irishthump

I just decided to go with the "freight grey"!

Something a little different…. A 20+ year old Star Wars TIE Interceptor kit that has been kicking around in my attic since I bought it. Its one of those dreadful “snap” kits but I was bored so decided to throw it together. The fit and finish was pretty bad as it just snapped together, so I didn’t bother with filling and sanding any gaps but it’s passable and I’m happy with the paint job.

I don't contribute on RMWeb, as most have you have probably noticed my own modelling is sporadic. I have so many different interests connected to modelling and painting that I tend to hop from one to another regularly. But I check in here almost daily, even though I might not post. RMWeb is a fantastic resource and I would'nt like to see it go. I'll be honest I don't find the pop up ads all that much of a hassle. Of course I'd rather not have them but a single click gets rid of them, and as has been said it's a necessary evil on a large platform like RMWeb.

Oh I'm sorry! I saw a thread here a while ago where somebody rewired the loco, I assumed it was you....

I don't think it's a matter of remapping with the 141/181's. The markers and headlights can be rigged to work independently but it requires some rewiring. I believe @murphaphmay have performed the necessary surgery before....

Unfortunately not. The switches will just turn the lights on or off. Another member of the forum posted a step by step for how they got the lights to be mapped seperately. It requires a bit of work.

Wonderful work. That's a really nice scene.

The NMRA specifies 1 ounce plus 1/2 ounce for every inch of length of the wagon/coach If you prefer metric then here is a handy calculator. Just use HO when selecting the scale. https://showmyhobby.com/index.php/henrys-nmra-rolling-stock-car-scale-weight-calculator/

What's the deal with RMWeb being down? Did I miss something?

Haha! Even Farage is not that stupid. Putin has shown just how vulnerable Europe is without NATO.

To be honest I did'nt find increasing the weight of the wagons made any difference regarding the magnetic axle problem, it the fact they rolled freely that caused the issue. But I fully agree increasing the weight leads to superior running in general.

I don't use neodymium magnets for the same reason but I've also had issues with the Kadee undertrack magnets attracting metal axles. There's a couple of things you can do to prevent this: 1) Try sourcing non-magnetic wheelsets. Pretty near impossible for OO gauge stock. 2) Causing some "drag" on the axles by attaching a brass strip to the underside of the wagon/coach to apply a tiny amount of friction to the axle. This works but doing this with every piece of rolling stock just isn't practical. But it might be an option for a small shunting layout. My solution was to switch to the between-the-rails magnets. They work fine and the visual impact is minimal.

I think that's a possibility. The UK have really put up a united front with the rest of Europe over the Ukraine situation (yes, I know NATO obligations play a big part in this too). If/when it blows over the EU might look more favorably on the UK's situation and come to a better deal.

This video shows the installation...

Kadees are not designed to work on curves. Having said that, if the couplers are mounted on the bogies of both pieces of rolling stock they may work, but it will be hit and miss.

Pretenders? I suppose that's why diesel supplanted steam......

Sorry but I have absolutely no interest in steam locos, and could never see the attraction of them, except perhaps for those who grew up watching them.

This is a good video that clearly explains the basics of speaker enclosure design in the context of model railway applications. It's a bit dated, but still relevant.

Personally I don't think we will see more 141/181's anytime soon, new or old. But in regards to features... 1) Yes, that would be good, but the access hatch on the 121 works fine too. 2) Not a hope! Where would it go? Remember, there's pretty much the same amount of space inside the 121 as there is in the 141/181. 3) Pretty much expected, and easy to accomplish. 4) To me the see through grills in the 121 were unnecessary. It gave up precious space inside the loco that could have been used for a better speaker setup. 5) Again. No room. 6) Seriously?

A lot of the more recent American HO models have come with rotating axel caps, it's where I saw them first anyway. The Hattons Class 66 also had them, and their problems are well documented on the web but I'm not sure how many other OO gauge manufacturers (other than IRM/Accurascale) are using them much. I'm sure one of the IRM guys could tell us if they're more common. Beat me to the punch!

Don't know what you're getting at the there. The 201 is a very different beast from the 071.

Alan, You simply set CV64 to 0 then press F1. After the loco finished moving the process is finished. It is recommend you repeat this process a couple of times to get the best result. This process adjusts automatically CV's 51-56 which control motor BEMF and are quite fiddly to adjust individually. BTW F1 on the Elite is this button;

Yeah I didn't think so! Personally I've found the sugar cube speakers give the best sound on the 141's.

The EM2 bass speaker sounds incredible! Have you managed the minor miracle of fitting it inside the loco?

The good thing about the Lokprogrammer is that it does'nt take long to get to grips with it if you just want to do basic things like loading files , remapping functions or tweaking decoder settings. Swapping out sounds on files is also easy to get to grips with.