birdbath

Many thanks for your kind comments everyone. I'll try and get some more photos posted before too long. Cheers.

Last ones for now. Couldn't resist a 37 line up. L-R: 37422 passes on the main line with a club train. 408 has arrived on the loco line from the yard. 262 and 906 wait either side of the fuel point. Ruston 906 is again completely incorrect for this period. It's shown in 'as preserved' condition, with ploughs and silver windscreeen frames at one end only. About a decade ago, this loco was a regular on the diesel gala scene and brings back some good memories. The model is the limited edition (Kernow, I think?), fitted with Biffo sounds and the usual fuel tank speaker. It certainly gives a nice bit of variety to the standard 37s.

Now time for some trains. In another moment of EBay weakness, some Dapol NR box wagons were acquired. Totally out of period, but they give the 68 something to pull until the Mk5a coaches arrive. It's just like the real thing! Back to the 1990s. Two ETH 47s on the depot. Parcels 47474 has been fuelled and is waiting to depart to the yard. Large logo 47535 has just arrived and is dropping the secondman off at the mess room.

It's only been 3 months since the last update. These are getting regular! Not much has been done to the actual layout, just a bit of tidying up loose ends that have been bugging me for a while. Previously I had made a slide-out shelf for the laptop. In practice, it was a bit flimsy and kept getting bashed about. Instead, I've fitted some sticky-back soft felt to the inside of the fiddle yard board and cut a hole for the laptop-NCE control cable. I've also moved the toggle switch which sets the fuel road to either be part of the layout or the programming track. This is now next to the NCE fascia panel, labelled up as I frequently forget which way round it should be. The workbench is situated under the fiddle yard board. I've fitted a miniature LED strip lighting kit to the underside of the baseboard and this has vastly improved lighting on the bench. One of those jobs I wish I'd done sooner. There are three strips, plugged together, all fed from the same transformer plug. Everything needed was in the same kit. Hopefully these two photos will explain.

Good evening everyone. Nothing much to report on the layout front, as usual. I have recently treated myself to a new airbrush, which I've been getting to grips with. I can recommend the Iwata Neo TR1. Wish I'd got one sooner. In other news, there's been a somewhat out of period arrival! I'm usually reasonably disciplined about sticking to my chosen (admittedly broad!) time frame. But occasionally a moment of weakness does creep in. So here's the TPE 68 on a typical driver training light loco move. In my view, the colours don't really reflect the prototype that well. However, it's a lovely model in all other respects. I've added the noticeable black panel lines, using a fine marker pen. This was sealed in with gloss varnish. A very light weathering was added, just to the underframe and roof. I'll probably renumber and name it at some point too. As usual, fitted with Legomanbiffo sound project. I've gone for the twin dumbo speaker arrangement from Zimo. Worryingly, I've just had word that orders are being taken for the coaches. This is going to be an expensive diversion! Roge.

Thanks Steve. I know it wasn't a popular livery at the time, which maybe explains why you don't see it done too often on models. The body was sprayed for me by Lee's Locos. I added the cantrail (by lining pen), transfers and plates. The noses had the high intensity headlights added (not working) and it was weathered using my usual techniques. This is largely based round what I've picked up from Alex Carpenter in his articles for Rail Express Modeller. Cheers. Roge.

Hello everyone. It's been nearly a year since I posted anything! Unfortunately being a grown up has taken most of my time up and there's been practically no development on the layout at all. As I hope you can see, it's largely complete in any case. I've got a few little projects that I'll try and get round to at some point. Possibly re-doing the section with the arches to include another over bridge and add an industrial looking backscene. This would provide a 'framed' section and divide it from the removable curve which goes across the doorway. Interiors to the few buildings is also on the list, particularly now they are lit. In the meantime, here's a few photos: One rolling stock project that has been partially completed is this inspection saloon. It's a partial repaint and rework of the Bachmann model. Several of the prototypes were painted up in heritage liveries in the 80s and 90s. The model has had Dapol ETH fittings added, along with replacement wipers. Railtec transfers were used. A few miniature big wigs have also been added, no doubt enjoying their jolly out! Next part of this project is to add a portable head/tail lamp, controlled by a decoder using a bi-colour LED. Guide Dog Bridge pilot 09012. This is a Hornby model with full lighting and a Zimo decoder plus 'supercap' capacitor. I've reworked the pick-ups, as the original design always seemed to be causing problems. The capacitor means it crawls over pointwork and board joins without ever stalling. In fact, you can pick it up and the wheels continue to go round for about half a turn! BR blue time. 37408 and 37046 are outside, while 31449 occupies the shed. The 37s have both had bass reflex speakers added to the fuel tanks, lighting modified to give independent tail lights and bogie side frames cut off and remounted slightly closer to the body. 046 is a standard Bachmann blue release, with the orange cantrail line added using a lining pen. 37422 passes the back of the shed. Think I've bored you all with the details on this one before. 37/0s on the fuel point. 37262 is a full repaint of a Bachmann centre headcode example.

Yes, you're quite right it does say that. I hadn't intended to sound like I was slagging the model off! Just trying to offer some feedback in a positive manner (hopefully) before it's too late and they're getting hammered in magazine reviews. I look forward to the revised production version. Do you think it'll have a working DCC controlled destination screen?! (Haha!)

Ok, thanks for the info. What a shame that people are driven away.

Morning everyone. Does anyone from Dapol contribute on here? I was just wondering whether these new models are subject to any change in the livery application? Although it's only a low res image, and possibly lighting has played its part, some of the colours in the TPE livery look a bit questionable. I'm thinking the light blue part round the cab fronts looks too light compared to shots of the real thing. Also, the diagonal band which runs from the headlights, across the door and up to the cantrail seems to fade from dark blue to white on the model, whereas in real life it goes dark blue to light blue. As I say, it could just be the lighting. It's such a 'marmite' of a livery in real life and it'd be a shame if the model was way out and consequently didn't sell! Regards, Roge.

Thanks for your all your helpful comments chaps. Nigel, I'll pop the motor out of the plastic holder and check for any other capacitor which I've missed. I'd opted for the supercap due to space reasons, but looking again I could just about fit a 1000 rated cylindrical shape one in. This is rated at 25v so plenty of margin for error. Not as much storage, but also a tenth of the cost! The question is, will the benefit be worth it? Kevin, you're talking a bit above my level there! Looking in the meter manual, the only mention of RMS is in relation to 'response' where it states 'calibrated in RMS of sine wave'. Regards, Roge.

Hi Nigel. Thanks for your reply. The current decoder in use is an old TCS T1. The factory fitted circuit board was discarded when I fitted the lighting, so there is no suppression capacitor. The layout is powered by an NCE power pro. A quick series of spot checks with the multi meter suggests track voltage is hovering around 14.1. I couldn't find that reference on the Zimo website about the 634 not being used with supercaps. I just saw the diagram which suggests it's a two wire connection. I'll have another look. Cheers. Roge.

Afternoon people. Can anyone confirm whether the Zimo MX634 decoder and their SC68 supercap are compatible? And if so, am I right in thinking that it's a simple two wire connection between the two and that there's no requirement for a diode and resistor to be added? (as seems to be needed on some decoders) The application is a Hornby 08 shunter. It's been fitted with lights and I need the four physical function outputs that the MX634 seems to provide. I've re-worked the contacts to give almost perfect running characteristics, but the current decoder used still has the lights flickering occasionally, hence the idea of using a capacitor. Also, the present decoder results in a very 'noisy' motor, despite my experimenting with enabling/disabling BEMF, messing with the dither CVs, etc. Any experience or advice would be gratefully recieved. Thanks, Roge.

Evening everyone. Usual lengthy break between posts! Recent efforts have seen lighting fitted to some of the buildings. I've been a bit dubious about this for a while, seeing it as possibly a bit of a gimmick. However, when the colour light signals are working and the locos have lights, we seem to be half way down the road already. Chuck in a friend bringing his East German stock for a run (featuring full working interior lights, passengers and tail lamps) and I'm sold. Although the layout has an additional power bus already provided for this very eventuality, I decided to have a go at using the existing track bus for power of my lighting. There's probably a long list of reasons not to do this, but so far it's worked ok. This means the lights are on all the time. However, I've chosen to use quite subtle lighting and as such it's barely noticeable until the room lights are off. After a bit of experimenting, I made a batch of converter circuit boards. These consist of a bridge rectifier, suitable resistor (20k seems about right) and screw terminals for the finer wire to the actual LEDs. LEDs used are 'warm white' and come off a roll. The Converter circuit. The red and black wires clip straight onto the track power bus. (I don't know why this picture is insisting on being uploaded on its side?!) I've had a go at trying to capture the effect with my phone. Mixed results at best, but then real life night photography is a bit tricky too! Dusk at Guide Dog Bridge. The yard pilot 09 has made it out onto the mainline, but only to get behind the GPL and set back into the yard. In the shed yard, a 47 undergoes exam inside, while a classmate and 37408 tick over awaiting their next moves. (I know, the 37 should only be displaying marker lights in the yard!) The 47, 37 and 09 await their next moves. I realise now that I'd forgotten to put the outside shed clutter back in place, so it looks a bit more sparse than it should. One side affect that's come to light (poor quality joke alert) is that the yard flood lights do a good job of illuminating the back scene! Not really sure what I can do about this. Suppose you can't have it both ways. Another job that now becomes more pressing is to add interior details to the buildings, particularly the signal box. This wasn't high up on the list until the lighting made it so glaringly obvious! Then there's just the coaching stock to do... Anyway, hopefully you get the general idea. Roge

Hello again, Took the plunge and snipped the capacitor out of the motor connections last night.... ...Which has immediately solved the problem! In answer to some of the other suggestions and observations, the layout was built for DCC and as such has a bus bar for both track and accessory. It's only relatively small (11x7) and uses an NCE 5amp system, which should be good for much bigger set ups. I've never had this issue with any of the other locos. The 08 even got along with fine with my Hornby 50, which had a very similar PCB and capacitor across the motor arrangement as the 31. Subsequently I decided to bin the 50's PCB and rewire it for independent lighting control. I think I'll be doing the same with the 31 now as well, although just getting rid of the capacitor seems to have been the key. Hope this proves useful to others. Thanks for your help. Roge.

Evening folks. Quick correction to my initial post. Further investigation has shown that I was mistaken. It's not the sound running on the 31 that causes the issue, it's whether it's moving or not. Obviously this points me towards getting rid of the capacitor across the motor, as suggested. When time permits! Thanks again for all your suggestions. Roge.

Hi Phil, The 08 has LED lighting added. Interesting theory regarding a rogue capacitor on the 31. On my Hornby 50 I've modified the lighting and discarded the original PCB and the capacitor across the motor. I could do the same to the 31 without too much trouble I guess. Roge.

Evening everyone, Funny things are happening with my Hornby 08 shunter... It's fitted with a TCS T1 decoder and I've added lights. It's usually a very reliable runner. Responds to the NCE system perfectly, lights assigned to different functions all perform as expected, etc. However, when my Hornby 31 comes out to play, the 08 starts misbehaving. The 31 is fitted with a Loksound V4 sound decoder. When the 31 is just sat on the layout not doing anything, the 08 is still fine. As soon as you start the 31 sound on F1, the 08 starts it's erratic behaviour. Lighting functions stop responding, if it's moving you can't stop it, won't respond to throttle, etc. As soon as sound is turned off on the 31, the 08 is back to normal. Anyone have any experience of this type of issue? I've got loads of other Loksound V4 fitted locos, none of which affect the 08 in this way. Any advice gratefully received. Roge.

Cheers Mick. Worked a treat. Roge.

Hello everyone. I'm guessing this has been covered before... I've got a bit of weathering over-spray onto the glazing of the loco I was doing. If this was just the painted bodywork, I'd use thinners to clean it off. But past experience tells me that this will terribly 'mist up' the glazing material. Any ideas of what to use as an alternative? Cheers. Roger.

Thanks for all your kind comments, 'likes', etc. Next project might be to add a more industrial scene behind the arches which are on the opposite side of the layout (see earlier pics). I think I'll leave the short 'bridge the gap' section that links the two halves and is removable for access to the room. Making this more complex and heavier is a bit of an own goal! Regards, Roge.

Hello again everyone, I've finally managed to progress the backscene project. As I mentioned previously, the scene was provided by I.D Backscenes. Once I'd selected my preferred option from the series of trials kindly provided, the finished article turned up in the post the next day. Excellent service and highly recommended. Sticking the self-adhesive roll down onto my plywood sheets did prove to be something of a challenge. The backscenes are oviously printed perfectly square and straight, but despite having the plywood cut at a local timber merchant, this wasn't quite as perfectly straight! Unfortunately this has resulted in a couple of imperfections, but I've managed to rescue this to a degree with a bit of careful airbrushing. Reassembly of the layout has thankfully shown that the different sections across baseboard joins pretty much line up horizontally. Much relief!! A slight vertical gap really can't be avoided, but I can live with that for the overall benefit (in my opinion!) of having the back drop at all. Ideally I'd have liked it to be a bit taller, but there was a compromise to be made with that side of the layout running in front of the window. I still value having a bit of natural light coming in when possible! I'm always impressed by those layouts where the backscene extends up to a lighting rig, making a true 'frame', but it wasn't really practical here. Here's a few low-res phone camera shots to give you an idea: On a different note, I don't think I've posted a pic of the control panel set up before? A couple of shelf brackets from a pair of baseboard legs support a plywood shelf, which houses the NCE base unit and transformer. There's also a switch which connects one side of the fuel road to either the main track bus or the programming track output from the NCE. A further shelf, mounted on drawer runners holds the laptop, which controls the points and signals via JMRI, as discussed previously. Finally, a homemade foam and plasticard throttle holder is provided, with the throttle plugging into a fascia panel on the layout front. This sees less use these days as using your mobile phone with the 'engine driver' software installed gives a wireless controller! We've had three of us operating the layout in this fashion before, which was very successful until my other half closed the door to the room with the router in and we all lost WIFI! Anyhow, at least it's all back together now. Maybe we'll get to run some trains soon... Regards, Roge.

Hi Peter, Glad you like it. I've been following your Llanbourne thread for years! (mostly with great envy at your lightning rate of progress!) Regards, Roge.

Evening everyone. The much delayed/pontificated over backscene project has actually started... Unfortunately this has involved partial dismantling of the layout, but it would have to happen at some point. Thankfully, care taken at the building stage has largely paid off and there's only been relatively minor damage to scenery as the separate boards were split. The boards are aligned with metal dowels, so track re-alignment won't be an issue when it finally goes back together. After much deliberation, I've compromised on a 10" height backscene, supplied by John at Art Printers in Telford (better known as I.D backscences) Going direct to the supplier has allowed me to customize one of the off the shelf images. John kindly e-mailed a selection of sample crops of a 15" high scene, allowing me to print out, stick on and further extend this already glacial rate of progress. Thanks John, it certainly wasn't you holding things up! The main reason for dismantling was to fix the board that the back scene will stick to. This is simply some pre-cut sheets of 3mm birch ply, which are braced on the rear with 20mm square section soft wood. The sheets are cut to the full depth of the main board frames (100mm) and are screwed in to the existing corner posts which strengthen the joints between the cross stretchers and main longitudinal planks. I accept that this may bow and twist a little over time, but it's not really crucial. Here's some low quality camera phone shots of how it looks. Trial print out stuck on the plywood sheet. I'm still thinking about how to marry the existing behind the bridge screen with the new backscene. More detail of the trial shot. Next board along. This will have the backscene curving round the scenery on the left. Trains sat in the display case, waiting for better days... Hopefully next time I post it'll all be done! Don't hold your breath though! Roge.

Thanks for your kind words Simon.