davetheroad

I have a new Stanier 1st class coach LMS version that I bought new a couple of years ago. It is sitting in its box awaiting the roof being painted a more reasonable colour than 'new' metal. I just tested it and it rolls away accelerating happily on my 1 to 100 test slope, on level track the 'finger tap' test has the coach traveling about 6 inches

Are the brake blocks rubbing on the wheels?

Are the back to backs OK

York Model rail www.yorkmodelrail.com have an extensive range of 00 scale white laser cut windows. they are not cheap though, for example a pack of four 16x24mm with 16 panes will cost £5

present ?

Hi Nile

They retail at £32 from the UK distributer, which is incredible value!

I don't know if the Blurail App works with them, but I will have a look at downloading it & giving it a go

Are Bluerail chips available at present?

Apparently BlueRail sold all the first batch of Blue Horse boards, I think they made 800? The new second generation board release date is indicated to be summer 2018.

I have 2 Blue horse boards and they work very well, customisation front end is very impressive. They are now sitting in a drawer because I can't get on with the touch screen interface. I am used to tactile feedback on the throttle ( a knob) but have been told you should be able to pair a small hand throttle with your smart device. The Android App never caught up in functionality with the Apple one either.

Bluetooth train control?

Is Hornby the new partner that BlueRail Trains have teamed up with?

Now that WOULD be interesting. A control board that gives you all the advantages of DCC with an excellent easy to use customisation and eliminates DCC's main problem, the rail/wheel interface. The control App running on your smartphone or tablet will appeal to many younger modellers too. They have good models in the Railroad range. those diesels and electrics have vast space for the batteries. You can get hours of use out of a 4 x AAA NiMh rechargeable pack.

Nah!. Blue Rails team up would have to be a USA/japan outfit because of market size

Card is a very under rated modelling material. Railway modellers tend to see it as useful for cheap buildings but many industrial and marine modellers make heavy use of card and achieve stunning results with it.

Forgive my ignorance but how do you damp proof card? I would hate to see it warping when painting.

See http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/127712-kings-cross-in-a-cakebox/page-3&do=findComment&comment=2935791 for my current favourite method.

I bought some magnets and 'borrowed' the baking tray from the kitchen. It has great potential once I find some steel section with vertical sides at least 2mm high.

I need a glueing guide for my layers of 10 thou plasticard cut on my cameo. Let me explain, I need to cut over 100 complex shapes for station canopy supports and want to ensure they line up accurately before applying the de-limonene.

The items will be rectangles about 30mm x 70mm with the cut component embedded within it, a bit like some laser cut building kit sheets. Up to 8 sheets will make up the final canopy support.

What I am thinking of is a 'L' shaped jig with an accurately machined internal 90 degree angle and vertical inside sides. 

The idea is I stack a number of layers in the jig and apply solvent to the outer edges which will be part of the final component. Let it set, cut off the unwanted bits and apply more solvent to the unglued edges, the result, hopefully is a neat final assembly.

does such a jig exist?. It would only need to be a few millimetres thick

The loose hook syndrome happens a lot with Dapol wagons, too and is not uncommon with Bachmann, Hornby and Heljan.

 

Like you, I use Kadees so it's just a case of binning two items (plus, usually, the NEM mount as well) instead of one.

 

John

That happens too much for me as well. no I am not going to fit kadees!. The original tension locks had rigid bars and the Dapols are intentionally given side play. I glued mine solid for a much better performance when pushing wagons.  As a lot of my wagons live in fixed rakes maybe glueing the hooks in place might solve things

I have 4 pairs of black livery locos, 3F 0-6-0, 2P 4-4-0, 2MT 2-6-0 and compound 4-4-0. In each case there is a 'dirty' one and a clean one. Plus as I model the 1950's the dirty ones have BRITISH RAILWAYS on the tender and the clean ones the logo.

I am time constrained by the capacity of the batteries in my radio controlled locos so I design the radio/battery installation to allow for a loco pulling a train for up to 20 minutes with a 2 hour 40 minutes 'idle' time. so it is a 3 hour session. With 12-15 locos operating and me driving them I find 3 hours is not enough but experience shows that 1 to 2 hours is the practical limit anyway what with other stuff getting in the way such as fiddling in the fiddle yard and the desire for tea and pee. Space constraints mean one end of the fiddle yard has the lift out access - aargh. 

one to two hours it is

You could also fit Hornby Class 37 to the Lima 50 but it would take more work. I have the bits to try such a project. If you use the Lima class 37 bogie consider fitting a replacement motor from diesel-trains

I thought the swelling was confined to mazakitus in a batch of 31s Keep selling the revamped Lima stuff, good repowering projects and good old school tooling.

Neil

And loads of space for the batteries

You can also re motor the Lima and IMO it makes a smooth powerful loco

www.diesel-trains.co.uk

If paper mache was invented today it would be called an advanced composite and everyone would be raving about it. apparently you can get a gloss ceramic finish by blending a suitable white paper and binding agent, then stick it in a mould etc

Has anyone experienced using these replacements from Diesel-Trains? They look straightforward and I’m tempted to have a try. It would be to fit a Lima 31 on a decent sized layout so would need to haul 5/6 Bachmann mk1’s. Also it’s a DCC layout so I presume I would need to hardwired the decoder - again anyone used them on DCC?

My converted Lima Class 47 hauls 12 Hornby Railroad Mk 1's with ease at over scale  60mph on 9v PWM DC, smooth as well. DCC should work as the motors are brushed but will need hard wiring.

Don't forget to fettle the gears

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=servicing+a+lima+diesel+loco&qpvt=servicing+a+lima+diesel+loco&view=detail&mid=4D20ACD6E32F295868464D20ACD6E32F29586846&FORM=VRDGAR

I had to mutilate some Bachmann MK 1's to get at the weights so it is useful to know that 0.5 mm wire is suitable as a replacement. A related question is what colour are they. The bacchie ones are black and the Hornby moulded ones are the roof colour, which is correct?

Hi all,

 

I haven't done much with the cutter since my demo at Pontefract Show a month or so ago. Today my good lady suggested that I use the Cameo to try out a template for a motion plate for the J6 that I am building. Like many I downloaded the latest version of Silhouette Studio and I find it hard going.

 

But having finally got used to where things are and how to resize my imported projects so that they match the Inkscape original size, today I tried out the multiple pass function upping the final cut to 6 passes. 

 

The piece that I was cutting was on a scrap of 20 thou fairly small and not very complex. So the series of cuts (starting at blade depth 1 and pressure 15 and working my way up to blade depth 10 and pressure 33) only took about 15 minutes in total. When it had finished I decided to run the final cut again (still set on 6 passes).

 

You can imagine my surprise when after the first couple of passes, the piece popped out of the cutting mat the blade having cut right through. I paused the job an d removed the blade to lift our the piece and then set it running again (I had copied the drawing so I had two motion plate pieces just in case I needed to laminate them). The same thing happened with the next one so I paused and then subsequently cancelled the job.

 

I have never been able to cut through 20 thou before and what's more remarkable is that I was using my original blade not the higher spec replacement that I bought. The only thing that's different is the new Silhouette Software and it's ability to apply multiple passes of each cut (as opposed to the old double cut setting).

 

I had set the first couple of cuts to 3 passes and then the next few to 4 passes with the final cut upped to 6 passes. I plan to try something else to see if it was a fluke or not. I will keep you posted.

What version of Studio is this new one with selectable multi cuts? I have v3.8.64ss but help says no upgrades are available

If you are using LED's make sure you buy good quality ones, apparently the cheapo variety will flood your railway room with radio frequency interference. I use fluorescent daylight tubes and bulbs, lots of lovely simulated daylight.

Back to the shipping container idea.

Bernard

Not wide enough? If I was going to build a new layout the minimum width would be 2.7 metres clear, enough for 0.9m baseboards down the sides and a 0.9m operating well, trouble is you realise you need to win the lottery to afford a house with a big enough garden

Regarding windows why have any at all, especially in the door? If you need light on your modelling bench equip the shed with daylight temperature lighting plus a couple of extra lamps for the bench. My place has a combination of long fluorescent tubes and moveable fittings, 8 in all. You will need to provide ventilation of course but no windows makes security easier.

It's not real you made it all up didn't you!

Incredible.

How about animating that 'orse

Thanks people, I will leave the rail there and thin it down.

I am constructing a tender for this little 0-4-0 loco which is a Hornby 'Smokey Joe'. My question as about access to the tender from the footplate. On the model there is a cut out section at the rear of the cab with a rail across the top. If this rail was fixed the foreman could not reach the coal!. Could it be removed and if so how?

It works well once you practice how to apply it. I water it down slightly and use a brush to apply a thin even coat, then leave the wheels spinning for 30 minutes or so and then apply another coat. After applying the coats and another 30 minutes spin leave it overnight to cure. I have a few locos that are a bit light footed and it has cured them.

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Fix the female half by all means but the male half I would put on a flying lead. If you do attempt to use them both fixed I think you will find that you wont get the boards apart without a great deal of effort.

And the longer the block the harder to pull apart!. If you want several connections split the block into pairs and use coloured insulation tapes to code the wires.