bertiedog

As said, never let paint dry in the air brush, especially Acrylic.....always clean the gun whilst things are "wet", and use the same thinners that the paint uses.

To clean the gun take a two litre drinks bottle, and poke a hole to suit the gun into the area just short of the top, on the side, and replace the cap with a cloth.(kitchen towel is ok),

Then just blast the stuff into the,bottle, and then wipe away any thinners from the outside of the nose of the airbrush.  Adjust the needle to the coarsest position, and move it forwards to fine, this will clear the needle of build up.

The bottles in general resist cellulose thinners etc, but if it goes cloudy just make a new one. Do not leave the thinners in the bottle, dispose of them.

Stephen

The painted bridge with two tracks, overgrown grass, signs, chains and date fitted, needs a few finer stones picked out after its dry.

Decided to paint the bridge right away, drying off before shots, added a few details, including chains across the river to stop boats getting near the waterfalls. I will make a couple of warning boards to hang on the chain as well.

Found a material that improves the look of the loo brush pine trees, soak them with basing glue and scatter Jarvis green turf in to the basic tree. The texture is just right, although the Peco basing glue is showing the same trouble as before, in that it dries rather glossy. This barely shows on the trees, and can be over sprayed  anyway with matt vanish if it does show to much.

I tried adding talc to the glue and it works, making it dry matt, but you have to add colour to stop any white from the talc showing.

I will get a bottle of Mod Podge Matt medium and try that. The Peco basing glue works well with static grass, except at the very edge where it dries fast and leaves a thin glossy line.

Most ordinary PVA dries less glossy.

The improved pines are in a stand along the back of the layout to provide the break from the layout to the background scenic painting. They are only needed around the castle and the village.

I have found a further building, a half timbered shop, that can be used somewhat modified in the village area. No idea of the make, could be Faller.

The new Bridge is all assembled, with two tracks across it on the road bed moulded on the top plate by Auhagen. The sleepers of the Peco Z gauge track re-space very easily, and to get decent clearances and rack centres, the sleepers against the paved sides are trimmed away, as they would be covered anyway.

The metal rubber tape is put on first, it's self adhesive, with the top surface roughened a bit to take glue.I used Titebond glue for this rather than impact adhesive, as impact is very messy, and the real track hold down is the ballast. I could have used double sided tape instead, but it adds to the cost.

A strip of stone textured plastic was laid between the tracks, and to strips of paving brick paper that came with the kit where laid on the outside of the tracks up to the railings.

Ballast was added to the tracks dry, and then diluted PVA plus detergent, was brushed into place, the dry ballast sucking it up.

The track was cleaned of all surplus ballast or glue, and some static grass added to the sides and centre, plus longer grass under the railings.

No painting has been done yet, it has to match the general colours of the Kibri Castle. Bases for a date plate, and warning signs have been fitted to the plastic before any painting. Also a services pipeline added to the edge, One or two more clumps of grass to add.

The space for the bridge has been cut into the styrene scenery on the layout, and it simple drops into place on pads of fresh wall filler

Pictures coming

All solved very neatly then, the noise you were getting is the mains frequency left after rectification by the HM units.

Stephen

The larger plastic area will be needed as the gauge and standards near match, pity the plastic is there at all, and the gap moved further up the blades.

Stephen

At first sight, there does seem to be a risk of wheel-back short circuits at the knuckle.

 

Some adjustment of back-to-backs on older models may be needed:

 

© Peco (my colour)

 

The length of the plastic section may have been made longer on the production turnouts. I doubt Peco would release them without extensive testing.

 

In handbuilt turnouts, that gapping would normally be further back, at the prototype wing front rail-joint. 

 

Martin.

The devil is in the details on this one, if wheels are rp25 or equivalent compliant there's no risk, as long as the flangeways on the guard rails are correct. What troubles me somewhat is some makers taper the wheels back, and with a slightly big  BB it may short for a tiny moment, usually unimportant in DC, but brings DCC to a halt.

They could move the break further away, but it increases the dead section, if used that way, and would be difficult to insert a bent component during manufacture.

I am sure that Peco have tested it, and have DCC in mind for the use with Unifrog, but the clearance must be only a few thou.

Also I wonder about locos with traction tyres, the outer rim could touch if the tyre is worn or compressed, but that is a long shot.

This idea applies to the Uni frog as well as all other live frog points that require switching, with point motors or without.

Use Magnetic reed switches that are operated by the tie bar movements.

Unlike other switches, reed switches are very reliable indeed, and even small micro sized ones can take the current involved.

They can be sited as per the diagram, in the ballast along side each point, and connected up as shown to the Uni-frog, or live frog, on any type of point. In the case of Peco and most points, the actual wiring is to join the reed outputs together and use one lead to the frog.

The magnets used are 2mmx1mm, glued to the tie bar underneath, or attached with a sleeve of heat shrink tube, dependant on the design of the tie bar. They are neodymium magnets.

The exact position of each reed relay is easy to find, put a meter on the switch and set the point over and move the switch till it closes.

As the tie bar moves away the switch opens. The position is critical, but once set with the meter it will work.

Now after saying this is the method, you can actually design your own, as the switches could be remotely driven, added to a point motor drive, or a lever frame arm.

Cost is minimal, about 5 to 10 pence for the switches and 50 magnets for a couple of quid.

Stephen

In general the Unifrog does all types of common wiring to a point, but it is a pity that, out of the box, it is a dead frog point...many modellers have poor grasp of wiring anyway, and are now faced with another different approach. This may be no trouble to experienced modellers, cured in moments by wiring up the frog, but to add isolation to a siding adds more steps, not helped by having to chose the right point motor with suitable switching.

Easy, a lot say, use " ACME" (insert brand....), point motor, all right, but it complicates things further, another set of instructions, and very significantly raises the costs of the point motors needed. the overall cost of the point and with an imported slo motion motor, they can top £45 give or take shops discounts.

The RM review mentioned short wheelbase locos, and the dead frog as bought has already caused some comment with club members, that the new points were not suitable for small locos, some of which comments are very miss guided, as it just needs the re-connection of the frog via switching to cure it.

I am afraid to say that many treat the whole subject of point wiring as a black art, when it is not, but it does require knowledge that some instructions do not give, as they are in the business of selling their own items to wire up the points.

I am pretty sure most on RM web will have no troubles, but generally, if the product is not to taste, of course the other Peco systems continue, at least for the time being.

Stephen

The Auhagen bridge kit for the river crossing, drops into the gap with little work, except the height to adjust, nice mouldings even under the arches, and will weather and paint up well. it comes as a road bridge really, but suited to the Feldbahn railway uses.

As well as the main layout I am making a very small layout with a loop line to test out locos and modified rolling stock made from H0e 9mm items, which in general convert well. Bogied items are a bit difficult to get around the sub 9mm curves, the L&B coaches will not convert, but the Peco 4wheelers will, as well as most Eggarbahn items. The layout will have no scenery, just grass!!

Stephen

I was guided by a poster on RM to look at Bachmann's site to show when things were delivered, after having the temerity to ask if anybody knew about the deliveries of some coaches.....I have always noticed that Bachmann's site has an air of uncertainty about such information, and it has been creeping into all the forthcoming items, so may well include the Baldwin's delivery......Bachmann make Hornby's deliveries look lighting fast nowadays.

May I point out that the UK marketplace is not the USA.

 

 

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That's the whole and complete point, the market is different, if you go into stores in the States at Xmas you will trip over displays of toy trains everywhere, it is different because the Toy trade in England gave up on selling toy trains, something the US did not do. The UK Toy trade thought it was old fashioned to play trains, and took on new items without realising they were throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

I should know, I have attended most Toy Fairs since the 60's, and been involved in other hobbies as well, but trains are still the backbone of selling toys and it then leading on to a lifelong consumption. The sales of toys leads on to modelling etc, but it must be nurtured more carefully, or the hobby will die.

Frank Hornby was right, sell them toys with extras available,  and you get an addicted customer, be it an enthusiast collecting, or a customer simply wanting more and more items to complement a train set. More track, more wagons, and occasional Locos, and all available from stock....

Hornby on the face of it have a huge range, locos, wagons, buildings and just about all the bits and pieces that anybody could want, but where are the shops stocking the full range? Even modern internet shops do not sell the full ranges, it leads to frustration by customers, maybe it shows the range is too big......but then customers would moan about the lack of choice.

Hornby's new CEO has a lot to do, it may mean creating new markets, using more salesmanship, finding new ways of getting shops to stock the goods, and above all getting people interested in Railway Modelling.

Stephen

The fact that the "Mass Market" does not exist is down to changes in lifestyle etc, and other hobbies coming and going in the UK, but it is not helped by Hornby, and others not selling the hobby to the market. 

If it does not exist as a market, they have to create it, business does not come on a plate, you have to put effort in. Frank Hornby did not sit there and await customers knocking on his door for Trains and Meccano, he got the product going and created the market himself, it is known as salesmanship, sadly lacking in companies these days.

As said it is a new generation thats here now, and it has to be shown that train models are fun, and lead to better modelling later on. Rev Awdry helped no end with keeping the model train and toy sector going, but this will not last forever.

What is fatal is making limited runs and leaving demand unsatisfied, in sales it is a disaster to loose a single sale to a customer, you cannot afford to loose even one, it affects the shops and the makers. Better planning and sales technique is needed especially from Hornby reps, who, and I was there when it happened, would not reduce an order to what the shop could afford, and instead simply sold nothing!

A Barrow boy selling produce could do better than that..........he talked his way out of a sale......

 

Nominally "communist".

"Communist" China now has more than 1.59 millionaires and approximately 600 billionaires.

 

By 2022 it is estimated on current trends, that more that 550 million Chinese will be considered "middle class". That equates to 54% of their households.

 

 

 

What is this "Toy Railway mass market" ?

If there ever was a "mass market", it no longer exists ....and hasn't done for a long while.

Toy trains (of the Hornby type) are a niche sector of the toy industry.

 

 

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Try comparison with the US toy train market at Xmas, it subsidises companies other activities with more scale products, they still sell three rail O gauge in huge quantities..........Such sales at Xmas would make Hornby's accountants very happy indeed.

And before pointing out the politics of China, they are a communist dictatorship, with the party in control, no opposition, and so corrupt that most of the millionaires are card carrying communists. You cannot do business in China without the Party being involved and paid off by the businesses.

It is slowly changing, but as usual in China will take decades more.

Nice to see such topic wander, but Brexit?, it the recovery of Hornby that matters, and Hornby finding new markets. As matters stand they use cheaper labour from the FE or Communist China, this is something we all obliged live with, and due to globalism in trade. But things change as the world becomes one market, costs will skyrocket as China develops her own home market, and prices will level off much nearer World standards.

The only producers who will stand the market place are those un-reliant on price advantage, and trade on the uniqueness or speciality of the goods, and then it will not matter where they are made.

The Model and Toy trade in the UK are in a transitional position at present, from closing factories in the UK, moving to FE production for the time being, but when the costs finally rise, they can turn back to UK production again, but it will involve large increases in price. I doubt that production can return, as it will not matter on cost grounds where it comes from by then.

What the UK and the EU must concentrate on is other areas, design, uniqueness, fast delivery, and customer care. Brexit will only work if the UK tries very hard to stay ahead of the game, and at the moment that seems unlikely.

You must temper talking about Brexit, and not forget it is both Political, and Business, and these are separate issues really. In business Brexit gives an advantage to the UK, trade deals permitting. It will not affect Chinese imports at all, they are not in the EU.

The only way UK business can improve is very hard work, by all from the directors of the companies to the shop floor, but this also involves decent and clever design, future planning, and customer care that imported goods cannot match. They try to say they do this at present, but because companies are now so small in the UK in terms of staff, these importers cannot offer the service that the customer expects.

Many firms at the moment who exist in the UK with FE production are barely more than a couple of tiny factory units, having sold their original sites for development. These companies must expand again to offer the kind of service and supply people deserve, if they do not, then when China catches up, they will still be in the same mess.

Dyson tries hard to plough back into a huge research dept, but then Lord  Dyson shoots himself in the foot by charging the earth for his products, whilst still making them in the cheap Chinese factories. He would clean up (sic), if he halved his prices, and made designs that cannot be copied, either legally or physically. Dyson has actually been in the situation of attempting to sue himself, when it came out that the same factory in China that was copying his designs, was the producer of his goods as well......The "fakes" were all genuine!.

With Hornby, it is a competitive market and they are stumped in the opposite way, frankly, in world and Euro terms, they are charging too little, and with limited production quantities are losing customers purchases. They cannot afford to sell items out of stock, and leave punters with cash still in their hand. Hopefully better control at the top will guide the planning better, and smooth out the glut and famine sales methods that they use at present.

Also all the efforts must be made to re-enter the Toy Railway mass market, unless youngsters are hooked in on railways, the business will flounder.

Still very curious about the Oxford connections and cross related investments though.........

Stephen.

The Pola kit of a blacksmiths premises, a continental wooden workshop with brick fireplace etc, has arrived, and awaiting assembly after the winery. Comes with some accessories but no horse!....or Blacksmith, but easy to source.

After testing some basic voltage regulator circuits for controllers, I have gone down the route of using the Gaugemaster Model W, but feed by 6 volts AC from a mains transformer. The W is a walkabout leaded model, making operation easy along the length of the model. The range of control is zero to about 5 volts, this covers the 3 volts required, and it was the low speed control that was needed most. The Locos would never be run at over 3 volts or so. If used on another layout the unmodified Model W can be fed by 16 VAC for conventional 12 volts operations.

Also to speed things along a new bridge, a two arch brick and stone one from Auhagen, that fits the back return part of the track, Really intended as a road bridge, it is perfect for the H0f track, and unlike some German makers, is reasonably priced.

Also a pack of two tunnel portals, meant for H0,  but they can be cut down to the H0f proportions, and also have a parapet structure that closely resembles the Kibri Castle. The pack of two are cheaper than some Wills kits!

Our Local model shop in Rochester now has a wide range of the Busch scenic items, but not as yet the Feldbahn locos. The scenic items are good but a bit pricey, but what a wide range!

One item remains to be mail ordered and that is more track, the Peco Z track is not widely stocked in retail outlets.

Photos of the development of the old layout coming soon.

The next stages are the scenery and scratchbuilt items mainly in the vineyard area, and in the village. it also needs a background painted or sourced, with mountain scenery, but this can be added later on. maybe using a white art card one for the time being, that could later be painted on.

Stephen.

And when Mr Bell invented the first landline telephone and had it demonstrated in the UK, one of the great and the good commended it as a marvelous invention, so good that every city could expect to have one.

In the late 1960's whilst working for the GPO Telephone, I and a colleague did a traffic assessment for the service and use of mobile phones, which included car phones, then common with wealthy car users. The conclusion was sent to headquarters who send back an analysis that hand held mobiles would only be used in London, and the estimate was about 2000 users, with no interest outside the home counties, but there was an interest that was not being catered for in car mobiles that used no operator, but this would again be confined the the well off user.

Aboard the first mobiles were coming into use, and we warned about this in the assessment, but the GPO dismissed the reports, and also got "Political Guidance" from the then Labour Government that since the developments were for the wealthy, The GPO could safely ignore the market.........it took them another 5 years to wake up to what was happening...............even then they moved at a snails pace to adopt mobiles.

Stephen.

The Vollmer winery kit is almost done, only fine details to add after painting that would get in the way. But a piece of railing is missing, presumed lost,  and a replacement is needed made in plasticard. Also there is a whole load of mouldings for a beer garden style area, with a wine press, that are not in the Vollmer instructions. They are obviously meant for the kit, but no way to be sure of exact arrangement of parts.

The warehouse section of the model makes a perfect bay for the track along the back of the model, matching platform height for H0f and H0e track.

The kit is typical of German kits, lots of details in pre coloured plastic mouldings, and needs painting and weathering down to a realistic finish.

Lots to add to the basic buildings, a garden area with benches and seats, which can have moulded stone walls fitted to define the area on the sloped position it is going in. Also a few customers to sit at the benches sampling the wines.

Stephen

The discontinued Vollmer kit of the winery buildings to go in the vineyard has arrived in the post. A small building plus a warehouse, a visitor centre really, but with potential to expand the layout to a railway siding to feed it, with a halt for visitors to get on the occasional passenger trains, as well as the trains dealing with the produce and supplies for the vineyard.

The design of the track around the buildings is a bit fluid at present, to get the best operating out of the sidings, and show off the Feldbahn locos.

The whole left hand end of the layout will be sloping Vineyard, so getting the levels right is difficult till more landscaping is complete.

The Winery can be built up on it's own base in the kit for the time being, and a covered loading bay added to the warehouse on the side.

So a bit of kit bashing and assembly today, as the size and position must be checked before any more complex track is laid.

Just got in a batch of cheap emulsion paint again from Poundland, in several useful shades for landscaping, 500 ml pots in tan, black, chocolate and rust red. They mix with acrylics, as well as other emulsions. Not sure if a national supply, Poundland's stock seems to depend on managers orders as well as company policy.

The paint seems good quality anyway, and perfect for plaster and poly surfaces, with a dead matt finish.

Stephen

Don't forget with all conventional LED's, and to some extent the high output heat sunk types, the resistor sets the current at a theoretical max output of light... this may not be required at all, and higher resistor values can be used to the benefit of the life of the LED.

If a calculated value is 1000 ohms you can double that and the lamp still works. A happy medium would be 1500.

If your portraying gas lamps the resister can be as high as 3x times the value, but test individual LEDs to make sure they still glow enough for your use..

After getting in some H0f locos and stock from Busch, and making some track from Peco and magnetic tape under it, thoughts turned to other locos that could benefit from the same system, and the Industrial scene with the Hornby Pecketts came to mind.

The Peckett already has good pulling power on the flat, but if neodymium magnets are added under the chassis or footplate and the magnetic tape laid under the track, the ability to climb gradients is massively improved. Not quite to vertical climbs like the Busch H0f,  but it can handle 1:8, with a load on test. The power pickup is improved as well.

DCC do a similar idea with steel plates set under the track.

If the idea is used in 00 then the makers of the rubber steel tapes do a 19mm wide version of the tape which would act as track base.There would be no need to do the entire layout, only the inclines, although a smaller layout could be fitted throughout.

I will be fitting out a Peckett with recessed magnets underneath for some more trials in the next few days, this allows a thicker magnet, although a 1 mm thick one does work. The magnet has no effect on the motor as it is cased in steel. As with Busch, the track should have a magnet passed over it before the first use to pull up any steel filings or nails etc. The rubber based iron tape remains un-magnetised, and does not attract anything to it.

Such a system would also work with ancient designs like the Crampton and most single driver locos, but the whole layout would have to be fitted out with the tape under the track.

Stephen

Tests on the half sleepered track for curves show that about 5 inches is a good minimum radius with the Peco Z gauge. It could be tighter, but risks distorting a bit on gauge if done at 3 to four. Fortunately I will not need the curves that small for most of the layout, as the boards are deeper than a foot at each end where loops will be needed.There is a bit of a track meander in the vineyard, but this can be within the 5 inch minimum radius.

The cleaned off boards, with the old H0 track removed  are ready for the new track bed to be added, the river bridges are in places, or at least one of them, but the other was never finished and needs to be built properly very soon, to lay the track, or have a firm flat base fitted, to take the rack, and add the bridge details afterwards. A sheet of 5mm Bakelite would make a nice strong flat bridge, no warping unlike wood.

The boards are MDF, with battens on the underside, and wall brackets on the battens to take the support, making a shelf. Whilst working on it temporary legs are fitted to allow extra weight to be put on the structure. and save collapse.

No layout over head lighting is fitted as yet, but I have lots of LED strip lights that can be fitted as needed on a front frame to be added. As the Castle has provision in the mouldings for lights, the buildings will all be set up with LEDs internally, and externally with street lamps as appropriate

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The whole room is being fitted out with LED lamps rather than the CFL units used before

The river needs more water!. it is done with gloss boat varnish at present, but needs clear casting added to it to improve appearance of the rock strewn stream and give it more depth.

The Castle is all painted now, just needs weathering the tones down, and adding static grass and foliage to the slopes around it. The Kibri moulded plastic base fits into a wood base that the tunnels run through, and is designed to lift away to get at the tunnels inside in case of derailments etc.the loco cannot derail due to the magnets, but the stock can!

I was thinking of adding more detailing to the steam loco. but on refection it does not need much done, and the connecting rods and valve gear are very tiny to work on, so best left for the time being. Once moving the rods look fine, they are just a blur! The locos are very quiet as well, only a steady mild noise from the gears etc.

Stephen

Start on some track laying today, mainly to test out the method, and then prove it in practice that it works with the modified Peco track

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First half the sleeper mouldings are removed from each 24 inch of Peco Z gauge track, they slip off quite easily, and thankfully go back on easier than some gauges as the retaining mouldings are bigger in relation to the gauge than other Peco track.

Then they just require the rest to have the web moulding split into separate sleepers. The spare track bases can be used with some plain rail section to make more track of the Decauville narrow gauge type. The last track of this type I used was in the 1960's which the Joueff Decauville 9mm narrow gauge locos, which were very poorly made compared to the Busch or Peco items. Some track was plated steel, as were the wheels which wore and rusted. Later they changed to brass and Nickel.

It will need a simple plywood or plasticard jig made to re-space the Z gauge sleepers on the track bed, which is the magnetic tape, with a vinyl top surface, that can take double sided tape to secure down the track, before ballasting, which is the final hold down for the track.

Straight or gentle curves are OK on the tape alone, but tighter curves will need temporary screws added though the sleeper spaces to secure it firmly to the double sided tape. The tapes hold quite well, but it's the ballast the finally secures the lot together.

As the length of the layout is somewhat bigger than usual, it may need feeder cables under the layout to distribute the power, as the max needed is only 3 volts. The feedback controller being built gives about 6 volts out max, which should cover any losses in the trackwork. With the high gearing they do not need PWM control for lower speeds.

First tests with the Busch locos show they run on about one volt to start, and there is good control between 0 and 3 to 4 volts.

The other reason for the 6 volts max is to allow for home made chassis etc., to be used as well as the Busch mechanisms. Busch does a simplified DCC system for the H0f locos, but frankly it is just another un-needed expensive addition.

Points will be on hold for a few days as no PC board sleepering has arrived as yet in the post, nor the Peco fishplates for joints. They appear the same as N gauge, so I can use some of them anyway, or solder join with PC strip laid along the track, not across the track. Such a joint is handy to attach power feeds and jumpers to. I use low melt solder, 148oC for such joints to help protect the plastic sleepers. But in this case the sleepers are individual, and can be moved away from the joint and slide back after it has   cooled down.

Some of the track will run through cobbled areas near the castle and the Winery, this will be done with Das outside the track and wood strips inside the track. There are several packs of Ho bricks that could be laid as pave patterned brickwork, left over from the L&B layout.

Any videos of the work or layout will be posted to You tube, and linked from here for viewing.

Cimco wheels were not Nickel Silver though, they were mazak castings as were most makes, due mainly from the popularity of using car parts makers to do the castings after the war.

The Beeson wheels were shell cast iron, either produced by Beeson, or more likely by Stuart Turner, using their expertise in the delicate process that produced the finest cast items. It was far superior to sand castings.

Stephen