SRman

I'm finding the whole RM web site is slow to load and sometimes times out. Some pictures fail to load. Everything else is OK, so it isn't my Internet playing up. It has to be something to do with the RMweb servers or hosting site.

I did something similar many years ago, using two Airfix/Kitmaster bodies cut and joined through the firebox to make a Merchant Navy, mounted on a Wrenn chassis with the valve gear removed. I didn't widen the cab, although I really should have. The smoke deflectors were enlarged, and the body profile widened and curved a little more using very hot water. For the tender, I added sheet brass overlays. The end result is shown below. Merchant Navy 35015 Blue - 1 by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

I can sympathise. I had cataracts removed some years ago, restoring my vision and making me long-sighted, where I was short-sighted before. That means I now have to use an Optivisor (or similar) to see what I am doing close-up. My Rocket arrived and was fine for some time, until I took it off the tracks and placed it on a shelf. The next time I ran it, the pickup was very poor, and on investigation it had the same problem as reported by quite a few people here, one of the wires had dropped off the PCB on the tender. I did have the skills to re-solder it, plus the deterrent to returning it to the UK retailer or Hornby, in that I live in Australia. Running is still slightly less than perfect due entirely to the stiff wires trying to lift weight off the front of the tender, affecting the electrical pickup. Hornby really should have used softer, more flexible wire for the job. Edit: Having said all that, I just had to re-solder two wires back on. It now runs perfectly again.

Doug, did I give you the SR concrete lamp standards? I've forgotten whether I have or not, with all of the recent distractions we have had.

I only recently bought a blue TOPS Hornby 71 (my other existing pair are DJM in green variations), and I too went through a few iterations before settling on a suitable decoder. First tried a direct plug in DCC Concepts decoder, which worked nicely but would not allow the body to clip back on, so next was a TCS DP2X-UK; that one was not great on running qualities and caused a few little oddities in the behaviour. That could have been ironed out with a little CV tweaking, but it only had two functions available, where the Hornby model ideally needs six. ... the body did clip back on though! Next was a Zimo MX600, which behaved beautifully, but even after milling away part of the interior 'engine room' moulding, I still could not quite get the decoder end of the body to clip back in. Finally, I remembered I had a couple of ESU LokPilot 5 micro decoders set aside for other projects. One of those went in nicely, and the wiring harness was long enough to allow the decoder to sit comfortably at the non-socket end of the PCB. The body clipped back on nicely. There was a little bit of an issue with surging at very low speeds, which was not fixed using the ESU auto-tune function a few times, so it was onto the programming track and Decoder Pro to tweak a couple of the parameters for low speed running and feedback. Having done that, it now runs perfectly at all speeds, and hauls a decent load too.

I recently bought a Hatton's class 66, having been tempted by much reduced prices which make these better value than the Bachmann model. I chose a Freightliner Powerhaul liveried example, 66 504. Initially I fitted a Zimo decoder, which worked perfectly as a stopgap until the sound decoder I ordered separately from DC Kits arrived with an Earth Mover speaker. The model now has legomanbiffo's custom sound file for the Hatton's version, with full lighting control. I did tweak the lighting settings against functions slightly, using Decoder Pro, so F22 and F23 now give access to day and night headlight settings (I didn't need the bell sound on F23). The photos show a few of the lighting permutations possible with this set up. The running qualities of the model are very good, although I have had a problem that other modellers have reported, in that one of the rotating axlebox 'tubes' keeps dropping off its axle end. I have tried several different glues, and enlarged the hole in the bogie frame to give it more free play, but so far to no avail. After this most recent episode, I might try a spot of Araldite if it drops off again. The cab lights are set up to be directional on F19, so the photo with the tail lights and cab light on illustrates that they are independently operated on F21.

Note that May is late Autumn over here!

A few views from my local area, taken when on our walks back in May 2020, while we were under lockdown conditions. We were allowed out for exercise within a limited radius of home. The first view is looking down my own street, the rest are all in nearby streets. (Spread over a couple of posts because of size limits).

I agree with Izzy's posts: I think the Zimo MX600 will be way too big to fit. There is not a lot of room in the Pecketts, but Nige is correct in the principles of the wiring. I went a stage further and wired a decoder (a TCS M1) into the blanking plug, using its connectors to allow the decoder to be plugged or unplugged at will (for future ease if swapping decoders or adding sound, for example). I have done three Pecketts and a Hornby Sentinel diesel using the same technique. Zimo decoders are very good, and probably even better than my choice of the TCS M1 or M4, which are nice compact decoders and are covered by TCS's "goof-proof" warranty - If I stuffed up the installation, they would have replaced the decoders, regardless of fault. TCS usued to be very resonably priced here in Australia, but in more recent years their prices have risen, while Zimo have come along and introduced better decoders, including some at bargain prices (including Nige's MX600 type). Note that it is very improtant that the motor wires do not cross where the body comes down over the chassis block - I managed to cut one such wire because it shifted as I replaced the body. The TCS decoder is smaller than the Hornby 4-pin one, but I have it sitting in the intended slot, held in place with a spot of Blu-tack. Hornby Peckett with TCS M1 Decoder Installed - 1 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

Likewise, I had t resolder one wire after it dropped off from handling when putting the locomotive away. As hap said, it "does require patience, good light and a steady hand",and I would add that a fine soldering iron tip and an Optivisor or similar magnifier of some sort also help considerably. A longer term plan on my radar would be to replace the rather stiff Hornby wire with some more flexible DCC decoder wire, which would also go some way to alleviating the problem of the wires lifting the front wheels of the tender off the track a bit, improving the overall electrical pickup of the loco and tender combination.

Or horns-bee.

In contrast to Andy's snow, here's another from Echuca: this was right behind our friends' property on the outskirts of town. We were there for Christmas, and this was on the 27th of December, when the temperature went up to 39 degrees C. The 'roos tend to gather there a little after dawn and near dusk.

We spent Christmas 2020 in Echuca, along the Victoria/New South Wales border. I previously posted a photo of the main highway leading to Echuca from my home in Melbourne. Here's a snapshot from my dashcam of a typical Australian dirt road with boring scenery to the east of Echuca.

Queensland Railways had some too with the 1300 class was closest, with 1800 hp nett from the 12CSVT, but the earlier 1270 class had lower powered versions of this engine (12SVT). Quite a few of these ended up on Tasmanian railways.

LT1137, a one-off double decker coach on an AEC Renown chassis, intended as a Green Line coach but apparently not a success. It was numbered in the LT series rather than as an LTC. I am currently near the end of constructing a kit-built LTC single decker in 4mm scale (a white metal RTC kit).

That's why I have to try to grab a camera and snap shots as quickly as possible when they pose perfectly for all of 0.2 of a second! IMG_20171101_182504 cropped by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr

It started as a tin from Cherry paints but when that ran out, I had a local paint shop mix up some to match a patch done with the last gasp of the Cherry Paint. The shop shade was very slightly different, but matched the EFE perfectly, so I am happy with that. I only had to buy a litre of the enamel paint, which only cost me a little more than buying the modelling paints in their tiny little tins anyway. As I am in Melbourne, it would be up to you to find a local shop that could do this for you. P_20190109_101107_vHDR_On by Jeffrey Lynn, on Flickr Note I also repainted the roofs from a red oxide/bauxite colour when new, to a slaty grey (Humbrol #66, actually called olive drab). I repainted only the window pillars in red on this set. Those horrible end handrails really stick out like sore thumbs in the photo.

Yes, I found after advice from a doctor that red things were often triggers. Tomatoes definitely so, strawberries (and mushrooms) being suspect, but cherries seem to be safe. Some seafood also can trigger it, which is a great pity as I love most of it! I have Nurofen Plus tablets on prescrition for both gout and migraines, taken only as a last resort. ordinary nurofen (Ibuprofen) can work if the attack is headed off early enough, but won't touch it once it has taken hold. That's when the Colgout/Lengout tablets take over. As someoen else said earlier, all of this can vary considerably from person to person, so what triggers me may not trigger someone else's gout, and what helps me may not help otehrs. Even the doctors have to use some guesswork in fnding each individual's best solutions.

The earlier Heljan releases that I have are all great runners, but all suffered initially from the usual Heljan 'thing' of not having all of the pickups touching the backs of the wheels. That's very easily fixed because the side frames just pull straight off, allowing ready access to the pickups to tweak them slightly where neccessary. Several of Heljan's own releases had livery errors, including missing patches of colour, wrong fonts or even misspellings (Mainiine, anyone??). From looking at the pics of the EFE releases, these have been improved, notably the Railfreight red-stripe grey version which has the '58' in a much bolder typeface on Heljan originals, but look correct on EFE's versions.

Fantastic jobs there, LoN, I keep looking at my EFE models and thinking I must do something about those handrails, at the very least, the ones on the driving ends that are most visible. I am fortunate in that I do have a perfect match for their red on the 1938 stock, having already painted the cream window pillars out on the earliest set they released.

I knew you were going to say that!

Echoing what many other posters have said above, I would love that mail coach too, so hoping they'll market it separately later on.

Yes, Colchicine/Lengout/Colgout affects some people's stomachs (mine included). When those don't work, Solone is even worse as it is also cortisone-based so has other side effects - it should only be used for a few days at a time.

A female friend told me that kidney stones were as painful as childbirth ... however, I'm not sure she was entirely qualified to comment as she had never had children herself.

I have suffered from gout a few times, and yes it is very painful, but the most painful thing I have experienced is passing kidney stones, with the first two by far the worst. Still, gout sufferers, you do have my sympathy.