Disaster hits my 14xx

Disaster hits my 14xx after a run in in on the rolling road yesterday. Today when it was left on the track white smoke and the dreaded smell of burn PCB wafted from the loco. I have no idea why the decoder went puff I need to check all the wiring in the loco before I install another chip! At first glance there seems nothing wrong with the wiring very strange. That was not my only disappointment today I went to the local model railway exhibition with a shopping list and never hit on one item. I did get a cooper craft AEC monarch tanker and a copy of Historic locomotive drawings in 4mm scale by F J Roche and this wagon book for £12 the pair

Black Friday!

Black Friday! Um internet slow so I though I would finish wiring in the chip into No2 and run it in on the rolling road.

Finished the wiring

Finally finished the wiring, all the decoder ports work and switch the frogs. Mimic board shows the routes and switched the shed and station independently. All I need now is my Gopro back from being repaired and I can get some HD video!

Spaghetti Junction

Getting there all the fly leads soldered on to the underside of the decoder, and bundled shrunk ready to be connected. decoder loosely fitted to  the underside of the base board that will do me for today

Top marks for Hatton’s

Top marks for Hatton’s, a replacement decoder arrived with in 3 days of my posting the defective one back. Over the last few days I manage to set up a small production line to make the LED’s for the mimic board. Progress was slower than usual because we had my daughter and son-in-law stay for an overnight to celebrate my other daughters 40^th um, time flies when you enjoy life. Today the last 2 LED’s were fitted to the mimic board and continuity tested. Over the coming week I shall refit the decoder board and test the whole installation watch this space!

Nothing going to happen now for a few days

Nothing going to happen now for a few days or so  Duff decoder on its way back to Hatton’s for replacement cut the proper mimic board from 6mm MDF to replace the mock-up. 

Primary LEDs in place

Today I mounted wired and tested the primary LEDs in the mimic board, swapped out the duff bank on the decoder. Apart from the 2 duff channels all works well, I must Email Hatton’s after I finish this blog

Photoshopping

An early start today working with Photoshop I produced a “routing table” more work on the mimic board today if I can find my 18mm ply off cuts

Almost 2 years on

It is just over two weeks now until the annual model railway show on the 29^th November that make two years since I posted my first blog, 

I do not seem on the face of it to have achieved much, but I suppose if I look at all the little projects and cameos that I have made I am not disappointed with progress.

Today’s offering were wiring the mimic board tails to the decoder 15 fine wire soldered to the underside of the decoder. That was no mean task my hands are not as steady as they used to be! I finally programmed the decoder last night and set 6 routes for point switching. Who said DCC wiring was a simple two wire connection.

Got Roundtuit

After a long absence I feel the time is right to update my blog, since I retired in January all those little jobs that I needed to get “roundtuit” ar finally done and almost dusted. With the wonderful weather we had it was a shame to scuttle of to the workshop instead I had some quality time with Linda in our caravan first in the Cotswolds the later in the summer Norfolk. All was not lost on the modelling front I manage a two page spread I Vogue (no I'm messing with you).

First off was the rolling road back in June followed by the Chipping of a couple of locos a couple of pullers and presses. Lastly I wired the layout for DCC operation using the new DCC AD-Sfx decoder most impressive makes frog switching a doddle and installed lighting in the shed and station buildings if you want a roundtuit Screwfix are out of stock.