john dew

Jack Rowell? Regards John

Clingwrap perhaps?

Not sure.......I wondered about some fabric from Mrs D’s old tights......its one of those details that is better forgotten if you cant get it right John

Hi Robin Super job on the Warwell. Your tank looks so much better for the repaint. I am undecided about the paint shade to use when I repaint mine. I used Humbrol khaki on my Comet and a load of Oxford lorries......it photographs yellower than it looks in real life but sort of reflects my memory of the shade Army lorries were in the fifties I am wondering if the paint colour the Army used got progressively darker over the years...MIB will probably know. My warflats finally arrived in Vancouver yesterday and I have posted a load of photos on my Granby thread. I hope it is ok if I repeat a question I raised there about preparing the tanks for transit? The fiited magnets will help but, in isolation, would not be entirely realistic! I have to devise a method of fixing diagonal securing chains fore and aft. In transit the turrets were reversed and the gun muzzle covered. The secondary armament 7.92 Besa machine guns were removed from the housing and transported separately. I have a question for the experts.....here is a close up of one of the machine guns I am assuming the removable bit is the gun metal barrel (easy to snip off) and the khaki housing from which the barrel protrudes remains with the tank being part of the gun port swivel mechanism? Hope you are going to do a how to when you fix your chains.....I think I will wait until I see how you do it! Best wishes John

I will return to Stay Alives but for now a change of subject. So far this year, there has been very little new stock on Granby........so lots of excitement when the Postie made this delivery: Bachmann's new Warflat complete with tank. I have never quite understood how the GWR arrived at their telegraphic code names for rolling stock......Toad for a brake van...Python for a CCT. ??? At least the code Warflat bears a direct relationship to the style of wagon and its usage. Its expensive for a wagon (even with the tank) but it does represent a big step forward in terms of quality. Like the prototype, its robust and surprisingly weighty. The detail is quite exquisite: There is an add on pack From the right....Vacuum Pipes, Highly detailed Jacks that fit over the buffers, Couplings and finally four gizmos that fit next to the jacks but I have no idea what they do. I will need to check how the jacks work with the fairly tight curves leading in to the storage yard before permanently fixing them. And now to the tank: A little disappointing to be honest.......its a bit plasticky and is not really of the same standard as the wagon. Hopefully a coat of paint and a bit of TLC will make it reasonably presentable.(The aerial recognition star will go) The tank itself is a bit of an issue. The later version of the warflat comes with a Cromwell tank with a conventional 75 mm gun. My warflat has the correct livery for my period (1948) but the tank is (I think) a Centaur, a variant of the Cromwell but equipped with a howitzer (note the short barrel) and used for close support with HQ Squadrons. They were used by the Royal Marines at D Day but thereafter fairly quickly off loaded to allies.....not too many would be seen heading to North Wales in 1948. But thats the challenge of modelling .....rest assured I will come up with a semi convincing legend. A more pressing issue is working out how to secure them to the wagons The fiited magnets will help but, in isolation, would not be entirely realistic! I have to devise a method of fixing diagonal securing chains fore and aft. In transit the turrets were reversed and the gun muzzle covered. The secondary armament 7.92 Besa machine guns were removed from the housing and transported separately. I have a question for the experts.....here is a close up of one of the machine guns I am assuming the removeable bit is the gun metal barrel (easy to snip off) and the khaki housing from which the barrel protrudes remains with the tank being part of the gun port swivel mechanism? Once completed and weathered they will be coupled with the Warwell and Comet. I bought the Comet kit from Millicast a couple of years ago......it does rather show up the Centaur The Comet is totally appropriate for my period but, as you can see, is (like the prototype) out of gauge requiring a special working........but having checked, it will squeeze through the fiddle yard. Hopefully, you will see a rake like this but properly secured and weathered, before Christmas I hope that I havent bored you with these ramblings......I know that I can verge towards rivet counting when it comes to the military. Anyone know why almost all British Army tanks have names beginning with C? Regards from Vancouver John

Locos built in 1938 would have the shirt button......I am guessing that it is highly likely they would still have that livery in 1948? Birkenhead were allocated a number of new 41xx in 1938.....I dont mind changing the buffer beam #s but not too keen on replacing the GWR with a Shirt Button. Comments on balance of probability would be appreciated Regards John

Hi Anthony Thank you for those very generous and flattering comments. We are so glad that you and Sarah enjoyed your visit. Granby gets hardly any visitors from fellow modellers so it was a pleasure indeed to show you the layout. The photos are brilliant. You have managed to highlight all the good features and gloss over the (many) defects. You have featured some details in the canal scene that I had actually forgotten about....... and I am in that room most days! Best Wishes John

Hi John I think your focus stacking shots look great. After your advice I had a go with Affinity...It was much easier than I expected although I didnt see a really marked difference between a single frame and the final merge. How many actual shots do you take per merge? Regarding the brightness of your shots .....have you used the level, colour and white balance options on affinity. I find them very useful and the big plus if you dont like the result you can just revert back. Regards John

I dont think its possible......I may try and combine wheels from two Hornby 14xx and live with the body Regards John

I am afraid I agree with you......see my comment above. If it happens it isnt going to go away quickly. Regards John

Thanks John.....I will keep plugging away but sadly dont have the skill to build a new chassis like the good Captain. One cant help wondering what impact the cancellations will have on the physce/ preparation of the teams affected by the cancellations. I think England would probably have benefited from a challenging game against France. It may have affected who played against Wales/Aus but at least both had qualified. The Scotland Japan game, if cancelled, is something quite different. I suspect World Rugby will regret not insisting on re scheduling all cancelled pool games........ Cheers John

Thanks for all the ticks guys...much appreciated. This post features the GWR 48/14xx 0-4-2 T, designed in the 1930s specifically for Branch line work. For many years the only RTR version available were versions from Hornby and Dapol of a very old Airfix design. There was much excitement about 5 years ago when Hattons, in collaboration with the now defunct DJ Models, announced a brand new design incorporating all manner of new features. Sadly, the model turned out to be a bit like the Curate's egg.....only good in part. Here is a work stained 1407 in Cynwyd goods yard. It is generally accepted that the bodywork is superb. There are a couple of minor design issues...the ash pan went AWOL and few people liked the recessed number plates. (I added after market plates to my model). Apart from this, visually, they were a huge improvement on the old Airfix derivatives. Unfortunately they have proved to be very erratic performers. The coreless motor and unique gear system can sometimes make them very jerky....particularly on gradients. The biggest problem is their intolerance of the sllightest speck of dirt or uneven track. They did appear to improve with frequent running but like last weeks 64xx still required too many nudges from the sky to keep moving. Time to think about adding stay alive. Not a straight forward exercise.....the body cannot be easily removed! The smoke box door is held in place by magnets and the 6 pin decoder inserted into a circuit board that just fits into the boiler........definitely no room for a stay alive capacitor as well! However in addition to motor and pick up wires there is an additional set of wires designed to connect with a speaker in the bunker. I dont do sound (too deaf) so I was able to connect these redundant wires to the blue (+ve) and white ground wire that John from Youchoos had kindly added to the Zimo decoder for me Remove the coal from the bunker and the wires (now connected to the decoder in the smokebox) can be accessed I didnt think I could fit a capacitor and lifelink board in there and in any event I wanted to try out a less expensive alternative: Tantalums Until a couple of weeks ago I thought Tantalums were a variety of spider! Courtesy of google and wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum_capacitor Three of them, wired in series, will provide about a third of the storage capacity of the KAT2 I used last week....and, along with the lifelink board, fit comfortably inside the bunker. Once everything was put back together the loco went on the programming track and the Cvs adjusted before re-profiling and back to work ...............and the verdict? I am afraid that the experiment cannot be described as an unqualified success. The loco undoubtedly runs more smoothly and somewhat more reliably than before It is not however the sort of dramatic improvement that one saw with the 64xx. That loco is now like the Ever ready bunny ...it just keeps running and and running at unbelievably low speeds. The 14xx, I am afraid, still stutters at moderately low speeds over track that other locos have no problem with It is possible the fault lies with the loco......maybe I am expecting too much from what is now known to be a suspect design or maybe it requires a more powerful capacitor than the space available.......I guess the ultimate solution could be to hard wire it to an Autocoach containing a KAT2 (I did that once with a Hornby 14xx) I will have another go with a set of tantalums in a more conventional and moderately reliable loco to try and learn how effective they can be. To add to that disappointment I now find I cant watch England play France on Saturday!. Just hope the typhoon doesnt cause too much damage. Regards from a sunny but cold Vancouver John

Super photo Robin........I kept looking for the date or an inscription in white at the bottom....totally authentic. How are you getting on with fitting securing chains to your Warflats? I am still waiting for mine but am not sure how to fit the chains and hooks. The Roxey hooks look ok but the aperture of the rings seems too small....certainly for the hooks. I am not entirely convinced by the “bottle screws” either. They will look good on containers but I think will look too big on relatively short lengths of chain. I am thinking of either just using chain (no tensioning device) or possibly using part of the couplings that come as add ons to locos. Best wishes John

I like the idea of a mixed autotrain in 1948! I can visualise < Loco + Autotrain + Vans + BV could it also be < Autotrain + Loco + Vans + BV Where < indicates direction of travel Cheers John

At least you were able to look forward to a close game.......as a dual British (English) / Canadian national I am not keeping my fingers crossed for later tonight when Canada play the All Blacks! John

Hi John I have done that in the past with the Hornby 14xx and it was my last resort in this case. I prefer to avoid the loco being permanently coupled if I can. If I am successful with the DJM 14xx I will probably run that with the Autotrain and use the 64xx elsewhere I guess you are enjoying the Rugby as much as I am! Best wishes John

This post is about my ultimately successful attempt to get my Bachmann 64xx to consistently and reliably haul that GWR branch line icon......the Cynwyd autotrain: 12 years ago, when I first started to learn about the mysteries of DCC, the lower level branch line was the first section of track that I laid. I am afraid I didnt do a particularly good job. Its a bit uneven in places and in those days if you wanted to isolate the electrofrog points, rather than snip a little wire you, had to make the cuts yourself with a Dremel. I have some horrible gaps....carefully filled but of, course, without power. The 57xx panniers that take the B Set to and from Granby manage to cope very well with this uncertainty. The autotrain does not! I have struggled for over three years with both a DJM 14xx or the 64xx . The 64xx is the better of the two but despite constant wheel cleaning and finely adjusted pick ups it still requires far too many little nudges from the sky. When I get really frustrated I have even been known to substitute this ancient Lima rail car, which I believe I bought in Beatties, Sheffield, in 1998! You may well ask why this 20 + year old model, notorious for its pizza cutter wheels, can out perform a modern Bachmann loco? Well the wheels have been updated and additional pickups have been fitted. However the principal difference is that a Stay Alive capacitor is wired to the decoder. A capacitor is a sort of battery that stores up power and supplies it to the decoder when the decoder detects a power outage. I have three in use on Granby. They have some downsides......they are bulky, expensive and used to come pre wired to a specific decoder. I have found the best value for money to be the TCS Keep Alive range. The problem is that I cant abide the TCS decoder with its erratic speed curve. I was about to hold my nose and fit one in the Autotrain and hard wire it to the 64xx when I discovered that you can now buy the TCS capacitors separately and they have been on a diet.....much slimmer: The next problem was how to attach the KAT2 to the decoder.......the 64xx is designed to accept a 6 pin decoder that plugs directly into a pre-wired socket.....ie no wires. I have been meaning to try a Zimo decoder for some time. They have a relatively inexpensive 6 pin decoder with two largish solder pads for the blue (+ve) and black/white (-ve) wires. I emailed John Gymer of Youchoos to ask his advice before ordering from him. He was super helpful and made a number of very helpful suggestions.......including an even smaller and far less expensive way of storing power .....unfortunately the KAT2 was already ordered........but more on this later. Here is the rig to be fitted inside the 64xx KAT2 Capacitor to be connected via a tiny protective device (Lifelink) to the Zimo decoder....the two "largish" solder pads are bottom left. I had intended to put the capacitor either on the cab floor or in the bunker but had forgotten that the decoder socket is right at the front of the loco. Fortunately I was able to fit both the Lifelink and KAT2 underneath the decoder I have learned to take things like this very slowly and carefully but even so I dont think this took more than an hour to complete. And here is the result I dont expect to ever have to run the loco over 18" of un-powered track but clearly there is now sufficient power in reserve to overcome any gaps,dirt or insulfrogs. Here we see 6407 complete with new fireman and a new headlamp moving smoothly over a turnout previously known as Stall point! I now have a cunning plan to deal with the DJM 14xxs Regards from Vancouver John

Hi John I have been following and thoroughly enjoying your thread for some time. We both model GWR and a broadly similar timescale but there couldnt be a greater contrast in location! I see, however, that we are both users of Affinity......I switched from photoshop elements a couple of years ago. Its an amazing programme although I just scratch the surface....crop and some or all of the autocorrect buttons I am afraid. In my ignorance I didnt even know it did focus stacking. Your excellent examples, you really can tell the difference, have inspired me to have another go........I am struggling to find it in the menu......when you have a moment could you give me a pointer please? Enjoy your holiday John

Brilliant.....thank you so much for your help Best wishes John

Thanks Paul.....thats great. A couple more questions.....as you will have gathered my knowledge of electronics is very very limited.....I just try and follow the instructions. 1. I assume the resistor you mention is in addition to the 120 ohm resistor I already have between the A and B wires the end of the bus? (Page 27 of the LZV100 manual) 2 Could you clarify what a 22R resistor is.....I did say I was dumb 3 This resistor is to be installed in the L wire before connecting to the first DIN socket? 4 Alternatively I dont need a resistor if I remember not to move the Multimaus from plug to plug while the system is live? Sorry to bother you with this but again many thanks John

Thanks guys......its good to have confirmation that the Multimaus works well with the Lenz system. I was aware of the LA152 units I was just hoping to avoid the expense and faff of installing them when I already have 4 DIN sockets installed on the Xpressnet bus............plus I like the idea of the long curly Lenz cable. Regards John

Hi Bob Good to hear from you. I wondered where you had got to.....hope the house move goes well.....lang may your lumb reek! John

The title says it all really I intend to buy a Multimaus to use as a second controller with my Lenz 3.6 DCC set up The Multimaus,I believe, comes with a connection cord that has RJ12 plugs at both ends My Xpress Net Bus is only set up with DIN sockets and I dont particularly want to install a number of RJ12 sockets just for the Multimaus The plan is to buy the Lenz LY006 cable that comes with a RJ12 plug at one end and a DIN at the other. Logic tells me it should work but in an abundance of caution I would like confirmation from those with more experience and knowledge Many thanks John

Hi Robin I maligned the Royal Mail and Canada Post.......guess what the postie delivered this morning.........14 days to cross the Atlantic and North America......not bad for 3.45 GBP

Not yet.......it will be at least another two weeks. Generally I only start worrying after 6 weeks. I imagine my Warwells were despatched within a day or so of yours......I will post when mine arrive. I like the paint job you did on your Cromwell. Because of all the uncertainty about Centaurs/Cromwells whereabouts in 1948 I am going to weather mine rather than have them pristine and invent some legend about the Marquess of Granby’s Yeomanry T.A. ......reformed very early. cheers John