vaughan45

Unfortunately it does appear to be the 'Railway Muddler' rather than Hornby Magazine

The use of Unifrog is Peco wishing to make all of their turnouts DCC friendly and provide users with a choice of whether to power the frog or not. A similar method is used by some other track producers for the USA market such as Shinohara / Walthers and Atlas on their code 83 range. Interestingly I have an O gauge threeway turnout produced by Peco for Lenz and although that has Unifrogs, it doesn't have any plastic in the frog / crossing, just small gaps in the rails leading to the frog and from the switch rails. All the insulated rails are linked underneath electrically, so if you power the frog, you also power the isolated part of the crossing as well. I thought this was the arrangement they were using on the new OO bulhead turnouts.

Excellent model, now need to build an ER layout to run it

I would agree as my later Lionheart wagons have been more affected than those purchased from earlier production runs, Cheers, Vaughan

The eight wagons I have received all have 3 hole disc wheels, not split spokes as on the pre-production examples. The van sides are not bowed once the roof is in place as the roofs have a moulding that runs the length of their underside to hold the sides in the correct position, so there is no need for any additional re-enforcement. There is small amount of bowing to towards the centre of the open wagons sides which is unfortunate; although the installation of a load would correct this. I suspect this is a problem with the moulding process, rather than quality control after production as all three (natural, grey & bauxite) bow in the same way and are quite rigid along the sides length, The bowing is not as pronounced as I have found on some of the Lionheart open wagons - both 16T & 7 Plank types.

I believe many in the early builds had Instanter couplings, where the centre link can be positioned to 'lock' the coupling to remove the slack. Certainly photos in a variety of sources appear to show BR standard fitted wagons with either type. However I know there are others on here who can supply more details.

Definitely more Lionheart that previous Dapol, so Richard Webster's input is working. My 8 should arrive tomorrow (would have had them Friday if I hadn't missed the phone call from Tower Models on Thursday), will be interested to see how the 5 plank in natural finish looks as it appears slightly odd in the photos I have seen. Whilst the planking is a natural 'wood' colour, the metal work / ends are black - would have thought they should have been grey primer. Has anyone got one already?

Agreed, I have two black ones and have two different green ones (late crest with stripes & early crest with stripes - DCC Supplies limited edition) on the way. My only comment is avoid the Dapol sound fitted versions and do your own thing as I was very disappointed with the Dapol sound project. Fitting sound is easy and you end up with a better overall package for less money! Happy Christmas, Vaughan

Exactly the point I was making in response to earlier posts - there are no spare items as there aren't supposed to be any and this is quite clearly stated in the accompanying paperwork.

Only item supplied spare for any of my 08's was the speaker mounting. Slightly under-nourished vac pipes are already fitted to all the models I have received. Vaughan

Despite first appearances the paper wasn't as absorbant as expected when used for alternative purpose!!

Correction - having looked again the speaker is at the cab end of the bonnet top, but the loco was supplied with the bonnet top refitted the wrong way round. Will probably cut my losses and remove all of the speaker except the back plate and then install a Zimo one behind the radiator grill as I did on my self-install. Have two more on order, so will probably switch these from sound to non-sound versions and do the installs myself.

Interestingly having taken the lid off, Dapol have actually glued an oblong speaker onto bonnet top, rather than use a round one designed for the moulded housing. This speaker projects under the exhaust area, so the although the instructions state you should lift the bonnet top from the radiator end in order to remove it, you actually need to release the cab end first in order allow the bonnet top to be pulled back towards the cab first. Having played with the CVs this evening the sound has improved a little, but I think the Zimo decoder will be replaced / re-blown with one of Paul's sound schemes.

What is the view on the Dapol sound scheme in the class 08??? I have just received a black one with factory fitted sound and not terribly impressed when compared to the one I self-installed using one of Paul Chetter's sound schemes. Despite following the instructions, I just wondered if I am doing something wrong, as it doesn't appear to notch up when accelerating and seems to remain on 'tick over' at all speeds. Thank you, Vaughan

Excellent news, looking forward to receiving them to complement my existing roster. Vaughan

First edition of this magazine is bagged with latest Rail Express. Looks poor compared to Rail Express Modeller supplement, but think it is probably aimed at the beginner or collector market. Very reminiscent of the old Practical Model Railways magazine both in terms of content and production values.

Below is a comparison of the GWR green on my terrier compared to the green used on the Ixion GWR Fowler diesel, which shows some difference, although not sure if this is related to the differences that occurred in GWR green over the years. Although not being particularly knowledgeable on GWR matters I do seem to remember there was pre and post 1928 green. Both these locos are awaiting new identities for my industrial layout, which will involve the removal of the GWR ownership, plus some additional detailing and weathering. Hope this helps, Vaughan

Excellent, I have a DCC sound version fitted by EDM which includes 'stay alive' capacitors to ensure smooth and reliable running at low speed. DC versions I have seen appear to run well at low speed straight out of the box. Vaughan

Not sure this will help, but the first thing to mention is that the lid as three clips down either side, not two near the ends as shown on the Dapol instruction sheet. Therefore squeezing the lid near the ends as indicated on the sheet failed to work for me and risked damaging the handrails. My cack-handed method of gaining access was to undo the two body retaining screws under the chassis, carefully unclipping the ends of pipework from the chassis sides (doing this is not mentioned on the instruction sheet) and lifted the body up a little. In the available gap I pushed a rigid plastic rod upwards and this moved the lid up sufficiently to disengage the clips and I could then carefully remove it. Also worth mentioning is that if you are going to remove the body fully, you will need to watch out for the vacuum pipe on the front which could potentially become damaged due to the way in which it is secured. On my example the wiring to the cab light doesn't appear long enough to allow the body to be removed fully, without it being unplugged from the main circuit board. Vaughan

I suspect the Dapol open wagons were designed and in production before Richard Webster of Lionheart joined the company. I have no knowledge of Dapol's intentions although I wouldn't be surprised if the ex-Lionheart 7 and 8 plank opens became the basis of their future releases of this wagon type, unless future releases of the Dapol tooling are made to sell at a lower price point. I converted a Dapol 5 plank a while ago, using a variety of parts, but found I would have better spending the time it took to built a kit.

Thanks for photo link, although interesting for the period I am intending to use the 08 for it may need windscreen wipers. It is due to have a range of customisation applied, have the ladders removed, be subjected to a partial repaint and have wasp stripping applied to the ends, followed by a dose of weathering to represent one that has been sold into industry. Whilst I had been intending to start and customise the JLTRT 08 kit, at £170 for a fully working loco I thought this would present an interesting challenge. With regard to decoder fitting, my only warning would be to remove the Dapol blanking plate carefully to avoid bending the pins as it seemed to be a much tighter fit than on some other 21 pin locos I have encountered,

Couple of photos of initial stages of fitting sound to my black 08, following Paul's instructions, using a Zimo MX644D, LS40x22x09 twin speaker and his Activedrive sound file. Final speaker fixing and wiring tidying still required. Burbles along nice & smoothly and lighting fully operative. It will be interesting to compare this to the factory fitted sound green version currently on order. I succumbed to the black one as too impatient to wait for the green!! Must do something about the lack of windscreen wipers though.

Looks as though this is coming along well, although it's a shame, some of the issues with the earlier BR & LMS van kits appear to have been carried forward to these wagons. The metal castings seem to vary between batches, sometimes they are a sloppy fit leaving gaps and at other times they require filing. Good to know they now have the buffer spacing correct. You seem to have been lucky with the vacuum cylinder casting, many I have received have been poorly produced and I usually try and fit a replacement from an alternative supplier such as ABS (w/metal) or Parkside Dundas (plastic). Must admit I usually don't use the white metal safety hoops, but make my own from heavy duty long staples, using one leg as supplied and bending the other as necessary. I have found that Slater's axles do fit if you deepen the holes in the axleboxes, although it has to be done very carefully to ensure you don't come through the front surface, as I know from experience.