RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

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wingnut
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RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by wingnut » Mon May 29, 2017 10:18 pm

Hi

I am just building my first layout and am after a decent battery powered diesel, for general, reliable running while I swear and burn my fingers on my MSS.

The Roundhouse Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem both seem to be ideal for this, does anyone have any experience of either, the Salem is around a £120 cheaper, but with lights and the recommended remote control would be around the same price.

I have read that the Bulldog is a little fast running, but powerful, but have not managed to find any objective reviews of either model. Roundhouse is only around 50 miles from me, so I can go and have a good look at them running and judge for myself, but do not want to exclude the Salem purely on this count.

I am currently working at sea with a very slow internet connection, so am currently unable to view any of the many utube videos that are around. Any objective views would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

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markoteal
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by markoteal » Tue May 30, 2017 12:43 pm

I have a Little John which I believe is basically the same as the Bulldog under the bonnet and I can get a very slow crawl out of it - and of course it responds nicely if you open it up on the main line!

No experience of the Salem though
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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-steves-
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by -steves- » Tue May 30, 2017 2:56 pm

What about the Accucraft Baguley, full metal chassis, masses of pulling power, really really scale slow running right up to stupid beyond scale speeds if thats your thing, easy to make RC and comes in significantly cheaper? Just food for thought. I think £299 for a new loco and less than £100 to RC it using Deltang TX and a Deltang RX65b with around 4 cell li-lo up it, runs fantastic, mine certainly do. I have also seen the Roundhouse Little John running and they are capable of silly speeds, ridiculous top speed, however the slow running is not all that bad from what I saw, just not as easy to control down there.
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markoteal
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by markoteal » Tue May 30, 2017 6:24 pm

Agree re slow speeds being harder to control on RH's racing car'esque controller - eventually I'll move the Little John onto something like a Deltang controller where you set the speed and it'll chug away without any 'hands on' needed.

That said, if you concentrate you can get the Little John to crawl along at scale walking pace
Where did I put that uncoupler?

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dougrail
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by dougrail » Wed May 31, 2017 9:57 am

Personally I'm going for a Salem when I get a diesel. First off - I trust RWM's range and if the diesel/battery is as good as the Mamod / Jane range then it'll be excellent. Secondly, it has brass gearing, not nylon or plastic which gives me assurance of extra strength and gears won't go so easily.

If you need a video or such - fear not: [video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2p-LM55vL0[/video]

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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by -steves- » Thu Jun 01, 2017 10:14 am

markoteal wrote: Tue May 30, 2017 6:24 pm Agree re slow speeds being harder to control on RH's racing car'esque controller - eventually I'll move the Little John onto something like a Deltang controller where you set the speed and it'll chug away without any 'hands on' needed.

That said, if you concentrate you can get the Little John to crawl along at scale walking pace
If you upgrade that to a Deltang TX with an RX65b and use "Low OFF" this gives MUCH greater control over the speed of your loco, particularly at slower speeds, I can not stress how much these 2 items will totally change the control of any electric loco currently on a stick or trigger RC system.

Long winded explanation below and uses approx numbers based on my own personal findings of my own RC systems, nothing technical, just approx! I do not work for any RC company and am not associated with any RC supplier, though my personal preference is RC Trains, but that is Deltang equipment, the same as Yatton and a number of others that use their base components.

(Low OFF, this means that speed and control is combined over two channels removes the centre off approach of most RC systems. I will attempt to explain it for those that might not know. A standard RC system [not all] uses just one channel for a electric loco to give forward and reverse with the off (stop) point in the middle, usually sprung loaded on stick type systems. This means that half your movement is for forward and half is for reverse so you are already down to 50% movement each way. You actually also lose another 15% (approx) off the very top and very bottom at each end due to ESC's not being all that linear in effect of a loco at top speed as you dont need most of that anyway and you also lose around 10% (approx) around the middle each way before the loco actually starts to move. This means it is effectively giving you around 25% of real usable movement each way on the stick. The Deltang / RC Trains etc type I mention above uses one channel for speed and one channel for direction, just like a steam engine with a regulator and a forward reverse lever. So, you move one switch or dial one way for forward motion, then the other channel goes on a large rotary dial from 0 - 100 with large movement giving much finer control, of course there is no middle off point so you get move like an effective 70% control from your 100% movement each direction, instead of the approx 25% effective movement on a standard system. The difference is immense when controlling a loco, it really is!)
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Graff B.
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by Graff B. » Thu Jun 01, 2017 6:23 pm

The Rounhouse Bulldog is well made and very controllable. But to me Essel are better quality or you could look at the Friog website.

Hope this helps Alan.

wingnut
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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by wingnut » Thu Jun 01, 2017 8:30 pm

Hi

Thanks for all the replies so far, they are greatly appreciated, lots of food for thought and a few options I had not considered.

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Re: RH Bulldog and Roy Wood Salem

Post by SVLR » Thu Jun 15, 2017 11:44 pm

Just got hold of a Little John
Image
Very impressed with the slow running, really well made, powerful little loco. Just starting to add some details etc.

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