Beyer,

Nice theory, but I don't think the "roaming armature" is the problem....the tolerances inside the motor units could be measured in 100ths of a mm.

I did try all manner of pushing/pulling in both directions, but decided that I was flogging a dead horse.

Roachie

[quote="Roachie"]Beyer,

Nice theory, but I don't think the "roaming armature" is the problem....the tolerances inside the motor units could be measured in 100ths of a mm.

I did try all manner of pushing/pulling in both directions, but decided that I was flogging a dead horse.

Roachie[/quote
]
Or a dead Garratt

[Beyer,

Nice theory, but I don't think the "roaming armature" is the problem....the tolerances inside the motor units could be measured in 100ths of a mm.

I did try all manner of pushing/pulling in both directions, but decided that I was flogging a dead horse.

Roachie[/quote
]
Or a dead Garratt

Today I hooked up the 3 units (without any of the plastic "covers" in place) and connected the motor leads of one unit to my DC controller and then on to the other motor unit. Applied power to make sure the 2 units drove and started in unison. Success! Both motor units started at the same voltage and operated beautifully together.

I have no idea how long I will have to wait now for the WOW decoder to arrive, but have a few other jobs to be getting on with in the meantime.

Roachie

Continuing to make good progress on Victor Harbor station. Now have the gutters, facias and chimneys done on the main roof.



For the gutters I start with 2.5mm H column evergreen styrene and cut two edges of to produce a 'z' shape.



This gives me the gutter and facia. Then I use white glue to add some strip styrene to the underside of the roof. Once dry I use this to glue the back of the facia to.





Next is the verandah gutters and then on to doors and windows.

Hi All
I have just have been struggling to get motivated to work on
some IDR kits but I've managed to get this far

http://rusted2therails.blogspot.com.au/

I have just started working on the HVT2000 so that should
be something different
645edude
Mathew Hughes

Here is one of my recent projects.

Its a Western Australian Govt  Railways "DA" class ventilated goods van with Advertising Sign.

The WAGR had quite a few vans with advertising applied both 4wh and bogie stock. This Van came to me through a deceased estate and was a basic scratchbuilt body and underframe with a poorly attached wooden roof. The van underwent some knife work and the old roof removed, some extension was done to the body and the end vent made and fitted along with a new styrene roof and then detailing parts added.


I had for sometime had the advertising van image which is a photo of the real thing which had been manipulated on a PC from a slight angle by a member of our S scale group. The new van sort of lent itself to using this image on it. With a little manipulation of the picture myself the picture was printed and applied to the van on both sides.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29348486@N04/9214743974/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/29348486@N04/9211964335/

I have been adding more FRED's to some rollingstock, the AN wagon and another VLEX.

Just bought this off ebay today (not here yet obviously):

[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/roachie01/36424_zps1b41b255.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/roachie01/3642_zpse4387884.jpg[/img]

Today I received my TCS "WOW" decoder, which will be going into this model.

The WOW decoder would be great for US modellers, but not so sure it will be right for my new 36 class. A quick play (on my decoder tester, which has a pretty average speaker arrangement) with the various sounds available has left me a bit "cold", but I guess time will tell.

Roachie

Finished weathering my Ozrail 500 class shunter. I also removed the original, factory fitted PC board and replaced it with a hard-wired Digitrax decoder.



Since this shot was taken, the cab glazing has been re-installed.

Just an update on my Eureka Garratt situation.

I have completed the total re-build of 6037...the boiler now rests on the front and rear units and the 4 bogies have no weight on them whatsoever. The bogies have all had a small amount of weight added and the inner bogies are articulated off the parent "power unit".

Today I received a second Eureka Garratt (6030) in the mail from a fellow RP member. It is bog standard.

I did a test of load hauling ability, using a train made up of 18 new Columbia models NOFF wagons + Trainrama PHG. The NOFFs are loaded to about half capacity (that damned concentrate is bloody heavy!!!), using the black stuff I pinched from a local golf course (remember, here in SA most golf courses have "scrapes" made of black stuff that looks like crushed coal, instead of grass greens).

I did the test up my spiral track which has a varying gradient up to about 1 in 35 at its steepest.

I attached the train to 6037 to start with. The plan was to get the loco to haul the train up the spiral as far as it could and then when it started to slip I would remove one wagon at a time until the loco could proceed.

Well, buggar me dead.....6037 marched up that bloody spiral with the whole train and never missed a beat.

I then tried 6030. As soon as the gradient started this poor loco stopped hauling and started slipping.

Okay, I know it's not very scientific, but the proof is pretty conclusive as far as I'm concerned. 6030 will now be slated to receive the same alterations that I have done to 6037.

Oh, by the way, 6037 now has both front and rear units operating in total unison......the problem I previously had must been caused by a dodgy electrical joint somewhere.

Roachie

I have one of those Pigs Roachie. It's been re-motored and now runs like a dream.

Just an update on my Eureka Garratt situation.

I have completed the total re-build of 6037...the boiler now rests on the front and rear units and the 4 bogies have no weight on them whatsoever. The bogies have all had a small amount of weight added and the inner bogies are articulated off the parent "power unit".

Today I received a second Eureka Garratt (6030) in the mail from a fellow RP member. It is bog standard.

I did a test of load hauling ability, using a train made up of 18 new Columbia models NOFF wagons + Trainrama PHG. The NOFFs are loaded to about half capacity (that damned concentrate is bloody heavy!!!), using the black stuff I pinched from a local golf course (remember, here in SA most golf courses have "scrapes" made of black stuff that looks like crushed coal, instead of grass greens).

I did the test up my spiral track which has a varying gradient up to about 1 in 35 at its steepest.

I attached the train to 6037 to start with. The plan was to get the loco to haul the train up the spiral as far as it could and then when it started to slip I would remove one wagon at a time until the loco could proceed.

Well, buggar me dead.....6037 marched up that bloody spiral with the whole train and never missed a beat.

I then tried 6030. As soon as the gradient started this poor loco stopped hauling and started slipping.

Okay, I know it's not very scientific, but the proof is pretty conclusive as far as I'm concerned. 6030 will now be slated to receive the same alterations that I have done to 6037.

Oh, by the way, 6037 now has both front and rear units operating in total unison......the problem I previously had must been caused by a dodgy electrical joint somewhere.

Roachie

That's good news Bill, you must be over the moon to finally have it running. The slipping actually reminded me of my Eureka 38. It would slip going up a gradient and I too would remove a carriage one by one. I was doing my head in trying to figure out the problem. In the end I closely watched the wheels while it was travelling up the gradient and found at one point of rotation the middle set of wheels would actually lift of the track causing the front set to slightly lift off the track. It seemed the wheels were out of quart and with a slight adjustment the loco had no trouble hauling the carriages. It might be worth a quick look on your 6030 as it could be an Eureka issue.

Cheers
Mark

That's good news Bill, you must be over the moon to finally have it running. The slipping actually reminded me of my Eureka 38. It would slip going up a gradient and I too would remove a carriage one by one. I was doing my head in trying to figure out the problem. In the end I closely watched the wheels while it was travelling up the gradient and found at one point of rotation the middle set of wheels would actually lift of the track causing the front set to slightly lift off the track. It seemed the wheels were out of quart and with a slight adjustment the loco had no trouble hauling the carriages. It might be worth a quick look on your 6030 as it could be an Eureka issue.

Cheers
Mark

Thanks Mark,

Yesterday I decided to do a quick test before I actually started work on 6030. I simply removed all 4 bogies and added a piece of styrene (about 2mm thick x 5mm x 20mm) to the underside of front and rear ends of the boiler, at such a position that the boiler will rest upon the 2 motor units when the units are all clipped together. The 2mm thickness is just right to ensure the footplate of the boiler matches the footplate height of the power units.

So, with a weird-looking 0-8-0 + 0-8-0 now sitting on the track, I coupled it up to the same loaded train that I trialled with 6037 (ie: 18x NOFF concentrate wagons, loaded to about half their physical capacity + Trainorama PHG). The loco was now able to march up the same spiral gradient with the aid of the weight of the boiler resting on the 2 power units.

I'm now reviewing the method of adding the inner bogies. I was going to add a fixed pin (10ba bolt) under the bottom of each power unit, just behind the inner driving axle, to act as a pivot point for a short arm that would bolt to the top of the inner bogie in such a way as to allow it to swivel. That is effectively what I did on 6037 and it works very well.

However, I can't do exactly the same with 6030 as I don't plan (at this stage) to totally replace the clips/plugs that hold the 3 units together. That means that I have to retain the plastic "boxes" that are under the boiler and which perform 2 functions: hold the electrical plugs in place AND are the mounts for the inner bogies. I need to remove any possibility of the boiler weight being borne by the 2 bogies.....

As luck would have it, these "boxes" have a protruding spigot into which the bogie retaining screw is mounted. I now believe the best method might be for me to simply cut-off about half of this spigot and then drill/tap a suitable hole (say M2) so that the inner bogie can still be retained in the right position, BUT will not take any part in supporting the boiler. I will, of course, still need to add some lead flashing to the underside of these 2 bogies so they will not derail.....or I have also thought about adding a very slight spring between the top of the bogie and the remainder of the spigot....enough spring tension to keep the bogie on the track, whilst not being anywhere near enough tension to reduce the amount of weight that the boiler exerts on the 2 power units.

I will be tackling this job tomorrow and will report on my results when I'm finished.

The front bogies will be treated the same as I did with 6037: totally remove the spring and add lead flashing fore and aft of the "V" shaped bolt hole. The flashing needs to be shaped such that it slopes up/over the axles and is then attached to the top surface of the plastic cross section of the bogie, using Aileen's Tacky Glue.. (I just love this stuff!!!!!)

In the meantime, the PIG (3642 as shown above) arrived in the mail today. On first glance, it looks pretty damned good, but the tender bogies need some attention as the wheel-sets are dropping out of their holes (sideframes need tweaking). I have to totally dismantle the tender anyway, so I fit the WOW decoder and possibly the speaker. I say "possibly" because having watched several of Laurie McLean's Youtube videos, I am tempted to try and fit the speaker in the boiler, facing back towards the gearbox. However, I don't want to compromise the tractive effort of this model by having to remove any of the lead slug weight from the boiler. I may be able to move the slug further forward, but that could potentially cause issues with balance....too much weight being over the leading bogie, making the rear drivers inclined to lift up. Ideally, I would love to perfect a method of making the drawbar (between tender and loco) rigid and thus providing a system of getting the weight of the tender to sit on the rear of the loco and aid adhesion. It would require that the front tender bogie be "doctored" so that it floats. Hmmm...still dreaming about this idea and it probably won't happen.

Roachie

Just bought this off ebay today (not here yet obviously):

[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/roachie01/36424_zps1b41b255.jpg[/img]

[img]http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d89/roachie01/3642_zpse4387884.jpg[/img]

Today I received my TCS "WOW" decoder, which will be going into this model.

The WOW decoder would be great for US modellers, but not so sure it will be right for my new 36 class. A quick play (on my decoder tester, which has a pretty average speaker arrangement) with the various sounds available has left me a bit "cold", but I guess time will tell.

Roachie

An update on this loco.....

It arrived a couple of days ago and was tested upside down on DC; ran well.

Today I fitted a speaker to the tender floor (over the holes that are provided for that purpose) and then attached the WOW decoder to the underside of the coal load of the tender. I had to do it that way as the decoder is a couple of mm too thick to mount directly above the speaker and due to the cross supports of the main body, I couldn't mount the decoder on the floor at either end.

Anyway, not having any lights to worry about, I only had to drill a small hole under the tender's footplate to pass 3 wires through. These are the 2 wires for the motor + the pick-up wire for the loco wheels. I decide to hard-wire these directly to the loco, so I have semi-permanently attached the tender to the loco, by adding a short piece of neoprene tubing to the underside of the tender's drawbar pin (after the drawbar was in place of course).

The loco had issues with the bogie; it derailed at every opportunity. It turns out that that the long bolt that secures it into position (right through the steam chest and into the bottom of the smokebox), was a bit too short to allow the bogie to sit low enough to have a positive position on the track.

I solved this problem by totally changing the method of mounting the front bogie. I used a different/shorter bolt to hold the front of the chassis/mech to the smokebox....this one does not act as the mount for the bogie. I then added extra lead weight to the top of the bogie, it already had 2 weights on the underside. The new weight I added totally covers the original mounting hole. I drilled a small hole through the lead and tapped for 10ba. I then made up a Z-shaped drawbar (I used a surplus coupling rod I had in my spares box....probably from the rear of a 32 class judging by the length). I then calculated the position where the other hole in this new drawbar would be so I drill and tap another 10ba hole in the loco's cover plate (the one that holds the driving wheels/axles in position. The drawbar was then screwed into position and the front bogie now has a HUGE amount of movement available....so it will stay on the track.

I also took the opportunity to remove the hook drawgear off the front buffer beam and  did my usual "trick" of adding a modified Kadee coupler (I wrote an artilce for AMRM about this idea....see April 1985 Issue #131 if you're interested).

The loco has been tested and runs pretty well. It is very disconcerting, however, when I lift the loco off the live DCC track, only to have it continue to "breath" for around 15 seconds....such is the effect of the "Keep Alive" feature.

I now have to get my aging grey matter around the programming of this decoder.....it is quite different to anything I've previously had to deal with.

Roachie

hi locomotive driver I have got one yesterday and when I was cutting the skirts on the bottom of the 520 where the wheels go I have accidently made two cuts that go up to the cab will this matter if I putn this putty and can you give me some photos of your 520 tender as I don't know how things go on there
Regards
SARRX207

Latest project is to fit a KA1 (ie: a TCS Keep Alive) to each my 2 Powerline 48 class locos, which are already fitted with Tsunami sound decoders. The first one has been done this afternoon and improved the previously dodgy performance of this little Alco.

In order to fit the sound decoder (some time ago) I had to do some fairly major surgery to the back end of the chassis to fit the speaker and there simply wasn't any more room for the KA1. So, I've had to totally gut the cab and fit the KA1 up into the cab roof....it is quite visible through the main windows. I guess I now have a green decoder visible instead of the previously fitted two green men!

Wiring the KA1 was as simple as following Marcus Ammann's instructions on his very informative website. Too easy.

I will tackle the 2nd 48 tomorrow.

Roachie

The latest addition to the roster, just need to glazing and add Locsound with 244 sounds to be ready for traffic.

Mansfield 43 Class, thanks to Lloyd.

Hi all, just a quick update on progress now that all gutters are on Victor Harbor Station





Now on to doors and windows. Downpipes for the verandah will be the last details to go on.

Finished weathering my Ozrail 500 class shunter. I also removed the original, factory fitted PC board and replaced it with a hard-wired Digitrax decoder.

Since this shot was taken, the cab glazing has been re-installed.

Hi Sarail - nice weathering!

Out of curiosity how is the mechanism noise in your one?  In mine the mech is very smooth but not exactly quiet.

I came across a Digitrax N scale sound decoder (SDN144) for almost nothing and though "what the heck".  By ferreting the biggest enclosure I could into the hood the decoder (on top volume) covers the noise at lower speeds but is still drowned out at higher ones.

Mine isn't too loud - it makes a little noise at full throttle - certainly more evident with the body on, but isn't any worse than my BRM T class.

Well here is my latest project.

Its a prototype model, Sn3.5 scale, WAGR "Dm" class 4-6-4t steam locomotive produced from a One piece body kit by WestOzModels


These locomotives were introduced on suburban services in Perth in 1945 to supplement ageing and smaller locomotives already in use. Using some of the components from "E" class locomotives that were worn out, Eight Dm class were built at the Midland workshops during a construction program in 1944. This later led to a further 10 similar "Dd" class locomotives being built New in 1946 with newer valve gear and cylinder designs  overseen by CME Mr F Mills. Essentially the Dm & Dd locomotives to the untrained eye looked exactly the same.

This Model, I started as a project to produce a "One piece" body kit of a WAGR steam locomotive to compliment the range of suburban coaches I already produce as kits. After much thought, I measured up the existing Dd at the local ARHS museum and then commenced work on a pattern. After many hours of work, a mould was made and the first cast bodies came from the mould in July. The model has been completed during the first week of August and was presented at a meeting of our S scale group last night. It is hoped to be able to make both Dm and Dd classes available.

Well here is my latest project.

Its a prototype model, Sn3.5 scale, WAGR "Dm" class 4-6-4t steam locomotive produced from a One piece body kit by WestOzModels

-SNIP-

Hi 1213

That looks very nice! Is that a commercial or homebuilt mechanism the loco is running on?

Cheers

K 8)

Hi 1213

That looks very nice! Is that a commercial or homebuilt mechanism the loco is running on?

Cheers

K 8)

Thanks K!

Ah the Loco mechanism is a from a "Mehano" Light Pacific 4-6-2.
We W.A. modelers have to build everything so a near suitable mechanism for steam locomotives is a handy thing. The Mehano pacific  seems to reasonably suit a few of our locos and they are usually good runners, as well as being cheap enough to cut up or scrap for our needs.

I have discarded the original bogies for correct length cast bogies an wheel size (North Yard wheels) and repositioned the rear driving axle  further back to give correct spacing for the prototype and used old Hornby coupling rods.

She runs quite well and is more than capable hauling prototypical loads.

I decided since we had a nice sunny day in Melbourne for a change, i'd give my G gauge TGR Y class a trial run.
It's powered by a pair of Aristocraft motor bogies and for a first run was running really smoothly so far.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZJl6wHv5s0

For this run it was connected to a set of batteries in the wagon behind but provision has been made for it to have a built in battery pack in the fuel tank.

Well, bought a bridge kit at the Caulfield model railway show  a week or so ago from Gwidir Valley Models.

http://dth.railpage.org.au/trainroom/updates/up4sep2013/P1110461.JPG

The model was done easily and I'll be after another type when possible.  my  layout progress has more photos, 4th september entry.

Regards,
David Head