Accurascale's First Steam Locomotive; GWR Collett 78xx Manor Class!

[Dunsignalling]

14 hours ago, McC said:

The manor unit can maintain sound and motion for at least 4 seconds and sound alone for about 30. 

 

Which should overcome the deadest of dead frogs and even the most atrocious track-laying. 😉

 

Even at that level, a loco keeping going after derailing, or running over a dead section protecting an open lifting flap, could become problematic....

 

John

Edited August 20, 2023 by Dunsignalling

[Haverail]

44 minutes ago, Forester said:

 

But this one was a little different. It was  your first steam loco. Some of us wanted to give early support to your entry into the market, knowing you also faced very strong competition with the Manor and the whole project might easily have failed, rather than the great success it looks like being.

Not feeling that support has been entirely reciprocated.

Can you expand on the lack of support you are feeling? I have bought several locos etc from Accurascale and have others on pre-order and have had nothing but great response from them if I have needed to make contact.

[NBL]

38 minutes ago, Forester said:

 

But this one was a little different. It was  your first steam loco. Some of us wanted to give early support to your entry into the market, knowing you also faced very strong competition with the Manor and the whole project might easily have failed, rather than the great success it looks like being.

Not feeling that support has been entirely reciprocated.

Oh dear.

 

In what way does it matter if you didn't receive yours before others?  What effect does it have on your life?  

 

Why not just be happy that Accurascale have produced another highly detailed model?

 

They have stated numerous times on various threads that if you place order and pay in full you will receive it.

[John Isherwood]

1 hour ago, Forester said:

 

But this one was a little different. It was  your first steam loco. Some of us wanted to give early support to your entry into the market, knowing you also faced very strong competition with the Manor and the whole project might easily have failed, rather than the great success it looks like being.

Not feeling that support has been entirely reciprocated.

 

Never mind, dear - your new toy will arrive soon; have a Jammy Dodger and cheer-up.

 

CJI.

[AY Mod]

1 hour ago, Forester said:

Not feeling that support has been entirely reciprocated.

 

I tried to explain, in simple terms, why those who ordered earliest may not receive their model first. It now just looks like you should be specially treated. Give them time and space to do what they have to do.

[melmerby]

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

Even at that level, a loco keeping going after derailing, or running over a dead section protecting an open lifting flap, could become problematic....

Just make sure any lifiting flap switches off the whole layout, then nothing will be running  to start with.

[Dunsignalling]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Just make sure any lifiting flap switches off the whole layout, then nothing will be running  to start with.

True.

 

However, the Manor is quite heavy enough to do "scale damage" to itself, scenery or (especially) buildings made from card, should it keep going for four seconds after a derailment....

 

My point was that four seconds of stay-alive motion should  be plenty. Anything that causes a current interruption of that duration or more needs to be fixed with some urgency, not tolerated because it can be masked by technology. 

 

John

 

 

[Mallard60022]

All this talk about stay alive. It's me that needs that, not my Engines! 

Anyway, I'm now eagerly awaiting my Banana Vans.

 

Phil. 

[Tim Dubya]

8 minutes ago, Mallard60022 said:

All this talk about stay alive. It's me that needs that, not my Engines! 

Anyway, I'm now eagerly awaiting my Banana Vans.

 

Phil. 

 

Well you've been on the brandy, so it should help keep you around 😜 and 'fresh'.

[Harlequin]

Here's my new coal load for Anthony Manor:

 

It's not solid, in fact it's a speaker grille that allows sound to pass through. Underneath the coal load / speaker grille, is a big Zimo "Dumbo" speaker and Zimo sound decoder.

 

I used a combination of fine, medium and coarse grades of coal and I think this is the best one I've done so far.

 

More info here:

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/181002-hardwired-zimo-sound-in-accurascale-manor/#comment-5258946

 

Video with sound to follow... (when my phone has charged up...)

 

Edited August 20, 2023 by Harlequin

[Phil Bullock]

On 19/08/2023 at 12:42, JST said:

 

 

Looks like you got the same crew I had on Odney Manor last year. A couple of very competent youngsters!

They certainly knew how to make Erlestoke bark! 

[Izzy]

To be honest I’m bemused that people want stay-alive capacity that can keep a loco going for more than perhaps a wheel revolution at most. I never fit more than 1000uF, and mostly between 660uF -880uF. I know there are videos around showing locos going over sheets of paper but this seems a party trick to illustrate the advantage stay-alive can give. A bit like in the past locos ‘climbing’ over sleepers to illustrate the advantage of sprung/compensated chassis.

 

Bob

[geoffers]

On 19/08/2023 at 17:07, melmerby said:

If you don't want to hold the F1 key down to get firebox glow, change function mapping to F2 to switch on or off at each press.

 

F1 is often non latching

Thanks for that. It turns out that F1 pressed once turns it on and pressed again turns it off. 

[John Isherwood]

1 hour ago, Izzy said:

To be honest I’m bemused that people want stay-alive capacity that can keep a loco going for more than perhaps a wheel revolution at most. I never fit more than 1000uF, and mostly between 660uF -880uF. I know there are videos around showing locos going over sheets of paper but this seems a party trick to illustrate the advantage stay-alive can give. A bit like in the past locos ‘climbing’ over sleepers to illustrate the advantage of sprung/compensated chassis.

 

Bob

 

It's amazing to see the trouble and expense that some people will go to in order to avoid careful tracklaying and well thought out wiring.

 

CJI.

[Captain Kernow]

4 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

I'm now eagerly awaiting my Banana Vans

I understand that going bananas has always been a long-held ambition, Herr von Quackquackburg.

 

[Izzy]

11 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

It's amazing to see the trouble and expense that some people will go to in order to avoid careful tracklaying and well thought out wiring.

 

CJI.

 

Yeah I know. Although I've been handbuilding track and locos in a variety of scales for about 50 years as I don't live in a perfect world but require, nay demand, perfect running I try and do whatever is needed to reach this level. Others such as yourself are lucky to reach this without trouble but for myself I'll just have to keep trying .......😀

 

Bob

[John Isherwood]

19 minutes ago, Izzy said:

 

Yeah I know. Although I've been handbuilding track and locos in a variety of scales for about 50 years as I don't live in a perfect world but require, nay demand, perfect running I try and do whatever is needed to reach this level. Others such as yourself are lucky to reach this without trouble but for myself I'll just have to keep trying .......😀

 

Bob

 

There is no secret - simply stout copper feeds to EVERY single rail length - no matter how short. Rail-joiners align rail ends - they are not reliable for conducting electricity.

 

Live frogs are also obligatory.

 

CJI.

 

 

[jonnyuk]

2 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

There is no secret - simply stout copper feeds to EVERY single rail length - no matter how short. Rail-joiners align rail ends - they are not reliable for conducting electricity.

 

Live frogs are also obligatory.

 

CJI.

 

 

i would say some of us are not confident with wiring electrofrog points, i'm on my 3rd layout and each time i've said my track will be perfect etc, despite my best efforts that's not the case, my wiring however is much better with droppers on each end of every point and scattered around the layout, all going into junction boxes and then onto a main bus, all very neat and tidy. there is such a thing as dirty track as well, my layout is in the shed, i can clean my track, treat it, run my finger over it and not a bit of dirt. come back the next day and run my finger over the same bit of track and its black with dirt again, stay a lives greatly help with this, if manufacturers are going to start putting stay a lives in i'm not about to tell them don't bother, i would actually pay the extra £3-4 for it (having put them in 3 or 4 small tank engines they are  pain to retro fit)

 

We have to remember, modelers such as your self are in the small %, the rest of us are abit crap at track laying, wiring and cleaning.

[John Isherwood]

20 minutes ago, jonnyuk said:

....we have to remember, modelers such as your self are in the small %, the rest of us are abit crap at track laying, wiring and cleaning.

 

 

Far from it!!!

 

I started modelling at age eleven, and am now seventy-four - but the layout that I have created in the past eighteen months is the FIRST in all that time.

 

Nothing at all fancy - substantial baseboards, cork underlay, Peco Code 75 track and Electrofrog points, and heavy-gauge ring main wiring.

 

I'd never done any of this before - I simply relied upon the best practice that I'd read of.

 

People assume that, because others get good results from traditional DC layouts, they must be experts - not true!!

 

CJI.

Edited August 20, 2023 by cctransuk

[Captain Kernow]

We've had the discussion about track laying and reliability before, but as far as I am concerned, the main thing with track laying is to take your time.

 

Don't be in a rush to 'get things running'. Check and check again before committing to cutting a rail or fixing a piece of track in it's final position. Don't take short-cuts. Don't accept inaccuracies or mistakes and if necessary, go back and do it again, even if you have to use fresh materials to achieve the desired result. Use the right tools for the job. Try not to adopt an 'oh, that'll do' attitude. Persevere. Allow more time that you thought you might need.

 

But above all, take your time!

 

I really don't mean to preach (even though it sounds a bit like that!) but they are my rules, even though I end up breaking them quite a lot myself! Most of the stuff I build has to come through the obligatory (for me, anyway) 'blood, sweat, tears and bad language' phase.

 

But perhaps this shouldn't be in a thread about the Accurascale Manor...

 

[Tim Dubya]

3 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

But perhaps this shouldn't be in a thread about the Accurascale Manor...

 

This advice is as welcome here (to me at least) as it would elsewhere.

[jonnyuk]

4 minutes ago, Captain Kernow said:

We've had the discussion about track laying and reliability before, but as far as I am concerned, the main thing with track laying is to take your time.

 

Don't be in a rush to 'get things running'. Check and check again before committing to cutting a rail or fixing a piece of track in it's final position. Don't take short-cuts. Don't accept inaccuracies or mistakes and if necessary, go back and do it again, even if you have to use fresh materials to achieve the desired result. Use the right tools for the job. Try not to adopt an 'oh, that'll do' attitude. Persevere. Allow more time that you thought you might need.

 

But above all, take your time!

 

I really don't mean to preach (even though it sounds a bit like that!) but they are my rules, even though I end up breaking them quite a lot myself! Most of the stuff I build has to come through the obligatory (for me, anyway) 'blood, sweat, tears and bad language' phase.

 

But perhaps this shouldn't be in a thread about the Accurascale Manor...

 

i have to say agree with this, my track has been laid for months but its not ballasted yet, slowly getting through all my stock and playing trains before i finally decide to ballast, found a few issues, changed the track layout a couple of times when i realised the play factor was stifled. 

[BroadLeaves]

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

Don't take short-cuts. Don't accept inaccuracies or mistakes and if necessary, go back and do it again, even if you have to use fresh materials to achieve the desired result. Use the right tools for the job. Try not to adopt an 'oh, that'll do' attitude. Persevere. Allow more time that you thought you might need.

All of those apply to most things in life, not just track laying.

 

1 hour ago, Captain Kernow said:

they are my rules, even though I end up breaking them quite a lot

As a wise old lady once said: "That's why there's rules. So that you think before you break 'em".

[Izzy]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

There is no secret - simply stout copper feeds to EVERY single rail length - no matter how short. Rail-joiners align rail ends - they are not reliable for conducting electricity.

 

Live frogs are also obligatory.

 

CJI.

 

 

 

Well that's one half of the equation, what about locos? Oh, that's where we came in......😀

 

Bob

 

[JST]

No amount of good track laying or wiring practice keeps the sound going when my locos are turned 180 degrees on my Heljan turntable. Only a stay alive sustains it through the polarity change “ dead” spot. I spend a lot of time turning locos….. one of life’s little joys! 😃