Painting and Weathering Service

[Rog (RJ)]

Beautiful job.

[Brian]

An incredible skill you have Steve.

[Walkingthedog]

I think if that had happened to me I’d have thrown it on the floor. Looks fantastic.

Why did the meths soften the paint, not had that problem. Did you dilute it? You don’t need to press the transfers very hard. Perhaps pressfix are your best bet, they work well.

[Steve M]

Yes Brian, diluted in accordance with the instructions. Maybe the Railmatch acrylics are more susceptible to softening?

[Walkingthedog]

Good point, when I used methfix it was on enamel paint. You must have the patience of a saint. Not sure how patient they are.

[Steve M]

Got there in the end.
And before anyone says anything, yes the LNER spacing looks wrong, but it is in exactly the same position that Hornby placed it when they made it.

3A5C27A6-2514-4103-9899-F79A3C481C43 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

[Steve M]

A second project has been running alongside the tenders - some painting on a Black 5 plus adding TTS.
The owner has asked for a photo ‘how to’ of the fitting.

65E0CCFF-0C6E-43C2-8B20-37C4CD51D8D5 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

The first job is to unsolder the round speaker supplied by Hornby - do this at the speaker, not at the decoder. I then added a sleeve of clear heatshrink (unshrunk to allow a bit of air to circulate for cooling) to prevent short circuits.
Solder the YouChoos sugarcube speaker to those wires.
I tested the decoder first and programmed it to its new address using the module in the picture.

D06D9D45-46F1-40D4-A4DA-77DE7545D2CA by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

I tucked the speaker into the space Hornby provide for their speaker holding it in place with blacktac. There’s not a lot of space under the coal load so I angled the speaker to allow the decoder to also sit at a suitable angle.

E4260B1A-8D68-40B5-BFA5-59FF9571673C by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

ABBAB070-8602-410E-B6BB-9CF6E18CA035 by Steve Mumford, on Flickr

Even at this angle there is only just enough space at the front end of the tender space.

More on this project later.

[bulleidboy]

The Scotsman's tenders look fine Steve - know one is going to get the tape measure out.

With the Black Five - was there a reason for the sugarcube speaker, when a Youchoos 28mm round speaker would have been a direct, but better replacement for the one supplied in the TTS kit? I'm waiting for the Unrebuilt M/N TTS to arrive, and have spoken to Youchoos about fitting one of their 28mm round speakers, which they said would be fine, but if space allowed they would recommend either the Rail Exclusive Baby Boomer or the Big Boomer. Barry

[Steve M]

It's what I had in the box Barry - I like to keep a small number on hand. Personally, I like the fit of the sugarcubes - I usually fit them straddling the channel that Hornby hide the pickup wires in with the decoder on top of the ballast weight.

That's how I originally did this one then found that the bottom of the tender fouled the decoder - no room at the inn. So I had to go with the inclined approach.

YouChoos have certainly extended their already excellent range and I'm looking forward to a detailed chat with them when we are allowed to attend shows again. I think the last time I spoke to them was Warley 2019 when they had just started producing their shaped housings.

[bulleidboy]

I should have said - but I assumed the speaker was one you already had. I have found Youchoos very helpful and very quick to respond to emails.