m davies

Yup, those'll work.

I've been toying with a L1 build (making my own etches up) for some time and someone at Kettering yesterday said pop by here and have a look. Nice build, very neat and clean, especially being brass, which is a devil to keep clean during a build. I still get frustrated at how much solder I leave and have to clean up, the nack seems to be to use less solder and make sure the joint has as good a metal to metal contact as possible, the bigger the gap the more solder and the less strength. Richard uses a blow torch, I've tried but it just sets off the smoke alarms and I don't yet have the skill set to use it accurately so am stuck with the ERSA for a while. Building in nickel silver also helps, it's the same colour as solder. Anyway, thanks for the kind words and Peter, keep up the good work, the attention to detail is certainly paying off. Mickoo Mick D

Phil, Finally popped by, nice to see more progress being made, My Danish grandfather had one of those tractors on his nursery or plant school as they call it over there LOL, big red thing it was, should of picked one up for myself on reflection, anyway, looks good with the bucket up front. Best Mick

Rob, Well I promised I'd pop by and give y'all a look nice to see your progress and hope it goes better this time around, it was a shame to have to see you pull your old boards up. I keep looking at my garden, no where near as big as yours but could get a circuit in, but will need some 'negotiating' where the track bed would pass over the new decking LOL. Keep up the good work. Mick

Quite partial to Flat Irons myself , only ever saw one (well three) in service, triple light loco move through Dunkerque Grand Synth. Regards Michael

Nice!, thanks for sharing. Kindest Michael

Its the pans that generally dictate the locos operational area, Germany, Austria and Switzerland all run the same voltage, but each has a different loading gauge profile, the swiss runs a very narrow pan head and thus their OHLE posts are much closer together on corners than the rest of Europe. AC2E (Euro) all run with four pans. Cab signaling also dictates countries of usem but thats something one generally cannot see from the outside, other than the senors dotted around the chassis. 185s are a nightmare, some run with two, some with four and it makes no odds if they are AC1 or AC2, just different batches with in the class. For anyone really into modern Euro locos then this site is a must, details all variants, nice color renders, details and technical differences, not just TRAXX but other modern builders http://www.railcolor.net/index.php?nav=1405653&lang=1 be preparedto spend a while here, theres a lot of info!. Brian thanks, makes sense, with these two versions they can cover about 80% of all TRAXX models with little tooling differences. An Re6/6 would be splendid indeed, or a DBAG 189. Kindest Michael

Now thats more like it !, I've been looking at their 185, mainly to scale off for a 1:32 model. You have to be carefull with the TRAXX range, especially the export variants and more so SBB where they had rentals on their books over the years. TRAXX AC1 can be spotted by the flush lower body and tucked back lower nose, also no sand box filler holes and a flat cab roof, SBB have these as 482-001 / 034 TRAXX AC2 can be spotted by the dropped down lower body near the buffers and flat lower nose and holes in the solebar skirt for sand box fillers and a depressed cab roof panel, SBB has these as 482-035 / 049 Both of these classes are AC only and work Germany - Switzland routes. SBB also owns some TRAXX MS in the guise as 484-001/021, only differ in detail from the AC2 but are AC/DC machines and work Switzerland - Italy only. Heres a photo grabbed off the net (copyright exists with original author) showing the cab nose differences between AC1 (left) and AC2 (right). Brian, where did you get your model from please?, I looked a few months back and couldn't find a UK supplier. Kindest Michael

It does look very nice indeed, its a shame you cannot get kits like this in 10mm, then you could really go to town with the details . Best Michael

I've suspected for some while that the models were 3D printed, at least the master and then castings taken and it has always been there (layers) in a very tiny amount, photos do tend to bring the worst out but those battery boxes look slightly worse than the rest of the model, paint will tell the full story though. I like the lagged pipe along the footplate, nice attention to detail there. Best Michael

Now that does look the business, very nice Ken. Best Michael

Glad to see you have joined the 'dark' side , your site has been and always will be an excellent source of reference material, really pleased to see you went pro and kept the large images and allow people to download, I hope no one abuses your trust. To be fair, disabling download is pointless, all anyone has to do is actually view the image full size and then go to their internet temporary file folder and the image is stored there on your computer, simply drag and drop and save as you wish. People are either unaware of this loop hole in preventing people from downloading images or they're just spiteful, the internet is for sharing and I'm pleased you share your images freely as do I. I do hope some day to upload my detail shots, no where near as many as you and none are heritage stock, all modern as and when I get close enough to it, locos or stock. Best Michael

My apologies, post amended accordingly. Railsims's, I used to develop for MSTS, but no matter how good your artwork (see two virtually finished locos below) the sim never matched it due to its clunky graphics engine that could not render high resolution artwork so I got out of it and back to FSx, never really got back into Railworks and recently retired from commercial FSx work, I prefer more tangible modeling these days, 7/10mm trains and 1/96 warships (nautical). Mind many of the 3D meshes are now being reworked and parts hived off for this new 3D printing process which is gathering pace. The ability to use 3D models to make parts for casting is terrific, my only problem now is lack of time, I thought I'd have more time after retiring for FSx work but I've less, all that spare time is filled with so much more exciting things to do LOL. Please excuse the diversion below, some renders of 3D models, if this OT is a problem a moderator or I can remove them accordingly. Kindest Michael

Ken, Now you have my 'full' attention , a 7mm 'Lizzie' is to die for, 10mm would probably give me a seizure LOL, fingers crossed it'll be painted in BR green LOL, I built a 4mm one (#10 Lady Patricia) 15 years ago, still pride of my now vastly reduced 4mm collection. I see your still fighting that darn PC of yours <grin> and sincere wishes for your mother. Kindest Michael

Andy, thats fine, it was a tentative suggestion and I expected the sizes would be locked down due to other agreements/involved parties or this late after the challenge started. Not to worry, I'll have to flex ze old grey cells some more to make a 7mm idea work , my eyes couldn't possible cope with T LOL. Thanks for the quick reply and clarification it is much appreciated. Kindest Michael