JSModels

A small amount of progress; bridge painted, and ballast extended around stonework. Oh, and an Oxford diecast Standard 'Flying 12': This was treated as per Everard Junction's excellent tutorial video: JRB

John, Quite frankly, I'm amazed by it. It's definitely the best running loco I've ever owned. Last week I placed a marker on the track, and timed it moving the length of itself. Took over 6 1/2 minutes to travel it's own length across the buffers!!! Not that I'm saying that ultra-slow running is the be-all & end-all of good running (it isn't) but it does truly astound me that something can move so slowly yet still refuse to stop. JRB

Thanks Jon. I hope it still looks good when I've finished it! JRB

Got some paint on the bridge abutments this afternoon. Not finished yet, just base-coated on Humbrol 94, then Railmatch 'Frame Dirt' dabbed on over the top with a piece of sponge: Also made a start on some internals for the first mill. A fellow member suggested that, since our club occupies the top floor of a mill, it would be good for the top floor of this mill to have a model railway club, too. So, I made a start on the first layout; a 16' x 12' OO gauge layout, in OO gauge Complete with station at the front, fiddleyard at the back, and a viaduct on one side: Still a bit more scenic work to do on this layout too, then painting it up! JRB

As an addition to the above, here are some of the plans, still available on the Calderdale Council Planning Portal. Here's the second floor hotel plan, showing that there's 19 rooms per floor: And the restaurant plan: This shows the entrance lobby and reception area for the hotel too, and all the associated offices, luggage & electrical rooms, etc. You can see the offices/toilets, kitchen etc. for the restaurant. I'd say the front-of-house for the restaurant is only around 40% of the total floorspace. It also confirms the goods lift to get deliveries down from the higher street level at the back (in the bottom left corner of the drawing). JRB

David, Let me start by saying I'm not an expert on this, but I have some design experience & have stayed in inumerable Premier Inns over the years, so am familiar with their layout from that perspective! On the retail side, I would say that the rear of house would account for 40-50% of the total floorspace. Deliveries would always be via a separate entrance, never through the front doors. For the larger, 2-storey building, there should be a separate goods lift, as well as a customer lift. This all assumes that it's a purpose-built, relatively new building. On the hotel side - each room needs to have a window to the outside, which obviously means they can only be located around the edge of the building. If you take a look at this example, the Premier Inn in Halifax, you'll see that the upper portion of the building is 'L' shaped, to maximise the 'outside wall to floorspace' ratio, thus ensuring as much money-generating as possible in the given footprint. The only things that would be located in the 'core' of the building, away from the outside walls, would be the lift shafts, and the housekeeping room (and yes, there would be one of these on each & every floor, but they're really small; I'd say 100-200 sq ft max). In this particular hotel, the emergency stairwell is on the corner of the building, and is highlighted by the 5-storey high glazing on this corner. In terms of the restaurant side, I have no clue whatsoever, but I'd guess (and it is just a guess) that you'd be looking at around 25% of the total area for kitchen, walk-in fridge, toilets, and staff rooms (including a manager's office, too). That hotel in Halifax that I've used as an example is probably reasonably close to the size of the one you're looking for, though the PI website doesn't state how many rooms it has. The design of it is also constrained by the fact that it's on a sloping site, so the retail portion (Beefeater restaurant) is effectively one-sided, and buried into the hillside. FWIW this is the delivery door for the restaurant, on the floor above - I'd guess there's a goods lift to get stuff down to the restaurant level in there. The best thing to do with anything like this is to find a prototype. With the quality of Google maps now, particularly now the buildings are rendered in 3D in most towns & cities, it should be quite easy to find all the details you need. You don't need to build a carbon-copy of any particular building, but a real-world example will help you to make yours realistic. Even the roof details! Hope that helps, JRB

Jon, Not used a cloth, but most of the drybrushing was done with a small piece of soft sponge. I'm hoping to pick up some weathering powders this weekend, so will try that (powders are something I've never used before). JRB

I managed to get a couple of hours at the club last night, and spent it getting some primer on the bridge, but mostly painting up the chimney: This was acheived with multiple layers of drybrushing & washes (assisted by a heat gun to speed up drying!). I don't think it's dark enough, but I figured it was better to go too light & darken it later, than have it virtually black and trying to make it lighter! For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, the bands don't look the right shade of red either... JRB

I've fitted a stay-alive to mine, so have no need of the match truck. If anyone would be interested in buying it, feel free to PM me.

1st item on the list (almost!) completed: JRB

I've not had much chance to progress with the layout much since the last update, last night was the first time I've been to the club for the last week, but I did manage to get some more work done on the mill. Having made a quick shooting board at the right angle, I mitred the joints in the outer walls for the angled end, and got those all glued on, followed by the rest of the cills/lintels: Having the angled end on allowed me to set the final position of the bridge abutment, which was about 3mm further to the left. This meant trimming 3mm off both the boiler house and the nearside bridge abutment, so the chimney is now further into the back corner: Now I need to concentrate on getting this end of the layout 'finished'; jobs to be done over the next few weeks (hopefully not longer!) include: Clad the nearside abutment as per the far side; Paint & weather the chimney & boiler room; Paint & weather the bridge & abutments; Fill the grain in the plywood backscene, and repaint in sky colour; Fix the boiler house/chimney & abutments into position; Do the groundwork under the bridge; Fix the bridge into position. Once all that's done, I can get this first mill painted, glazed, do the roof for it, and generally get that finished (including any interiors I decide to fit in it!). Lastly, here's the "view from the bridge"... JRB

I've had a fairly short, but very productive evening. The YouChoos PCB and supercap arrived, so I've now installed those. I was rather surprised (and not in a good way!) when I first tried to fit the supercap in the Ruston's cab - It seems that the space available in there is smaller than I remembered!!! I had hoped the supercap would sit flat on the floor (with the PCB above it) but it was too big. Instead, I was able to bend the tabs on the supercap 90 degrees, and solder it directly to the PCB, forming an L shape: This just fits across the width of the cab, but only if you remove the rearmost of the levers in the floor, and the black (tool?) box on one side of the cab: Wrapping the PCB and terminals in black electrical tape, I tucked it into position, secured with a tiny bit of 3M VHB tape: Then it was on to testing, and the performance was amazing. The slight jerkiness that was present the other night was gone completely, and the slow speed running was (to me at least) miraculous. If watching paint dry is just too exciting for you, then try the full 4+ minutes of this... I ended the recording before it reached the right hand side of the screen, I'm afraid I just couldn't take it any more... Note that I shot the video before final locating of the capacitor, so in the video it sits higher up than it does now (it sits below the rear windows, and about 1/3rd the way up the side windows). Anyway, at slightly more normal speeds, it'll easily travel over 3" of dead track; pick the loco up off the track, and the wheels continue to turn for a good 5-6 seconds. I think I'm happy with that! Lastly, I've made a start on painting up the laser-cut mill. Having painted the windows I stuck the right-hand end on, and the cills/lintels too: That's it for now. JRB

I'm using a YouChoos "LifeLink" charger/control circuit with a 17,000uF super capacitor. https://www.youchoos.co.uk/Index-Shop.php?L1=Electronics

Got a decent chip in the Ruston last night (Zimo MX617N), and got it running quite nicely - the lack of roof and the wires are for a stay-alive capacitor to be wired in, it just hasn't arrived yet! The wagon turntable is more uneven & has bigger gaps than the pointwork...

Last night I ran in the Ruston on another member's layout, and then replaced the temporary chip I'd installed with the MX617N. The supercap and control board haven't arrived yet, but I did manage to solder the wires for it to the chip. A few minor CV changes later and, even without the stay alive, it's running superbly. It did still stall in a couple of places, and was slightly stuttery in others, but once the stay alive is fitted that should be cured. Forgive the lack of cab roof, and the wires sticking out!

Well, I've just ordered one of the youchoos 'LifeLink' ('own-brand' version of the SACC16) along with a 17,000uF supercap. It's probably way overkill, but it's the same physical size as the 6,800uF supercap - not sure how that's possible, but hey! JRB

Nigel, Thanks for your help - I was hoping you'd see this! I've read quite a bit in your old blogs, including where you said you had issues with the ceramic capacitors (you've helped me out with chip recommendations over on the n gauge forum before). Thanks as well for the info about the SACC16 - despite a lot of searching over the weekend, I didn't find any links to this, and didn't know it existed! It definitely solves a lot of problems. With the add-on tantalum caps, it maxes out at 1100uF, so might try and squeeze one of the supercaps in there. Just a thought - does it matter if you mix capacitor types? For example, if I fitted one with the tantalum caps, and found it was still occasionally stalling, could I then add a supercap in parallel with the tantalum? Or does mixing the types cause issues?

I'm looking to make a stay-alive for my new Hornby Ruston 48DS so I can run it without the match truck. What I want to get from it: I want to achieve reliable slow running on my shunting puzzle layout, so need to overcome the occasional bad contact. I keep the track reasonably clean, but I'm not religous about it. Having said that, I don't need it to run for 10+ seconds without any power applied like some videos I've seen! I'd like to use as little space in the cab as possible (definitely keeping it below the windows) and keep the chip where the socket is above the motor under the bonnet. I've bought a Zimo MX617N chip to replace the Bachmann one I temporarily installed, and want to build my own stay-alive to connect to it, but I have questions: 1. Capacitor Voltage: are 16V capacitors sufficient, or should I go for 20V or 25V? If I go for a higher voltage, it does limit the ultimate capacity I can have. Some commercially available stay-alives/kits seem to be 16V, others are 25V, so I'm really not sure. The Zimo manual states to only use 16V if the track voltage is lower than this, but I've no idea what my controller outputs (and the manual doesn't state it). I'm assuming that due to the way DCC works, simply measuring across the track with a multimeter won't be helpful! 2. Capacitance: What total capacitance should I be looking to achieve? I could use multilayer ceramic capacitors (such as these) in which case I could use 16 of them in a 4x4 array & have 1,600uF, which would only take up a 10x10x4mm space. But would that be overkill for what I need (see above)? 3. Capacitor Type: Are the ceramic ones the best option for me, given the above? The cost of them, whilst not prohibitive, is certainly a factor. Something like this polymer aluminium electrolytic capacitor would give me 680uF and is only 8mm dia x 12mm long, so would still fit easily within the space (maybe even 2 of these?) And it's WAY cheaper. Then there's tantalum... 4. Control/Charging Circuit: The Zimo documentation shows a charging resistor (68 ohms) and a diode, but also a slow-discharge resistor (3K3) and a choke. Some circuits I've seen omit the choke, and some use a zener diode, which isn't shown on this circuit? Basically, I need someone to walk me through this like I'm an idiot... Jonathan

Luke, Looking forward to seeing the post tomorrow and the video - I want to do the same in mine & run it without the truck. Curious as to what chip & stay alive you used, and where you fitted it! JRB

No, that will be too long to simply plug-in, it will foul on the 'ledge' that connects the plastic bonnet to the metal cab. It would probably fit if you removed the plug and socket, and hard-wired it. JRB

Pete, I've only just found this thread but have spent a good few hours over the last couple of days reading it all, and all I can say is it's superb! Having lived in this area for almost all my life I think I'm qualified to say you've captured the atmosphere perfectly. Your mill buildings are stunning, and are what I'm hoping to achieve on my own layout. So much so, I'm about to start re-designing one of the buildings for it, using yours as inspiration! JRB

Luke, I'vejust posted my impressions & info relating to DCC/stay alive in the relevant thread: JRB

I bought one of these yesterday, and took it to the club this afternoon. Here are my initial thoughts/impressions: The loco is really nice, and seems well put together. The detail and the livery look superb. The motor & gears, DCC socket, etc. are all contained under the bonnet, and don't intrude into the cab at all, which was surprising. It also weighs more than I was expecting, which is good. There were some huge blobs of white grease behind the wheels that needed removing, someone in the factory must've got carried away with the grease-gun! The truck is another matter; it's quite basic in terms of detail. I think it's quite an old moulding (it doesn't have NEM pockets, but older-style couplings) and the pick-ups are pretty basic too (more on those later). It's also far too light to achieve decent pick-up. My first job was to fit a DCC chip - what a %&*£ache that was! The truck is attached to the loco with a rigid bar, not by couplings as on the photos I'd seen of the prototype/decorative samples. Not an issue for me, i think the bar is better, but it is rigidly fixed to the loco & only flexible at the truck end - may be an issue on very tight curves, but my shunting-puzzle layout is pretty much dead straight. A bit of a tug separates the coupling bar from both the truck and the loco, and the wires simply unplug too. Getting the body off is achieved by undoing 4x screws on the underside, and is pretty straightforward, except that the two tiny 2-pin sockets for the wires to the truck project out slightly & foul on part of the body. In the box is an additional separate instruction sheet warning you about this, so someone obviously discovered this as an afterthought to the main instructions! The sockets are simply glued into place, but the bond on one of mine was broken, and the socket held in position by nothing more than the wires. The second one broke free as soon as I tried to get the body past it; if yours aren't hanging loose from the factory, they will be after you've taken the body off, as it's impossible to remove it with them glued in place. Oh, and there's a red blanking panel fitted in the coupling socket on the front of the loco - that needs to come out to get the body off, too. The 4x lifting eyes fitted around the lower body are easily bent during all of this, but they're metal rather than plastic & did bend back. The supplied blanking chip is half the length of a standard 6-pin chip, and half the thickness. Replace that with a chip that's effectively 4x the size of the blank, and getting the body back on is a challenge to say the least. If the chip is not in exactly the right position the body just won't go back on. It took 5 or 6 attempts for me, and took out one of the sand-pipes in the process (though these do simply clip in place & re-fitting it was simple, once I'd retreived the tiny piece of black plastic from the dark-blue carpet!). (FWIW, the chip I fitted was a Bachmann one I had floating about (one of the ones with the light blue shrink-tube on); the chip sits on top of the metal-bodied motor, so does need some form of insulation to stop it shorting out. It seems that Hornby's standard 6-pin chip has the plug on a flying lead, so the connector would be the only thing on top of the motor, and the chip itself would presumably tuck into the floor of the cab?) Trying it out on the layout, I wasn't overly impressed. The track wasn't super-clean, but even so I expected better from 8-wheel pick-up. A quick inspection of the truck revealed the problem; of the four wheel pickups, NONE were actually touching the wheels!!! A few seconds work with a screwdriver & tweezers, and all four were making good contact. That improved the running slightly, only now the rear axle of the truck was just dragging, and not rotating... A bit of weight on the truck sorted that out, and from then on the loco ran pretty much as expected. I plan to replace the Bachmann chip with a better one, with a stay-alive (there's room for the stay-alive in the bottom of the cab). Hopefully I can then run the loco on it's own, without the truck - but if I need to keep the truck too, then so be it. It will just need some weight adding to it. Apologies for the lack of any other photos; I was so frustrated trying to get the body off, get the chip in, and the body back on, I never thought to take any! JRB

Not much to update really; I've started getting some paint on the chimney (primer & a light coat of stone colour) and on the bridge abutment (just primer). Oh, and the bridge walls now have cappings on them: The only other thing to update is that I have added to the motive power available, in that I bought a Ruston 48ds: It's really rather nice! I had to chip it, which was a bit of a pain; there's just about enough room for the supplied blanking chip, which is 1/4 the size of a DCC chip; but getting the body back on with a full-size 6-pin chip in there is nigh-on impossible! I also had to tweak the pick-ups on the shunting truck; of the 4 contacts fitted, precisely ZERO were actually touching a wheel... Even with 8-wheel pick-up, I need to replace the chip with one that has a decent-size stay-alive, as it has a tendency to stall in places at very low speed. Luckily there's enough room for the capacitors in the floor of the cab. JRB

Here's a good link for some better textures than the standard ones that come with SketchUp. You need to register as a user to download them, but a basic account is free: https://www.sketchuptextureclub.com/textures