Wilton 34041

I have found the postage on Peters site dearer than the eBay equivalent. I recently went to purchase two small items that Peters home website wanted to charge me £5.00 postage for, so I went to the Peters eBay and paid the same price for the items but £2.50 postage - second item free post. I know about eBay fees so how come inhouse postage is dearer when expenses / fees should be less? I'd rather buy inhouse when I can. Phil B.

Hi Mr P, Just caught up on this, very glad you're ok. I came looking for you as I do miss your Friday videos. Please don't give up on the 'Yard' I've learnt quite a lot from you including painting back scenes and weathering stock etc. All the best, Phil B.

Our club is like that, stuck in the 1960/70s. I'm the only one interested in and using recent technology, DCC, MERG kits etc. Phil B.

Good for you Gary. I hope you're happy with the sale and I wish you all the best with your projects, I'll certainly be watching to see what I can buy to support you in this. Just a thought, does this mean you won't be in the shop anymore? Phil B.

Thanks Gary, will do. Phil.

Good news, I'll pre order the SR Departmental when the order book opens. Must check in with you sometime about my Rapido wagon orders as I think I need to add to it. Also do you have the Hornby Power Banks? All the best, Phil B.

Hi Jay1, Sorry no, my kit's still on the 'to do list'.

Yes I watched it Saturday too. Interesting to actually see what I've been reading about and see it in action. Quite inspiring. Regards Phil B.

I'll have a look at what I have to see if I still have the packet. These are for 4mm and I would be looking for about 8 sets - 32 buffers! Phil B.

When you ask, I need several sets of SR brake van buffers for detailing a rake of Lima bogie hoppers so please ask about them too. Cheers PhilB.

Hi Phil, apologies for the delayed reply. That sounds like a good method of making those lamps, simple really when I think about it, I tend to forget that range of plasi struct but they do some useful profiles. Cheers Phil B.

Thanks Phil, I'd appreciate any you can offer. Please let me know how much I owe you. I'm interested in your ideas for making your own, perhaps you could post it on here in due course. Cheers, Phil B.

Yes please Phil - if it's not too late would 3 sets be okay? Phil B.

Hi, I've just found this thread, so apologies for late arrival. I have found that TTS decoders when CV29 is changed to 34 'forget' who they are with long addresses and so do nothing. The address then has to be reprogrammed in and all is fine. Cheers, Phil B.

That's so good Phil, we all go through those sort of experiences when working through electrics for the first time. So pleased it's successful, you're be on to more of them now the bug has bitten - I know I have. ATB Phil B.

Great news Phil, first that your op was successful and you're mobile again. Second that you've converted Wilton to DCC successfully, it gives a sense of satisfaction I find when it moves for the first time. Best wishes Phil B.

I agree, these kits are good value, I bought the D3 and a lamprey last week and they arrived almost next day. As an experienced kit builder I'm not bothered about finding the detail parts, which as you say are becoming less easy to obtain, because I very often end up buying these anyway to replace the kit items. I'm more than happy to have a quality kit of a loco that is not available anywhere else at such a great price.

Hi, Any chance of 4mm SR brake van buffers? Used to be sold in packs of 12. Glad you've taken this on, All the best, Phil B.

That is correct Phil and the chassis screw wire now goes to No 8. cheers, Phil B.

Err, no Phil. No 7 (blue wire) is for accessory common only - like lights. On mine the (grey) wire to the top brush contact on the motor goes to No 5. The (orange) wire to the lower brush contact on the motor goes to No 1. which was on mine the wire to the chassis. This gave me the regular direction control it had on DC. I've now found the appropriate diagram; They say a picture is worth a thousand words so this should make my words clearer. Very true Mr Henderson, the choice of different decoders may be important in some cases but as this was the first time I had converted a Non DCC ready steam loco (having converted diesels before) I wanted to keep my options open for adding accessories by keeping the longer wiring, after all these Bulleids had electric lights so I might add working head code lights later . Nothing is permanent so I can tidy this later and now in future with this experience I will probably cut the wiring very much shorter and neater. I find this DCC aspect very interesting, Cheers to you both, Phil B.

Phil For your socket the wiring convention looking at it as two columns of four from the top is: Top left is No 1 - orange wire. Motor right No 2 yellow - rear light No3 none - blank No4 black - left rail (pick up) Second column Top right is No 8 - red. Right rail pick up. No 7 - blue. Common negative for accessories. No 6 - white. Front light. No 5 - grey. Motor left. Motor connections are such that the left and right refer to the chassis. So which ever one went to the left pickup originally that is now ' motor left'. If it responds on the track the wrong way just swap them over at the motor. I hope this helps and I have explained it ok. Any questions please ask. Cheers, Phil B.

This is an edited version of an article I wrote for Brighton Model Railway Club Newsletter on how I put DCC sound into a Hornby 'Wilton'. I don't say this is the only way but it is what I did and it works well. I did have more photos in the original but I've had terrible trouble getting them to up-load. If anyone knows how to get the file size small enough or what type please say. I used an MX645 sound decoder with wheel slip function, and a speaker and eight pin socket all from Digitrains. I've been looking for the part numbers but since putting them away safely I can't find the docs. with the details!! When they come to light I'll add them in. I wouldn't have the wheel slip function if I do another one as it's too eager to come on. I wish I knew of a CV to adjust it with. Sound for ‘Wilton’ a Hornby West country – DCC into a Pre DCC ready Locomotive. ‘Wilton’ is an early version of the Hornby West Country range of models so has no provision for DCC at all. No socket for DCC ready as later models do. I wanted to fit not only DCC but DCC sound and this is the account of how I have done it very recently, although I’ve had the sound chip for some time. It is possible to ‘hard wire’ a decoder to the chassis in this sort of situation but I wanted it to be more flexible in the way of options. So I bought an eight pin socket to (match the decoder) on a harness to fit to the chassis and motor such that if I needed to in the future I could change the decoder or indeed remove it and fit a blanking plug reverting to DC analogue easily. Now there is plenty of room within the original W/C body for the electrics required (thankfully) and the decoder can sit on top of the front ballast weight, however, another of my requirements was to keep everything in the loco. I wasn’t prepared to add extra wiring across to the tender for the speaker as more recent models do. It already has tender pick-ups so no issues there. The space under the chimney is ideal but not quite the right shape for the speaker so some modification is required. Taking the front ballast weight off and cutting a piece off the front lower corner does the trick. All the original wires were taken off including the suppressor, I took a photo first in case I needed a reference later. Ok so now it’s down to assembling the electronics, keeping it electrically safe and tidy. The loom on the plug is first to fit. There are more wires than I needed for this conversion so I separated out the extra ones and left them full length. They are for functions like head and tail lights and firebox glow which I’m not fitting now but I left them long for options later if I want to. I only need the red, orange, black and grey for pick-ups and motor. The wires are far too long for this loco so they were reduced by half their length. The original chassis earth to the weight retaining screw was reused Black Tack holds the plug in place and Kapton tape holds the wiring. Next comes the decoder. With any work on something like this ESD (Electro Static Discharge) precautions must be taken. I have a metal wrist band connected to a 1 Meg resisted earth plug to discharge any static I have accumulated in my clothes. I now soldered the speaker to the purple wires after shortening them. As it’s a one speaker system polarity doesn’t come into it. The whole can now be assembled to the chassis and the speaker held in place with black tack. The decoder also has extra wires this time for a ‘stay alive’ capacitor, any accessories and a blue ground lead for these. None of which I need at this time so they were tidied up full length. Kapton tape used to hold things in place as it does not retain heat allowing the decoder to ‘breath’ and not overheat as insulation tape could do. And finally on the test track, and yes it did work first time!

Hi Phil, yes I'll probably pm the info to you as I've not posted anything that large on here before and I expect it will go horribly wrong. I used an eight pin on a pre-wired harness so I could solder to the pickups and motor easily. I'll come back later this afternoon with parts used etc. Phil B.

Hi Phil, as it happens I did this to mine last month and produced a write up for our club magazine. I wanted to make it flexible so I could change decoders or go back to DC with a blanking plug so I used an eight pin DCC socket wired to the loco. I also wanted to keep it all in the loco so the speaker is under the chimney and the decoder sits on top of the chassis/motor held on with kapton tape. The socket is on the side of the ballast weight with black tack. I did cut a piece out of the ballast weight for the speaker to notch into. If you're interested I can probably send you my write up, there's photos too. Phil B.

Hi Richard, gosh I'm glad it didn't turn nasty and your getting better. I hope Mrs B also doesn't suffer much or for long. I haven't had it yet but two of my adult children have and came through it like you. Best wishes, Phil B.