a secondary location, despite being central, but no longer. It's a great shame, but not all that surprising. J

When the real world value of assets (i.e. shops themselves) has fallen, and there is no prospect of that changing, something has to give. Either banks accept revaluation of loans etc, or landlords go bust - I don't see any way for the status quo to continue much longer.

Speak for yourself, Legend. I actively avoided visiting any shop not easily accessible by public transport before, and just the same now. Living where I do in Croydon, I even do most trips to B&Q and IKEA by tram (and simply don't visit other retail sheds because they're not accessible by public transport). The social distancing concerns we have right now are only short term, and I'm sure we'll have forgotten them in a year or so (whether by vaccine, eventually effective test and treatment, or 'herd immunity'). But the impact of online shopping on retail is anything but short term. And out of town strip mall / retail sheds are just as, if not more vulnerable, to that. There are proportionately just as many vacant and derelict strip mall units as there are in town centres, around here, anyway. Shopping in person in a brick and mortar store is becoming something you do by active choice, usually because it is pleasant in some way, or you can combine with other things you want to do. So why drive to a retail shed, only to fight through traffic to get to the next turning off the dual carriageway for the other retail shed you need to visit, when you can buy those things online? (Unless it's during a pandemic and you can't get a delivery slot, that is). Whereas town centres will always offer the chance to visit the barber, the yoga studio, the coffee shop, the art gallery, at the same time. The better planned "shopping villages" work well in this respect too, and perhaps with a better balance of parking and other types of accessibility than some old town centres. The reason we have towns and town centres, geographically speaking, is that they are nodal points, and nodal points are where it is viable to concentrate services. The form town centres take will change, and as @Joseph_Pestell pointed out, there are a lot of reasons why we have inertia preventing changes that a functional market would allow. (I.e. the especially British situation of property being first and foremost a vehicle for speculation and security for loans). Hopefully we'll see some landlord bankruptcies that will unlock the lowering of commercial property prices and rents - but there is just too much vested interest for that to happen yet - which is why we see so many vacant shops. J

When will be contacted about orders for liveries which aren't going ahead? My original order included one in First Great Eastern, with a second choice of Plain White. Neither of which is going ahead! Presumably I have the option to switch to a different livery, or cancel and get a refund on that deposit (or put it towards final payment on models that are going ahead?) J

The University of Leicester Library has the vast majority of them available freely online, up to the 1910s. http://specialcollections.le.ac.uk/digital/collection/p16445coll4

This little layout has always unashamedly been a testbed more than anything else. As I've got further along, a few aspects of the recycled mainly 3mm ply board have proven to be a problem: the improvised "fiddle shelf" which was just an overshoot of the board to rest cassettes on, and the lack of proper lighting. So over the last week or so I did some major surgery and cut off the little shelf bit at the end and fitted a new more substantial end "wall", with dowels and insert nuts to bolt on a more substantial shelf for cassettes (not built that yet, but I did clamp its end piece to the end of the layout when drilling the holes, so it shoukd definitely fit!) The other big improvement has been to create a "lid", and with it , lighting. More thin and prone to warping 3.2mm ply, but braced with thin hardwood strips, and with the aluminium extrusions that hold the LED strip diffusers. I'll add some thin strips of ply across the top and as wings at the side for a full "tank slit" look. There is one strip of 12v "natural white" LEDs set in a 45 degree extrusion at the front, and another strip of "pure white" in the middle. Perhaps even a bit too bright now! This is also pretty much the first time I've actually operated the layout as a shunting puzzle rather than testing. People might deride "inglenook sidings" - but it is genuinely fun to operate! Especially when the challenge is your own skill in operating, rather than avoiding the loco stalling and making the couplings work! Next steps will be putting in some stout white card as a curved backscene, and building up ground level between trackbed and buildings etc. Now I've been operating the layout a bit properly, I have hit a bit of a quandary. I had planned to model the distillery office / managers house dead central to break up the scene, and create a bit of interest when trains pass behind it, rather than always passing in front of all the other buildings. However, the location I had in mind is directly in front of the uncoupler location, so it was totally in the way! Shifting it slightly left or right puts it in front of one or other of the turnouts. Less than ideal, maybe, but less critical to see clearly at all times than the uncoupler! I really can't decide whether it adds enough to be worth it, or not? Any thoughts? Proposed new location to left: Thoughts appreciated! J

Good point! It's hard to see detail between buffer beam and bogie in prototype photos, like you say, but I'd imagine there must have been some strengthening ribs, at the least. Some triangles of plasticard might well be in order. Edit - adding the steps will make a big difference too, I think! J

Hi Roy, Do you mean the upright tabs? Folding the ends over (outward) by 1mm at the top should probably have the same effect. I suspect adjusting the flappy parts on the chassis wouldn't be such a good idea though, as you need some element of springing to maintain electrical contact. Pre-bending the flappy bits to lay perfectly flat and horizontal might be an option if you're fitting coupling springs to the bogie tabs though. Steve mentioned he takes the flappy bits out on other Dapol diesels and fits coupling springs over the upright tabs, which then make contact with the chassis block itself. But in the cl.17 there isn't really any chassis metal exposed around the bogie - clearances are too tight and the flappy bits actually pass over the hole for the bogie pivot / clip - you have to gently thread the bogie clips past them at an angle to remove or reinsert the bogie. So I don't see any alternative but retaining the flappy bits. J

Certainly possible, but I think registration would be challenging. Be prepared for many attempts! Lightburn relies upon having what is basically a webcam mounted above the laser for things like this. Lightburn do sell one that works well, but I think it's been affected by the global surge in demand for webcams now we're all working from home! I think the Emblazer has this feature built in - but then it is about 10x the cost of most other diode lasers! Obviously the quality of the webcam optics becomes a factor, as well as the quality of the laser cutter's own optics and tracking.

After discussion with @Pixie over in the 2mm forum I decided to tackle the bogie pickup tabs to see if I could reduce the height by taking out some of the springing effect between bogie and chassis. I arrived at a result I'm happy with by cutting 1mm from the top of the copper upright tabs and then tidying it back up with a file. Helpfully, a steel ruler fits neatly behind the tab and rests on the cross member, making it easy to mark the height (colour with a Sharpie then scribe with blade), and the gear tower pops off to make it easy to cut and then file without damaging the plastic parts. With 1mm off, it definitely looks better, and after a little tweaking of the flappy contact above the bogie, running was still good. I did try filing a little extra off the tabs at this point, but then did get some running issues. Adapting Steve's idea, I popped some coupling springs over the tabs, and this sorted that issue. But I'd definitely recommend to anyone else taking no more than 1mm off the tab. Before: After: The result is still a tad high, but it's much closer to the buffers lining up with other vehicles. And to my eye it reduced the amount of daylight between bogie and chassis enough to look appreciably better. I also removed the close coupling arm and I'm going to fit DG couplings now, so I don't know if this modification might create problems with coupling height for normal NEM couplers? Any of these modifications would void the warranty, so at your own risk etc - just reporting what worked for me! Justin

Well, I had a play. Sorry to invade your workbench thread! As I was thinking of butchering the uprights to fit springs, I started by gradually chopping them back to see if that would make a difference in itself. Lo and behold, simply trimming down the tabs by 1mm reduced the height by enough to look a lot better, but pickup still worked fine! Inevitably I then went a tad further, and ended up with a bit of a cogging motion, and slight Noddy bounce as it ran. I'm not sure if that was the result of the worm mesh getting too tight for comfort, or pickup becoming unreliable. Either way, popping a (looser wound) coupling spring over the tab (no fixing - yet) restored smooth running without increasing height again. Before: After: It's still a tad high, but much more reasonable looking in terms of buffer height (although the Farish BR van does have lower buffer height than some Association kits, I'd noticed). It certainly also feels to me that there is appreciably less daylight between bogie and chassis. I imagine with the springs, I could probably take the tabs down a bit further, like I'd originally planned - there is still a tiny bit of of compression when I press on the roof. But I think I've reached a happy medium. If it's not at the point where the worm mesh is setting the height, it can't be far off! Justin

Hi Steve, Gotcha - sounds like a good system. But I'm not sure there's enough clearance on the Clayton. The flappy bits overlay the bogie pivot hole, and there only looks like 1mm or so of chassis block accessible either side underneath them within the hole. The springs might be in danger of sliding into the pivot and getting caught, or at least interfering with rotation? My thought was maybe to cut the upright tabs down, or bend them over double, and attach springs that would bear on the flaps with much less force than the tabs do. Perhaps also reduce the tension in the flaps. I might have an experiment when I'm feeling brave! View, coffee, and furry helper! What a perfect weekend! Justin

I don't doubt that Bachmann Europe PLC are well aware of that being a problem, and I imagine they're quite worried about it. This is undoubtedly why they created the EFE Rail brand as a way to generate turnover by selling models manufactured in factories outside of the Kader / Bachmann empire. I can't imagine any of us know whether Kader really is having more production difficulties than other manufacturers, or whether there is some kind of strained relationship between Kader head office and Bachmann Europe PLC. But whatever the cause, Bachmann / Farish are more constrained than other model commissioning companies (don't think manufacturers is the right word anymore) because they are the "daughter company" of the Chinese manufacturer, so are really dependent on their whims and willingness to allocate production slots. They can't shop around for a different factory or move some production to other countries, like Hornby or Dapol can. The market has been moving towards a much wider range of smaller companies commissioning more specialist models on a pre-order only or limited batch basis for quite some time now. And not only in British N. The era of big manufacturers maintaining a catalogue of regularly available models with a focus on distribution through many retailers is clearly declining. There's many disadvantages with that, but it's the way the tide is running ...

I'd vote for, regrettably, cutting off the gents to avoid stowage issues, I'm afraid! Or at least "adapting" the layout of the building a tad? What is happening to the video screen? Presumably even if it didn't interfere with the tube itself, it would be quite a visual distraction and detract from it as a focal point - so best to move it elsewhere?

That's just a trick of the angle of the photo / slightly fisheye effect of close up from a phone camera, I think! However, like other Dapol diesels of the DJ era, it does sometimes rise up on the leading bogie when starting from a stop - which does produce the one end higher look. I'm pretty sure that is caused by the very loose worm mesh again. The Dapol 26/27 are particularly bad at doing this too. J

I'm pretty sure the flappy bogie electrical pick up transmission design is the cause of most of the problem here. If you press down on the loco, it sinks down onto its bogies by the best part of the excess height. I bow down to those with more engineering expertise on what modification, if any, would help ... (Buffer height) (The warehouse doorway is lower than it should technically be, but it does accommodate literally every Farish, Dapol, or PECO wagon that I've tried) J