Confession Time

[GlenP]

Decided that this weekend, one way or another, I was going to get the last two point motors installed and everything running. Good opportunity as the weather prevents much outdoor stuff.

As someone had asked about Cobalt installation I thought I'd update the website as well and add a page on that side of things.

Ended up spending all day yesterday on the computer as I got sidetracked by a slideshow I'm working on (it's about Sailing though, not railways).

Started out this morning by finally improving the lighting for the layout - are 500w floods excessive for a small layout?   

The points were already installed, holes drilled, wiring in place, etc. so it should have been a simple job. First one I found the hole for the activating wire needed clearing out a bit. Careful job with the cordless screwdriver and a 5mm bit except I wasn't careful enough! 

Anyone want a right hand small radius electro-frog point, one not very careful owner? I really should have known better and checked the hole before I laid the point and, when I found the problem, lifted it again before trying to cure it. 

So until i get a replacement I still haven't got the track completed.   

Glen

[Newportnobby]

Thanks for fessing up, Glen. I am sure many of us have made some dire mistakes in our time so this could be an amusing thread. Who needs Simon Mayo

[Sprintex]

D'oh!! 


Paul

[4x2]

I am the king of disasters - i've got loads of tails of woe... 

Dropped a hot soldering iron on a Dapol hymek !

Cut the corner of off the dining table when trimming baseboard ! 

ripped a brand new point into pieces trying to remove a track pin (in one go !) 

cut up a 4 track gauge master mains controller because two tracks didn't work, forgetting that gaugemaster would of repaired it !!! 

[SD35]

Oh yes, when I was much younger and BR were bringing out new liveries and variations every week during the eighties I used to want to keep my locos up to date and repaint them.  Unfortunately, I found to my cost that using modelstrip on the same loco about four times tended to make it very soft, thin and easily breakable indeed.   

[Fratton]

everyone makes mistakes, i dropped a razor saw which flicked superglue across the shed and a tiny dot hit my cep, i didnt find the dot of glue before it warped the plastic a little,

i hid it with weathering 

[Oldman]

I'm thinking about building some code 40 points in Zm (4.5mm Track)

I am also looking at the remnants of my  Marklin Z gauge rolling stock with a razor saw and scalpel ready to dismember them for Nn3.


Biggest mistake I ever made was years ago when I was making some laser cut wooden structures in Z and drilling a couple of holes went straight through the cutting mat, sheet of card under that and straight into a brand new pine dining table we had only had for 48hrs

[silly moo]

I seem to be good at dropping locos, I have a Flying Jubilee and A Flying Merchant Navy both of which weren't too badly damaged. At the last club meet I dropped my storage box, locos coaches, everything went flying, luckily it was a wooden floor and although some things came apart nothing was badly damaged that time either, I had most of the club members crawling on the floor looking for missing couplings. 

[silly moo]

I also had a disaster with resin, trying to make a lake on my layout, it always seems to find a way of escaping and it went straight through the bottom of the baseboard and onto the carpet. I wasn't popular.

[Pete Mc]

My only booboo up to press,and the only one I can remember,conveniently,is that in the process of converting my Farish class 40,out of a little bit of frustration and wanting to get the job done quicker,I decided to file away some of the roof of the loco body on the inside and went a bit too far with it.

I was warned by John Youchoos but did I take any notice?
No,I thought I was ok.I was wrong.In my haste to get the right amount of space removed from the chassis for the speaker,I decided to separate the speaker from the enclosure to shape that for the loco's roof and to reduce the height and ruined the speaker.When I prized them apart after cutting a small groove into the enclosure,the speaker pulled away from its base.I have no idea if it works or not and if I'm honest,I don't really care either.It'll provide an ideal template for the next one,which'll be either a deltic,class 50 or 46.

At least I haven't destroyed the loco chassis yet!

Plenty of time to do that though.I'm filing more off the chassis top for the decoder to sit then I have to isolate the motor contacts by filing away the bits that the motor touches,so loads to do still.

I just need to try and get a new loco body,although its not like it has a gaping hole in the roof,some weathering might hide it a bit.Some soot and muck will do the trick I think.

I have also ruined a seep point motor by trying to cut the actuator with a pair of pliers whilst in place and a set of points by cuttig the actuator in situ with a dremel.It melted the point switching bar being plastic and all.

Pete

[Jack]

I have also ruined a seep point motor by trying to cut the actuator with a pair of pliers whilst in place and a set of points by cuttig the actuator in situ with a dremel.It melted the point switching bar being plastic and all.

Pete

I've got a box of ruined points because of using a dremel to cut actuators. I thought I'd done a nice neat job, that is until I started to through some switches which moved the the SEEPs but the points didn't move. 

[GlenP]

I'm glad it's not just me!     

The above has also saved me ruining more points - I'll use the wire cutters on the actuators not the Dremel.   

Glen

[davidjhope]

I think this thread is going to go on for a long time.

I'm not sure how long my line 'it was only a couple of quid on ebay' will last perhaps it's time I confessed

[4x2]

I think this thread is going to go on for a long time.

I'm not sure how long my line 'it was only a couple of quid on ebay' will last perhaps it's time I confessed

If only i had a pound for every time i used that one.... I could buy a real loco !

[justintime]

Cut the corner of off the dining table when trimming baseboard ! 

Sorry but reading that gave me a fit of the giggles