Garden Railway Forum

Hello,
I'm looking to start with R/C, and I'm rather lost. I'm in Australia (Melbourne), so it's not super easy to get hold of stuff. I'm wondering what system others use, and where you purchase things.

Any advice is welcome.

Hi and welcome.
I'm not going to try to answer your questions from the other side of the world (!) but we have a number of Australian members, some of whom live not a million miles from you, I think. No doubt they will pop up with some answers before too long.

Hi! and welcome to the forum, good to see another down under member.
Grant.

VicRail10 wrote: Sun Sep 13, 2026 4:27 am I'm looking to start with R/C, and I'm rather lost. I'm in Australia (Melbourne), so it's not super easy to get hold of stuff. I'm wondering what system others use, and where you purchase things.

Since Tony Walsham passed away and his company RCS closed down, there has been no supplier of battery-rc equipment for large scale rail models in Oz, as far as I'm aware.

I started using Deltang equipment in some of my battery powered models when Tony first introduced it to the Aust. market.

Since the closure of RCS and Deltang, I now get Deltang compatible parts from Andy at Micron Radio Control in the UK. I've found the mail order service to be good and the receivers can be supplied already set up to work the same as the older RCS parts.

Phil at RC Trains also supplies Deltang compatible bits and is a member of this forum.

As you may have guessed, I prefer to use Deltang compatible equipment, which I'm used to. There are a lot of alternatives out there, but the ergonomics of transmitters that use car key fobs, or mobile phones, or joysticks, definitely do not float my boat........

The usual electronic bits and pieces like switches, plugs and sockets, etc. mostly come from the local Jaycar branch.

Welcome to the forum and good luck in your quest.

Graeme

I use aircraft transmitters and receivers, these are the motor controls I use along with mylocosound cards.
https://ringbalin-light-railway.blogspo ... ed-on.html
I have re packaged one transmitter and converted it so that it controls 4 locos and I have just noticed the links to trev's blog no longer work but the forum is OK. I'll update my blog with a how did I do it description.
I was to far down the rabbit hole to use deltang and the others by the time I heard about them.

I also have some questions regarding batteries. Should I start with a pre-made battery pack instead of making my own? I've been looking at GeRik's blog and dealing with battery protection boards and balance charging seems rather complex. Is it just lithium that needs all that, or does NiMh also need it?

VicRail10 wrote: Tue Sep 15, 2026 5:22 am I also have some questions regarding batteries. Should I start with a pre-made battery pack instead of making my own? I've been looking at GeRik's blog and dealing with battery protection boards and balance charging seems rather complex. Is it just lithium that needs all that, or does NiMh also need it?

If you are uncertain, it is wise to be cautious. If you get a readymade NiMh pack, it's a good idea to protect it with a fuse, such as a polyswitch. If your wiring gets short circuited, then the insulation on your leads could melt or even catch fire. (Don't ask me how I know this ...... ).

I'd also suggest getting a decent "intelligent" charger. If you went for something like the IMAX B6, you could later use it for li-ion as well as NiMH packs if your confidence increased.

Rik

Ok, I can understand why it all seems a bit daunting, but if you start simply and work up to the bigger, more complex, stuff, it all becomes a lot easier.

You have told us nothing about your previous experiences with model railways, or model anything come to that, or your level of technical expertise, and you have given us no idea what you want to achieve in terms of prototype, gauge, etc, so it's all a bit difficult to advise you on anything specific. So I'll assume you know absolutely nothing, until you tell us any different.

Having said all that a model loco in its simplest form is merely 4 flanged wheels on 2 axles mounted on a chassis and driven by a small electric motor. If it has an on-board battery then the controls can be as simple as an on/off switch or if you want to get more exotic, a small on-board speed controller with a knob you can twist. For this simplest possible loco, a standard battery of appropriate size for the motor will work perfectly although the life of the battery will be limited. This is where the NiMh batteries come in because they are rechargeable, they only need a suitable charger, but as Rik said, an auto fuse is a good safety precaution, but not strictly necessary to begin with if you just want to get something moving. Getting more exotic you can then move on to Lithium batteries and this is where it does get a bit complicated with the need for protection boards and balance chargers. Personally unless you tell us otherwise, I suggest forgetting about them to start with. If you can get a basic 0-4-0 loco to run smoothly, only then is the time to start looking at LiPo's and r/c.

Just my two pennorth!