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dragosmp

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Everything posted by dragosmp

  1. Hi all, I just landed in Sweden coming from the UK and I'm keen to get to know the local modeling environement. If you have a few pointers on where to start, it'd be so helpful. Probably the most urgent would be where to get some spare parts locally, like DCC decoders, couplers, stuff like this. Cheers
  2. Hi all, I posted a video on my conversion to DCC of Toby from Thomas the Train. I had this conversion done just a couple of weeks ago, and to be honest it's a very straight-forward job. Must have taken me under 1 hour, including fidling with the cameras. Toby has ample space inside the cab, to the point I'm considering upgrading it down the road with some lights and maybe sound. I've never done lights or sound, could be a fun project. As usual, please take a look and feedback is appreciated.
  3. Hi all, Hope this video will be useful to someone. I have converted my first (and only for now) On30 gauge loco, this lovely Jupiter 4-4-0 Airfix / Bachmann. The trick with it was that it had been converted to DCC and for months it ran well, until it more or less decided not to run forwards any more. It could, but helped along and very choppy. I had not filmed the initial conversion to DCC, but since in orer to fix the issue the motor had to be fully stripped down, the tender, motor, decoder and every bit and bolt had to be taken off and put back together. There was a crazy amount of carbon dust clogging up everything, I'm pretty sure no amount of compressed air would have fixed it. Let me know what you think
  4. Hi all, I posted a video on my conversion to DCC of Bill from Thomas the Train. The loco reference is R9047. The story behind this is that initially, due to the high price of the real Bill and Ben locos, I tought I should just buy a Bill body shell and jimmy on a 0-4-0 cassis. Turns out it's not as easy, so I've given up, bought an R9047 and proceeded to converting it. This is my second loco conversion video, the first being a Bachmann James. The Bill video is longer as the conversion is more complex. As usual, please take a look and feedback is appreciated. If you're so inclined, I posted a more detailed "How to" on wiring the Zimo 617f controller using wires picked up off a cheap JST connector. This approach has the advantage of being very inexpensive and elegant, while not modifying/damaging the controller.
  5. Hello everyone, It's been 2 years since coming back to the railway modeling world and in this forum I found lots of info and great help when needed. In the old days as a PC geek I was writing "how to" guides for that public. They were enjoyable to write and to see people finding some use in them. Most times we bang our heads until we figure the trick and then think "if I only knew" - that's what I'm aiming for, showing some tricks. For this guide I decided to put to work some old phones and some video editing software and film guides on how to convert to DCC various locos. The first of these videos is about the James from Thomas the Tank Engine, the Bachmann variant with moving eyes. I chose this because frankly it's easy to do, easy to film and edit. You know, baby steps. This is my first video of any kind, but please don't hold back on the comments. I'm planning lots more videos on many of the Hornby/Thomas the Train locos and a few other non-Hornby HO Gauge locos (Lima, Bachmann, Jouef...). Maybe some videos of how to wire controllers, run a basic setup on the Pi Sprog, stuff like that. Anyway, please comment and I'll try to incude your suggestions in the next batch. Cheers
  6. Ahh, what did I get myself into... Turns out there is some flexi track on auction in the next hours, might as well. Thanks guys, much appreciated
  7. Thanks Butler Henderson, it does seem that the easy way is to cut some custom sizes for compatibility. I hadn't found the need so far to use flexi track, as the various Hornby pieces match perfectly every time between themselves. I was wondering if by just using standard bits one can make Peco Streamline Code 100 (what I have just bought) compatible with the giant box of Hornby track I gathered throughout the years. Guess I need to learn how to make a nice track cut. *EDIT: Any suggestion on bringing the curved bit of the Peco SL88 or SL99 point back to parallel? R628 seems to be the closest, but the angle is ever so slightly different. I can't find a Peco 11.5deg curve and R628 is 12deg. Cheers
  8. Hi all, Looking at the topics around here, this is a proper noob question, so please be kind with the beginner. As many story start, I bought some stuff off of ebay, a few "large radius" Peco points (turnouts), thinking my Virgin Pendolino or the Pensylvania 4-10-4 will like them more than the classic Hornby R613, which turns a bit too tight. Took some SL-99 becasue they're just dam cool for a station. Problem is, the ends don't quite line up, and then I can't easily close the loops. I build my layouts (DCC) in the livingroom for a weekend and they usually consist in 5 more or less concentric loops linked with points and some sidings. My question is, what P/N or type of track should be used to align Peco and Hornby track combos? Is there even such a thing, or I need to clip some R601s to the right size? To help with these questions I built some examples in Anyrail, see attached, using standard Hornby or Peco parts, but they're missing a few mm to line up well. What would you suggest? Many thanks P.S. In case you're wondering why all the fuss, I just like the Peco points, SL-99 is just so dam cool.
  9. Reviving this old topic to give a Kudos. My R382 Duck (from Thomas the Train) just lost traction and I went through the debigging process. I took advantage of the loco being side-lined to do a thorough clean. Turns out, after disaaaembling and reassembling everything, the fix was a simple plastic piece to push the motor worm drive down a bit. I adjusted with the fixing bolt a "right" ammount of press, as too much puts too much pressure on the traction wheel and the motor is bogged down. Great guide, nicely explained *EDIT: aded a pic of my "fix"
  10. Hello everyone. Just letting you know what happened since the last time. Dr Quinn kindly sent me some couplings, so the next logical step is looking for a victim coach that could accept one of those couplings at the correct height as to attach properly. A 3rd class coach in the pics attached proved to be the best suited amongst my stock. Next, turns out the Hornby coupling has the hook pocket thing just about the right size to fit in a NEM coupling. In the spirit of not messing about too much, I just fitted the closest looking coupling in that pocket mechanically, attach to the Jouef loco and see if it stays attached. We'll, it just did. I mean, I played with it for a while, then the fire test, gave the two to my kid. 3 days later, the loco still pulls and shunts the coach with this vaguely attached coupling. There was only one hickup. Since the Hornby hook location is slightly to the left, I get this feeling the coach/loco coupling is less tense when it turns left. I ran it on 3rd radius layout, tighter may be more of a challenge, but who knows. Tonight I will bolt down the coupling properly, not yet sure how. Then I'll test it with more coaches attached behind, maybe on a tighter curve. Cheers
  11. Hi, so I researched some more. What you guys are suggesting, a converter wagon is exactly what I thought of. Didn't know it has a name though. This wagon/coach/whatever would have on one side whatever coupling needs to go on this loco and a Hornby compatible on the other end. Something I didn't know when I wrote the OP is the NEM pockets exist. None of my stock seem to have such, except for a Virgin express train. A converter wagon equipped with NEM pockets would be an easy solution, or I could trim out the overmoulding Hornby stuff off a current coach and fit a NEM pocket. I'll add the Peco 009 to the possible compatible couplings and let you know, as usual, how it goes. I put a bit of work and bits into this loco, the coupling aspect would just complete the job
  12. OK, I looked more carefully. Ideally I would just change the present couplings with something more modern, but they are moulded on the bogie and old plastic is just too finicky. @dr Q, I will take you on that offer once I figure out how to PM using the phone app. Cheers
  13. Thanks for the ideas Steve, Steve and dr. Quinn. Took a few more close ups with the hood off. Maybe it helps. I might have a go with one each of the type you suggested.
  14. Hi all, As many good things in life, my story started with a loco bought cheaply on ebay, ok maybe not so cheap. It's a Jouef dban replica, very similar with numerous SNCF types in the 80s like the BB series. I changed the tires, converted to DCC, added some nice weights to keep it on the track and the last piece of the puzzle is to enable it to pull and shunt. As it is now, the coupling is almost completely incompatible with my coaches. The loco pulls, but if it shunts iit's a 50/550 chance to uncouple. The plan is to make an adapter coach, but the trick is what coupling does it have? Pic attached. I found somewhat similar Bachmann 36-055, 36-056 and Liliput 939101. However, these 3 have the oval/crown arms attached differently, so not sure if compatible. Any idea what that coupling is, or what might be compatible with it ? Many thanks
  15. Hi all, Two months later, here's how it turned out. There seemed to be a bit of a consensus that Zimo controllers are good. Others too, but I ended up deciding for Zimo basically after seing the online manual. OK, they are a bit more expensive, but these three things go in its favour: *detailed manual with technical explanation on how things work *you do a bit of math and realise thet they must be using multi-layered PCBs to achieve the size and capability - which would go some way to explain the cost *protected outputs - I am handy enough with electronics to know I mess it up sometimes, it's good to know the chip can take care of itself I got initially 2x617f and a 623 (for variety) and boy was that a good experience. Bought them from YouChoos, again on your recomandations, and so far so good - flawless really. I didn't even scratch the surface of 617's capabilities, but even in basic terms they're pretty good. Here's why: *converted a 0-6-0 and 0-4-0 (00 Gauge) using the 617f. They work great, got them speed-matched and the funny thing is, for whatever reason now they make this purrrring noise when they go, as opposed to a sharper noise when using the previous Hornby 8249 *Pro-tip: you can take the wires off some ebay mini-JST connectors, the wires have a termination that fits the pins of the Zimo perfectly. Some shrink-tube and you get a 6-pin-to-wire adapter (ideal for conversions) for 20 peas. If you want I can add some pics *had converted a 1970s Jouef loco using the 623. The motor was a bit dodgy as it sat for years, had to fully strip it down and clean as it barely worked in DC. For testing I used a 8249, but it was still choppy, as the speed-profile wasn't adjustable - it went slow-slow-slow-faaaaast. Using the 623 speed-map, now it is very smooth. Needed some BEMF fidling, too. *Hornby Gordon R383 (from Thomas the Tank Enngine). Although a big train, this has a ridiculously small space in the tender. I had to use a 8249 for the last 6 months before the Zimo. Had a Sapphire hanging for a while, but couldn't package it in the tender. This has everything people hate - Ringfield motor, tender pushing, traction tires - you name it, Gordon R383has it. The motor was in a bad way (bought off ebay again), had to change brushes, springs, and was a pig to convert to DCC. Although in DC the motor was OK, it never really blended with the 8249. Now it uses a 617f, which you'd think it's a bit on the small side power-wise for a 4-6-2, but it runs extremely well. The speed-map needed a bit of tweaking, as for the old Jouef. Now I have another 4-6-2 I'm not to happy about the way it runs and a 617f waiting to go in. A note - the 617f is recommended for N-gauge; I only used them on 00-s, and big ones at that. The 0.8-1.5A drive current is the key - 617s are more capable than the 8249, so if that works, the 617 should too. I use the 618MX configuration template on the Pi-Sprog with PanelPro to edit the Roster and the CVs. I guess I'm sold on Zimo. Haven't been paid by Zimo/YouChoos or gotten any discount to say this, there's just a story that had to be said. I had used LaissDCC, Horby Sapphire and 8249s and now I don't need to. I still feel the Zimos are a bit expensive, twice the price of a LaissDCC, but when you take into accound the price of the loco and the quality of the Zimo, it's actually a good deal, even if you use no function at all! And then there are the functions, which I hope to discover soon. Thanks for the help
  16. Merci bien Oldddudders, good points. I need to pick up the 617 as the site favourite, the 600R, seems to be out of stock everywhere. As an electronics guy, it seems the 617 is only a miniaturised version of the bigger 600, but with a multi-layer PCB. Maybe once I'll source a 600 to make a chip-to-chip comparison. I'll let you know when the loco comes and how I go about the conversion.
  17. Hi all, This is my second thread on the forum, not that I'm counting. So, this week, tired of the depressing news, I was browsing the HO loco section on ebay (as one does nowadays) to chear myself up. And guess what, I found I loco very similar to something I got as a present when I was 6 from my grampa - a french SNCF electric loco. This is more than 30 years ago, that loco was lost somewhere along the way. This is DB, but still very similar to my old SNCF. I made an offer, got it, didn't arrive yet. Here's the loco type: http://lestrainsjouef.free.fr/fr/mot_exp/bb184_db.html Based on my other thread, I was thinking of using a Zimo 617 decoder for the conversion. The datasheet in the link says the motor is a 5-pole on a worm drive and other smilar locos on that site have a strip-down guide, which this type does not. My question would be if you have some advice about how to go about things, if you agree with the decoder and if you may have a link to a "how to DCC" guide for this particular type of loco. I will of course post my step by step conversion as soon as I have something to share. Cheers
  18. Thanks for the explanation. Haven't looked, but I'm sure someone asked once how you can switch from full to half wave to vary light brightness Not something I'm looking into for now, but I can see myself going down the rabit hole What does the PluX do? P.S. found the smiley button on the forum
  19. Hi all, thanks for the great options. Zimo is a house favourite then, so I'll try to make this work. The 600R seems to be out of stock everywhere. MX623R is ever so slightly too much for what I need, but a good option. What do you think of the MX617 ? Seems very similar to the Bachmann 36-568A in terms of power and pin-out and prices are in the ballpark. Would you say Zimo 617 is a 600R with 6-pin rather than 8? I haven't checked, but maybe the difference is just two less ground pins, which won't be an issue. *EDIT: from the Zimo manual: "All ZIMO decoders are equipped with temperature sensors to measure their own operating temperature. Power to the motor will be turned off once that temperature exceeds 1000C. The headlights start flashing rapidly, at about 5 Hz, to makethis state visible to the operator. Motor control will resume automatically af-ter a drop in temperature of about 200C, typically inabout 30 seconds" ...this level of engineering is just good to see
  20. Hi, thanks for the quick replies I searched Zimo and yes there are quite a few options, the difference being as far as I can see mostly in pinout and number of functions. They all take 1.5A current, which is ok. The MX600R seems to be available only from Germany though on ebay. The Lenz, found a type called Standard+ on 652 plug and it can do 2A, but also the seller is in DE on ebay. Would you say ebay is a good place to buy them from? For more or less 20£: Lenz Zimo
  21. Hi all, This is my forst post on the forum. I have been reading the site for a good long while and I finally think/hope I can ask an articulated question. About a year ago I picked up from a mate a box of stuff, among which a Hornby Select Controller and a few locos, track and some points. This was my first DCC setup, after about 30 years of playing only with DC, and I loved it. So much so that I went about converting all my 7 locos to DCC. Imagine that, using all locos at the same time. Not kidding, it never occured to me. I went about learned about CVs and being a reasonable programmer I decided I like a bit more control, so I replaced the Select with a Pi-Sprog, so I can use the Raspberry Pi I already had. Now I'm NMRA-compatible and can actually change CVs, speed-profile, play with the BEMF, all the good stuff. Love the Pi-Sprog too. I haven't found a DCC decoder I really love though. I have converter my locos using: *2x Hornby Sapphire for two big(ish) 4-6-2s, one of them from '69 (1.6A stall current FTW) - works well, they can setup a nice speed-profile, but the controller is phisically big *5x Hornby 8249 for the small locos. They work well, but turns out (since I bought the Sprog) the 8249 have almost no programmability. Considering how smooth I managed to tune the Sapphire to work I'd love to be able to adjust the speed curve. I just tried LaissDCC 8-pin, the one at 10 quid on ebay. The thing has all the options, bemf and profiling, except it just doesn't work. It didn't work with the Select (no NMRA), but it doesn't with the Sprog either. Best I had is having one loco working choppy and only backwards; changed the address from 3 to 5 and didn't work at all any more. Swap the loco back to 8249 and the loco is perfect again. So there's my little trip down the DCC lane. If you read up to this point, many thanks. My question would be what decoder would you go for a 1A stall current loco that has BEMF and speed profile adjustment. The Laisdcc should fit the bill, but it doesn't seem to work for me. The ideal decoder needs to be small, similar to the 8249 and if it has at least one function for an LED I'd consider it a bonus. Thanks! Drago
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