Giles

Absolutely. However, a note on the soil.... I take garden soil, and dry it thoroughly (usually by baking!) and then remove all the stones and small roots etc - by sieving and also by hand - and then crush the soil to dust, using a steel/brass bar/rolling pin. This then gives you 'scale soil'. I always apply it (generously) via a tea-strainer, and then hoover (with tights reclaiming system) back the excess. It will appear dark whilst wet, but then dry back lighter. I tend to use slightly watered down PVA for convenience, but there's nothing in it. The other thing to remember, is ash.... Bonfires coming up..... Collect jars of different colours of ash! Brilliant for this sort of thing, paths, ballast etc.etc.....

Argh..... I've earned myself probably the only negative on the entire thread! (Probably because it might look like 'my shopping' instead..!) However, it isn't - there's been a lot of work so far to get a finish on this - sorry its the wrong thread - I'll completely stop after this.

An as yet un-numbered Ivatt 2MT at rest. (not only un-numbered, but painting not finished, unglazed, and not yet weathered!)

Eric Bottomly does light so well - we have a very nice S&D 2-10-0 hauling goods in the snow by him in the living room and it's a pleasure..... (And he's a delightful chap as well....)

John, that looks perfect for yard work - very controllable, and you'll be getting very slow speeds for reversing up to things. So a choice of yard work, or life on the open road! I guess that that the 5:1 will give a performance very similar to my lorries when it comes to speed range, by the looks of it. Again, the workmanship looks superb, and it's now working just like it should - brilliant! Giles

Grass up against walls, trees, or indeed clumps of grass is is REALLY easy...... Dab a bit of PVA wherever you want your grass, then take a SMALL hand full of your static grass mix, and roll it between the palms of your hands - like making a plasticine snake. This aligns the fibres. Take your snake, or grass cigarette, and pull off the end, and push the end into the PVA. Repeat until you've covered your glue. Let it dry. It looks very strange at the moment, but don't worry. When dry, vigorously attack with a hoover, and job done..... I did some v boring videos on the subject. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

I wouldn't wire up your batteries in series - low voltage is your friend here! By operating at single Lipo voltage of 3.7v, you'll get slower motor speed (which is a good thing) and the rest of the electronics will still operate. Your battery is 180mA, which should be fine for around four hours work. My lorries (at 1:43 scale, 7mm) have 220mA batteries, and they will do at least five hours exhibition duty before requiring recharge - and they have larger motors and more vehicle weight. Wiring batteries together, either in series or parallel complicates charging significantly (balancing) so is better avoided unless you can remove them and charge them independently, or buy pre-built 2xbattery packs. If you need longer duration, buy a larger battery. You'll find these little motor/gearboxes immensely powerful for their size.....! Good luck, it's great fun!

For £28 you can buy the DelTang receiver/esc pre-wired, which makes it really easy..... I'm a fan of the Deltang stuff, and can recommend it. I think the motor/gearbox shown will have no problem at all with a die-cast body (depending one the ratio selected). I've been playing with a Ford Pop, and a similar motor gearbox, and power isn't a problem. As a general rule, scale 'toys' are not a good starting point for a scale performing model Mikroantriebe is another source of 1:87 RC components

Interestingly, I just put loads of graphite on - as I did on 'The Loop' which had a savage curve on a gradient - though admittedly only ever with four trucks and a loco. i never had any slippage problems. Of course it may be very different climbing a bank with 'twelve on'. When laying track now, I always polish it with 'Duraglit' silver polish (or similar) which gets rid on any manufacturing c##p and any teeny scratches in the surface where dirt can hide and build up in the future. A treatment of graphite then makes it next-best thing to maintenance-free. I now try to avoid anything remotely more abrasive than polish if I can possibly help it, and by and large it seems to work quite well. Incidentally, it is soooo nice to see wing rails and check rails rusty....!

Ah, I should have unwrapped it to check...... Seriously Martin, you did a beautiful job with these locos - I almost think you were ahead of your time......

I remember some people would've liked an 85a Hunslet - out of necessity I've put my untouched one up for sale http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/85a-15-Hunslet-0-6-0-0-Gauge-loco-/290972850000?ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:GB:1123 Sorry for the high-jack, Dave !

No Rich, John's got a final drive (worm and gear) of 38:1, so if he feeds that with a 5:1, he gets an overall reduction of 190:1 which is still quite slow....

Hi John, this is the general speed of mine using 100:1 (6v)

John, that's beautiful - I use 100 :1 with 1:1 final drive - but of course you can get these motors down to 5:1 so you shouldn't have any problem http://www.technobotsonline.com/motors/micro-metal-geared-motors.html

Very neat...... Good luck with the next combimation... I've ordered a new motor/gearbox from Microantribbe (the 240:1 type, which should halve the speed) so I'll try that when it arrives.

I have found an hour to wire up all the radio gear, with a lipo battery, and I find that the thing leaps away at 10 mph, and tops out at about 25 - 35mph - so not very satisfactory. There's quite enough power, but no low-end speed. It's not the radio gear, because that's the same that's used on both the lorries......

I believe mine to be the 120:1, and instinct says that a higher ratio would be better, but their data sheets on some of the units may be incorrect, as at least one of the higher ratio units is giving a much higher output speed! I've not had a chance to try it on a receiver yet, and i'll be away for a couple of days – but i'll let you know how I get on.....

I've started putting some gear into a Ford Pop., and this little Mikro Antribbe motor gearbox (the weenie one) is amazing. So far I've tried it with a 1.5v battery, and the torque is extraordinary! It would be quite powerful enough to put into one of my lorries....... At 3.7v and fairly large wheels, it will be rather too fast, so I think I'll have to put a resistor (possibly variable) in series with the motor to try and calm it down.

John, that's quite the neatest front axle I've seen- MUCH better than mine! Beautifully machined.

You should be pleased with that.......!

Great stuff John, you'll have it finished by tomorrow then........

John, So far as I can see, the wiring is correct. I do believe that some different types of servo have different wiring arrangements, and it may be worth double-checking this..... There may be an outside chance that the steering has been assigned to P2 or P3, although I think it is unlikely. I assume that you've wiggled both joy-sticks in all directions (as the steering channel could very well be assigned to a diffrent chanel on the transmitter) Failing all these, you will need to email Dave at Deltang, who you will find very helpful. I'm sorry you’ having these problems - mine worked straight out of the packet! Good luck, Giles

Very nice John! It makes for a very neat install. What is the overall gear reduction? (Motor/gearbox + 38 : 1 final drive)

I don't know if this is any help, John...... The 'bolts' are drilled 3mm down the end to accept the motor shaft, which is then fixed in with milliput epoxy putty. To prevent the motors rotating, there is a 'U' bracket of brass strip glued to the motor body which goes over the top of the motor, and over the face of the support bracket (on the other side), allowing the motor to travel sideways, but preventing rotation. Much simpler to do than to describe....