Huw Griffiths

11 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Three people to repair a dodgy decoder.

How many to fix a light bulb ?

"11 ..."

9 hours ago, Hroth said:

The same, plus one to recognise it as an LED.... 

"... which now gives us 100."

Somehow, I can't see this binary malarkey catching on any time soon.

Huw.

5 hours ago, cheesysmith said:

Time to call quits for today. My eyes are starting to fell tired, and that is when it is too easy to make mistakes. But 1 and a half jobs ticked off the list. The glazing has been cut to size, window bars painted silver, and held in place with blue tac ATM. And the gangways have been painted.

 

... PS-Anybody got a good tip for securing the glazing in place, avoiding glue marks?

Normally, I'd suggest PVC insulation tape - trimmed to the front edges of the windows - press windows into place from behind - then run in a few drops of cellulose thinner (or other solvent adhesive of choice) from the back. Finally peel off the tape.

Of course, with YMRV coaches, the window bars are raised sections of the same mouldings - so I don't know if something like Maskol might work instead for masking (unfortunately, I've never tried it with solvents).

Otherwise, I'd actually be tempted to just press the windows in from behind - taking full advantage of the lip around the edges - and just run in a tiny amount of solvent from behind, around the edges, using capillary action. As long as you're careful where you put the solvent (and your fingers!), I suspect you'd probably do fine.

Of course, if you've got a few spare windows and coach bodyshell offcuts, there's nothing to stop you doing a test run - you'd know if this is going to work within a few minutes.

Actually, I think I might have tried this last suggestion a few years ago - and it worked. However, if you're worried about potential finger marks, you might wish to use a bit of tape on the rear of the windows.

Huw.

4 hours ago, Wheatley said:

Anybody else notice that the people getting paid to build Mosquito kits for a living (Jealous ? Moi ?)  were using Tamiya Thin rather than the in-house product to stick them together ? 

I suspect they might have been using the Tamiya adhesive because it's good stuff - the quick setting one is amazing.

Saying that, Humbrol "Liquid Poly" smells quite nice - sorry, I probably wasn't supposed to say that ... .

1 hour ago, Nile said:

It's no wonder Hobbycraft have dropped Humbrol paints when even Hornby HQ can't get hold of Humbrol products (like glue).

Meanwhile, the Tamiya adhesive has recently been noticeable by its absence from a number of model shops in my part of the world.

Of course, if Hornby had actually had difficulty getting hold of their own adhesive, they could always have used cellulose thinner (which I believe they also market, in tiny jars) instead.

I know the stuff works - although I get it (in much bigger containers - usually under names like "professional" or "universal" paint thinner) when decorating supplies appear in the "middle of Lidl".

Huw.

3 hours ago, Brian Indge said:

Bit disappointed with this latest episode, I felt sure we would see Sam’s Trains putting up his Christmas Decs and shutting down the National Grid!

Probably just as well.

I was dreading what further "innovations" the "Variac Kid" might have come up with ... .

(Nothing personal, you understand - I just don't much care for the sort of "buzz" he appeared to be introducing to "the world's greatest hobby".)

Huw.

On 11/11/2021 at 00:24, Michael Hodgson said:

They may be British but the refueling system comes from Germany ...

 

 

I just hope we don't get treated to loads of comments along the lines of: "Oh, the humanity!" ...

Huw.

35 minutes ago, TomScrut said:

Not necessarily, they are the only company at their level now in terms of DCC in OO IMO and generally that level only leads to disappointment with DCC users.

I'm not convinced about that - after all, I believe that Bachmann also offer basic DCC chips and controllers.

I'm not sure how many "serious" modellers buy either company's offerings.

I also seem to recall a number of years back, one company announced plans to only offer new models ready fitted with their "chips" - which prompted something of a "digital response" from a number of potential customers (some of whom would have wanted different decoders, whilst others wouldn't have wanted any).

I agree that some people want "all the bells and whistles" - but some don't. Also, the variety of prototype (and thus model) locomotive dimensions and shapes looks like frustrating any efforts to establish one universal standard of spaces / connections for installing decoders. Even where there is space for a decoder with a large "footprint", there doesn't seem to be agreement about which "standard" should be adopted.

For these reasons, if I were responsible for any RTR manufacturer's product development, I would be in no rush to adopt any specific "standard" - even if I'd try to allow the provision of enough space to allow for installation of as many decoder options as possible.

I realise that some people disagree with me on this - fair enough - but, at present, if (eg) Hornby were to "jump" and adopt any "standard", I'm certain they'd be met with howls of disapproval from people who've already opted for alternatives. Personally, I think Hornby are right to hold back with any decision on this issue.

Huw.

Anyway, returning to the "Hornby Show", I know it's rather "lightweight" - but it still includes some interesting stuff.

I'm certainly enjoying watching it, despite some things not necessarily being to my liking.

Huw.

2 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

I wasn't allowed to take part in the first series (I'd already recorded something for BBC and they wouldn't let me appear in anything else until it had - belatedly - aired) despite at least two teams inviting me to take part, and wasn't chosen for series 2.

 

I get some of the thinking behind the more 'wacky' ideas on GMRC - they don't want to be turning out the same thing each week - but Series 2 pushed it a bit too far IMO.

Similar - and slightly different - in my case.

I was initially a "reserve" for one team in the first series - then one team member had to drop out for family reasons - so I was now in this team. Unfortunately, at this point, my father's health took a nosedive - and my mother (having previously actively encouraged me to get involved) instantly announced that I was going to bail out. I'm not saying that I disagree with her decision - but it was clearly somewhat frustrating, to say the least.

(As I've mentioned elsewhere on this site, both my parents' health is no longer an issue - but I digress.)

In practice, I suspect that the team were probably better off without me - mainly because someone else (who did appear in the team that took part) has modelling interests so similar that there could easily have been conflict over who did what.

(Just for the record, I'm deliberately not making any claims about the standard of my model making.)

If this series were to return, there'd no longer be conflicting calls on my time - but I'd obviously jump at the chance to experiment with different model railway stuff on someone else's "coin" (especially if I were to find myself in a team completely from my "part of the world"). Of course, whether anything like this were ever to happen is outside my control.

I agree about the "left field" stuff in GMRC. Certainly, they'd be keen to encourage people to use their imagination about what to model and what to use when modelling it.

After all, I don't see anything inherently "off" about a lot of layout themes (also I was born - and have spent most of my life so far - in former GWR territory) - but, at one time, there did seem to be rather a lot of GWR "BLT" themed layouts "doing the rounds" of shows and magazines.

Meanwhile, whenever I've visited model railway shows (remember them?), I've particularly enjoyed visiting the demonstrators - seeing what they're building, how they're building it and what they're using. I suspect that the programme makers were trying to introduce this element into GMRC - even if some of us found certain themes (and some of the "materials" teams were expected to use) rather too "left field" for our liking.

In all honesty, I struggle to imagine how they came up with certain themes etc - I could certainly imagine these inducing dissent amongst a number of teams. Probably the best that could be said about some of these is that they would have been the same for all the teams.

Saying that, I'd still like to see further series of GMRC commissioned - whether or not I get the chance to be involved.

If a FTA channel were to put this on (even repeats) opposite the "soaps" or "Strictly ZZZZZZ List Celebrities Go Prancing On Ice" - put repeats and "extras" programmes on Sunday afternoons - screen these the same time every week - and perhaps also do repeats on bank holidays when there's traditionally nothing worth watching - I strongly suspect they'd get rather more viewers than they seem to imagine.

Clearly though, I know a lot less about this stuff than the people who decide what I "wish" to see on TV. After all, I merely get to watch the stuff - and pay for a TV licence ... .

Huw.

12 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Have you read Jasper Ffordes "Shades of Grey" (which has nothing to do with dodgy bedroom practices) ?  The plot revolves around Munsell discs and Ishihara colour dot patterns in a dystopian world.

I'm afraid I haven't read this book - I actually hadn't heard of it.

The reason I mentioned this stuff is that, at one point, I considered optometry as a career - to be honest, I suspect I would probably have found it much more fulfilling than electrical engineering.

However, we both know how things worked out in practice.

Huw.

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

The 'Hornby Show' continues to do exactly what it says on the tin and basically it is there to entertain but with a strong element of information about the wider parts of our hobby.   

 

...   Sam's piece was different and really should have come with several very clear health warnings but within the programme it was all about adding a bit of fun and entertainment.

 

...   Maybe we should stick to watching it for what it is and not for what we think it ought to be?

To a certain extent, I find myself "sitting on the fence" here.

You've got a point about watching the series "for what it is and not for what we think it ought to be" - however, when we see stuff on there which we know to have the "potential" (sorry about the pun) to be very dangerous indeed (such as the Variac routine), I suspect that many people here would understand us finding it next to impossible to "belt" up and shut up.

Just for the record, I'm not accusing you of telling us to do this - far from it, in fact. However, a number of us have, at various times, been in jobs which have required constant vigilance regarding health and safety. Some of us have electrical engineering backgrounds - some have been involved in "H & S" enforcement - some work histories which include aspects of both.

If we see stuff that we really don't like, there were probably only ever two chances of us saying nothing - Slim and None - and Slim has just "bolted".

Of course, the series gets a number of things right - even though they might surprise some people.

In a previous episode, mention was made of "light bleed" on a test model of the APT - followed by ideas for how they'd be able to deal with it.

"Light bleed" seems to affect a number of RTR models of coaching stock and multiple units. In fact, I've sometimes considered putting together a small demo about this and other carriage lighting stuff - something which could fit into a cardboard box (which could double as part of the demo setup) - something which could easily be used as a "cameo" on a society / demo stand at an exhibition.

OK - it probably won't "see the light of day" - but I don't regard the underlying point as unreasonable.

Whilst on the subject of the APT, I don't know how many people noticed the programme narrator suggesting that colour / shade matching of paint on prototype models sometimes involves the use of a "Mk 1 eyeball". I could imagine some people thinking "yes, right". This actually struck me as credible (even if a few steps might not have been shown on the programme).

A few years ago, I was intrigued to notice a long, thin, box on a stand at a trade show. This box turned out to be a Farnsworth Munsell D15 colour vision test - which I was invited to try out.

I had no difficulty in quickly arranging all the coloured discs in the correct order - with no errors.

Whilst chatting with the guy manning the stand, I explained why I was so keen to do this test. I wasn't testing my own colour vision (which I already knew to be excellent). I was actually trying to see if the exhibition hall lighting affected the results of this colour vision test.

In case you're wondering why this company had a colour vision test on their stand, it was a reference to a line of business. They sell colour matched batches of plastics - and they employ people to do at least some of the colour matching by eye. OK - I suspect that machines are probably also used to some extent - but they certainly seem to find the "Mk 1 eyeball" rather useful in this regard.

Somehow, I suspect that we haven't seen the last of the Farnsworth Munsell discs - Shinobu Ishihara's colour dot patterns - or the City University's colour chameleon like rectangle patterns ... .

Huw.

"Lucky he doesn't do anything else dubious with electrics. Oh wait ......"

Hmmm:

• A RailRoad loco run on a carpet and hooked up to a Variac.
• Hornby and H&M branded controllers tested in "pyro - mode".
• We mustn't forget a long line of "Smokey Joe" locos, used for "torture testing" the controllers. I can only hope he wasn't trying to get the "magic smoke".

I wonder exactly how many "wagging fingers" his Variac routine would get.

I could imagine Simon dreading what further "delights" this guy might have in store for products of brands he's been connected with.

"None of these controllers is going to burn down your house." Probably not - but certain experiments might.

I wonder about this guy's long term career plans - testing for manufacturers, perhaps - or, more likely, just a new series on Quest: "Don't Try This at Home, Kids!"

The mind boggles ... .

Huw.

9 hours ago, melmerby said:

The device looks like  a Variac i.e. variable voltage auto transformer. (I.e. non isolating)

The output normally varies between 0-270v AC, they can also have fixed taps e.g. 110/120v, 200v 240v etc.

 

...

 

If he wants more DC volts he should buy a small variable bench DC supply, which would be perfectly safe.

I agree about the bench supply - at least their outputs are isolated.

When I was an electrical engineering student, Variacs terrified me - because they've only got one winding. As a result, even you turn the outputs right down, they're still live. Also, if this winding gets damaged, you effectively get the full mains voltage across the load.

For some reason, if I had no choice but to use a Variac in a lab experiment, I'd always look to include an isolating transformer in the setup.

2 hours ago, Nile said:

It looks to me like he's connected the output of the variac to the track via a rectifier ,or whatever is in that round thing next to it. Closest match I can find is this https://www.aldetronics.co.uk/product/m10-522-10-variac/

I agree he should have spent his money on a proper bench power supply rather than create this abomination.

Absolutely.

1 hour ago, Butler Henderson said:

Perchance he might get the output wrong....

Yes. He might connect something to the live output.

9 hours ago, Colin_McLeod said:

Agree 100% with all of this.  I had a run in with Mods for daring to criticise some of the weirder things appearing on the Great Model Railway Challenge, and it's good to know I was not alone with such views. 

 

Agree that this current Hornby series is portraying a more realistic picture of our wonderful hobby, (Sam's Trains and  Waterman blowtorch included).

Over the years, a number of us have "exchanged pleasantries" with moderators, over various issues (most of which have been able to be resolved amicably).

As for GMRC, I agree that it was flawed - however, I'd still like to see it brought back when the Corona menace is finally kicked into touch. GMRC could definitely be improved - but I'd still much prefer it to some of the garbage certain TV networks seem intent on ramming down our throats.

Huw.

49 minutes ago, cbrooks122000 said:

Then of course with the 8 pin socket you have the flying lead, which is an accident about to happen if you forget to insulate it. When you are struggling to put the loco body on because there isn't really enough space for the decoder and its length of wire, it is generally the wire that touches the chassis and bye bye decoder. The only thing that I like about the the 8 pin socket is that it is easy to retrofit it into old locos that are not DCC ready.

I'd hope that people installing DCC would be reasonably competent with wiring (with my background, I'd be rather worried if I weren't reasonably competent with this stuff).

Simon's got a point with his observation. I can remember chatting with another engineer at a trade show, a few years ago - especially this guy's comment about standards: "The really great thing about standards is that there are so many of them!" Cynical, perhaps - but fair comment.

As for the 8 pin sockets, they can actually be useful even to people who haven't gone digital (there are still some of us - even in MERG). With 8 pin sockets, isolating different parts of model locomotives, multiple units etc for maintenance is very straightforward - and it's also possible to make compatible connectors, using modified 8 pin IC sockets.

As for me, I've got a GWR AEC twin railcar project "on the go" - which involves adapting some RailRoad single cars - it suits my purposes that these come fitted with 8 pin sockets.

I think it would be fair to say that not everyone would necessarily want Hornby RTR models to come ready fitted with sockets with 22, 21, 18 or however many pins.

Huw.

On 01/11/2021 at 22:54, Dungrange said:

What I'd really like to know, is where is the location of the place that shows in these non-adds?  Is that what the Caymen islands looks like?

 

As I don't get to see the ads, I can't be sure.

However, judging by the thumbnail showing what looks like a load of artificial islands - with buildings on them - apparently linked by bridges - plus what looks like underwater sand build-ups - I might wonder about Dubai.

Of course, I'm probably very much mistaken.

Huw.

8 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

"All we like sheep etc...."

6 hours ago, Welchester said:

Isn't that the Welsh national anthem?

Not quite.

9 hours ago, Legend said:

The big issue is the pop up advert that requires me to click to get rid of it. I've already clicked the wrong button once because the button to remove is not always in the same place, you might think almost on purpose.

If, instead of this site, anyone were to look at Android games, there'd be no element of doubt. With lots of them, the "get rid" flag doesn't exist. With others, it might appear to exist - but clicking on it only takes you through to a "sales" site or (when the adverts are for games), it takes you to what looks like the "play store" - often repeatedly - before (hopefully) finally allowing you to return to your "game".

Whatever the score, you know you're going to be forced to sit through at least one 30 second advert for every few seconds of "gameplay".

As for the "games" themselves, many of them seem to have been designed specifically to ensure that you spend much longer looking at ads than you're allowed to spend actually playing the games. Often, the difficulty of levels also seems to be calibrated - either so easy that a 2 year old could clear them in a few seconds - or unplayable without "boosters", for which you're either expected to pay or forced to sit through even more adverts.

Strangely enough, I'm not planning on downloading / installing any Android games any time soon ... .

30 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

"All we like sheep etc...."

It sounds like someone's heard of Händel's "Messiah".

4 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Cauliflowers.

4 hours ago, martin_wynne said:

Eat 5 a day.

4 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

Some flatulence may follow....

Sounds like it could be a case of: "Euston, we have a Problem ... ."

I must admit that I hadn't noticed the emojis.

However, in view of a number of recent posts from some people (not all of whom remain here), the "debate" doesn't look like going away any time soon.

As for the stuff about advertising, premium membership etc, I don't see any need for people here to panic.

Yes - there are / have been problems with certain adverts - but this is being worked on.

"RMweb Gold" / "WoR Plus" works for some of us - fair enough.

Standard membership works for some people (especially once the "bugs" get "swatted").

As for people who don't want all the adverts - and are happy to contribute towards the site costs - but don't want the "full-fat" "WoR Plus" package - it sounds like there might soon be something for them, too.

Of course, if anyone wants none of these options, nobody is forcing them to join or stay.

Although I'm sure that some people would disagree with me (and I'd have no problem with them disagreeing with me), I can't help wondering if there's actually anything further that can usefully be added to this debate - at least until "RMweb Silver" (or whatever it's called) is officially launched.

When this does happen, I'm sure that a new thread about it is likely to "pop up".

43 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Sadly this is turning into the Gold members who are looking down on anyone who has a different view to theirs v non Gold members.

In fact some plainly insulting comments from those who should know better.

I am quite prepared to pay something for RMWeb but not all the mags etc. which I have absolutely no interest in.

 

If it came to either Gold membership or no RMWeb, I will be gone, no doubt to the great pleasure to certain members crowing on about Gold and it's benefits.

 

PS.

I will of course be asking for all photographs and videos I have posted to be removed, which I have contributed and had no payment for

They must be worth a few hundred pound in fees

Andy makes an excellent point about the hosting - although I must admit that I wouldn't be in any rush out of the door.

As for the suggestion of Gold members looking down on anyone who disagrees with us (or, as effectively suggested in another person's post a few days ago, anyone who disagrees with moderators etc), I don't think this could be much further from reality.

In my case, I only "signed up" for "RMweb Gold" earlier this year - and this was mainly because a deal on offer at the time worked for me. There's certainly no "looking down" from me.

I could also add that, for a number of years, I worked in a university - in daily contact with students - so I'm used to people having and expressing their own opinions (including opinions which I might not happen to agree with). I've never been in the habit of "slapping down" discussion - far from it - although I'd obviously prefer this discussion to remain polite and civilised, as at present.

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Unless someone has a dietary requirement I don't like people who take their own sandwiches to shows, especially when the club's doing the catering and

I don't like people who munch their own sandwiches on heritage trains. It's just rude and mean-spirited.

I can understand where you're coming from - especially if you're referring to small shows, run by a local club.

The position might be rather different for large "commercial" shows - held at major exhibition centres - at some of which the catering has prompted a number of very critical posts on sites like this.

2 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

At least on a heritage train you'd hope they would have bought a ticket at least. Some folks don't seem to want to do even that around here

2 hours ago, AY Mod said:

You raise a good point; maybe a family could only afford the tickets. However most observed are males of a certain age with a rucksack and an expensive camera.

41 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Did you forget the beard with breakfast eggy bits in amongst the hairs and a anorak last seen in a episode of Minder?

2 hours ago, RedgateModels said:

Mother probably made them ......

Made them visit the shower? (For some of these guys, I could imagine that being like something out of a horror movie.)

Oh, sorry, you meant the sandwiches - in flavours like fish paste, or mashed-up boiled egg? The thought also sounds decidedly scary.

1 hour ago, 2mmMark said:

Narration is a whole subject on its own.  There are some well known voices that will never go hungry, Ralph "Dave" Ineson for example.

There was me, thinking of him as "the voice of Quest". He certainly seems to narrate lots of their programmes (not that I've got any problems with this, you understand).

7 hours ago, Jenny Emily said:

Episode 10 is now going out as episode 7 - found out yesterday. 

5 hours ago, 5944 said:

"We're playing all the right episodes, but not necessarily in the right order". 

5 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

I knew some false jeopardy would have to creep in somewhere,.....

Absolutely.

There was always the risk that someone might see the "Preview" ... .

2 hours ago, Darius43 said:

I have heard of “rivet counters” but “nut counters”?  Sounds like an activity that could cause you to run foul of the law…

Well I guess it's either that or a name for people who count "rivet counters".

2 minutes ago, NorthBrit said:

Panic buyers.   Why? Why?  Oh why?

 

I was in the supermarket today.    A woman was buying pancake mix!     She bought a dozen eggs,  six pints of milk  and a bag of flour.

 

Rediculous!!!

I just hope all this stuff was for making pancakes.

In previous years, some shops have refused to sell stuff like this to teenagers during October.

I suspect that there might have been fears that some of this stuff might get "weaponized" for Halloween.

The police sometimes appear to think so - it hasn't been unknown for them to have posters printed, strongly suggesting that they'd really prefer it if people treat this stuff as baking ingredients.

Huw.