F-UnitMad

Last time that joke was on here it was a Scottish farmer advising an Englishman who was camping.

That was part of HGV training, and the test, back when I did it. Used when the next 'actual' turning had a weight restriction signposted. The next 'available' turning would be after that, without a restriction.

Guess what really lies at the end of the rainbow...!! This evening at Bridgnorth...

1. It's not a race. 2. We like your photos even as they are. 3. Most of us also have unfinished layouts as well..!!! 👍😁 Yes you can. A nice clean ex-works one in BR Blue!! 🤣😝 Somehow it doesn't seem to work on models, just ends up looking like shoddy modelling. See also leaning lamp posts & telegraph poles. Happens all the time in reality, but on a model?? Can just look 'wrong'.

Must admit, I thought it was a photo of a Gerry Anderson set!!

More tinkering. I have so many items in bits in the middle of jobs, I really ought to stick to one at a time!! This one was going to be a quick repaint & lettering job, but took 3 coats (brush painted) of Tamiya Flat Red to get a half decent finish with it. 🙄 Anyway I've added the lettering (dry rub transfers), and as usual just can't do things the 'proper' way. On one side the lettering is in a modern font, on the other side it's in an older, more traditional looking font.... Yes, some of the letters are slightly misaligned. I will have the signwriter chastised accordingly & dock his pay. I like this side more, but didn't have enough lettering in this style to do both sides!! 🤦‍♂️ At least on my layout only one side at a time is viewable!!

3D full-colour printing is A Thing. I have some 1:48 scale figures from WestEdge 3D in Australia - these figures are now the most realistic items on my layout!! The £15:95 price tag for the 3 accurascale figures is a bit on the "Ouch!!" side of things, although for a limited run probably about par for the course. Mine worked out at around £7 per figure, factoring in postage to UK from AUS.

(Re: plastic wheels). The physics of why plastic wheels pick up & spread dirt on rails seems to be rather obscure. At least most people tend to agree that it happens, & that plastic wheels are best avoided. But mention using graphite on your rails and the Naysayers will come running with all sorts of 'science' why it shouldn't work. Despite that, it does.

Understatement of the Year Decade...!!!

If the rails are dirtying back up quite quickly, is there any rolling stock with plastic wheels on the layout? If so, replace them with metal wheel sets. Plastic wheels seem to get very contaminated with dirt which they then spread wherever they roam. They are the Spawn of Satan.

Less trouble than certain followers of this Thread.... 🤔😁 Ok, so I posted the pole-dancing sheep joke. Shove up, Spams, I'll join you on the Naughty Step.... 🤪

Personally I found the much-vaunted "Collins" Trucker's Atlas rather difficult to follow. There was far too much of it printed in red, which became an issue to read under some street lights at night. I much prefered the "A-Z Atlas" which coloured the roads the same as the roadsigns, so blue for motorways, green for A Roads etc. It also drew out motorway junctions exactly as they were, so you could see which ones had 'exit only' or suchlike arrangements, rather than just a 'blob' with a junction number on it. It also had a good series of city maps at the back, although back 20 years ago I expect most of us had a box full of town A-Z's under the bunk. 😉👍 I would note things like bridge heights & weight limits on it myself. Still didn't stop me hitting one, once, of course (a tale I have told a few times on here, likely quite early on in this Thread, too). 🙄😳😳🤦‍♂️

Probably should have fitted the rails before ballasting? Now everything's glued up solid you can't wiggle the sleepers as you thread the rails in. 🤔🤣

🤣🤣🤣 ha ha ha, yeah mate we've all said that when starting a new venture!! 😉👍👍

Do you have a link? Edit:- found it, on Ebay, & the Seller's review on YouTube. It is 2-rail, but with a lot of 3-rail 'legacy' such as molded details, short corner handrails and a massive gap where the pilot (buffer beam) should be. On the YouTube review a glimpse of the box end has details on it & it says "operates on 72" radius", which seems odd as a lot of Atlas locos such as Geeps like this have a min. radius of 36", which does work - I use 36" curves to shoehorn my layout into 17ft x 8ft!! You can see in the review the trucks (not 'bogies'!!) turn much tighter than required for a 6ft curve. Screenshot of the paused video.... I've never seen an MTH loco myself so can't comment on it's running qualities. Let's just say I'm watching it on ebay out of interest but it would have to be £100 to tempt me. I'd be interested to know how much he paid for it!! 🤔😉

Interesting. I measured the pin inside the original socket as best I could and it is 2.1mm. The new socket I got is also 2.1mm and the NCE plug fits it spot on.

Today's tinkering has led to a new thread.... I still use the basic NCE setup with the flat 6-lead cable for programming on the main layout, swapping the track supply to it from the usual setup with the SB3a Booster. As for what new venture this panel is fitted to, that for now is a secret known only to a very few. It is not the little 2-track diorama I called 'Enderlin', that was started a while back. 🤔😉

Yes, and if I had done it, or it was a genuine NCE one, it would be better. But this was a cheapo lead off ebay, as I don't have the required crimper, and used the original lead as part of the control bus on my main layout. 😉 But yes you make a valid point that people should be aware of. 👍

Firstly, I can claim no originality for this idea. It's something that @James Hilton of this Parish mentioned almost 'off the cuff' in one of his layout videos on YouTube. As anyone who has the NCE Powercab knows, the PCP fascia panel has the track power output connection and the 12vDC input socket at the rear of it. James mentioned that he'd modified the panel so the input socket is on the front, along with the sockets that connect the Powercab itself, a very useful modification especially for micro & shelf layouts. I emailed James about it, as I think it's a genius idea, and he explained the simple procedure. I thought others might find it useful too, so with due credit to James, here's how I did it. First you need a "DC Supply Socket Female Panel Mount Connector 5.5x2.1mm". Then I drilled an 8mm dia. hole in the panel, checking the space behind so it doesn't hit anything else. I offset it so it doesn't get in the way of the Powercab sockets. The socket is then wired to the same points on the pcb that the original socket is soldered to, just making sure they are the same - centre-pin to centre-pin, & outer rim to outer rim points. Et voilá - fitted on the layout fascia, the layout can sit on a flat surface without needing to connect the 12v input lead behind the fascia - just plugged in to the front along with the throttle cable. Many thanks to James for such a simple but great idea!!!!

Depends if the HM7000 decoders have enough Amps for O Scale locos, especially bigger twin-motor jobs. Personally I've never trusted Hornby controllers of any type ever since my mate had an R900 one in the 1970s.....

7mm definitely has a 'presence' the smaller scales cannot match. 👍 The layout looks good so far. Any chance of some wider/overall photos to get an idea of trackplan, etc?

Ray, taking a real life photo a bit cock-eyed to try & make it look like a model - it isn't fooling anyone, y'know..... 🙄🙄🤣🤣🤣👍👍

Nice loco, and a lot of skill on display with making the new components! Years ago I had a go at British HO, & converted the Roco NS600 to a BR Class 11. I believe the 11 best matched the body side cabinets on the frame. I only have one photo of that model, with some Lima HO wagons, fitted with Roco wheels & Kadee #58 'scale' couplers. It is in front of a detailed Lima 4mm 08 and Mainline wagons, to show the difference between OO & HO, both on 16.5mm gauge track.

I'm thinking "Ian Futers" and some of his layouts. IIRC "Lochty Road" was one, a Scottish Region stabling point. Edit: it was called "Lochty Lane". I saw it myself once, but can't recall where. https://bickersgateblog.wordpress.com/tag/lochty-lane/

Yeah, either the Great Photobucket Ripoff when they suddenly wanted to charge a fortune to host your photos, or more recently the Great RMweb Crash, which lost a lot of photos on a lot of people's Threads. I really ought to try & replace them, if they're still of interest. The videos are on YouTube, so should be ok.