1:76 LNER A4 models

Once again I didnt read what was written correctly. Older Hornby points - dump ASAP - alternately as Greg says file with something till level.

Cheers, Simon

I might try that, if I can't get them to lie flat any other way. I thought of using a hair dryer or heat gun while gently bending the plastic sleepers.

Not glued down ? If not then do so and leave heavy weight on top. If base not flat then glue to shim glued to base.

Cheers, Simon

They are on flexible cork underlay, at the moment just pinned down.

Be suprised if anyone suggested not gluing down, although if you want to replace Hornby points with Peco ones first they are much better.

Cheers, Simon

I have old first-radius curved points in the fiddle yard.

From: "MartinS" Subject: Re: 1:76 LNER A4 models

1) Don't use Hornby points

2) Why not just file the frog slightly & reduce it's height.

John.

1} Peco don't make the same ones; neither does Hornby anymore. 2) I could try that, but then I'd have filed frogs.

In my admitedly limited experience pinned track wont stay in same place forever. So you file it now and then it moves and requires further modification or replacement. So recon first glue it as flat as possible then see if filing required.

The best action however, is as said, for you to get rid of Hornby points, at the same time move up a radius so more engines can use the fiddle yard. Pin new track, play with it, glue new track, remove pins (if you want to).

Cheers, Simon

Problem is, space is very tight, which is why I used 1st radius points. If I changed them, I'd have to completely relay the fiddle yard, maybe lose one siding, and they'd be shorter.

I guess I do. Mine started to emit smoke from the cab. Found there was arcing from the frame to the commutator. Finally got so hot it melted.

Understand, its a balence that only you can decide. Could a 3-way point help ?

Cheers, Simon

Only if the 3 are all curved the same way!

Funny thing is, none of ours burnt out. Every single casualty appears to have been the axles failing. They start to click while running, then the click becomes a clunk and finally a ludicrously loud bang before the bloody things stop running at all.

It's such a shame as the bodies are bloody good and compare well to photographs - I compared the Mainline J72 body [1] I have with the photos of the real engine in Vol. 43A of Yeadon's Register and I'm hard-pressed to find much difference.

I heard a rumour recently that Bachmann are planning on developing new chassis for all of their older LNER models. Not before time.

Notes:-

1. The one I'm planning to convert to a J71 using the Mainly Trains conversion kit I mentioned on this group a while back.

"Graham Thurlwell" wrote

Everything mechanical fails at some time; in fact I becoming increasingly convinced that many items (outside the model railway field) are designed to fail much more quickly than in the past.

My pet (non-mechanical) hate is toothbrushes that seem to last a week or less before becoming unusable, but it does guarantee I buy lots of them.

John.

And you are using these as per instructions ? Mine equiv hate is items that are unusable cos one part has failed and it cannot be replaced. Typical is taps that leak.

Cheers, Simon

They're designed a) for replacement, not repair, and b) to fail all at once, since it makes no sense to include parts of different design lifetimes when the item will not be repaired.

And there _is_ a difference in electronic parts. They are produced by the tens of thousands by machine. Random sample testing (using Bayesian probability, if you want to know) grades the batches, and the batches that are more likely to contain more than a specified percentage of bad parts are sold for less. Manufacturers (such as Bachmann) that must meet a price point will buy the cheaper parts. That's why so much consumer product fails. It's cheaper for them to replace or repair items than to buy more expensive parts. And of course they set the warranty period to ensure that most failures will occur well after it.

cheers wolf k.

You are quite right to think that - products, both electronic and mechanical, are designed to have a specific life-span, invariably based on the warranty period. It might sound like manufacturers are pulling a fast one (which is true to some extent - the milk float manufacturers all went bust because milk floats simply never needed replacing, so when everyone had one there was no market for new ones) but it's also down to us. A resistor costing 0.1p may have a Mean Time Between Failures of, say, 1000 hours, meaning some will fail immediately (around 5%), the majority (90%) will survive the whole 1000 hours (or long enough for warranty anyway), and some (the remaining 5%) will work "forever". A 1p resistor may "never" fail, and a 2p resistor will be guaranteed to work and last (and be a much more accurate value), having been tested after manufacture. The trouble is, if we see a radio going for 10 quid (cheap and cheerful) or 15 quid (with 2p resistors in it) we always go for the cheap one and are then surprised when it fails. The same goes for washing machines - I know a bod who used to work for Creda at Blythe Bridge (now made overseas), and he was adamant that for 50 quid extra they could make a machine that would last "a lifetime", but there was no point when £5 means the difference between a machine selling or not.

It's one of the things that we should really be looking at to protect the environment, and conspicuously don't. How much better it would be if, rather than worrying about re-cycling so much, we insisted products were better made thereby reducing the need to re-cycle in the first place. Ok, the young couple setting up home night struggle to buy themselves a nice new shiny washing machine (just like in the good old days!!), but how much better that would be than having to worry that, as the machine is 3 years old, it's going to fail any time now?

It's not just you there either - I've got quite a collection of duff ones too. I now use the good old Mk. 1 hand driven model ;-) I've also got a ruck of B&Q and Silverline (same thing, different label) soldering irons that were about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike....

Cheers Richard

Ahh, now that's a different problem! At least MY Peco points have always been flat to start with. I pin them so that they sit where they should be while I ballast and glue them. The pins are then superfluous and get pulled out. If you're quick enough the pin holes in the plastic close up again. The remaining problem is that the frogs are usually not level with the running rails, so far they have always been high, so the sharpening stone treatment has always worked. Ditto for GF and several other brands.

Greg.P.