Leaderboard

Managed to sort make some time to complete the overhaul of th G Class, though I need to order some replacement decals from Des as the originals have worn off with handling. The loco was originally fitted with Kadee 30 Series couplers which had a draft box mounted on the chassis and I decided to change to NEM pattern mounts, which basically involved plating the slots I formed in the buffer beam when I built the loco many years ago and forming a cutout for the NEM coupler mount, by drilling and filing with needle files. After a lot of headscratching I decided to fit the loco with a DCC decoder, in the end fitting a DCC Concepts 6Pin Zen with a Stay alive. In the past I experienced problems with decoders blowing with this particular decoder and drive set up. Testing on DC stall current was well below the decoders max 1amp rating, so left the chassis to 'run in" for a couple of hours. Decoder is supplied in an insulated wrapper, 6 Pin harness with connections to power pick-ups and motor & 2 wire 'Stay alive" soldered to the decoder "Stay alive connections. Capton tape on underside of running board in case of potential shorting between wheels/pickups and loco body. Space for "Stay Alive' on the cab floor, a G Class control desk was one of my earliest 3D prints but probabably end up fabricating a desk in plasticard (basically rectangular box. I followed the Digitrax and DCC concepts protocols for installing testing and installing the decoder, checking the motor stall current with an Amp meter on DC and running in for several hours on a circle of track, testing the decoder with a Digitrax test kit (supplied with my first starter set about 25 years ago , then repeating the test process after installing in the loco. I'll need to fine tune the Stay Alive settings as the loco still tends to hesitate/stall on Insulfrog points.

There was no issue with coupling height, it was all done to NEM standards, and if not, this rake would have ruined itself when the video was taken on the 16th November 2017, some 8 years ago. MOV_0084.mp4

And now, especially for @DJ Dangerous, a nice long, fully filled container train with plenty of variety, including demountable tanks, pocket wagons, 20ft and 40ft - what more could you ask? IMG_1672 2.mp4

Well after much fettling and fiddling the PP is done. Thanks to the helical gearbox she floats along very nicely and runs very smoothly. Haulage seems adequate. Little bit more subtle weathering to do but that’s it I think. video of her rolling - and hitting the buffers! https://youtu.be/65vNarq38KY?feature=shared Also fascinating to see how tiny PPs were. Look how she (in the middle) stacks up against a JT and SG2… My thanks to @Rob R and @Colin R for alerting the forum to the box of bits on eBay!

I've updated my table of the models produced to include the new ones, which are highlighted in bold: The IRM models are an excellent representation of the 1970 and 1972 batches and many of the new numbers are in these batches. The models are also very close to the 1967 batch, the only significant difference on these was the W irons (hard to see unless you look very closely). The 1965 batches had several differences originally but became more standardised over time. I'm looking forward to backdating a couple of the models with their older type of brakes and other details. I'm pleased to see that IRM have avoided numbers in the 1964 batch this time round as these had the most significant differences between prototype and model. There aren't any new grey ones so no chance for the gaffes committed with 25109, 25159 and 25187 in previous packs (none of these wagons were ever grey in reality). Overall I'm very pleased to see these reappear and I think there is a good selection of prototype numbers. I have duly ordered 3 packs. Thank you!