Kim-344602

Yes, if you ask him. He did 10 for me. He really is a very helpful guy.

The plugs should be readily available. Not very keen on the speakers supplied so ordered some better sounding ones from Roads and Rails. A quick chat before hand and they arrived with the correct size plug already on. Another option would be to cut the attacked speaker cable and splice a new length in. But that would need two lots of silicone insulation. Or un-solder the wire from the speaker, add the extra length and re-solder to the speaker. One one splice that way. Both options save any possible mishaps with the decoder and a better "new" speaker is quite cheap. Also a much wider choice of speakers available so you end with a better fit as well as better sound.

It's not about the edges of the transfer but the "whole thing". Matt paint appears matt because it has a slightly rough surface which scatters the light reflection. Gloss paint has a much smoother surface and so gives a reflection rather than scattering. A classic way to make enamel or even acrylic paint more matt is to add talcum powder the get the rougher surface. If you apply transfers to a matt ie rough surface, you will have very small air pockets underneath which can be seen. It can often be dealt with by using Microsol and Microset which will soften the transfer and make it contour better. Not so bad when using solid colour transfers but it is very obvious if there is clear film say between letters or numbers.

My "fascination" with "toy trains" started in 1958 with a second hand HD Montose and coaches. 3 rail of course. Needless to say, I have bought the Royal Scot set even though half of my layout will still be 3 rail. It doesn't come with a controller because the originals made and sold out of Binn's Road didn't have them apart from the very early ones and even those didn't have a transformer. That set more than any other ticks all the nostalgia buttons. The TT120 is nice but they are nothing like the sets he may have wanted in his younger days. Of the suggestions above, I feel the Gaugemaster controllers are the best option but if you have a model shop nearby that has second hand, it would be worth a look to see if they have one.

As a matter of interest, this is a Hornby model I did recently.

Having painted a great many locos, my favoured paints are Phoenix Precision but the Railmatch ones from Howes are also good. I tend very much to avoid the generic spray cans as in most cases they deliver far too much paint/varnish. I will only use the primers and sometimes Halfords satin or matt black. It depends to a certain extent which Fox transfers you are applying. Most numbering and lettering ones are quite happy over a satin surface but if worried, give the model a very light coat of gloss varnish before applying them. Once dry, give the model a light coat of satin varnish.

I am not 100% positive but taking the observation car to a turntable would NOT be prototypical. I'm certain I read somewhere that during the summer service (the only time the coach was used), the rake was turned using a triangle. wink Within the "pairs" there is likely to be a special coupling due to the articulation. However, on the outer ends, almost certainly replaceable tension locks. Otherwise, you would have to buy the full set and not many can run 9 coach rakes.

Just had an email from RoS to say the wagons are arriving shortly. wink

OK, Not 100% certain but pretty sure it's R2248. There will be others probably with the same chassis but that should give you a start point to start the search. Looking on the auction sites you might be better off looking for a replacement loco They seem to go for around £40-£50

Much will depend on which model it is. Hornby have produced models over a long period and they have evolved over time. wink

From the drawing's I have which are of the domed boilers with combustion chamber, it is quoted as 5' 8 5/8" at the front increasing to 6' 3" at the rear. However that is the boiler size. There is the cladding on top of that. So around 6' for the smokebox would be about right. The Roche drawing of the Duchess gives about 6' 1" across the cladding next to the smokebox although the Roche drawings are not always accurate. I am wary of scanning the drawing and posting them in case of copyright rules. ;)

The boilers were tapered and not conical. ;) The lower edge of the boiler was level. A true conical shape would be tapered all round. Easiest way to explain it is to make a cone slightly longer than you need, Now lay it on it's side. This will mean the front and back are not vertical so slice a bit off and you have the rough shape of a tapered boiler. It's why although it is not too hard to cast a tapered boiler in model form, it is very hard to roll from sheet metal and why the early kits like Jamieson had pre-rolled boilers. Also what to see in the drawing is not actually the shape of the boiler itself but the cladding. On many locos especially on the GWR, the boiler is in 2 halves the rear part being quite strongly tapered and the front part either less so or even parallel. (Much like some of the early US locos.) Quite often the cladding hides this.

The Stanier boilers came in 3 series which were all taper. The 1 series were for the pacifics but there are big differences between the Princess series and the Coronations. For a start those on the Coronations were shorter. The boiler made for 6202 was never fitted and became the spare for the first 2. 6202 was fitted with the one originally intended for 6203. When within a very short space of time, 6202's boiler was changed, the original went into the pool of spares for the second series but had the difference that it had 32 superheater elements. The replacement was not only domed but it had a 40 superheater. None of the other Lizzie's had 40 elements. The boiler for 6200 and 6201 were always slightly different and were not interchangeable with the rest of the class. So although all the pacifics were fitted with No 1 boilers, there were quite marked differences between locos. It was further complicated as the original boilers were not good steamers and some of the later series had combustion chambers. As a matter of interest, the 2 series were intially to British Legion and the a slightly shorter modified version fitted to the 7P rebuilds. The 3 series were fitted to the Jubilee's, Black 5's and 8F but again with variationd and not just with or without domes. Initially they had a vertical throatplate and long boiler. This was soon changed to a slightly shorter boiler with a sloping throatplate. Even within a single class, the 2 types were not interchangeable as the frames were different. Some of the early vertical throat plate engines had their frames changed and were fitted with the sloping ones. Their old boilers then went to form a pool of spares for the earlier engines.

You print off a picture of the item and put it in a card saying this will come in the future. smiley

One big advantage of the 21 pin decoder is that it gets rid of the need for the speaker wires to be soldered the the decoder. That allows a much better choice of speakers as if retrofited, they will plug into the mount. Also, some manufactures like Heljan are factory fitting speakers in some models so all you need to do is replace the blanking plug with a decoder. The 8 pin socket was a simple upgrade from the early days when you had to solder the flying leads from the early decoders. At the time, most were motor control and perhaps lights only and the "plug and play" of the 8 pin is limited. Even the 21 Pin is being superseded by the PlusX and Next18 sockets. Easy to get adapters to allow you to plug an older 8 pin decoder into a 21 pin socket but not the other way round.