irishthump

I find them a pretentious bunch over on RMWeb. I browse it a lot but steer clear of engaging them.

They absolutely did, they dictate discounts on bulk orders so they can sell much cheaper than small shops while selling mainly online But when the tables are turned they scream blue murder!

So much so that the thread had to be locked! Been watching this unfold since the announcement (good luck to Accurascale btw) but what strikes me as ironic is the likes of Rails harping on about supporting small local model shops. (That cut-and-paste template of an announcement made me laugh!) The big box-shifters are as big a threat to small, independent shops as anything else.

Great news! Did he reprogramme it in any way?

That will happen with pretty much any controller. When you consist a loco you’re basically telling it to respond only to the consist address and ignore its regular address.

Yeah, Z21 is good setup. I just prefer the Lenz handeld. But you cant go wrong with any of the German manufacturers.

For what it’s worth…. When I was getting into DCC I was choosing between the NCE Powercab and the Gaugemaster Prodigy 2. I went with the Gaugemaster and have no reason to change. It’s never given me problems. I’ve actually acquired a couple of extra controllers so I should be set for life! NCE are known for not playing nicely with Loksound decoders, and I also found the programming features clunky as hell. However, if I were replacing everything I’d go for a Lenz system. -

Did you reprogramme CV19 to a value of 0 on the loco? I'd do that just to be sure.

Absolutely!

What was the reason for the takeover? Were DCC concepts in trouble?

That's a good shout. NCE controllers can be a but prickly if you don't clear the consist, that usually stems from functions that are selected to work when the loco is operating in a consist. You could also try setting CV19 to 0 which will make sure the decoder isn't assigned to operate in a consist.

Very sad to here this. I think it's safe to say the Irish model scene would not exist in its present form without him. RIP Paddy and thoughts and prayers to his family.

Any idea when the invoice needs to be paid? Asking for a friend...

Really sorry to hear this Noel. Glad all the family is safe.

Appreciate the honesty on this topic, Fran. Even though though the economy is somewhat OK as you mentioned, the price of models across the board is starting to affect purchases (in my case at least and I'm sure others would agree). That's not a dig at you guys, it's just the reality of things. So I have had to seriously scale back my own spending on the hobby, the 3 locos and the Park Royals I have on order are the limit for the foreseeable future I'm afraid.

All DCC decoders require a lot of power before they will operate in DC mode, I don't think it's exclusively an NCE issue.

Don't think that will buff out.....

Looks fantastic!

Nice work. I seriously considered the DG couplings for my own stock as I wanted handsfree uncoupling but I was reluctant because of the construction involved and ended up going with Kadees for all my stock.

Like I said the finish on the model was excellent, it took the paint really well. I’ll be honest, I was expecting a much rougher finish so I was very impressed.

Picked up one of @Past-Avenue’s lovely 3D printed 30 ton brake vans at the last Bray show. I opted for an unpainted version which came supplied with decals. It really is an excellent print with a very smooth finish that takes paint very well. I used a more of a brown bauxite colour (Tamiya XF68) which is less red than some models I’ve see but I’m happy enough with it. It will be heavily weathered anyway. While the decals were fine, I just couldn’t get the wasp stripes to work. Sorry Enda! So I opted for hand painting them, I think it looks ok. I also removed the NEM coupler pockets. The molded ones are spot on, I just prefer to mount coupler boxes on my stock. The finished product, sans weathering.

Construction wise I simply removed two of the longer steel rods from the pot stand then used the small plastic feet to fix them to the plywood. I’m I used epoxy as it allowed me some time to adjust the fit of the rollers perfectly. I reckon it will hold as I don’t expect it to be subject to much force. I then drilled and tapped a small hole in the end of each rod to take a small set screw for attaching either wire or crocodile clips.

Sorry guys, remiss of me not to give links to the parts used. @DJ Dangerous yes those are the items I used. Mind you Temu sell an actual complete rolling road using those rollers for €23. https://share.temu.com/rxlXKT2gDDA @David Holman unfortunately they only seem to sell rollers spaced for OO/HO track. I can’t imaging the kitbashing you’d need to perform to make a multi-gauge version!

Have you considered going back to the seller with the decoder? If it was faulty they might help you out.

After all these years I thought it was time I got myself a rolling road for testing locos. But damn they’re not cheap! But I managed to pick up a few sets of rollers from Temu for small money. Then I kitbashed the rest from a steel pot stand from Ikea. Works just fine…..