One problem we face at TGBMRS, was the lack of electricity. There was a power point in the floor, but just the other side of an escalator. It didn't seem sensible to run a cable accross this, so initially, it looked like there would be no movement on the stand.
Then, an idea. 009 locos don't need much power, so could a 6V jelly call from a model boat do the job?
With nothing to lose, I charged up a small battery and took it along. After a testing the various locos, my "Tin Turtle" seemed happiest on the available juice, so it performed during the show.
The little loco ran happily from 9:30 opening, to about 3:30 both days. I did recharge on Saturday night of course.
A rough calculation tells me it covered a real mile each day - showing how reliable the Tomytec chassis under the Meridian Models body is. OK, speed was a little high, but you can't have everything.
Another battery, this time a 9V PP3 powered the LEDs in the car dealership. Hardly fresh when I first plugged it in on Saturday, the lights stayed on until the end of Sunday, including overnight as I forgot to turn them off!
I've been impressed by the performance of my Busch HOf/James Hilton 006.5 stock using the Busch battery controller. It only has a direction control, but the speed is a good compromise - slow enough for shunting but fast enough for an industrial mainline
ReplyDeleteI've got one and agree - the speed seems to be spot on and you don't miss the speed transitions as much as you'd expect.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about building a little 009 oval to go on top of the small Billy bookcase I've just put in the dining/hobby room...likewise there's no power that end so I'll probably battery power it, either from something small or one of the 7Ah SLABs I use for portable ham radio. Probably need to knock up some sort of controller too...while I've got most of the bits, a cheap solution using a voltage regulator and switchable resistors for high/medium/low could be a fun thing to build.
ReplyDeleteSimon, the other OO9 advantage of battery power is not having to solder on resistor to some of the great little Japanes chassis
ReplyDeleteJames, yes, that's true...I have a number of battery cases that will take AA cells and several of the little chassis although the little Sugiyama rod-coupled diesel and my old Joe Works Kyosan side tank are 12V. I have got a Chivers "Gwen" running on a TU-Koppel chassis with a resistor and that's pretty good although one day I'll get around to fitting the Tramfabriek replacement motor and flywheel...one day!
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