Scalefour Forum

A trick I was taught is to short a large, charged capacitor across the unwanted short circuit, the theory being that the discharge current would vapourise the fault. It got me out of trouble once but try at your own risk

While a lathe is the best way to skim the wheels, it can be done with hand tools: Kitchen table P4 conversion of RTR loco wheels

Could you post some close-ups of the wheels and chassis in question? If DJ used the same factory as Heljan then there's a good chance that this will work.

Hi Stephan, in my mind the anti-pitch bar can't bear any weight because it is free to rotate in its chassis mounted bearings; a bump lifting the front axle would also lift the rear axle (which might be a problem in itself) and the loco will pitch nose-up to a new equilibrium attitude. Correctly appo...

Been following with great interest. It seems to me that even 30/40/30 might put too much weight on the leading & trailing. Clearly, going too far would lead to oscillating. 1/98/1 for example. But I'm wondering if 20/60/20 would work, or 25/50/25. Stephan I'm picturing an anti-pitch bar - like ...

The laying of the stones seems much more random and un-coursed than Daves Cotswold version I've done a bit of walling. Stones would by picked up nearby so you get what the local geology gives you to work with - lovely square slabs in the Cotswolds or irregular angular blocks in the Peaks for exampl...

Yes, should work for the EPB too but the length and width may need to differ.

Some Bachmann RTR vehicles come with split axles with electrical pick-up through the axle bearings. They run very freely but, unfortunately, some types are too narrow for P4 wheelsets. Here’s how I widened the bogies of a Bachmann/Kernow 4TC. 1. The bogie as supplied: DSC_0998.JPG DSC_0999.JPG 2. Po...

There has been much discussion about converting RTR loco wheels to P4 by machining the original tyres on a lathe and press fitting P4 tyres. I thought I would see if this could be done with just hand tools. My guinea pig is a Heljan class 07 0-6-0 diesel shunter with 3’ 6” diameter wheels of a quite...

Very easy, the only slight difficulty is fabricating the three legged ones; suggest making drilling and bending jigs as there are several to do.

The 2019 Wakefield RMS Exhibition is this weekend and we'll be flying the P4 flag with Birmingham Moor Street. Do come and say hello

PS. I know there are a lot of shows in Wakefield but how come this year's show is the 58th if 2018's was the 50th?!

Hi Nick,

You might also consider Colin Craig's modern track products.

Simon

Thanks for the answers. Honeybourne is just down the road from me. There were several boxes for its incredibly complex set of junctions, maybe this signal was repeated in a box the other side of the bridge.

Just curious, what's the rectangular box with wires going in to it?

Is this any help?

How to print from your Android phone or tablet

I'm converting a Heljan 07 diesel dock shunter at the moment. I expect this has a similar chassis to the 1366. The 07 has 3'6" wheels so I'm grinding the Heljan wheels down to 13mm diameter which allows me to press on Gibson coach wheel tyres. So far, so good!

My dentist now uses UV cure fillings which seem a much simpler process than the previous two-part epoxy ones so I thought I'd see if there was something similar publicly available. The most popular product seems to be '5 second fix', readily available on Amazon and eBay for less than £3. It comes as...

I'm not sure, I just happened to come across this article on riveted structures that mentions the hole clearance in the 20 August comment by 'p'. Perhaps a rivet can achieve a higher tension than a bolt. After all, you don't see many bolted together ship's hulls or boilers. Coincidentally, I am in a...

There should be clearance between the rivet and the hole after the rivet head has been formed. The rivet's job is to create friction between the parts being joined by pulling them together, not to align or reinforce the joint.

Intermittent running sounds more like a pick-up problem than a DCC chip issue to me. My first step would be to check for obvious faults, then replace the chip with the blanking plug and make sure it ran properly on DC. It may be as simple as the loco needing a long run to bed in bearings etc. Where ...

This post has links to changing the tyres on Heljan loco wheels and might provide some pointers for the Dapol conversion. I need to do something similar for the Heljan 07 shunter so will be interested in how you get on too.

Can you drill a recess then solder a nut inside?

I expect the burnt resistor acts as a current sensor and provides an input to the control circuit, needs replacing with a higher wattage rated part as suggested.

Could it be the same as the one next to the switch on your working controller? Mind you, that one looks 'thermally challenged' too...

Hi Tony,

I've had success using a 2mm ID, 2.5mm OD sleeve for the gear loctited to a 2mm axle, saves altering the bearings.

Simon