davetheroad

What sort of containers would freightliner have in the late 1960's. I want to collect a typical 15 flat train? and need to know the container designs and sizes, and what colours to paint them.

I don't intend to be pedantic about it but for me and I suspect many others the words radio and wireless mean the same thing. However my radio control system uses the 2.4Ghz band to send digitally encoded signals from my transmitter to my locomotive. I think Bluerails boards do exactly the same within the 2.4Ghx band? Different protocols but the same result.

Was battery capability a late addition? The bluehorse boards have the battery connections built in so I don't think it was an afterthought? Actually batteries are used by the boards as power backup instead of stay alive capacitors so they must have been part of the development process. What I find neat about their boards is they switch seamlessly between track and battery power and so maintain the radio link. For those who want it you can have a hybrid power setup that uses track power on simple track and onboard battery for the complicated stuff like return loops etc. Then there are good things like that impressive consisting capability and sound. The price also drops for multiple purchase so buy 10 and you save $15 per board. I think 3 improvements are needed 1 - a smaller board for UK outline locos although you can fit an existing one in a Hornby Railroad diesel! 2 - add battery power monitoring, they can do this but I don't think they have implemented it yet. 3 - someone needs to find a small handheld 'throttle' for people like me who want tactile feedback because I like to watch the trains while I change the speed.

Don't worry about the pulling power. My Lima ones have what appears to be an identical drive train and they can pull 20 coaches with ease. Sorry about going of topic, is there a second hand market for the TTS sound decoders with associated wiring and speaker etc? I was thinking of buying the upcoming class 37TTS but don't want the sound or decoder and it appears Hornby will only be releasing TTS models.

IMO retitling is a good idea but I would go further and move the topic to the radio control forum because it is not just about DCC, in fact it is mostly not about DCC.

How much does a Roco Z21 cost?

That is nice!. I have not heard anything from BlueRail since they announced they are developing DCC connectivity. That BlueRail board gives 2amps output so you could even have double headed DC locomotives. As my RC stuff is Deltang I would use a Rx-65 board (£40) that can handle 3amps or 6 amps with a daughter board. The downside of a Deltang board is you would need a transmitter, £26 kit, £46 built and power rectification circuitry. The bluerail board works on DC, DCC, battery and even auto switches between them so if you installed batteries they would act like a super stay alive capacitor.

So true, the sheer bliss of no wires and crawling about under the boards. The locos seem to work better as well. I recently converted a Lima class 20 and on test it was starting 20 Hornby RR MK 1's with ease. That's up to a 800 ton train!. The Railroad Deltic is OK with 30 coaches (although the tension locks aren't) and on a recent test the Hornby class 66 will pull the equivalent of 21 Bachmann HTA bogie coal hoppers and that at 190g per wagon.

I had never heard of salt water etching but it looks a useful technique. just google it and there are lots of instructions out there.. I am impressed.

Interesting stuff as I am thinking about adding lights to a Lima loco. A very tidy and neat circuit board for the resistors. How many ohms are they?

Page #58 has the answers. I will be starting with those settings when I attempt the station canopy supports. Thinks - plasticard is expensive so why not cut your sheet in half (A5) and if, like me you have the studio page set to A4 portrait only have your design in the top half of the page and place the plasticard on the carrier so the long edge is across the width. At least you will only waste half a sheet when it goes wrong!.

I am having a senior moment here, I have the latest version of studio and wonder if an upgrade to the designer edition equivalent build is available? I understand that designer edition has layers and presumably you can lock and hide them?

I am having a senior moment here, I have the latest version of studio and wonder if an upgrade to the designer edition equivalent build is available? I understand that designer edition has layers and presumably you can lock and hide them?

Same here. The newbuild council house keys were delivered in 1951 on the day I was born. My mother still lived there until 3 years ago. The build quality was excellent and we even had upstairs and downstairs loos!. It was huge compared with todays shoeboxes. High quality brick, tiled roof, 3 bedrooms, 2 reception rooms and still much sought after by prospective tenants. I remember the windows were metal framed with horizontal panes - crittal hall? Google earth and streetview of the area you are interested in. You will still find some houses with the original wall finish.

I use single or double cell lipos depending on the current draw of the locomotives. The efficiency of the Pololu regulator depends on the input voltage and output voltage. For locos drawing less than 0.35A I use a single cell lipo delivering a nominal 3.7V and I have the power shutdown set at 3.4V For locos drawing over 0.35A I use 2 cells in series delivering a nominal 7.4V with the power shutdown set at 6.8V. With 2 cells the Pololu gives good efficiency for locos drawing over 0.7A The regulator is available in 5V, 9V and 12V versions. I find that 9V works well for me as a large pacific loco can haul 12 coaches at over scale 60mph using 9V.

Well timed! I was about to buy some and my original source no longer seems to stock them, however try this http://www.makertronics.co.uk/9v-output-voltage-regulator-modules-en/

No, it is this one https://www.pololu.com/product/2116 It has integrated thermal protection and I have never noticed one getting hot.

Can anyone help with Cameo cut settings for window frames cut from adhesive labels pre stuck to clear acrylic? I have done a search on 'frames' and all the stuff seems to be about using styrene. The windows are 00 scale and for convenience sake I intend to have interior frames 0.5mm wide. I have tried the cutter manually and a '1' depth setting cuts the label well but what about the other cut settings?

I think the radio controlled aircraft hobby has things called actuators which look like little electromagnets, Some of them are really tiny and I wonder if they could be used for uncoupling by attracting a suitably modified tension lock hook so it raises Maybe better than the servo driven ones. I know Deltang receivers have connection pads which could possibly activate an actuator?

Brilliant and a tidy workshop as well!

Yes, that is the only difference. Those battery attachment points are tiny though and surrounded by other components so you have to be good with a soldering iron if you want to add your own. My boards were provided with nice soft flexible wires but even so they do stick out a bit and I think it would be better if they had SIL sockets instead so you could plug in single core wire. Update - I updated my Android version of the App last night - or I think I did. Not had time to test it yet and I am shutting the layout down for the xmas break. I might get a couple of hours in this week though.

Apologies, I was referring to the Bluetooth/Processing module which is produced by Ridago. According to BlueRail Ridago now have a module available which is half the size.

BlueRail have said they have developed the technology to drive a DCC decoder. Do they have to include this in one of their control board or in addition they could have a 'lite' version which is much smaller and cheaper but only drives a DCC decoder. Their Bluetooth module is now available in a smaller size and includes processing ability plus memory etc.

You have a point there. BlueRail must have a reason for doing what they do, maybe somewhat driven by Bachmanns wishes, and investment money. Lets take an extreme guess. Bachmann are going to announce a 'base station less' replacement for DCC, App driven with the ability to control the old heritage DCC decoders. The future DCC will be radio controlled App driven with a choice of track power/ battery power or a combination of both - and Bachmann, or they hope it will.

This is the relevant quote from the BlueRail email. The other big exciting project BlueRail has been absorbed in is creating the technology for our bluetooth protocol to communicate with DCC and sound decoders ​As it says DCC 'and' I read it as communicating with non sound decoders.