noiseboy72

I have been playing with my Craft Robo cutter again today. This was produced in about 20 minutes, by setting auto cut lines over some concrete fencing created by Peter Watson. To give an idea of scale, the holes in the bottom are less tham 1mm across. Coach windows with radius corners are a breeze, as are smooth curves and tight corners.

My own layout - Hopwood Parkway - http://www.mattjarvisassociates.co.uk/page2.html It has come on a bit since I last updated its website. Mainly sub surface, but a 59TS makes an appearance occasionally. The line is based upon a shared use line, allowing me to run a wider variety of stock. There is even a DLR train almost finished!

Not railway related, but up in one of the upper levels of Peterborough Cathedral there is still an ARP warden's post, complete with tin helmets and fire buckets. Not sure about the warden himself, but in that place, anything is possible...

Lots of London Underground models from Mr Conner are available. They make very nice models as well. I made this C-stock with double glazing, including no smoking signs and recessed doors. It is on a brass chassis, but could do with better bogies. The other end is motorised with a Spud. Interior is under construction. I have a DLR 2 car train in production at the moment. This will run on 3 black beetles, one powered and 2 dummy and will feature a fully detailed interior as well

But I bet the group in the Saab 9000 had a good laugh though!

One of my neighbours flys with the Red Arrows. He is in his 2nd year with the team. I have not been round to see his familiy, thought it best to give them some space.

I use Serif Webplus X5. The older X2 version is available re-packaged as (I think) Focus software for less than £10 from PC world. Feel free to look at my site which is built with it and see if it suits you. The later versions have quite good photo editing built in and seem to render well in most browsers. It is also WYSIWYG, so very easy to use.

Jeff is spot on. Provided the majority of the tractor unit (IE, your front wheels and seating position) was over the line before the light went red, you should be fine. The offence is passing a traffic light at red. Your speed is immarterial in this instance.

Hmm, my only experience was when my insurance company wanted me to use PC world to replace a stolen laptop. They gave me £1000 to replace my £400 laptop as that was the closest spec machine PC world stocked. On arrival at the store, I found a much better laptop for £600 and treated us to a DS Lite, a new printer...

For a lesser price, you could build a Home Theatre PC, with bigger hard drive, more streaming options and a similarly simple operating method. These are designed for the tecnophobe, but its limitations will frustrate. An Ipod and decent dock - B&W or Arcam will be much more satisfying.

Has it really been a year ? Blimey ! Things have moved on a bit. More stock has arrived. A Calder Valley 110 3 car DMU. These never made it out of T'Valley (Those Northern folk knew when they were on to a good thing!), but they would have been a fantastic suburban DMU as well. More powerful than most of its peers and according to those that drove it, fantastic brakes. This one has been DCC'd and has had the wheels adjusted to actually run through pointwork - they were nearly 3mm too narrow. I acquired this in mint condition. I don't think the trailer or un powered motor had ever been out their box. The station know has lighting (A birthday present) Its a bit course scale, but does add a certain something. A few people have also now made it onto the platform as well. Big news is the fitting of some signalling. This includes a fully automatic block signal at the end of platform 3 and a semi automatic, partially interlocked pair at the converging junction at the end of platforms 2 & 4. The automatic signal is very simple. An LDR (Light dependant resistor) is buried in the 4 foot and triggers a relay as the train plunges it into darkness. To hold the signal red, a capacitor charges up whenever the LDR is covered, the amount of charge and hence the red aspect, is proportional to the amount of time the train takes to pass over the sensor. Therefore, a longer or slower train will hold the signal red for longer! This is a modified Maplin kit, costing about £5 The junction platform starters are slightly more complex and incorporate a 2nd LDR module to trigger them back to red. Using a pair of DPDT switches, a simple interlock means that only one signal can be set to green. This is accomplished using a DPDT relay wired to hold energised until power is removed. Some BT spec relays with built in diodes were acquired, making wiring up a cinch. Again, an LDR is buried in the track, and this will set both signals back to red. It is not possible to set both signals to clear, although the flat crossing is not protected as yet. Full interlocking will be somewhat more tricky, as one track does not need to be protected from the flat crossing as it joins after the junction The R49 stock is now fitted with new pick ups. The sprung wire versions were not a great success, excerting too much force on the wheelsets and slowing the train to a crawl. New pick ups have been fabricated out of some battery contacts from a mobile phone. These are gold plated and nicely springy and work very well. Various track sections have been tweaked, and the entrance to the yard has been relaid, as it was causing derailments with about half the stock. The issue was the curve was too tight, so it has been relaxed out a little. The control panel is built from MERG kits, with a DCC encoder linked to SPST switches to the diode matrix and wired to an LS150 and MERG decoder. The LS150 needed modifying to work with the MERG kits as it would stop the MERG decoder working reliably. The solution was a pair of 100nF capacitors in series with the input to de-couple it from the DCC points bus. The issue appears to be to do with the MERG encoder, as this is not a true floating output, but requires an earth reference. The input of the LS150 messes this up and the capacitors sorted the problem. The panel is laser printed onto plastic paper, to make it water proof and wipe clean. See the photos of my LH30 for just how grubby things can get! Next steps are to finish the platforms at the terminus. Walls are laid, so its only the top surfaces and landscaping to do. The station roof etc needs a but of fettling and the tramway is very temporary just now. 2 more years should see it done!

Stunning! My long term dream is to buy somewhere large enough to do something similar. More likely 5", 71/4 is just too expensive. Would love to see this railway, but don't get up to cumbria very often. I am next up there W/C 6th August, but it would be to much to expect that this coincides with an opening...

You can go either side! Follow the tram lines up the right hand side and when they turn at the top of the hill, go straight on. The left hand side simply joins up just after the trams have turned away.

Yep, I've been going to Gee Dees for years. The shop was bigger for a while, with all the R/C downstairs, but they have now reverted back to the "original" size. Loads of stock and normally some second hand stuff and bits on sale. I bought a bunch of Oxford Diecasts a while back for £1 each. The other way to get to it is to walk from the Market Square past the Council House on your right and walk up the hill to Hockley. Follow the road down the other side of the hill and keep following it until you reach Heathcoat Street on your left. There is also a Maplins at the bottom of the road (Turn right and cross over the first road and its on the right) For any electrical bits you need.

Maybe find a local model flying club. No doubt they will have a tame guru who can help you out. One important piece of info I found was that different transmitters require different crystals, dependent upon transmitter type. IE, a Futaba crystal may not work in a Hitec tranmitter. To be fair a lot of the info I got was from the Micron site, as they are the UK experts, so they should know what they are doing.

From the info I can find online, this is an FM receiver using standard modulation and data. 40MHz is almost always FM. The most likely cause of the problem is that the transmitter is using the wrong crystal type. Do you have the matched receiver for your transmitter to check that it is working correctly ? I would find a good R/C specialist shop who can check the frequency output is correct.

Regarding radio equipment, so long as both transmitter and receiver are on the same channel and use the same form of modulation (AM/FM or possibly one of the digital types), then you have a fighting chance they will work. You may find that you cannot set a null or centre position, as not all brands use the same values. Don't forget, each frequency (27MHz,40MHz etc.) has channels, so its not just the frequency band you need to check. For peace of mind, try to get a matched set.

We never count above 2 because on 3 someone says lift !.... My live sound days are now behind me. After 19 years of loading in and out at silly oclock, I have succumbed to the dark side and now production manage for a large automotive events agency. Looking forward to seeing how your project develops. Really stunning stuff !

Stunning work ! I am really impressed ! I have used hacked servos for various small robots and a crane and find they work well. It is worth pointing out that a good radio control system is a must. It needs to be FM and on 40MHz to avoid interference from the myriad of rubbish on 27MHz. AM sets will lead to servo creep and this will get worse the further away you get from the transmitter. Now, about that MGB Midget in N I want to motorise...

I have built a few toys for the kids using a servo as the drive motor. A pair of 680R resistors in place of the position pot and remove the rotation stops will give you a nicely gear motor package all ready to connect directly to the receiver.

I spent a rare day off last week adding to the scenery around the layout. first stop was the Depot, with a gravel / dark cinder covering with lots of scrubby cover. Yard lights and shunt signals will follow. The areas around the yard approach and the terminus station have also been started, with the basic shape defined and the first layer of grass matt and scrub applied. This area will have a small town scene, with a parade of shops and a crescent of houses. The idea is to create a suburban terminus feel, with a lightly used station at the end of a line that winds it way past the end of the gardens. The station is based upon the Scalescenes large station kit, but built without the main building and as a subsurface design. Not disimaler to Swiss Cottage when first built. Tjhe platform will extend to the near side of the road bridge, giving the impression that the station is bigger than built. 3rd &4th rail is slowly being added once the track bed is ballasted and weathered. I gave up using the Peco insulators as I felt that they were too visible. On all track shots I have seen, the insulators just melt into the general track, so thats what I have gone with.

It seems the carriage works have been busy, turning out both an A60 & an R Stock in a period of little more than 2 weeks. Neither are fully finished, so any passengers will have to stand in the windowless shells, but they are moving under their own power and have had first coats of paint. Being Harrow Model Shop / Radley models kits, they are seriously heavy and the spuds are sweating a bit...

I think the question is when do you stop restoring and start recreating ? How much of the original loco is retained ? Look at HMS Victory in Portsmouth Dockyard. What you see today is about 80% new materials. Even the canons are replicas ! In one sense, it does not matter if a loco is effectively a rebuild from spare or remanufactured parts, but if this is the case, what is the problem with scrapping the bits beyond redemption ? It becomes an emotional decision rather than one based on common sense. Personally, I think some of our railways could do with a good clear out of the rotten rubbish that will never turn a wheel again. If I was running a preserved line and someone wnated to deposit 35 tons of scrap metal on it, I think I would impose some conditions, like an agreed timetable for restoration or at the very least an agreement that if it wasn't touched for any length of time, then it could be disposed of.

Do you know how many cores of the cable you need connecting ? 4 core cable is easy to find and I can make you up a cable with RJ45 connectors with the pinout to suit. I will see if I can find an 8 core cable in coiled....

I could not afford to buy a sub-surface train, so considered my options. The Street Level Designs card kits give a reasonable rendition of the model, especially after a bit of work. This is the MK1 creation. The basic kit has had the windows cut out and replaced with plastic, the doors cut out and recessed and the whole shell thickened up with 3 layers of 450 GSM card. The chassis will either be a scratch built brass creation or for the time being, an old coach chassis and bogies. A spud bogie will be used to power the train, but it is really being built as a static model.