davetheroad

If you want larger radius take a look at Shinohara who do fixed radai code 100 in 2 inch increments from below 24 inch to 36 inch. I think the downside is you can only buy them in complete circle packs.

You could try servicing the gears and motor for even better running. I did and there was a considerable improvement. See this video I found the pdf file here https://www.dropbox.com/s/s90kqr24stcf75t/lima%20service.pdf?dl=0 You don't need that ultrasonic bath but the Isopropyl alchohol is useful for all forms of cleaning

We are lucky that Dapol make these excellent value for money wagons. I have over 100 of them and I primed mine and then used Railmatch BR early grey and 'brown'. I made up the lettering on the computer and printed them on sticky backed label paper. Each wagon individually numbered! Long may Dapol continue. ps - I 'fettle' the couplers by making them rigid with the heights set against a standard wagon. It seems to have cured any derailment issues.

The motor in the kit I bought was brushed with just 2 wires. It comes attached to a mounting plate and fits in the space where the old armature and magnet used to be. I think there are 2 sorts of motor in a CD drive, one to drive the spindle and another to open the door and move the tray?

I converted a Lima class 08 with a kit from here. www.diesel-trains.co.uk A remarkable improvement in slow speed running with battery power delivering PWM DC via a Deltang radio receiver. You need to 'fettle' the Lima gear chain though to remove the moulding pips from the gears. This should stop the horrible grinding noises. I am going to convert a Lima class 26 and 37 next.

I think the colour fills and patterns etc are meant for printing on say an ink jet printer. If you include registration marks the cutter will sense these and cut around the shapes. The idea is you produce the whole image and cut it entirely within the silhouette software.

Thinks - they could venture into plastic chassis production. Lima did it and Hornby do with their Railroad range diesels etc. They don't rot either!.

Bluerail suggest turning off the auto pairing option in a multi control app environment. You will then have to select the loco to add it to your 'playlist' and release it if you want to make it available to other users. You could try that. thinks - Are you running the Bachmann Ez app and the bluerail app at the same time?

See post #11 here for 100 ton tanks http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/121911-signature-1960s-wagons/

I agree that the terminal pads would be better with something like an inline socket so if you want a battery you can just plug it in. The existing Bluerail board is enormous compared with something like a Deltang Rx which is similar in size to a DCC decoder. Bluerail have promised a smaller board

The bluerail board is extremely sensitive to the tiniest interruption in track power. It is not just a temporary loss of command signal like in DCC it is a shutdown and reset of the receiver.. The solution is there on the board, fit a backup battery, the terminals are there to connect it to. Use a battery that gives a similar voltage to your track power for seamless instantaneous switching between the two. Those battery terminal pads are difficult to get at and you have to be careful with the soldering iron. I bought the battery version of the board with leads already connected. I don't think Bluerail will be adding stay alive caps or similar because they already have a superior system that allows for hybrid running, track power, battery power, or a combination of both. I think this will become the preferred solution because of the flexibility it gives. I might run BPRC (battery power radio control) and you might run TPRC (track power radio control. Same receiver, same control App!.

Running reliability is improved if you include a back up battery or run on pure battery power. With a back up battery the Bluerail board will automatically switch between the two. Running a 'shuttle' is available on other BPRC equipment. Deltang have 'Buffer stop', Stop and reverse' and 'station stop'. all activated by under track magnets.

Have you tried the Bluerail app? I think it has a lot more functionality than the Bachmann version. There is a video on the blurail site showing how you can use a micro Bluetooth speaker in the train and have the sound redirected to it. For me they need a smaller board with battery voltage monitoring. Plus a small handheld tactile throttle (knob). As for sound, OK if you want it but it clashes with the music I play whilst operating trains. I agree that in 10 years time track power will be seen as a niche market compared to the mainstream battery power. Oh the joy of no wiring and locos that don't stall.

I just tried changing the PWM settings on my smokey joe and it worked! The default setting was 16KHz so I tried it on 500Hz first. The loco started on a lower voltage but not a lot of difference. There was a high pitched hum which was noticeable on acceleration. On 120Hz there was a definite improvement with a lower starting speed and a low volume low pitched hum, actually better than at 500Hz. On reverse there was some binding evident which was masked before because of the higher speed. That should be fixable. Smokey Joe has a pretty awful motor and a low gearing ratio but I tried converting it to radio and battery because someone said they would be surprised if it was possible to convert a 0-4-0 Another question - does a low PWM frequency damage the motor?

According to the Deltang site the Rx-61 PWM can be programmed for 16 KHz 8 KHz 2 KHz 500 Hz 120 Hz I must try the settings on my smokey joe.

Just divide 100 by the percentage. Your 5.3% grade is a 1 in 18.867924 slope. OK, 1 in 19

The obvious difference between the receivers is the PWM frequency. The Rx-61 will default to either 12Khz or 16Khz, that is 12 or 16 thousand power pulses per second. The Rx-41 defaults to 130Hz, that is 130 power pulses per second. Apparently lower PWM frequencies can give more torque to a motor. Does the loco make a noise? The Rx-61 frequency is considered to be silent.

Nice Corbs, that's the way I do it with my 0-6-0 Jinty and 0-4-0 Smokey Joe. Your green loco has much smoother acceleration and deceleration than my Smokey Joe. What loco is it and how did you get it to perform so well? I presume it is Deltang? edit I should read the text, it is a Hornby/Dapol pug

Works well as your power cars are well matched. Looks impressive as well in all that space.

The Eurostar uses a power bogie so if you could find another you could try having two power bogies in the power car. You might have a problem finding a spare though. I think if you had a powered car at each end you would have to accurately speed match them otherwise the train might break or buckle depending on which power car was faster. I don't know how powerful the motor bogie is but my Hornby Railroad Deltic can pull 14 coaches, in fact it can pull 30 !.

I tried the Protocab site today. It is not available, anyone know why?

What type of batteries do you use? I thought of these as an option but the rechargeable ones, at least from the well known manufacturers, only have about 170mAH capacity and would onlt keep one of my locos going for about 40 minutes.

Thanks I should have remembered Paul Bartlett! It looks like they are mostly 20' and 30' but there are a few interesting specials for variety.

Glad you mentioned this Robin as I am just starting to convert some diesel locomotives and, depending on the model there is a lot of room to fit in batteries etc. For some of them I have found that using 4 AAA size rechargeable NiMH cells with a voltage converter works well with up to 4 hours of use before battery replacement. NiMH has the advantage of being a standard consumer product that you can buy in any supermarket and is considered safe and perhaps not as scary as lithium batteries.

Let me make a prediction, BPRC will become another standard for controlling model locomotives. There are already systems available that can switch automatically between track and battery power and users of those systems will become to realise that just using the battery means you don't have to worry about track wiring, hex juicers, return loops etc. I suspect the tipping point will come when the promised new battery technologies arrive. Not everyone uses DCC to control their points, even on a DCC layout and I would consider track block circuit detection as a niche market!. My layout has no wiring at all and, like many I find wiring a chore and detest crawling about underneath the baseboard. Wirefree is truly a joy.