Dad-1

Hi DavidCBroad, It was stopping abruptly as I was using the direction button to move from forward to reverse and back again rather than slow down to a stop before changing direction. It was a way of reducing time to complete the exercise. Geoff T

A couple of weeks since I said I had a smile on my face regarding the 1361 series models. I've just done this video of my Heljan version shunting on my HS II layout, HS II for Happy Shunting, design version II. This is to prove that with more time than most would want to spend the Heljan 1361 CAN be made to run slowly and reliably. It was just a shame it's taken me 18 months to achieve what it should have been like out of the box ! Geoff T.

I have a smile on my face. Both are running reasonably well. For the Heljan I made up 4 x thin plastic horseshoe washers that just fitted the axles. With the keeper plates removed and wheel sets held in by the coupling rods I was able to turn these 4 parts into two washers, one each side of the front wheel set. Reassembly was close, virtually no end float, yet free. I have now done a few shunting exercises without a stall, not one !! From a locomotive that could hardly do 6" without stopping. There was one hesitation, so perhaps there is still a rough gear somewhere, but it was being run very slowly. Oh and like it's Kernow (DJ) brother it demands very clean wheels. As to the Kernow, cleaned out axle bearings, ultra polished wheels, plus a little more running-in and it's behaving as it should . That's some relief as today the credit card bill came in with the Kernow loco's payment due ! Geoff T.

I'm talking about Moaning and not Groaning, the latter always arrives with age and most noticeable when having to return to standing after sitting down for a while. I think we moan more than younger people because we've been around a long time and seen things done better. When you're young it's easier to accept crap as you don't know better. Please discuss and comment on any supplementary reasons. Decals, transfers ? be more specific Waterslide Transfers. The use of Americanised Decal will not cause an international incident. The story is :- I inherited half a dozen Ratio GWR 5 plank wagons, in individual plastic bags, but no decals, or instructions. I don't need instructions having already build quite a few. I contacted Peco who confirmed they could do me 6 sheets, but they wouldn't be posted out until the New Year. All very efficient and customer friendly as is the usual Peco way. The Transfers arrived on a strip, as if they were made on a roll, great ! Now I'm using Railmatch paints more than ever because Humbrol has turned into sludge. Can you really call it paint if on first opening a new tinlet you could invert without the contents spilling out ! The new transfers are very highly glossy and printed on a full carrier film, requiring individual items to be cut out before use. Not that unusual. My wagon sides were raw Railmatch finish, this is a fine satin sheen and usually takes transfers directly without any problem. To just help bedding in I use a little Micro-sol and leave to dry out overnight. The next day the transfers were barely hanging on, in fact a 'G' had fallen off !! I added more Micro-sol around the 'W' and on standing the wagon back on it's wheels I saw gravity pull the 'W' to the lowest part of the fluid bubble - UHhh what is going on ! I do have in the emergency set a couple of bottles of Tamiya varnish, 1 gloss & 1 Matt. I painted all the wagon sides with gloss varnish. Next day all set the finish was hardly any more glossy than the original raw Railmatch finish. This time I proceeded with a full Micro fluid application. Adding the decals onto a patch wet with Micro-set. When almost dry patted softly to remove any remaining moisture, when all transfers on one side gave a coat of Micro-sol. This time it seems to have worked, more from the Tamiya varnish than anything else. As I have so many of these wagons I needed to make up my own numbers from individual digits. These needed to stick well first time because of all the additional numbers that have to aligned tightly alongside. I wouldn't even try with the new decals, but managed to find enough left from previous builds to meet my needs. They were a dream, SO MUCH better to work with. What has gone wrong ?? Perhaps I should have guessed problems were coming when I saw the super glossy finish. I did a couple of 'New' Ratio Iron Mink kits last year. For numbers and livery markings I used HMRS pressfix, but used the Tare & tonnage marking from the Ratio transfers and yes they dried out and fell off !! I've seen the odd bad transfers before from the hundreds of aircraft models I've made. I doubt few people will have used more than me in my lifetime (78) and I probably have in excess of £1K worth of aircraft transfers in my stash. What Ratio/Peco used to use were fine, these are just not up to standard. Faults ? Too inflexible enough carrier film Take a long time to release from backing paper Inadequate adhesive Are they from a new, more efficient, cheaper, source ? Another retrograde quality move !!!! I feel better for letting that out - sent much the same to Peco, wonder if I'll get a reply ? Post transfer line up behind the 7 mm wagon. Geoff T.

Ahh, Obviously scanned pwr's message too quickly, so one could say even worse if you buy fully finished RTR. Although forgive me as my Dapol '00' purchases have been either kits, or unpainted. I obviously spend too long with my nose in a pile of bits. A few '00' Ratio kit built wagons in the background, BUT :- I have started the Parkside 16ton steel mineral, quite a lot easier to see !! Must remember to clean my glasses !! Geoff T.

What with pwr's problems with Dapol Kits and mine with Parkside kits I'm pleased to say that I'm just starting the last of my 4 x 7 mm wagons. It Is impossible to have anything wrong in a 4th Kit on the trot ?. Nope !! At least this time it's just that the enclosed brass wire isn't there. I don't know what thickness should have been included, but I have a packet of 0.5 mm brass wire on the shelf so it's not a problem other than a complete loss of confidence. WHY, Why ? I've made around 150 '00' wagon kits and almost zero problems. True some of the parts were a bit rough and didn't fit as well as intended, but all were there and complete Yet here I was using what should be quality kits and every one has had some niggling problem Tonight I may join the first parts together of this 4th kit, a 16 ton mineral. Before that I'll add decals to 5 Ratio '00' GWR 5 plank wagon kits. The only problem with these is they were designed for the original plastic wheel sets, or Alan Gibson finer scale metal tyred sets that tended to have small flanges and be slightly undersize. If fitting Hornby 3 hole wheels they heavily foul the brake shoes and on under chassis ridges. Not the kits fault, but matching to easily available alternatives can cause some miss-matches.. That however is another story and nothing to do with 7 mm scale. Geoff T.

The Heljan strip down, I started, but after looking at the gear wheels and running under power with the keeper plate off I decided that all seemed O.K. What was obvious was the torque effect on the front axle. This making the axle move more than I'd been expecting. In so doing I felt it was moving the motion fixing screw head too close to the cross head. I decided to very gently bend the crosshead runners outwards just a touch. Reassembled and tested, there was just one 'catch' jerk while running a shunting puzzle exercise. Partial success that indicates I've found the problem source. For a future and hopefully final fix I'm planning to make 2 sets of two part plasticard washers, in effect 4 horseshoe shapes that when overlapped and stuck together will create thrust bearings. These will have to be joined around the front axles between wheel and body. This will limit the (excessive?) end float of the front axle and stop any chance of fouling. It can't be that difficult to solve running problems can it ?? Only time will tell ????? At least it's light work when compared to building car engines, gearboxes and final drives ! Geoff T.

Hi Les, As I said, with the Kernow (DJ) it seemed to be electrical pick-up, so last evening I took it into major service. I'd always been a little unhappy with the amount of grease visible on the axles between body and wheels. I wicked the oily grease away using folded wads of kitchen towel. Then I decided to use Brasso to clean all the wheel tyres to within a mm of their life - a slow old job as you can only access a small piece of the tyre circumference at a time. Thoroughly checked the alignment of all motion duly re-oiling after a good clean. Hey presto, in the kitchen on a small length of track it ran as well as anything I have, except perhaps the 'H' Ruston. Perhaps today I'll test it on a few shunting exercises, but that one may well be sorted !! The Heljan awaits a strip down !! Geoff T.

Is there some Gipsy curse on 1361 series of locomotives ? My Heljan version stalls anywhere and everywhere. I can't see any fouling of the motion, but the stalling is a result of jamming somewhere, I fear in the drive gears. When stalled at slow speed, which is what it's required to do, there is a fine hum from the motor. Sometimes it will then jump into motion where I assume the decoder is loading the motor as it's EMF function works. Other times it needs a push with the problem evident in either direction. If run at a scale 30-50 mph there is no signs of the problem. It has now had in excess of 10 hours running in both directions on my test oval, using both forward & reverse. There has been no noticeable improvement on the shunting layout it was bought to run on. Right, I love the little loco, I need one that works and it's far too late to send this one back to Rails. Why not take a gamble on a Kernow (DJ) version ? I was once a Rally driver and not afraid of taking a risk, or two. The price was & still is one that I could afford to go wrong and it did !! This one is suffering excessive stalling, clean wheels, good track, and when prodded might run for a few inches (sorry about that, at my age I think in inches and not mm). I can't discern any electrical hum so think perhaps the motor isn't getting power. Being a split chassis design there are no wipers to adjust, so at the moment stumped. As far as the track condition goes a Hornby J94 will circulate at a scale 3 mph, a Hornby Ruston, plus two Pecketts offer comparative performance. My old battered Bachmann 8750 will crawl all day, yet BOTH 1361's are real duffers. Oh yes, DCC power sources used vary between a Hornby Select, A Gaugemaster and a Digitrax ..... It CAN only be the locos. I may pluck up courage and strip the gears from the Heljan examine under high marnification for any minor defects. Any sensible suggestions, throwing in a bin not really an option. Geoff T

Is life always Black & White ? With a good layer of rust. Mucking about track cleaning before an outing a few years back.. Don't know if anyone has added Chalk wagons before and I'm not searching 154 pages - sorry !! Geoff T.

I have finished a few more wagons, usually by stripping couplings from either Bachmann RTR, or earlier kit builds. This one used a pair of long couplers that I found in a box of spares. With a longer overhang I could set the mounting blocks slightly further back to keep my closer coupling in line with earlier production. So my Parkside PC49 LMS goods brake van :- Some 'rough' interior colour in case anyone is daft enough to try and look in. Seen here alongside it's brother a duckett less version. I only had 1 length of wire for grab rails and finished off using my slightly thicker 0.5 mm wire. I've never bothered to add entrance safety rails before, but this time I thought I'd try. I'll have to weather slightly at some time, but otherwise an easy build. Somewhere in the lost dates between postings I made a Parkside 21 Ton hopper. One that had been opened and one of the inner hopper sections missing. I think I managed a half decent job so perhaps another posting soon ? Still early enough to wish all who sail at times on RMWeb a Happy New Year - Stay in doors & build kits !!

Hi Brossard, I am very strict with myself and 4 it will stay. However with Club member Ken really being into 'O' When Covid allows I can run his stock and on his layout. Anyway wagon number 3 ready for painting, wagon 4 still in it's sealed box and I'm frightened to open it. Why ? The fates are telling me to keep out of 'O'. The disaster story so far :- Dapol Sentinel came with broken guard irons at one end (Rails obtained replacements I fitted myself). Parkside brake van in sealed box, with no wheel sets. (Sent to me by Peco) Parkside 12 Ton Van a miss formed corner on one side. (Repaired myself) Parkside 5 plank open with wrong instructions. (emailed by return from Peco) Note another '00' kit build alongside, not deserted that ! Geoff T.

Hi brossard Nice van underside, mine has now been painted using a home mixed GWR wagon grey that went wrong, Humbrol black with some N0.27 slate grey mixed in. Now a slightly off black and more use than a black, but too dark for GWRs later grey. Although I've always thought the GWR colour was much darker pre grouping. The expanding wagon collection had me laughing, being the owner of over 500 '00' freight wagons. Wagon building is addictive and while few will have room to run many 7 mm wagons my large '00' layout has run freights of between 50 and 60 behind a loco, with one travelling out loaded, the other returning the empties !! My argument is that I need between 100 - 150 16 ton minerals. This project is STRICTLY controlled, 4 at the very most .............. But there are so many I like !! Geoff T.

Thanks Hal Nail, It seemed odd to me, but as a friend who used to work at Wolverton said "Its a clever man who can see both sides at once" in his case referring to slightly different colours on each side of a refurbished coach. All in place so I have to live with it. So few 4 mm models have brake pipes it's something I'm not conversant with. Geoff T

The group so far. Only the van sides painted at present, I had to hold it by the ends. A small group like this in 7 mm looks O.K, wouldn't work with 'N' !! More painting tonight, but already thinking about that fourth and final 7 mm wagon. Although I'm a fan of 16 ton steel minerals, but I think it has to be a RCH 7 planker. Geoff T.

A search regarding the location of brake pipes on LNER wagons pointed me to an old 2011 RMW thread !! It seems that the piping was run down a false solebar on the opposite side to the brake cylinder. The shaped vacuum pipe fits well on one end in that manner, but is certainly not as shown in the instructions. Still at a loss as to the shorter pipe for the other end. Anyway buffers now in, weight added in the form of strip steel to give me as near as to 200 grams. A small shim added between one spring and the axle box so the van sits as near to square with equal distance to the ground at all 4 buffer beam ends and no diagonal rocking. Now apart from fixing the vacuum pipes it's into painting. My steel strip, fixed with gel superglue and also supported with foam fills The underneath. I'm still not 100% happy with my brake lever fitting. Too far out from the hanger, but even to achieve this I had to put an 'S' bend into the levers. Should have done more, but too late now. Roof stuck on, buffers in, Just those brake pipes. I'm happy as to fixing one, the other ?? Paints out tonight, Ahh what colour, early BR Bauxite ? BR freight brown ? Even I don't know what it'll be yet !! Geoff T.

Hi pwr, and Bike2steam, Exactly the same, which is why I plunged in. To be honest I believe that Dapol are bringing 7 mm into a more affordable sphere. There is no way I could ever dream of having one of those beautiful brass 4-6-0 locos that I see advertised in magazines. For me even £500 for a single loco would be a step too far, let alone £3000 !! As you're planning I decided we should at least have a test track. Who would ever do it ? ME I decided. So while Covid has crashed your club progress I utilised shut-down time after having agreed with the committee a rough spending limit. I then had to have something to test what I was making, hence the purchase in April of the Dapol Sentinel. To all those who think I may be smitten the wagons are, well sort of essential, you can't Just have a loco can you ? So definitely no layout planned, that doesn't mean I wouldn't do a collaborative construction. In secret I do fancy a 7 mm equivalent of the two '00' shunting layouts. Two boards, roughly 9 feet long, MMMMmmmm. Luckily I have a lot of self control - Believe that if you can !! Geoff T.

All brass in place in the braking system and the door bars. Buffers still need fixing, but I'm really confused regarding the Vacuum pipes. Only 1 end shown on the instructions and from that you can't see which of them it is !! Now will have to do some research, so all stops for a while I wasn't happy with the way the hand brake levers fitted, so I reprofiled to get a closed fit by the brake 'V' hanger. Otherwise it's coming out O.K. Geoff T

Thanks for the comments guys, I'm wondering if I'm the only one who struggles with the Parkside instructions, in particular for assembly of the brake gear !! The first one took me ages, with the 12 ton van kit they seemed even more confusing, so I upended the LNER brake van to see how I'd done that one. The white plastic cross shaft still loose and I have to add all the main lengthways rodding. I'm not too happy with the very sloppy axle box fit in the W irons and there is more diagonal rock than I find acceptable. I might add shims to get all wheels touching. Geoff T.

Not perfect, perhaps after a light sanding and another couple of coats of paint it'll be hidden slightly better. First one from a 'perfect corner Then the re-built corner I suppose nobody is going to look as closely as the camera ? Anyway with my old shaky hands and poor eyesight I don't think I could have done better. Geoff T

O.K some help for that last question. I think the minimum stock is 3 wagons. I have the brake, essential, I have the 12 ton van, again essential. So I need an open. Do I go for a 16 ton steel mineral ? Or a 7 planker ?? My initial thought is a 16 ton mineral as that would be far easier to weather, but 7 plank wagons also got everywhere as well. Geoff T.

I must have been lucky as I can't remember any real problems with any of the 100 or so '00' wagon kits I've made. I really don't 'do' locomotives although the two Roxey Mouldings white metal kits went together a treat, the only other the DJH kit needed heavy work. Anyway, slow progress but here we have the inside patch that gave me a backing for a small piece of thicker black plastic card. Some thinner white card fills proud so I can smooth down to the original. Still have to Add some fine filler after sanding and then scribing in the plank groove. I'm now asking myself do I really want 3 'O' wagons ? part of the original plan. Geoff T.

Having a stock of kits is fine until you have problems. Sometimes one has had them in stock years !! I'm currently working my way through some old kits in '00' one from before Ratio left Borehamwood (1960's). Interestingly I've had few problems with the 100 or so '00' kits I've made, although when many came without metal wheels sets, or decals. Being new to 'O' I've had only 2 kits, both having faults/missing, I'm assuming this is just bad luck - BUT life has taught me to never assume anything !! Geoff T.

I have got back to this 'O' stuff, too much to be done in '00' !! I'm also beginning to think I'm Doomed with my 'O' gauge projects. First the Brake Van was missing it's wheel sets, box never been opened. Peco replaced no problem. Now I've at last decided I have the time to start the Parkside PS46 kit, representing a LNER 12 ton fruit van. Disaster, well more like bad luck has followed me. On examining the box contents I find that one side of the van hasn't moulded completely. These things happen, but as I bought back in early April the original supplier may not want to have it returned and anyway to send back would cost postage, then what if they don't have another to replace it with ? I could I suppose have a word with Peco who are usually excellent, but I'm not certain I can be bothered. Surely a modeller with a few basic skills can hide this. A small piece of plastic card, some filler and great care during cleaning up should suffice. The kit contents :- My missing corner If I can't fix this I'm not much of a modeller, but when I think my Dapol Sentinel had broken guard irons at one end (Parts now replaced). The Parkside brake van had the wheel sets missing and now this has a small moulding fault. Are the fates telling me than 'O' is not for me ???? Geoff T.

I have ceased wagon production at the moment due to the severe shortage of Bachmann short narrow tension-lock couplings. I have temporarily pinched from 4 wagons to complete builds in progress, but that is not sustainable. In the meantime a nice to look at, but deceptively inaccurate very old Ratio GWR Open 'C' is reaching the end, short of weathering. This was inherited from a friend who passed away. An incomplete Ratio Open 'C' in a plastic bag. The fact it was incomplete was not found until I opened the bag. No instructions, buffers missing, brake 'V' hangers missing. Not a brilliant start Perhaps some spacers were there to overcome the excessive width, but I didn't identify as such. I'm used to Ratio kits needing spacers between the axle boxes and current (more of less) standard axle lengths. I add plastic washers. Missing brake 'V' hangers were made up, relying on the lower strengthening being hidden behind the solebars. In my spares I had a set of yellow buffers from an old Airfix Presflo. I decided these looked rather like GWR self contained buffers. when painted they would pass O.K in a moving train ! Rather over sized, but needed to add strength to my 'V' hangers some 1.0 mm rod was glued between them. I'd already decided that i was making a O19 version, because of the buffers. Now I looked at the brakes realising that they were wrong and had Morton type brake levers, regardless of the fact that the wagon body had DC III lever mountings ! Again the spares box came up with the goods, a pair of DC III levers. The brake arrangement as supplied was cut up re-built to something near enough photographs I have. I then added my end DC III frame, shortened to accept my coupling arrangement. When looking at photographs the underneath looks quite empty, but a brake rod is visible, so I added a wire that only can be seen in low angel photographs. Note some fine wires in the photo are fence wires !! Then disaster struck. I'd never bothered to check the wheel base measurement. While adding decals the end sections seemed short against what I thought were reasonably accurate decals. The kit gives me a 13 ft 9 inch wheelbase, rather than the 15 feet it should be. Will I add the Tare weight ? If so it'll have to be on the corner ironwork. Regardless of all that, in a moving train it'll look rather like an Open 'C' Kit manufacturers, many of these wagons were produced in 5 different series, giving options of buffer and brakes. An ideal subject for a new accurate kit !! I did enjoy making it, rather a damper on finding it's so short, but then Bachmann have marketed a cattle wagon 4 mm too long. If ever there was a reason to loose the Ratio moulds, I think I've found it !! What with sitting too low Too short Inaccurate brake parts Wrong axle boxes Don't make the mistake of pointing out the end strapping - Some had straight as the kit and in the O19 version I've sort of made, others did have hockey stick strapping, just one of the variables. I quite enjoyed making it and will run with any pre 1939 freight i decide to run. O19 made between 1917 & 1927. Two number series 94747 - 94930, & 99825 - 100000 Geoff T.