Garden Railway Forum

It's been a while since I did 16mm stuff and I've found myself on a steep learning curve. My interest are mainly small locos of the battery powered ilk and also radio control. Any advice as to which is the better system would be welcome. I've had a look at Timpdon's products and I'm concerned at the size of some of the parts. Mtronics do a nice small ESC and a 2.4 Ghz tranny would do the job. Also batteries. I used to have a collection of r/c cars and trucks, all lipo powered. How about a 70mph Tamiya TXT1! Anyway, are small 7.2 volt lipo's suitable? More power than NMih cells. And more compact. One other thing is gears. Any one know of a source of brass gears,approx 3mm wide for a good contact area. Thanks.

Most lightweight garden railway "stuff" tends to run on a couple of AA or AAA batteries with a simple centre-off switch. LiPo's have been fought shy of, because of the stories of them doing nasty things if not charged properly...............

I'm trying out the AnDel "Triplex 3" speed controller on my railcar (which uses a 3V Como motor) - with promising results so far with a Planet 2.4GHz set. Requires a 6V supply. Sorry not written up yet - very busy week.

Also have the Mtroniks controller in another loco, but have had problems with everything cutting out. This may be down to tired batteries and/or duff wiring, haven't had time to investigate properly.

stories of them doing nasty things if not charged properly...............

They can be nasty,but,provided the correct charger is used, no bother. I've used them for donkeys. The other precaution to take is not let
them go flat in use.

My Roundhouse/IP Jack "RoundJack" uses a Li-Po battery. Only because it was left over from when I did RC helicopters & because it would fit where I needed it. Whilst normally I never run it flat I have accidently a few times, My charger does a special boost charge for a minute to restore that issue, I do watch it like a hawk when it's doing that. I get pretty good running time out of it & it charges up in about 30 minutes so can't complain.

I use a Extronik Pulse 2.4ghz stick controller which is very nice, with a useful throttle hold switch that keeps the servo/ESC going at a set percentage, very nice for smooth running.

Both my R/C battery electric loco's run off 2 cell Lipo's and I've had no trouble as of yet, not only are they smaller than the NiCad packs they also pack more punch and require charging less frequently.

For steamers i would steer down the AA route simply because I wouldn't trust Lipo's around heat and a few servos and a receiver need very little power.

Hope this helps,

Just out of interest,can you control either of your B/E's with the same controller? A Spectrum 6 has 10 model memory.

My etronik pulse has 10 model memory and will run all my RC Locos steam and BE

KVSRmanager:65165 wrote:I use a Extronik Pulse 2.4ghz stick controller which is very nice, with a useful throttle hold switch that keeps the servo/ESC going at a set percentage, very nice for smooth running.

Which model please? I've just looked, and there are LOTS......................

OK. Got the chassis idea sorted,will be ordering parts this weekend. I'm going down the Brian Clarke road 'cos 1,I like small engines and 2,I'm doing an indoor line. I've yet to sort out wheels though. I want 16mm steel if I can find a set. The loco I've built before in 16mm scale but lost it in the fire. She's tiny. Have to get a driver to make sure I get proportions right. Will be 4 wd but whether gears or chain haven't made my mind up yet. I rather fancy gears because I can then lay the motor down between the frames. I'll keep you posted.

Which model please? I've just looked, and there are LOTS......................

Here is the one I use, there are cheaper ones but they remember less models and have less options.

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/etronix-pul ... ucts/38404

Will be ordering gears and a few other bits from Cambrian soon. Wheels and frame spacers I'll get from Essel. I've got the 4 w/d system sussed as well. Just won a load of Hornby Clockwork track as well. It's in a bit of a 2&8 apparently,but will be able to rescue it. As it's an indoor line I'm not worried about rusting,but the rust already on the track will save a bit of weathering. I may even investigate the possibility of replacing the rail with something that looks better. Flat bottom on Jubilee sleepers? Hmmmmmmm.