NIK

Hi, I found my Hornby new style HST took 500ma just to turn its wheels on my DC rolling road so I was interested to see the TTS decoder was only rated to 500ma continuous. Regards Nick

Hi, Rapido make a 5 car multiple unit in N for the North American market and a 4 car APT-E in OO so maybe a 'tube' train?. Regards Nik

Hi, I've been using it for a while. I've found its good where you can get the UV light source to illuminate all of the resin/glue. It is very good where you need to adjust things a lot before setting the resin. I've found some clear materials can be glued to something else by passing the UV light through the clear material. I've been experimenting with making low cost split axle holders using selected heat shrink tube with the outer layer being clear tubing and putting UV glue between the two tubes and then shining UV light through the outer sleeve. Regards Nik

Hi, I've found the pins on some decoder plugs sharp enough to cut through insulating tape. I guess 5 thou plastic card might fare better. Regards Nik

Millennials insist BBC iplayer must be renamed the 'me, me, me player'.

Hi, I think its heavy for a OO steam outline loco as they tend to have less volume to add weight low down and over the driving wheels compared to diesels and electrics. If anyone can weigh their steam outline models I would be interested as I'm developing a haulage predictor for gradients and curves. Regards Nik

Is that Kernow, Kernow or Kernow, Guildford?.

Other news: Scientists are tracking a rogue iceberg the size of London. It was the size of Wales but they waited until it was less of a cliché.

Hi, Judging by the TV show it ought to be iconic but maybe Hornby have a cunning plan. Regards Nick

Hi, Re checking things out the prospective buyer saw the loco at a show and asked for it to be tested on a DCC layout of the right gauge at the show and it just sat there and buzzed. I wonder if a small, cheap battery powered DCC loco tester could be done as a DIY project?. Whenever I've bought second hand Bachmann EMUs that have DCC decoders in them they have turned out to have early Bachmann decoders in them that were a bit limited (no advanced consisting if I recall) which means I may have to swap them for new decoders. I was told this weekend that a quick DCC conversion for old Bachmann Class 166 3 car DMUs with the motor in the middle car and DC bidirectional lights in the end cars is to use a cheap TCS motor driver decoder in the end cars. The light modules require bidirectional drive which can be provided by the motor drive from a decoder. I was told a CV has to be set (Vmin?) so that the decoder always produces max volts regardless of the speed step sent to the decoder. I think the TCS decoders have a motor control from Function key facility so the lights can be turned on an off. Regards Nick

Hi, Except for those models that don't have 8 pin sockets but come prefitted with a DCC decoder - Pendolino?. A trader bought a second hand loco assuming it had a DCC decoder in it but it just had a blanking plate. Didn't make the profit he'd planned when he had to sell it as DCC ready. Regards Nick

Hi, Regards prices Zimo budget decoders are now up to £25 but seem to be out of stock in the UK. Have Dapol published how to use the CVs on the decoder yet?. Regards Nick

Hi, Strictly, chip is reference to an integrated circuit (a circuit on a semiconductor substrate with multiple semiconductor structures). I can see 7 ICs across the two sides of the PCB. The other packages are single diodes, resistors and capacitors. With DCC decoders in short supply and at high cost you seem to have got your self a bonus. The R8249 retails for £26.75 at the moment from Hornby. Note that the R8249 is fairly simple and that its continuous current rating is at the low end being only 0.5 Amps. Under some circumstances some OO locos can draw more than that. I tried a R8249 in a OO Heljan Class 33 and it only ran for a minute and then the loco went to and stayed at a slow crawl as the decoder had overheated. Do you have a meter for measuring the DC current a loco draws when running on DC?. This can be useful for selecting decoders that will suit a particular loco. Regards Nik

https://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/1745496/Endeavour-season-9-ending-explained/amp

Hi, I think the series is part financed for the US market so reprising the same cameo may seem acceptable to the production companies. I thought the episode where the Tarot cards were dealt out at the end were a bit clunky and that's when I first noticed Masterpiece productions on the credits. At least with an eponymous title the title didn't need changing for the US market - Midsummer Murders being called Barnaby in the US. One web post on the plot of the final episode mentioned Thursday had originally planned to go to Carshalton (Surrey) rather than Carshall Newtown. Carshall Newtown is where Endeavour is seconded from in the pilot episode?. Regards Nik

Maybe that was included to show his strength of feeling towards Joan and his disappointment in his mentor Fred Thursday's betrayal of the standards Morse hold himself to so as we know Morse survives but never mentions the Thursdays again. The failure to kill himself sets Morse back on the path of solving murderous puzzles, looking for love but continuing his destructive relationship with alcohol?. Regards Nik

Just disappeared from Sounds but I think the various series (totalling 26 episodes) was very popular so is likely to be regularly repeated. Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam's characters have a Mainwaring/Wilson thing going on. Roger Allam's character is an experienced and natural pilot but his decades of fiddling of expenses mean he is reduced to working for a one plane charter company. Whereas Benedict Cumberbatch's character desperately wants to fly despite his lack of talent and gets to be Captain much to his co-pilots frustration. The show has a stupid boy - the plane owners son, played by the writer. The mother is a great character and the old plane becomes part of cast especially in the final episode. The broke plane company with a broken plane mixes Only Fools and Horses with the situation richness of Dads Army. Regards Nik

Hi, Hobbyists doing model railway electronics are already trying out ChatGPT to see if it can help with solutions. Those who like to get model railway electronics built may benefit as they might be able to get a requirement converted into a working design quicker. Regards Nik

Ditto. I laughed in an old episode where Endeavour visits a Private Investigators office and gets hit on the head - a Chandler Bing you could call it. I cringed at the episodes with a railway connection but budgets are not infinite - even the latest mission impossible film couldn't afford a custom made real steam locomotive. I suppose there is a small chance DI Thursday could get Sam a job overseas and then he retires and sets up a detective agency. I've found Roger Allam a revelation - have you heard him in Radio 4's Cabin Pressure as a suave pilot who always thinks outside the box and then steals from it?. However they seemed to say in the documentary that the project ends as a trilogy (M,L and E). Anyway I thought the last episode came good and made me cry despite of or because of the lack of opera music and was a good companion piece to the first episode. Regards Nik

If you get your drift wasn't the cameo scene similar to another a while ago?. I think Morse is a great tragic character. He seems to be an Oxford specialist, one of the few policemen with a foot in both camps being the son of a taxi driver and having studied greats in the University town. His talents hem him in and drink becomes his master. What makes him personally a great detective makes him a poor policeman and his humanity makes him struggle with politics and occasionally his colleagues. Regards Nik

Russell Lewis?. Regards Nik

Hopefully the following is not a spoiler alert. If found the final episode a stonker. I think Russell Lewis writing all Endeavour episodes was a tremendous achievement I suspect unlikely to be repeated although I was first amused and then annoyed about some episodes that were over stylised and in the case of one episode borrowing not just the plot of the greatest American novel and after that from a good film (not the Great Gatsby). I speculated there might be a spin off from Endeavour - Thursday, Private Investigator, Trewlove making her way through the Met, Strange but True, DeBryn but maybe not. Regards Nik

Hi, I managed to finally get in front of the JMRI driven monitor on the Collingwood layout. A chap in a MERG tee shirt was one of the operators. Our club finished the show with a higher number of tickets sold than last year despite the roadworks near to the show and the economic crisis. Food costs had doubled so maybe the refreshments which normally provide a surplus may make a loss. MERG stand very helpful. I may have picked up a project to do as I mentioned to our junior layout who wanted to paint a lightning bolt on a stormy backscene that projecting a lightning bolt from LED driven optics or similar might give a better effect. Lots of compliments from people leaving the show including waiting until the last minute to leave despite the forecast of approaching rain. Regards. Nik (member of the BNHMRS - club still looking for more members)

Hi, We finished the first day having sold the same number of tickets as last year despite the huge rise in household costs such as energy and food. Big surges in arrivals when the vintage bus shuttle delivered more enthusiasts. Mid afternoon saw Zimo, ESU Loksound and Lenz DCC decoders still available on trade stands. The MERG stand had lot of interest. The layouts looked good to me. Teas and coffees selling well on a cold day outside. Squires had their huge stand up on the stage. The club juniors were happy running their modular layout via their smartphones. Saw an ex club member with a NSE liveried coach body from a Replica Railways suburban coach shell that is intended to be a centre car for a Kernow/Bachmann 2H to make a 3H. One layout had a OO NSE 3H which I think used 2 EPB bodies to make one centre car. The Hornby Dublo layout also had a monorail which I hadn't seen before. Parking should be a lot better Sunday. Regards Nik (a BNHMRS member, club still looking for more members)

Hi, Most layouts and stands set up by 8pm this evening. Our junior modular modular layout is looking good as are the extensive prizes on the tombola stall. Good model railway exhibition weather for the weekend. The big traders bring a lot of stock to this show, Kernow have come up from Cornwall rather than from their store at Guildford. Railway Modeller stand being set up. I think Steve Flint is to judge best layout. Our 009 Lynton and Barnstaple layout is looking good and our club stand has some exciting news about our clubs future plans and facilities. Regards Nik (a BMHMRS member, the club is still looking for recruits)