SRman

Back in the 1980s I took a good many photos of my travels in England and Scotland, and had most of the films developed and printed in a shop in Leeds (Cross Gates). The last two films had to come back to Australia with me and were put into a local shop for printing. The colour renditions were quite different on the locally printed ones.

So, we can add the inks sued in the printing process to the potential variations.

Then again, when looking online, we can have different monitors with different colour renditions, and we can personalise them with different colour temperatures, brightnesses and contrasts. I found that my top quality Dell Ultrasharp monitors at my work were much better for colour matching than my good quality Asus home monitor, and that was still better than the laptop screen. At one time I was assisting a local model manufacturer with getting colours right on an Australian bus model they were producing, and the only monitor I could use was my work one: matching yellows and creams was particularly difficult on all the other screens.

In short, the only real source for accurate colour matches for our models is the prototype, assuming they haven't faded or darkened. There were also various livery books available that had colour swatches matched to paint flakes from prototypes - samples that are sometimes buried under layers of paint from subsequent liveries.

Is near enough good enough. Being so far from Britain as I am, near enough often has to suffice for my own modelling attempts.

The construction phase is complete. Now for the painting ... once the weather cools off a bit (currently 33.3 degrees and climbing, which makes it too hot in the garage where I do any spray painting). I've drawn a silver Sharpie line on the home-made span to show where it will have to be cut.

Note the jig I made from some of the spare material I had, to stop the walls from spreading.

I might still be tempted to buy the extra span for the new viaduct as that would be just about the same length as the bit of scratchbuilt bridge that remains after cutting. On the other hand, having that thick end support continuing the brickwork from the overbridge might create too much of a blind spot there, on the left.

12 hours ago, Smudge617 said:

First let me give a big thank you to Simon Hayward at Accurascale who managed to find a needle nose antennae and a very small section of the roof that disappeared from 37608 in only what I can imagine to be, a very large container of very small parts.

 

 

But I also have a question, I need to remove the old broken antennae from the nose, there's nothing for me to grab hold of to pull it out, so does anyone know if I can push it out from inside the bodyshell, I've not removed the shell before and I'm honestly loath to try as I'm quite clumsy.

I can't answer the question about pushing the antenna out from inside the body, but getting the body off is quite easy. It is only clipped in four places, near the cab doors. Just make sure you unplug any ETH cables if you have fitted them in the first place.

On 07/03/2024 at 22:29, Titan said:

That could mean that the bogie frame is worn around the axles. When sufficiently worn they end up with the worm taking the weight, with the axle rocking on it. This causes the coffee grinder noise as the gears don't mesh as they should, and a wobbly body as the axles rock. Of course being Triang they still run, but in an unworn state the motors are an awful lot quieter and smoother. It also means that in a worn state they ride lower than they should which does not help your case either!

I had that happen with an old, much abused but much-loved Triang DMU from my teenage years. It still ran, without too much grinding noise (they were noisy anyway!), but it gained a sort of automatic clutch effect. I could sit it in a station with a load behind it, turn the power on a little and one axle would start to turn but the other remained disengaged, so it would sit there idling, as it were, until I revved it up a bit more, the second gear would engage and it would move off.

I eventually replaced the bogie frame, transferring the works into  the new one, and it is still going to this day. The old bogie frame around the axles was paper-thin from the wear.

Progress. It's around three-quarters finished now. There is a lot of brickwork left over from all the shortening of the support piers, some of which can go into repairing any damage I have done in the cutting process, as well as filling any accidental gaps. Thankfully I haven't made too many mistakes in the cutting and hacking, and all those I have made have been minor.

You can see how much I'll have to trim from the home-made span. It will make the lighter girders on that look more appropriate, though.

I think this gives some indication of how much more "daylight" will be visible beneath the viaduct compared to the Wills arches.

25 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

At 21.39 the temp was 22.7, at 22:42 it's 27.7, so obviously going up!

22.47 it's 27.9. :-(

Still showing 30.7 here in Blackburn - time 23:15.

2 minutes ago, 159220 said:

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I know Accurascale are very popular on here right now. Yet Bachmann have had a proven, long established history with paint accuracy. I would trust their artistic representation of coach, and it shall be interesting to establish what British Standard paint code Accurascale used. No doubt they shall be along quickly to confirm they have also used the appropriate British Standard provided by WCR and we can all laugh about how impossibly transient Maroon is! 

Without wishing to start a long argument on here, I would dispute the statement about Bachmann's history of accurate colours, at least when referring to the various shades of Southern Region green they have tried over the years. Many of their other colour renditions seem good to me, but the greens were out by a long shot, especially on the first release BR mark 1 coaches. Then there was the over-dark shade on the next batch.

Maroon is, as you have said, a somewhat unstable and translucent colour. Way back in the 1970s, there were long discussions in the model railway press about whether the LMS maroon and BR maroon were the same. I think the upshot was it was the undercoat colours that most influenced the final colour (as it came fresh out of the paint shops - fading and weathering certainly add a whole heap of extra dimensions!).

A much larger job has been set in train: I bought the laser-cut wood viaduct kit from Key Publishing, with a view to rearranging the viaduct along the front of the layout. I have had some difficulties with the fragility of the girder overlays, but have hidden the worst parts in the centres of the spans. I have laid out the two main spans upside down on the existing Wills stone viaduct too illustrate where it will go, allowing just a little more of a view of the Underground platforms and trains from the front. 

While I really wanted brick viaducts along the side, the Vollmer ones I have used look great but the narrow arches are really limiting the views from that angle, so the Wills viaduct will have to be cut down a little in length and number of arches to fit that stretch. 

The completely cobbled-together span between the girder bridge over the Underground lines and the new spans will also have to be reduced in length. That might be the hardest bit of the exercise because that's the only bit involved where the track has been ballasted and glued down.
 

Also, what will slow progress down a lot is the fact I have to reduce the height of the piers on the new bridge to suit the existing location. One side of the central pier is posed in front. At least they will increase the clearances on the nearest Underground track as the piers and viaduct are slightly narrower overall than the Wills one.

The last complication is that I am hosting a meeting here in April, so any uprooting and rearranging of the bridges and viaducts has to be completed and operational by then.

46 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

Why would the Echuca police pull any one up doing a U-ey? It's generally legal in Victoria anyway.

It's the further into NSW a Vic plater goes, the bigger the potential problem!

I meant more that Echuca police might be more lenient on NSW drivers doing the wrong things under Victorian rules, rather than U-eys.

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

In Victoria - permitted unless banned

In NSW - banned unless permitted

 

Which means that if you cross the river bridge from Moama into Echuca you can legally pull a U-ey and go back. But not if you’re travelling the other way!  

It is confusing, and I wonder if the Echuca and Moama* police might tend to be lenient on these things.

I know that Moama follows the Victorian school terms rather than the NSW ones. Our honorary granddaughter lives in Echuca but goes to school in Moama.

* For those outside of Australia, Moama's "oa" is a dipthong, so it's pronounced Mow-AM-ah.

Soundtraxx Econami UK steam or diesel decoders, 1 amp and 2 amp versions available. Dearer than Hornby's HM7000 decoders but cheaper than Zimo and ESU.

They have multiple selectable sounds for the main engine or steam sounds, and horns and whistles. 

I have used a few for diesel sounds with Sulzer (used in class 47 and D0260, Lion) or English Electric (used in LMS twins using class 37 sounds as being close) types, but am not that impressed with the DMU sound (based on Derby lightweight Test Coach Iris, I believe). Also selectable are classes 20, 31 and 66/67.

On 03/03/2024 at 01:23, wombatofludham said:

Finally got round to unboxing my BR Mk2b delivery yesterday and after comparison I take back what I said about Bachmann's Mk2a baboon's bum.  Whilst the level of detail on the Accurascale 2bs is next level, with the sliders picked out in aluminium and the interior being painted for example, I think with a little modelling it might just be possible to mix the 2b and Bachmann 2a coaches without them looking too odd.  Adding some paint to the interior of the 2a coaches, and a battery reed-switch lighting rig to allow lighting (something I've tried successfully on some other non-lit coaches) should allow them to work alongside the Accurascale coaches, the shades of rail blue do differ slightly but in real life you got some variation depending on outshopping dates and with slight weathering will look fine.

So, if you were wondering about mixing the two fleets it shouldn't be too bad if you paint the interiors of the 2a coaches and consider lighting.  Once moving I suspect you won't notice the differences so much.

There again if Accurascale want to do the whole Mk2 design story to a consistent standard bring 'em on, I can always flog my Bachy Mk2's.

I haven't received my 2B in NSE livery yet, but I have no doubts I can slip it into my set of Bachmann Mark 2As, a Hornby Mark 2A, and a couple of Bachmann Mark 1s. The Hornby Mark 2A has been flush glazed, and while it is cruder than the Bachmann examples, once moving around the layout, one is hard-pushed to tell the difference. I had three visitors yesterday, and asked one of them if he could pick the Hornby interloper, and he couldn't at normal viewing distance.

On 02/03/2024 at 22:50, farren said:

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tell you what they don’t half work better with some power from the tack!  
 

 I’ll get me coat. 

It's the simple things in life! 😜 🤣

46 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

 

Britain exporting bananas - this climate change must be a real thing!

But it's still cold and very wet in Hertfordshire today.

Even more ironic if they go to Queensland where the banana-benders are! 😁

5 hours ago, Norski said:

 

It's says 21 pin on Rails website and I hope that's a general 21pin and not a very specific 21 pin. Ive had problems with another manufacturers 21 pin socket that turns out to be a very specific 21pin setup. I've got Lenz decoders left over from that episode and id like to use them in a Heljan 47...or two 😀

Personally, I'd like to see the British models move to the PLuX format as many of the European manufacturers are doing for their European-based models. There's only one standard for that, and it can be scaled down to fit smaller spaces (PLuX12 or 16) while allowing full functionality in 22 pin format. The PLuX22 format doesn't really provide any more functionality than the 21-pin allows, but the problem I, and many others have had with the 21-pin form factor is that there are four different standards involved, meaning it is buyer beware when buying a 21-pin decoder.

In a private discussion with a manufacturer, they said that ESU have a problem getting the PLuX22 decoder supplies, though. 

1 hour ago, RBE said:

Ah the cause and the cure. Awesome! 🤣

Catching the cure adds to the cause! 😂

18 minutes ago, Bryn_Bach_Railway said:

Ah right, thats not great on Bachmann’s part either but that’s not the point here. When looking around online I could only find reference to the ESU version. And that was also the only one I could find available for purchase at retailers. Hence my statement of it being an esu chip. If it is indeed a soundtraxx instead then to me that opens up a bigger question of why some do work and others done. Its one standard at the end of the day.

Again it's not quite that simple. There are at least a couple of standards (possibly more) for the 21-pin format. There are differing standards for which outputs are full-powered and which are logic functions (i.e. low-powered). that has caused a few problems with different decoders in other models too - see the Heljan 10800 topic*. Zimo's 21-pin decoders (MX634 and MX638, plus the newer versions) allow one to switch between the two standards by putting values into CV8 to act as a switch between them.

* Edit: also look at the Revolution Trains Caroline problems with decoders. And have a look at this: https://sites.google.com/site/markgurries/dcc-welcome-page/dcc-decoders/decoder-plugssockets/21-pin-plug-issues 

1 hour ago, Bryn_Bach_Railway said:

I appreciate this might not be well known. But that’s still an ESU decoder, just with Bachmann branding. So still means an esu decoder is required from what has currently been established. 

Not necessarily. Bachmann confused the issue by using two different brands with the same 36-557 catalogue code. If the decoder is green, it's a rebadged Soundtraxx, if it's blue, it's rebadged ESU. Personally, having used both, I prefer the ESU any time.

Another small job done today with the Bachmann London Transport wagons having some 'dog ear' door bumpers added. these were 3D printed parts from Kim Durose. The greys I have used to paint them are not exact matches to the Bachmann colour, but once I weather the wagons this will not be so obvious. Because all three were from the same train sets, broken down by a retailer, all three carried the same running number. I have painted out some of the numbers, but will have to add new numbers later.

Weighing in here on the subject of colours: besides what has already been said (most of which I agree with), looking at the pre-production models, the Bachmann green is more pleasing to my eye, but the Accurascale green is probably nearer a well-used example of an in-service locomotive. 

As far as the standard of the models goes, both look superb, so for me it comes down to price and features for that price, which is where Accurascale nudge ahead. To get all the features on the Bachmann one, we have to pay a premium. Once discounting starts, the gap will narrow.

Back in 2003 we had a similar escaped train in Melbourne. We don't have any driverless trains yet, but this one is an exception!

(not my video)
 

Here's the latest bit of tweaking I did. This one is actually a much older project on a v3.5 decoder with legomanbiffo sound, fitted into a Hornby class 56 with modified lighting. The lights have been separated out to a degree, with marker and headlight at each end activated together, and tail lights separated out. There is the facility to separate the headlights as well, but with a v3.5 there are only six function outputs available for the lights, and I have plans to fit cab lights later.

Another fly in the ointment is that there are only 15 functions available overall. That means I cannot use F20 for the tail lights, so I opted for F10 for those, and F11 for depot mode, with red tail lights lit at both ends. F0 works the marker and headlights directionally, F10 is also set directional for the tail lights.

Adding another spanner into the works is that the whole locomotive seems to be wired back to front (radiator end is trailing by default), which meant it took me quite a while to work out which output worked which lights in which direction! I had added 1 to CV29 to reverse the direction but I got a headache trying to reverse the thinking while programming the lights, because the decoder settings still thought that reverse was forwards (if you get my drift).

Anyhow, here are the settings I ended up with in the LokProgrammer.

You'll have to take my word on what is working at the other end of the locomotive as I can only show one end at a time! 😁

F0: head and marker lights at whichever end is leading (directional) - no tail lights unless F10 is pressed:

With F10, red tail lights are on at whichever end is trailing (directional):

Selecting F11 results in both of the last two photos simultaneously.

The v3.5 LokSound doesn't seem to allow for the conditional programming that the later versions allow, so I can't say turn off headlights when F11 is selected, for example.

If I add cab lighting later, I can use F9 or F13 which are currently unused, and make that directional as well.

Also while programming everything I dimmed all of the existing lights, so the head/marker lights are set on a value of 5, while the tail lights are now 0 (zero), the dimmest they can go.

Edit: here's the Function List that I ended up with. Class 56 v3-5 Function Key List - JL mod.pdf

I forgot to mention that this particular project was a v4 one Bif modified to fit onto the v3.5, which meant leaving out a couple of things from the original, including flange squeal and a guard's whistle, which was only intended for rail tour use anyway, seeing as 56s are usually heavy freight locomotives.

24 minutes ago, Butler Henderson said:

For the record the the Lais 860019  (sold at a higher price as the Dapol Imperium 1)  has 2 logic outputs so is not suitable for this loco. Its is actually listed as 860019 on the instruction leaflet supplied by Dapol but all their documents refer to Auxs 3-6 to being logic . Lais themselves state

.Just to muddle the matter they say the same of the 870019, Digitrains however list it as

That again is sold at a higher price as the Dapol Imperium 7 (oddly not listed by Dapol themselves)

I tried a Lais 860019 and found that it didn't work all the lights, but their 870019 did. So far, it has proved to be the only decoder that works the top light on the short hood. And I tried several other brands as well - ESU and Zimo, among others, with an equal lack of success. Odd, because the Zimo 21-pin decoders can be switched to provide logic or full-powered outputs on the relevant Aux outputs.

On 20/02/2024 at 22:48, Opelsi said:

Been messing about with my lovely new E2001.

 

On DC the lights all work. Obviously dip switches are showing as on.

 

Tried both original Bachmann 36-577 and TCS 1344 decoders. Front head and tail lights working fine.

 

Cannot fathom how to get the cab lights or engine room lights to work though. Tried all the obvious things including decoder resets, remapping etc all to no avail. Cab lights should be on F5 and engine room lights on F6. Need to spend more time to get to the bottom of this.

 

Anyone else experiencing similar? 

I don't have one of these models, but for the decoders, I would suggest that the Bachmann 36-577 would not have enough functions to operate all of the lighting functions on your model - the later version has four full-power and two logic outputs, but the earlier version with the same catalogue number may be different. The TCS EU621 has 6 function outputs, but even then they have to be the correct logic or full power outputs depending on the model's requirements.

From the model's description, you need 2 x outputs for head/marker lights, 2 x outputs for tail lights (assuming they are wired separately), 2 x outputs for cab lights (again assuming each end is separately wired) and another output for the engine room lights. That's a total of seven function outputs.

1 hour ago, Butler Henderson said:

Many six function decoders have two two logic output amongst their 6 functions while this loco needs six power functions.

True, but the Zimo 21-pin decoders have a rather nice trick: you can switch between logic and powered settings by putting a value into CV8. I tried all of the settings on two different Zimo decoders - a budget MX638 and a "full fat" MX634. Both are 6-function decoders. Neitehr worked fully in 10800.