Glad it worked out.  I had the same issue with mine and same solution - a drop of CA on that joint with a small electrical clip to hold it together while it dries and I've had no issue in the 2+ years since.

Scott

Ray at TFS is back from vacation and he's all stocked up now.

FWIW, I've never had a bad experience with him.  A few dozen transactions.

Scott

Don't panic!  He's on his summer break, same as every year.  I think TFS usually restocks their virtual shelves in early August.

Scott

Well, I wrote an entire post about replacing the decoder, but if I would have read your whole post, I see you tried that! 

Sometimes if your command station and decoder are set to different speed steps, it can cause buzzing.  Other than that, I'm at a loss.

I've replaced all my stock Bachmann decoders due to buzzing, and this has solved the problem.  Best of luck to you!

Scott

Well, apparently the issue is that the metal or plastic that the stamp is being applied to is non-porous, so the ink does not stamp properly.   I found a quick drying ink that supposedly can be used on metal - I'll have to see if they have some at my local Hobby Lobby.

Just for reference, here's some examples of what I've found (no clue about the products or sellers):
http://www.cistamps.com/ink_for_glass_metal_plastic.htm
http://www.scrapyland.com/StazOn_Ink_Pads_s/567.htm
http://www.amazon.com/Tsukineko-StazOn-Opaque-Cotton-White/dp/B000S16GFE

I might try to find some locally, but hopefully this might be a solution.  Custom stamps are so cheap and easy compared to custom decals!

Scott

I noticed the new Large Scale Climax has all metal gears.  I wonder if the cost of replacing all the plastic ones in three different scales has finally prompted Bachmann to go to all metal ones - even if it costs $10 more to make.

I'm hoping future releases of geared locos in any scale will have all metal gears!

Best of luck in replacing yours - Bachmann customer service was very good to me.

Scott

Walthers is coming out with some new ones (DCC controlled) that should be out in February.  Pricey, but fully built up with indexing - very little tweaking is needed, so it might be worth it in that sense.

I know Doug Coffey took an Atlas turntable and made it look just outstanding - photos 12 and 15 on this page.  Might not be big enough for a 2-10-2 though, but it's a good modeling reference.

There are also a few 90' turntable kits from Walthers that show up on eBay all the time, but I've heard they are tough to get "right".  And Heljan makes a 14" one in HO that is available from some online retailers for about $35.  No idea about the operation or quality.  Custom Model Railroads also makes one, but now we are getting up in price again.

Good luck!
Scott

Well, after a quick experiment using some of my wife's scrap-booking stamps and a "test" car (an old 1970s Tyco HO car that now has "Happy Birthday" all over it), you are both right.  It is hard to get all the ink from the stamp onto the carbody - it results in a sort of antique look, like Harold said.  I don't know how else to describe it - lightly speckled, if you will.  It's actually not too bad, but also not ideal.  The edges of the letters just aren't crisp enough for what I am looking for, but good enough I could see someone easily doing an entire fleet this way.  Sure would be cheap.

I used the cheap white ink pad from Hobby Lobby ($2.99).  I wonder if some of the higher quality inks would work better - I just don't want to burn $25 to find out.

I've used dry transfers for the numbers on a few cars - that works easy enough.  But I was looking to do a custom road name on the locos, passenger and freight cars - Dry transfers seem too tedious and difficult to do letter by letter.  I'll look into that decal paper for white.

Thanks for your help,
Scott

Hey all,

I've been on a quest to find an easy, cheap way to do some custom lettering in WHITE on my unlettered locos and freight cars.  Has anyone tried custom rubber hand stamps with white ink?  I've been searching around and I can't find any examples of anyone trying this.

I'm not sure how well the ink would stick to the model - I'm thinking a spray of dullcoat first to help adhesion.  And there are plenty of online sites that do custom stamps for pretty cheap.

I may have to experiment.  Anyone tried this?

Scott

Quote from: ChrisS on November 20, 2010, 12:13:28 AM
Does anyone know if the cv's in the factory sound equipped are the standard tsunami sound cv's? Meaning is cv 129 bell volume like on my tsu 1000 decoder?

The CVs are slightly different on the OEM version, since it has fewer features than the full blown TSU 1000.  But the volume CVs I'm pretty sure are all the same.  Bell is CV 130 on the OEM version.  Whistle is CV 129.  Same as the TSU 1000.  Looking for one in particular?

Scott

I have a friend that works at Walthers, and when Bachmann first released their HO shay, he said they got dozens of calls weekly about shays running too slow!   

Shays are beautiful engines - and part of that beauty is how slow they run.  You can take the time to appreciate all those moving parts.

Here is a great guide to shays:
http://www.shaylocomotives.com/

Enjoy!
Scott

My LHS is Hiawatha Hobbies in SE Wisconsin.  Very nice store, friendly people.  Same prices in store as online.

http://www.hiawathahobbies.com/Track-and-Accessories_c_1296.html

Scott

Quote from: Royce Wilson on October 05, 2010, 05:05:18 PM
AMason Bogie would be better than sliced bread! The way it is designed makes it a natural for tight curves and lets don't forget they were the Cadillac of locomotives for that time period. Yes they were limited but so was the outside frame 4-4-0 that Bachmann produced and the outside frame 2-8-0 ..lets se some Bogies!!!!

Royce W

Oooh, Mason Bogies...

Check out this beauty - not sure if it's a photo or computer generation, but it's gorgeous.
http://www.bunkspeed.com/news/news_sw_plugin_1.html

As much as I like the run-down look most of us put in our locos, a classy painted engine like that would be irresistible.

Scott

Yeah, there was just the one On30 layout.  It is a section from a local home layout - actually nicely done - the guy brings it to all the local shows.  Just a point to point section more for display than anything.  He will run a Forney or Shay or whatever he brings with him - back and forth.  They were right next to the "kid-activated" Lionel layout that was louder than all heck.  Bachmann did not have their On30 layout there.

The only other things On30 related were a few of the laser structure manufacturers that have O scale offerings.  There was one store that had quite a bit of Bachmann's On30 items, too.  Can't remember which one it was.  Their pricing was quite a bit higher than "street price" though.

No other narrow gauge to speak of.  I was also surprised at the complete lack of anything large scale at the show.  Just Bachmann's display booth and one retailer that had just a few of the standard gauge freight cars in the blue box.  No running models at all.  At Trainfest in Milwaukee each November there are at least 3 or 4 running large scale layouts.

Plenty of HO (snore) and a surprising number of N scale layouts - the quality of those little trains is really amazing.  There was also one 2-rail O layout.  A couple of Z scale layouts had spectacular scenery - one in particular I found absolutely outstanding.

But sadly, not much for us On30ers.

Scott

Okay, I know I promised pictures, but the Porter models they had on display are the identical models photographed in the downloadable brochure.  Not a finalized paint job at all.  Best I can tell, both models look nearly identical to the originally released ones.  My photos will not be nearly as good as the ones that have already been published.

Unfortunately, every time I passed the booth Lee was busy talking (surprise) so I didn't get a chance to ask about the speaker or decoder specifications.  Plus, I had my two-year-old and it turns out he is not the least bit interested in static models.

I'll look over the few photos I did take and if I find any reason to post them I will.

Scott