34theletterbetweenB&D

Long time absence, is this still the right thread for birds in the garden? Whatever, I have definitive evidence that finches have lower IQ than titmice and nuthatches. This began with a plague of green flying tree rats. (Ring necked parakeets.) A massive flock came and raided the seed feeder, with their incessant shrieking as accompaniment, and none of the titmice etc. getting a look in. So I installed some fine wire mesh blocking direct access to the feeder ports, and victory! They gave up after two days of fruitseedless shrieking. My dear wife was most concerned that the birds the seeds are put out for might be discouraged, but her observation quickly established that all the regular titmice and the nuthatches had no problems, found that the indirect approach worked within minutes. Finches, which are less regular visitors, haven't mastered it yet, a month on since the wire mesh was introduced. Now referred to generically as Dimfinches. Let's see if Darwin was right, will they evolve into Brightfinches?

Back in the days of chart recorders every eligible lab procedure write up went to the typing pool with the line 'Ensure pen is inserted correctly.'; and hope the typist would oblige. Happily my best ever didn't require such dodges. Nothing beats 'push the rabbit into the nuclear reactor'. And on topic, the modelled LB locality pictures are splendid.

All my 'clean room' experience suggests that a fan to move air into the room is the better way if it's for summer cooling. Select an intake point where the air will be coolest. Put a filter on the input to stop dust coming in. That will need regular replacement The spectacular collection of 'dust' on extractor fans to the point that they fail to be effective after a couple of years is something of a bee in my bonnet...

Plain track ballasted and then 'filthed' in situ. But pointwork now, that's 'filthed' before being placed on the layout. It's so much easier to get at all the rail sides when it can be approached from all sides: and also then inspected, cleaned up if necessary, then tested to make sure it's 'all good'.

No because there are still folks using analogue radio among other things. But in 'everyday practical terms', digital broadcasting has so much signal redundancy and error correction that 'the old problem' has gone away. That would be a split chassis specimen? The motor in the larger split chassis mechanisms, Mabuchi FK130, was a very variable device in this respect, although robust and reliable to the extent that I have never yet had one fail to look inside. BUT,, and it's a big but as you can see! , three of those I have threw off spikes in the 100V range when running on DC, first discovered when I put my hand down on wet rail outdoors as an A4 mechanism approached and gave me a 'warning'. Took it to one of the folks in a conformance testing lab of my then employer, and he laughed his head off at its 'fruity' performance. When I took up DCC I tried a decoder on the 'proven criminal', and it didn't put out anything measureable; and it has done the decoder no harm twenty years on, last of my Bachmann split chassis still running (in the A3 body I had fitted it inside). Ah, the lengths one had to go to for proper loco drive models, back in the day...

There's some neat kitbash potential in the Oxford Rail N7 body. For reasons known only to the designer, much of the boiler concealed by the side tanks is modelled. If ever a Belpaire boiler body comes my way it will be tools out and carve away time to obtain a really small GER-ish 0-6-0.

Anything flammable in finely ground form so it has huge surface area giving access to atmospheric oxygen is liable to catch fire and then violently combust. From the pure white that is icing sugar to the inky black of photocopier toner, get the storage or handling conditions wrong: and see her go! It's not appreciated just how dangerous Oxygen truly is. A major entertainment in my youthful laboratory days during the shorter daylight months, was going out to the car park in the dark once it had emptied, and emptying dewar flasks of remnants of cryogenic liquids. Oxygen can condense in liquid Nitrogen and sometimes does, but we had liquid Helium to play with every two months, and that always produced the lovely liquid sapphire. Poured onto the concrete, on a falling gradient away from where one was standing the little flashes and flares as the Lox encountered any weeds, oil drops, twigs etc., was great fun, even in the pouring rain.

Probably so. 'Always stick with what's on the drawing' is a lifelong mantra with me. Sometimes, amazingly, it leads to a correction...

Just in case it is useful, the same motor - going by exterior appearance - was in the early 8F, and near contemporary release with the M7 of the loco drive Britannia, and the all newly tooled revision of the Airfix GMR origin Castle to have a can motor released about 2010 as R1095, R2662. Part numbers X9108 and X9018, the different numbers probably for the worm that is fitted, so swapping out of worms will be required.

You and me both on rewiring, I like to be able to see at a glance what's what. That's why I prefer hardwiring decoders, red wire to the right side pick up strip , black to the left side, orange and grey to the motor terminals, snip, ship, snip the other five wires. So reliable. (I haven't heard mention of Rafferty in years, that brought a smile.) If Bachmann offered a DP2 it would be the radiator fan end. Let's assume it's a Bachmann DP1, in which case I believe the A end is where the steam heat boiler water supply intake was located. May be some more information on this site: http://www.napier-chronicles.co.uk/

Now I have seen the pictures the problem is clear. It's split chassis, and these require great attention to insulation. That I can see solder on a motor terminal connection is enough to potentially explain the problem. It was difficult enough in RTR OO. I always cut clearance into the chassis halves around the motor terminals because the terminals were intended to bear directly on the chassis halves with spring assistance, and there simply wasn't space to put heatshrink insulation over the wire insulation, soldered joint and all the exposed metal of the terminal without first creating space. Cutting space for insulation led to a second problem, the mazak Bachmann used took a razor edge when cut, and would slice through the insulation, no trouble. It was a pig of a job in short.

Does it work on DC without a decoder fitted and the body on? That's a test for whether with the body fitted supply from the track is reaching the motor. But before you take the body off and remove the decoder, do you get any communication between your DCC system in programme mode and the decoder? That's a test for wher the connection failure is occuring, before the decoder or between decoder and motor. Oh yes, don't be discouraged. Something as simple as a broken core in a wire which makes with the body off and breaks with the body on is enough, many of us have been there. As a certified hooligan my response is often to remove all the wiring and solder in a hardwired decoder: quicker than trying to find the problem 'inside' where you cannot see.

Oh, how much I agree, and have rambled on about this in previous posts. This model and the earlier MR 0-4-4T from Bachmann knock all previous front coupled tank engines out of the park for stable traction, thanks to the metal and plastic combination in the body construction. Hopefully some of the other brands - especially Hornby whose work with diecast steam loco body sections is very proficient - will see the light and get busy...

If only it had been in a tank of formalin, then it would have been a work of art.

No problems for those of us wanting Brush 2's (30) then. 😂 The reality was that the BR green on the pilot classes looked wonderful newly delivered and shiny, and very swiftly dulled in service. Personally, the grubby and faded I have because mine are old Airfix GMR bodies, so I am definitely in for a shiny 'as new' one.

The necessity to put food on the table and have enough left over for future projects may have some bearing on this?

This is the moment when a DCC 'full system' is very useful. Unfortunately a minor wiring fault that applies DCC track power to the motor will kill the decoder if given track power, and that only requires one of the track power inputs on the socket or decoder to be connected to a motor power output, which causes no problem in DC operation. That usually results in component burn out on the decoder with the associated smell. A full system supplies a programme track with very restricted current output only when programming, to protect the decoder from damage from this cause, and will report a defect code. There are other possibilities for what you have seen, a broken connection in the socket or on the decoder for example, and a full system will then report that it cannot detect a decoder. One obvious test on the decoder is to try it in another mechanism. If it responds as expected then the problem - whatever it may be - is likely on the first loco it was tried on.

Ask Rails. There are still some of the first run of A5's in stock, which suggests 'not yet'. You are not the only one hoping that this designer brings out another OO product - or three. As he is ex-Bachmann I did wonder if his somewhat exotic first subject choice related to this background, as it is a very logical tank loco adjunct to Bachmann's three Robinson tender locos. So my feeling is that unless the designer is a total fan for beefy pacific tanks it would be a very unlikely next OO subject choice. (And there's little to develop from: just because the A5 is a pacific tank, the current demand for very high fidelity makes starting from scratch the preferred course. Elements such as the drive and running gear layout are all generated in CAD after input of dimensions; and even the neat way in which the cab top is secured to be removeable on the A5 wouldn't readily carry over, because the different layout of the A8 with the full width cab side finished as one piece with the tank and bunker side would make the join difficult to disguise.) What other obvious gaps did Bachmann leave thaqt competotors haven't pounced on? LNWR and NER mixed traffic designs, and a GNR 0-6-0 would top my list.

If sound decoders don't come with a 'resume sound on last output' in event of brief power interruption, then I suppose that is some justification. But the 'why not' is masking of a problem. Early in my DCC experience I tried the Lenz USP module and it did all that was claimed. But totally redundant if track, wheels, pick ups were all soundly arranged; the permanent higher voltage supply 'gets through' so that the loco reliably starts with a creep into motion and continued dead slow if required (and if the most challenging aspect is good, everything else will be). When there is a power loss, even momentary, I want to know about it and fix the cause. At this time of year insects reviving to operational status is quite frequen,t and removing mushed butterfly, moth or wasp is a good plan, before the gunk is spread around.

The Triang turntable was definitely available in 'Super 4' form which means steel plated code 125 rail. Whether the profile would be anything like current code 125 N/S is 'questionable. As above, I would be very careful before buying a s/h item to make sure that the description is correct, as packaging and content mismatches are all too common.

I would be very cautious, as attempting any adjustment of a crank pin in a fly crank risks damage to the fly crank, they are not as robust as wheels in my experience. My first thought for rectification would be to obtain a spare crankpin and substitute it. And I would only do that if the running was degraded within the scale speed range of 0 to 15mph of a gronk...

That's a valuable reminder that we are not all physiologically identical. Sensitivities to organic chemicals in particular can vary very significantly, for good and for ill. One friend was exposed to a lethal concentration of hydrogen cyanide and is still very much in life, half a lifetime later. Another had a dangerous reaction to ozone in concentrations lower than at the time was measurable, and way below the maximum 'safe' exposure then specified. The moment you are aware of a reaction is the time to take avoiding action and not 'press on'. Carpe diem! That was reinforced for me when visiting my late Pa, who was necessarily in care for his last two years due to vascular dementia. I greeted him as usual in Dutch, what with that being his native language, and he replied "I am sorry but I didn't understand a word of that". So we carried on in English and then he later asked "Is that DCC system what you hoped? Can I see it again?". After something of a struggle getting him safely seat belted in the car he did, and we had a whale of a time, including recollections of the operation of the Gresley B-B 'Tommy' during his time in National Service in The Netherlands Armed Forces, which he had never told me before. (A few months later, his Dutch returned. Happily I had been told by the excellent psychiatrist who had diagnosed his condition of the likelihood of random loss of memory, and that it would sometimes be recovered, but nothing should be taken for granted. Thanks, Dr Venkat.)

Read P.J. O'Rourke's 'The Baby Boom' and once you have recovered from persistent laughter syndrome you can make your own decision. Or we can all accept that people are just people and incapable of being described by timetable. I have just finished David Mitchell's 'Unruly' (more persistent laughter syndrome) and so much of his diatribe about the development of the UK's royalty from dark ages to late medieval, precisely echoes what Samuel wrote in the late Bronze age: which I would summarise as 'And you'll be sorry': 1 Samuel, c8 vv 11-18.

Miniaturising the ego's of Alfonso and Vercrashen alone would have defeated most...

My local supplier is Hobbycraft. I have knocked up a couple of 1:50 scoping models for an architect friend in my time, several feet in all dimensions. It's an expanded foam core with thick paper bonded on each side: cuts easily with a Stanley knife, bonds well with PVA. (For the purpose of being mobile and easily handled into the back of his Volvo estate they were glued to a piece of MDF ; the larger model was made in lower half and upper half as the overall height was too great as a single piece.)