Apples127

Thanks for that

Bought the Hornby R8009 station terminus & upon putting it together it seems that the top floor of the booking hall doesn't clip or attach to the roof of the ground level of the building. Obviously the station is a non moving model, however, if knocked it would fall off easily. Am I missing something with the construction of it or does it need blu tack or something else to fix it? Cheers, Mark

Hey everyone, I appreciate all the advice. As I live in Melbourne, Australia if I get an Antex I’ll need to use a UK plug adapter which is no big deal but overnight I have since bought this from Amazon. If this proves to be rubbish I will buy the Antex 15W out of the UK

Hey DS, should the tip be cleaned when it’s hot or before heating up? I’ve tried to use a stainless steel wire pot cleaner but doesn’t seem to work.

Thanks for the advice

Thanks for that, any advice around keeping the tip clean or prepping before soldering?

I’m seeking a recommendation for a good soldering iron specifically for locomotive motor wires out to the bogie pick up contacts whilst the locomotive is still assembled. I purchased a Weller 25 watt iron that heats up to 400 degrees C, however, I find the tip is too bulky for such finicky work around the bogie, wheels and chassis and it gets too hot so the solder (60/40 tin/lead) just runs like water and I have trouble getting it to stick on the contact point. I’ve watched quite a few YouTube videos and there’s no doubt I need to improve my technique but wondering if there is a more appropriate iron for this type of work such as a slender 15 watt iron or is 15 watts not enough? Im a complete novice on soldering so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks 96RAF. All getting a bit too hard and Hattons have offered a refund so I’m leaning that way. I appreciate everyone’s input from this forum though, it’s a great group. Cheers, Apples

I’ve just realized that the power car that doesn’t have the decoder in it but has all the dodgy wiring runs without the dummy car connected and still does the random auto reverse. Therefore I think the dummy car with the decoder has nothing to do with what’s really going on. Mystery

If I just desolder the wires from the decoder sockets and fit a blanking plate will it simply run as a normal functioning DC loco with the directional lights working properly? Also will I have to do anything with the wiring and the board that’s fitted in the power car or is it only the decoder wiring that needs addressing? Cheers, Mark

My reply with pics is awaiting approval but in brief there was a decoder in the dummy car and some sort of DCC wiring conversion in the power car. The decoder seems hard wired into some of the 8 pin trumpets which I’m unable to remove as it’s not a plate as such

Hi All, apologies for the delayed response but only got to remove the bodies tonight to discover there is a DCC decoder in the dummy car and some weird wiring in the power car. I’m no expert but looks like a dodgy DCC conversion. The decoder seems to have some hard wiring attached to some of the 8 pin trumpets as it’s not a typical 8 pin decoder plate. I’m unable to prize the trumpets off the pins. Is it possible to post pic’s on this forum? I’m not sure how to disconnect or convert this back to DC so any advice would be appreciated. Cheers, Apples127

I use an Australian made controller by Powerline, they’re very reliable and I run one controller per loop on my 3 loop layout. I’ve never experienced any issues with these controllers and have over 100 loco’s and this is the only loco that does such a thing so it’s definitely not the controllers. All signs point toward a DCC decoder