SRman

Another Merchant Navy converted this morning. I am having some difficulty because of the longish spells of standing, since I had a heavy fall a few weeks ago, landing on my hip and taking some of the impact on my shoulder and neck, which means that by the end of the wire stripping and soldering sessions, I am getting quite shaky. However, it all works in spite of the hand shakes while soldering the last few connections! This time I have selected 35023, Holland Afrika Line, a locomotive I bought second-hand with a few 'enhancements', such as a rather nice firebox/ashpan moulding and Kadee couplings added at both ends. I have swapped tenders, with Port Line receiving a 5100 gallon version pending a renaming, and the weathered 6000 gallon tender from that locomotive going to Holland Afrika Line. This tender also has the coal space opened out (something I should do to some of the other 6000 gallon tenders too), and real coal added. The polarity of the connections were compatible on both locomotives. To show the style of conversion, here are a couple of photos of the finished job before replacing the body. This one used a TCS M1P decoder with the 8-pin plug cut off. As a part of all of these DCC conversions I have replaced the wires from the electrical connections on the locomotive's tender drawbar with longer wires. With the previous one I tidied all the connections up and shrank the heat-shrink tubing before checking the brush polarity, so ended up having to use CV29 to reverse the locomotive's direction of travel, but with this one I checked first ... I got it wrong initially so swapped the two brush feed wires (orange and grey). The body is a very tight fit over the motor and gear tower, so I had to reroute the orange wire lower down the side of the motor after the photos were taken, and also watch the red wre coming up through the chassis at the front end - that wire has to have some slack and also has to go over the top of the decoder, not to the side as in the photo. Yes, it really is that tight! Anyway, having tested all was well, some duct tape was used to secure most of the wiring to the motor and gear casings, and the body replaced. And here are the usual (obligatory?) posed portrait shots of 35023 in service.

In my reply regarding intellectual Property, I had forgotten that Kernow Models, as the commissioning agent, had the intellectual rights to any research or progress Dapol had done - if there was any. As such, these works would have transferred to DJM Dave. The rights, in this and some other commissioned models' cases remain with the people commissioning the work. It depends what was on the contracts to start with.

Any work done for Dapol would remain with Dapol as their intellectual property, not transferrable without their specific agreement. Any work or projects I develop for my employer (a state high school) remains their property, although there is nothing to stop me from developing similar ideas afresh.

With the arrival of Hornby's new Merchant Navy, 21C3 Royal Mail, in original original form, plus the further work on my kit-built original in slightly later form, I have gone off on a Merchant Navy kick! I did an inventory of all the rebuilt versions I have from Hornby to work out which ones still required DCC fitting, bearing in mind that all the ones with sockets had already been done. I found three models still not converted, all to be hard-wired jobs. I started off today with 35021, New Zealand Line. I found a suitably small decoder with (apparently) 4 functions, which I'll probably not use, but it was stored in among some Hornby decoders. I haven't identified it yet as the MN had very dirty wheels and wouldn't give me a reliable reading at the time (I got three different readings for the manufacturer code!). I'll put it back on the programming track later and try again, having cleaned the wheels and successfully programmed the address. There is not a lot of room in these MNs so a small decoder like a TCS M1/M4 is required. In the meantime, 21C3 also had a decoder fitted, a straight 8-pin plug in to the tender, using a DCC Concepts Z218 decoder. Both have been run successfully around the layout with coaches in tow, and have been posed for their portrait shots for the records. There are two more rebuilt MNs to be fitted, currently numbered and named 35023 Holland Afrika Line and 35024 East Asiatic Company, although I will be renaming and renumbering a couple of existing rebuilt models. 35027 Port Line (already decider-fitted) is a candidate for renaming to 35029 Ellerman Lines or 35013 Rotterdam Lloyd, with a 5100 gallon tender fitted (I have checked the polarity of the coupling and it works with 35027, but shorted on one of the others - it would be nice if Hornby had been consistent with their wiring on these models). This would be its second renaming as it started off as a duplicate Clan Line, 35028! To round all this off, I already have rebuilt 35005, Canadian Pacific, in blue (authentic for preservation only), 35012, United States Lines, and 35028, Clan Line, in rebuilt form, and unrebuilt 35023, Holland Africa Line, with sound on order. I also have a non-runner 35028 in original form from an unsuccessful Millholme kit. I will try to shoehorn a Hornby chassis into the white metal body and get that running eventually. It looks great, but goes nowhere!

At risk of duplicating much of what has already been said, I do believe in running-in locos, even with plastic gears. Some new models run sweetly straight out of the box, others may exhibit some tightness, or small tight spots at particular points of the wheel revolutions. Some also exhibit slight electrical pickup problems until the wheel backs and contacts have polished themselves a bit with use. I agree with the comments that the rolling road doesn't simulate the loads and lateral movements of running on a proper circuit of track. However, the rolling road also allows one to leave a locomotive running for a while unsupervised. While running on my layout is normally very reliable, Murphy's Law can still kick in, causing random derailments and/or short circuits - the train can do 100 uneventful circuits while being watched, but come off the track somewhere on the 101st while I have gone to put the kettle on! Also, my present operational circuit is three-quarters in tunnel, making it difficult to observe new items properly during the running-in process. Once I have the upper level running, I'll be able to utilise that and more effectively watch for any undesirable characteristics in brand new locomotives or units. Rolling roads are useful for troubleshooting some problems (e.g. valve gear anomalies, tracing squeals, lighting hiccups, and so on), but track tests are better for other problems (bogie swing limitations, pickups at the extremes of wheel/axle lateral travels,, coupling swing limitations, and things like those). So, summing up: I do believe there is a place for using the rolling roads, but there are also good reasons for having a continuous track run too.

I was going to pose my Royal Mail with some Pullman cars, but then realised that at the time of the locomotive being in the modelled condition, most Pullmans had been withdrawn and stored for the duration of the war. I do have some fully lined olive green Maunsell coaches, so maybe those will form the train for 21C3's portrait photo. Incidentally, 21C3 has now been run on the rollers for the requisite time ... plus an hour, because I forgot I had left it running! She now has a DCC Concepts Z218 decoder fitted and runs nicely, although slightly noisy at very low speeds - I may have to tweak the decoder setting to reduce that effect. As for hauling power; well, she has successfully hauled an ex-LMS Stove R 6-wheel van (in BR crimson) quite happily! Seriously, I haven't really tested pulling power yet, but I get the feeling she will haul as many coaches as I can fit behind her.

Nurse. NURSE! Quick. Hand out the Valiums.

Yes; my 21C3 Royal Mail arrived today, courtesy of Royal Mail. It does, indeed, have the brake rodding already fitted, but the bag of separate fittings for brake pipes and drain cocks, etc. 21C3 is currently running in on DC on my rolling road. There seems to be a slight whine from the motor/gears but hopefully that will quieten down further with running.

Well, you are deserting your post over here!

You don't have to worry about VAT for those of us who live off-shore!

I used to use shirt box clear covers (do business shirts still come in those sorts of boxes?). They could be cut with sharp scissors and were still thick enough not to warp or distort.

OK; which one of those containers is "ours"??

Two private owner Peckett W4 0-4-0ST locomotives await a turn of duty. The time period is somewhere pre-WW2, and, judging by the nearby wagons, they are on or near LNER territory. We can make out that the leading engine is number 11, but the rear one is unidentifiable. For the record, they were posed on DougN's layout.

If all else fails, you could cut some windows yourself from clear plastic. If you make a mistake, it's not that difficult to cut another. I use Krystal Klear (a PVA-like glazing material) to glue windows in as it dries clear and will also fill any small gaps (e.g. at the corners) almost invisibly.

A few of mine, mostly from 1986.

I have been working on an original form Merchant Navy locomotive sporadically over the last few years, but am making an effort to complete it before the new Hornby model of 35023, Holland Afrika Line, arrives, probably in June. The chassis was adapted from a Hornby rebuilt MN, with Hornby's air smoothed West Country/Battle of Britain connecting rods and cylinder assemblies. I hard-wired a DCC Concepts Z218 decoder to it with its 8-pin plug cut off. The Golden Arrow Productions MN tender body was a bit flat-sided so I had to file and sand it to a better profile. This was followed by some final fettling and adjustments to the locomotive body. When I removed the front fairings from ahead of the cylinders, I took a little too much material off, so have added a strip of plastic micro-strip to each side, then a bit of filler, followed by filing and sanding back once the filler had set. there were a couple of other places on the body and at the cab/firebox joint that needed filling, too. Once all that set, I filed it all smooth again, then repainted. The body and tender still require a little more finishing as the paint surface is just a little rougher than I would like. The photos take us to the current status. Once I have finalised the finishes, I can add lining and names and numbers. My current thinking is for 35027, Port Line, but I could still change my mind.

Beautiful work, Matt.

Although not so apparent from the outside, the rebuild was rather more extensive than just covering over the roof well for the pantograph. The sides were completely rebuilt to become structural, load-bearing members, and the grilles and windows were differently arranged.

Well, Bachmann are also doing the class 450 variant, although I have already converted two class 350/1 units (the cheap Silverlink ones) to 450s using Electra Railway Graphics vinyls. As to class 319 units, I would love a RTR one in OO. Bachmann/Farish are bringing one out in N scale, so there is a chance they could scale it up to OO in the future. In the meantime, I have built a Bratchell Models kit for a 319/1. These are not difficult kits to get up and running, but do take a bit more effort to detail and render "complete" (i.e. with seats and finer details including such things as lights. They aren't cheap, but then again, the cost of 4-car units from the major manufacturers has also risen quite dramatically in recent times. Incidentally, the class 450 conversions released some nice pantographs for use elsewhere, including one for my class 319. In my case, because i run a third rail layout, the pantograph will never actually be used.

Thanks, Roy. In turn, I would also like to apologise to you, because I did not intend that post to be aimed at you. I did want to ensure i was not being associated with the troll person, so just stated my point to keep the record straight.

For the record, I contacted Dapol several times using my real name (which is not a secret on these forums either). Emails were ignored and so were queries/comments on their forum and on Facebook on their pages, until finally, after close to a year after the first attempt, they responded. I documented the livery errors (which I did not say were a design fault), and also the PCB faults, which are a design and/or execution fault. I asked if they would offer a replacement PCB when the corrected version appears in new models: once again, they ignored that question while acknowledging that errors were made - it was only after I persevered that I finally got an answer a couple of months ago: they will not replace the PCBs on the earlier models. Mine arrived with an assembly fault: it had two right hand brake shoes on one wheel. To their credit, the retailer was able to get a replacement bogie frame, complete with the correct brake gear. Nothing I have said is untrue or insulting or defamatory (I have kept documented records of my contact with them), although I believe there is another person who has been posting questionable material. I do believe that Dapol were very remiss in not checking the liveries and in not testing the models on analogue and DCC to ensure that they worked properly before sending them out to retailers. In my opinion, Dapol's lack of communication, and eventual responses were too slow, and not very satisfactory. As such, I am retaining and detailing my eight Hornby and Lima/Hornby hybrid class 73s, all of which were bought at a fraction of the Dapol price and run perfectly satisfactorily on DCC without having to bodge the wiring, put bits of tape to turn off cab lights, or play with CVs to reverse the direction of travel and the lighting (the Hornby ones don't have lighting but I have some lighting kits and when I do fit them, they will be correct to start with). I agree with the point that other manufacturers' products have also had the odd problem, and I have corrected some on my own models. More serious faults, such as the faulty PCBs on Hornby's early release class 50, were dealt with by the manufacturer sending out free replacement boards to anyone who requested them. My gripe is that the Dapol model had multiple faults and, for some time at least, no response from the manufacturer, then eventually a negative response.

No, that hadn't occurred to me at all, John! I just numbered them as if the mythical industrial user had acquired them in that order, with gaps for future additions that would fit chronologically. Since the H & P Peckett was my first purchase in this theme and is lettered 'D' (i.e. #4 in the alphabet), the others followed on, with Dodo being 5 and the recently arrived MSC one #6 (the '11' printed plates have gone!). There is currently no #7. 8 is taken, and the pannier is somewhat more recent in origin than the Pecketts so I followed on from that, and the Sentinel follows on again, although I might shift it to #11 or 12, yet. Longer term, I intend to remove the Huntley & Palmers legend off the blue one, but at the moment I still can't bring myself to desecrate the model. It's sufficient I have weatehred it for now. So yes, there was some logic to the seemingly arbitrary numbering, and no, I hadn't thought of the pub ... but now you've got me thinking that way, it may be time for a quick drink or two!! P.s. If I'm ever up your way I'll shout!

Don't get me started on bad design on these models. I won't be buying any more of them. There were incorrect livery colours, badly designed bogie pivot arrangements, badly designed electrical pickups and badly designed PCB circuits, poorly applied details (badly specified glue?), and very poor customer relations, and all at a premium price with a promise of something special and better than what went before.

That's his lead foot for when he's driving his motor car! p.s. For all the jokes about him, it is a very nice model and a great photo. If it wasn't for the detail in that photo, we wouldn't have been able to have fun with Douglas Fir's personal attributes.

Just for a little fun, I posed the industrial locomotives all together. There are the three Hornby Pecketts, numbered 4, 5, and 6 for DCC purposes, the Bachmann ex-GWR 57XX pannier tank numbered 9 (I originally chose 8, forgetting that my London Transport Bo-Bo electric was number 8, Sherlock Holmes), and the Hornby Sentinel diesel, numbered 10. I removed the printed names and numbers on the Pecketts and Sentinel using some T-Cut. I have some etched name and number plates on order, which will confirm their identities and make it easier to select the right locomotive (I am using memory at the moment!). On the workbench, I have made a little progress with the Golden Arrow Productions unrebuilt Merchant Navy. I decided that the tender's side profile was too flat, so attacked it with various coarse and fine files. The first photo shows the work in progress - the shape is still not quite right there. It is now much closer in profile to the cab side profile in the second photo. In spite of the evidence in the second photo, the tender and loco bodies are both painted in the same green, from the same tin!