RE: Hobbyking transmitter

Still waiting on the Hobbyking transmitter. The delivery is taking ages! Its taken ages so far! I read that it will take a long time, but I didn't realise it would be this long! It's been around a month, and it still hasn't arrived. :( At least I won't have to use the Hong Kong warehouse, because the UK warehouse is up! I'll just have to wait for a bit! :/

Sreeteja

Faller Car System

The Faller Car system is a clever way to add moving cars to your model train layout. It uses various things, such as infra red leds, photovoltaic cells & ambient light sensors to automate the cars on your layout. The cars can run in a loop, or by using electromagnets, can change the car on to a different track. So, thats the intro done, lets look in more detail. It has two key parts, the car & the road

Car

Forward/Backwards movement

The cars using the Faller Car System are driven by a motor. The motor spins forward or backwards, dictating the direction of travel. They use a spiral gear on the motor turning a normal gear attached to the car's rear axel, giving power.

The picture gives a better explanation. This system is used because then the cars motor will not turn if the rear wheels are manually turned. The worm gear jams it. This is important as if it turned, a small electrical impulse could be sent back to the micro-controller, killing it. It also acts as a braking mechanism, creating more friction that if it were allowed to freewheel. 

Turning

The car turns using a clever front axel. It uses a small magnet that protrudes a bit from the wheels. Mounted very close to the road, the magnet follows a magnetic line in the road-that will be covered later. As the magnet follows the magnetic line in the road, it turns using the two points connected to the front wheels. Once again, the picture is better than the written explanation

Automation

The cars have various gadgets and sensors that will allow it to turn on items that would also happen in real life. First, I will cover headlights. The headlights on the car are just LED's. The colour, intensity and position are dictated by their real life counterparts. The LED's are turned when a value from an ambient light sensor mounted on the top, falls below a certain level. The sensor feeds the values to a micro-controller that then know whether or no to turn on/off the LEDs. When the values fall below the set level, the micro-controller will know that it has to turn on the LEDs. This gives the impression that a driver has turned on his headlights because it is dark.

Another feature is the automatic object detection and stop feature. This compromises of two parts on the car, one at the front, and one at the back. The front part is two photovoltaic cells mounted on the front bumper. This will generate a small electric current when light hits it. This current is fed to the micro-controller that knows that is has to stop the motor, giving the impression of 'braking'. It is usually mounted in a pit so that outside light will not cause the car to randomly stop. The second part of the system is the infra-red LEDs mounted on the back. The IR light emitted from the LED's will create the current on the photovoltaic cells. This means that it will work with all the cars on the layout. IR LEDs are used because they are invisible to humans so it will not detract from the scale look and ruin the layout. This will stop collisions if the motors are running at different speeds (another feature). Also, if wanted, when the micro-controller tells the motor to stop, it can also turn on some red LEDs at the back of the car to turn on, creating brake lights.

A picture from the internet that explains the above exactly.

Road

Wire

Imbedded in the wooden baseboards of a Faller Car System layouts are magnetic wires in lots of grooves that direct the cars above it. It attracts the magnet in the cars steering system, directing it.  This will then send the car on a different track. Many more cool features can be added to a road, although I am currently just trying to find them out.

The road without it's overlay on.

F645 transmitter find!

Playing with the transmitter that came with my new RC helicopter, I found out that I could change the sensitivity of the servos and throttle. This is great for new pilots. Why? Let me tell you. A new/beginner pilot will have very sharp, quick responses to the helicopter's movement. Usually they will max the stick which ever way they are going. If they are going forward or to the side, and the sensitivity was on full, the helicopter would shoot forward or to the side. This would probably end up with a crashed helicopter and a very sad owner. Putting the sensitivity down dampens these so the owner is less likely to crash. I recommend putting sensitivity down if you are a beginner. It will also help veteran pilots on new aircraft. You can turn it back up when you feel that you have very good hand-eye coordination and are very confident in your flying skills. Full sensitivity is good for cool trick like a loop-de-loop or rolls. Have fun and don't crash!

Sreeteja

Cool scale addition

After a small bored period after returning from dubai, I was on the Internet and found a cool new way to have moving cars on a model rail setup!! It's a surprise for you lot!!! I will reveal it very soon, with a full debrief of what it is. Hang on in there people!

Sreeteja

Full review of the F645 helicopter.

Okay, so I finally opened up and flew my new helicopter. I will give the flight summary a bit later. Now though, lets have a look at it closer. Here is a picture of everything in the box, the actual helicopter, the 2.4GHz transmitter and a charger.

Everything in the box

The helicopter is fully built so no pre-flight set up. The 2.4GHz transmitter can change between modes 1-4. This is very good for veteran pilots who are used to a certain mode, like me. After selecting sides with the sliders, you select either 1 & 3 or 2 & 4. I use mode 4 as I am used to it. You can also select the sensitivity and the parameters of each channel. The servos on the helicopter are very good and reliable. They turn at a good speed, not to fast or slow. The blades are big and take a good beating.

Close up of the transmitter, everything is reversed due to my camera.

You can also add a camera to the helicopter to film your flight. I did not buy this as I saw no need for me. You may want to buy it from MJX to film your flights, but I like to mount my own if I am flying. There is a button on the transmitter to make the camera start taking videos or even take pictures when you want. The camera module clips on the underbelly of the helicopter and a few wires clip into a small port on the circuit board of the helicopter.

Flight

The helicopter flies very well. Even in the mild wind the helicopter can stay true. The trimming of the helicopter is simple but very hard the perfect, although that may be due to the wind. I could not get a good flight today as it is quite windy, but I shall try later today.

Thats all for now! Thanks for reading 

New Helicopter!

Bought a new helicopter today when I went out shopping with my family. I bought it in Dragon Mart in Dubai. If you are going to Dubai, I would recommend checking it out, it has lots of toy stores that sell models (many of them helicopters) that are quite cheap. Dragon Mart is just outside of Dubai, so a Metro to Rashidiya and then a taxi from there will get you to Dragon Mart. Anyway, it is a great looking helicopter and I look forward to flying it when I get back. It is a 4 channel one and a camera module can be added and turned on or off from the transmitter. The transmitter is 2.4GHz and has an LCD screen on it. It can also change through all 4 modes-which is quite cool! The whole thing was 280 AED but after some negotiation, we were able to get it for 250 AED with some AA batteries for the transmitter thrown in! Thats about £50 or $68. I will give more details after I return as I am yet to fly it.

What is weathering?

Weathering is the process of making a scale train look used. It is a very simple method, but it requires a huge amount of care and detail. Using certain paints, one can make the wheels and other 'steel' parts look rusty or covered in mud or dust. There are lots of detailed tutorials all over the place, so I won't cover it. I am just here to tell you about the various methods of improving your scale train layout.

Update on the Hobbyking Transmitter.

Unfortunately, even though it has been many weeks since ordered, the package has not yet been delivered! So I decided to do some research and I found that items mays spend a long time in UK customs! This is very sad as I am very excited to get it. Once I do eventually get it, I will write a full review of the Transmitter. Until then it looks like I have to wait!

Suppliers in Dubai

As I am off on holiday today, I will have limited if any access to this blog. As you have probably guessed, I am off to Dubai. Hopefully when I am there, I will see lots of interesting things and I am also hoping to pick up a train as well. I know there aren't a lot but I think Hamleys in the Dubai Mall are supposed to have some. I will give feedback on suppliers in Dubai when I get back. So just sit tight and I will do some serious research and shopping!!!

Sreeteja

RC supplies

This is a little different from my other posts but it is included under what this blog was going to contain(everything to do with scale). So, there are lots of RC supply stores in the UK, problem is, most are quite expensive. Now, I found a great site a while back, they were very cheap and had warehouses everywhere, apart from (most unfortunately) the UK. But when I went back to their site I saw there was  a UK warehouse! YAY! So I was browsing through the transmitters, looking to get a new 2.4Ghz 6-channel system, only to find that they don't stock RC transmitters though. After some digging and conversions, I found that it was £25 to buy from the international warehouse(in Hong Kong) and get it shipped here compared to GiantShark's (the cheapest place in the UK) £30 not including shipping (extra £2 or 3). So I went on the with the transaction and ordered it. I am now eagerly awaiting my transmitter, but you do have to wait for quite a long 2-3 weeks for it to come!(Well, it is coming from Hong Kong!). So I would recommend this site to people. It is called Hobbyking and it seems to be all over the place!

Sreeteja

Control your model train layout with a computer.

Yes, it is possible. You can most definitely control your whole model train layout from a single computer. There is lots of different software out there that will allow you to control your locomotives, their functions and points and other cool accessories attached to your DCC layout. It will use an interface to get the computer to talk to the track. These system usually have two middle men, the USB-to-controller interface and the controller. There are some which only have a single middle man, USB-to-track. This means that to will HAVE to use your computer to control it. The cheapest out there seems to be the Hornby E-Link and Railmaster package. This package comes with the interface and the software. It looks very promising and hopefully it will be very good. Although it says it comes with a 1a transformer, apparently you can actually use the Hornby Elite's 4a transformer. My personal opinion is that computer controlled systems are very good. My reasons are that you can view the whole layout with switch points and you don't have to remember the addresses for the locomotives and accessories as it is down for you! This is my personal opinion and you may have your own. Please comment on what you think!

DCC, what is it?

DCC is a method to control lots of different trains, their functions and other accessories. DCC stands for Digtal Command Control. It uses carefully timed pauses to send messages to the locomotive that is to be controlled. The other trains just ignore this as it is not for them. DCC just uses two wires, a controller and a decoder. I will explain what controllers and decoders are a bit later. First though, why is this so good and why should you get it? That is a good question and has three very good reasons.
1) The realism of the whole layout is improved as trains move at different speeds, giving a much more realistic view.
2) It is much easier to set this up than an old analogue system that controlled two trains. No longer is there a huge wiring loom to set up! Just take two wires from the central control station and put one to either rail and you done! Simple as that!
3) Ease of use, when using DCC, extra accessories such as turn points, level crossings and even turntables can all be controlled from one point, which means no running about switching tracks.

Controllers

A DCC controller is where it all happens. There is usually a keypad and some sort of throttle control. The keypad allows for the addressing of one single locomotive or accessory while the throttle control offers a very precise control of speed. Along with giving speed and direction to a locomotive, it can also provide other cool functions, such as lights, steam and sound. All these can be turned on and off from the central control station. The input made by you is transferred into a set of pulses that the decoder at the end can understand. Basically, the functions you enter into the station are coded, sent to the tracks, meet with the locomotives decoder and get decoded by the decoder, telling the locomotive to do a wide array of stuff. Seeing as each decoder attached to a locomotive can be uniquely addressed, you can have many trains on at one point, the only limit is the amps required. Yet that too can be over come with a DCC signal booster for bigger tracks.

As you can see, there is a vast array of controllers. A quick google search will come up with lots. I cannot say which one is best because of two reasons. 1) I don't have them all. 2) It's your personal taste that will dictate whether you like it or not. I cannot tell you. To find the best for you go online and compare them yourself. Lots of these controllers are very expensive. Be careful before buying! My personal taste is in computer controlled layouts. I will talk about them in a later post.

Decoders

A decoder is the second part of a DCC system. It receives commands(in the form of pulses) and power from the rails. The decoder can understand the pulses that are sent through the rails. It has a programmed address so that it will only respond to a message to that address. Having received the signals from the rails, it then powers its functions(lights, motors, etc.). The address system means that no stray commands are carried out by the decoder. When no command is sent by he main station, the previous command is carried out in a loop or an idle message is sent out. This means that the power will still go to the tracks, providing power to the track and it's accessories

So that's the basic DCC setup and components, I will be back with more on accessories soon. Till then, goodbye and please feel free to subscribe!