HeavyDuty

Can anyone comment on the running characteristics of these?

On 22/03/2020 at 16:20, Bartb said:

I recieved my 14xx on Friday, and guess what ? it's not working.  First loco I have ever had that is not working.  so will phone the shop up tomorrow about sending it back. So much for not going out. 

My pair arrived last week, and while one runs beautifully the other ran poorly for a few inches and stopped. I looked for obvious issues such as an unseated PCB, but it appears to be an issue somewhere near the motor because the firebox light does work indicating power is being picked up.  I’m hesitant to pop it open to look for a loose wire, and because the running was rather poor initially I think it will need to make the long trip back across the ocean for replacement. 
 

They are truly gorgeous models!

My pair of unnumbered black early BR ones shipped from Hattons... they needed to move me from RM to DHL due to parcel size.  I am on mandatory work from home, and DHL to my usual PO Box is problematic so I changed the shipping address to the house.  I expect to see them Monday or Tuesday.

On 13/04/2019 at 03:06, cornelius said:

 

Certainly happy to discuss a plate designed to fit if you can supply the exact size inside the moulded beading.

 

info@narrowplanet.co.uk

 

Cheers, Stephen

On 13/04/2019 at 03:19, coeurdelyon said:

Hi Stephen, OK, sounds like a plan, will be in contact later next week. Thank you

Regards, Richard

Did anything further come of this, please?

On 14/03/2020 at 08:02, Warspite said:

I'm delighted it was my 'Minimum Space Layout' from 2011 (!) that got you started in 7mm. I was inspired (and continue to be) by some of the superb 7mm modellers on here.

 

Your weathering is very convincing and I just love what you have done to the planked van. The corrosion on both the van and the 16T mineral wagon is particularly effective. Keep up the great work. Any thoughts on a layout plan yet?

 

Stephen

He is not alone - your layout was also the catalyst for my jump to 7mm.  Seeing a small, well detailed layout like you created was a huge inspiration.

I’ve been inactive for a few years, but the 14xx is enough to reboot my enthusiasm.  A small branchline terminus in Devon or eastern Cornwall with a pair of 14xxes, an Autocoach and a few wagons is inspiring, with the goal of building a small layout for exhibition.

I’ve been waffling over what version (or versions) to purchase, I generally use Hattons because of their wonderful service shipping to here.  One of their representatives emailed me this morning in response to a question and mentioned these are expected to start shipping to customers Wednesday 18th March.

Hopefully Narrow Planet will offer number plates for these, because I ended up ordering one numbered and one unnumbered.

Thanks for all your interest in all of LLCs projects. A few small updates follows.

 

If you're in Hertfordshire tomorrow Little Loco will be at the Albury S7 show (details below) with a limited amount of stock for sale and free chinwags with yours truly. The superb layout Love Lane will be the centre attraction, so if you like finely observed details, this is not to be missed!

 

The Class 50 is progressing. To avoid any sort of inter-manufacturer tangles I'm not going to say any more than that... Our anticipated Type 2 also continues, and fortunately the advanced systems developed for this model will be adopted and/or adapted for the C50. Both of these models will be state of the art in terms of embedded technology.

 

The Rustons are in the factory and have been 'virtually tooled' to check for errors and fit before the actual tooling is complete. This potentially saves a lot of money adjusting tooling after the first mouldings come out of it, and saves the time required to correct those errors.

 

I'd like to show you the level of technology we had to squeeze into this model to produce something that LLC would be proud to offer for sale, and to give you some insight into what is to come for future models.

 

To begin with, we wanted as close to a prototypical drive system as possible, i.e. a central drive shaft that in turn powers the axles. We really tried to produce a real chain to drive the axles, but it would either require a very over-sized chain or for it to be made from titanium. Neither was viable. The motor has been designed by LLC and the factory to produce plenty of torque at only 5000rpm, which requires a much smaller geartrain. As a back-up to these toothed gears we have a helical geartrain just in case, but we feel we should need it.

R48 1.png

 

Next, we had to design the electrical systems to take up as little space as possible while also being capable performers, and these had to be secured in place. The die-cast motor block is screwed to the substantial die-cast chassis (shown next), and working from front to back we have the following:

The speaker is the latest technology flat panel design and utilises the radiator cowling as the sound chamber. This will produce bass frequencies well below 300Hz. For such a small model and speaker area this is quite impressive.

Behind this sits the built-in capacitor board, which provides several seconds of uninterrupted power – essential for such a small wheelbase model. This operates on both DCC and DC by utilising a unique feature of ZIMO decoders.

On top is a cut-down version of the all new LLC common interface board, which will feature on all our models, and as every model will be DCC you only have to choose sound or non-sound, and you are able to seamlessly upgrade at a later date with no additional wiring, soldering or hunting for a speaker that fits – everything is already there and pre-wired.

R48 2.png

 

To give you some idea on the size of the mechanical and electrical systems, all of this fits in a volume of only 4x3x2cm as seen on this image.

R48 3.png

 

Finally, with the cab attached you can begin to see the model in its final form. The design leaves the cab interior completely free of obstructions for you to add a driver, his newspaper and packed lunch. Inside the cab is the prototypical combined battery and toolbox. At only approx 8cm long I really don't think you can pack much more technology into something of this size and scale.

R48 4.png

 

Thanks, Steve

Steve, seeing this makes me wonder what magic you could do with a WuM railbus...

I think I'm rather oversubscribed for the initial ten sets.... let me produce them first....

I'd be interested in two sets from a future run if you're up to posting them to the US.

My shed known as "Platform 2" is a well appointed building which is FULLY insulated and heated. Maggie reckons that with the addition of a bed, a fridge, and a microwave I could be self contained!! I had better watch out before she carries out her threat!!

 

Heavy Duty. When you do visit the UK again send me a PM and you can come and play with Ramchester.

 

Rod

Thank you, Rod - that's very kind! I'm remarrying this fall, and I'm hoping to show my fiancé what I love about the UK within the next few years.

Rod, thank you for posting the photos of Bath - it brings back fond memories of my last trip to the UK with my late wife in the summer of 1999. I desperately wish to return...

Well said Ken, lets keep up the pressure by asking for them to be produced.

Well then, how about this: (let's see if tagging works)

@81A Oldoak - Chris, would you be possibly interested in a crowdfunding project for a 7mm UCV Clayhood?

(Apologies to Steve, but I figure he might be interested too!)

What I don't get is that it always seems to be bad on the UP tracks, to my eye the BNSF trains seem to roll through there pretty smoothly.

I beleive the UP side sees more frequent and heavier trains.

Late to the party, but West Country modeling and clay hoods were my original interest when I came back to UK outline almost 20 years ago. I've always thought 7mm UCVs would sell well, and are the type if wagon that would generally be purchased in multiples. I personally would want at least a dozen, and that's assuming a small shunting plank.

I am also experimenting with adding some removable boards along the front, namely so I can utilise the float and apron, albeit as static displays. With this in mind, I have a name: Waukegan Harbor and Marine. What do you think?

Would the car float be ATSF themed? If so, Waukegan would be a bit jarring to a local. There were actual car floats on the Chicago River in the past - if that appeals I can come up with some likely street names for you.

Thanks Andy, nothing done this week apart from going through nearly a full pack of A4 to try and get a track plan together, to be honest it's the most frustrating week yet since I've took up modelling again. Unfortunately I have 'prototypical OCD' so unless a track plan looks realistic my tiny brain can't compute!

Last night though I dug out two left over n gauge cl40 bodies and using more sheets of A4 I've been having a good play around. I've also decided 3' width is a max and either three or four 5' boards is an absolute max to (again all long term).

Up to know the two that I'm most happier with are a stabling point based on an old steam shed with a small fuelling point or something based very much on Buxton (again ), once I'm happy with the two final plans I'll post them up in here to get some thoughts.

On a more positive note though I managed to attend the West Lancashire O Gauge Group and stretched the legs of the cl37 for the first time, in fact it's the first time I've ran any of my locos https://youtu.be/ped7ZurfGog

Had a great afternoon and made to feel very welcome so a big thank you to everyone there today.

Cheers

What fertilizer do I need to use on my fields to grow a new DSLR like that?

Martyn, I haven't pulled apart either of my 08s yet. Are all axles geared, or are the side rods used to power two?

My new NCE PowerCab arrived, and I was able to set it up and test all the higher functions on my 15's decoder. Brilliant!

I think I'll be remapping a few decoder functions if it is possible - we have commonly used standards for functions over here. I need to dig out the big Zimo decoder manual I printed, but I'm fairly sure this is doable.

I did have a look through the books I had at hand and found the majority of the photos of Class 15s in solid green were folded down, and those with yellow warning panels were folded up. This leads me to believe that, for the very early 60s that are of interest to me at least, I'm safe folding them down.

According to the notes I have the headcode shown on the model - a Heljan 4mm one - denotes a freight, mineral or ballast stopping at intermediate stations in the 1960's period, and Unfitted freight, Branch freight, freight stopping in section in the 1970's.

 

I must admit to being puzzled by the comments regarding the white lights as there are non illuminated on it. Are you seeing the white discs showing through the upturned flaps holes as lights perhaps?

 

Izzy

That's what it was, Izzy - I zoomed in to your photo and realized I was seeing the discs through the mouseholes, not lit white lights. I need to look for photos, I'm modeling the very early 1960s and am curious if there was any consistency in how the discs were folded at that time.

Simon, I was thinking I'd stick with commercial points based on my experience with handlaid using copperclad sleepers in HO - things always seem to come adrift at some point requiring repair both with my points and those on other people's layouts. Having that happen after the track is buried in pavement could be catastrophic!

Thank you for reminding me about the need to add droppers on Peco - I had forgotten about that, and probably wouldn't have remembered until twenty minutes after the plaster had set. Also, Placticine might well be a better option regardless of what track I use, I'll research that method - I hadn't considered it.

They will be much cheaper and more satisfying with no coffin over the tiebar. My HAMPLOT template system for building points works most satisfactorily.

I would like to use them embedded in setts for a small urban goods yard, so I'd prefer the reliability and durability of premade points for this specific purpose.

With the class 15's the discs were mostly folded up rather than down. Like this

 

 

RMweb ASE 01.jpg

 

 

Not quite sure why, but it seemed to happen right to the end of their existence and is clearly seen in photos of them.

 

There are a few here which show this: http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/

 

Look under the Reference & inspiration link

 

Izzy

I haven't been able to test my lighting yet (I had to order a new DCC system allowing functions higher than F9 grumble grumble), but wouldn't the white lights here be off, and the one lower left on? Headcodes are still a bit of a mystery to me, but I do know the one you show would be the most used display for my needs.

... and still no reply from Peco to my two email inquiries. I'm trying to get Hatton's to add the points to their website so they can be tracked in wishlists.

Yes, I have, though as Brossard says, it's probably not really necessary.

 

Someone seems to have thought when designing the PCB that modellers might like to do this so you will find solder pads on the PCB specially for connecting Stay Alive capacitors, 'CAP +' and 'GND'. Couldn't be simpler.

 

Of course, being ZIMO, the decoder is already equipped with the necessary circuitry to manage stay alive caps. The decoder in this model also has voltage regulation to limit voltage to the caps at 16V, so you can use any caps from 16v upwards.

 

I've used 6 x 2.7v 1F supercaps wired in series to give 166,666 uF, but then, I will be using this during my sound demos at shows (Lincoln this weekend) so I need the 'belt and braces' assurance of trouble-free running this gives me.

 

Kind regards,

 

Paul

 

'You're gonna need a bigger towel'

"Someone?"

Has anyone installed a keep-alive into their 15? I'd like to do one before I start lettering and weathering mine.