Bath Queen Square

[queensquare]

Yesterday we said goodbye to my old friend and workshop companion, Jellyroll,  who has featured many times on this thread. A truly sad day. She gave me fourteen years of loyal friendship and I will will miss her very much.

RIP Jelly.

Her daughter Jazz will have the chair to herself - for now

 

 

 

 

 

jerry

[Atso]

So sorry to read about Jellyroll Jerry.

[Bluemonkey presents....]

Sorry to hear your sad news Jerry. You have some lovely photographs and I'm sure wonderful memories.

[Donw]

My comiserations. They do leave a big gap in your life when they go and are never forgotten.

 

Don 

[Ian Smith]

So sorry to hear about jellyroll.

[Caley Jim]

My condolences, Jerry. My daughter recently lost her beagle, so I know how it feels. 

 

Jim 

[queensquare]

Many thanks to everyone for your kind comments, both on the thread and personally. Its been a miserable week but onward and upward.

 

Trawling through the thread the other evening I came across a reference to getting stuff finished before starting anything new - back in 2013. The campaign continues with a similar success rate! Having finished the detailing I have managed to put No. 81 back together and, as you would expect from a John Greenwood mechanism, she runs well with a Faulhaber 1219 and Zimo chip - currently undergoing trials before heading for the paintshop.

 

 

With the 2mm AGM at Swindon Steam next weekend I'm keen to get the Midland shed finished though I also have to get Tucking Mill set up and tested - how many Cobalts will need replacing this time. After that, priority is a pair of Fencehouses Black Fives I'm building.

 

Jerry 

 

 

 

 

[Re6/6]

Lovely pictures Jerry. So sorry to to hear of Jellyroll's passing. I lost my old ex feral cat Suzie last year at the ripe old age of around 26 years. One will always miss them.

[queensquare]

On 30/08/2019 at 07:20, queensquare said:

 

With the 2mm AGM at Swindon Steam next weekend I'm keen to get the Midland shed finished though I also have to get Tucking Mill set up and tested - how many Cobalts will need replacing this time. After that, priority is a pair of Fencehouses Black Fives I'm building.

 

Jerry 

 

 

To answer my own question - three Cobalts failed when tested. The original Cobalts really are a pile of junk. I'm not sure I can even be bothered to send them back again, two have been back once already and allegedly repaired and tested.

 

Jerry

[St Enodoc]

6 hours ago, queensquare said:

 

To answer my own question - three Cobalts failed when tested. The original Cobalts really are a pile of junk. I'm not sure I can even be bothered to send them back again, two have been back once already and allegedly repaired and tested.

 

Jerry

Ditch all the old ones and replace them with new iP or Omega versions. I'm sure that if you send the old ones back and offer to pay the difference in price DCC Concepts will be happy to discuss a deal (usual disclaimer).

[queensquare]

9 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Ditch all the old ones and replace them with new iP or Omega versions. I'm sure that if you send the old ones back and offer to pay the difference in price DCC Concepts will be happy to discuss a deal (usual disclaimer).

Ive emailed DCC concepts with an offer to send them the old ones and pay the difference to upgrade to the new ones. Id like to be able to recommend Cobalts to other modellers and customers but my experience of the original design is not good. We shall see.

 

Jerry

[bgman]

Hi Jezzer,

 

FWIW I too had problems some years ago when I purchased a box of twelve from a certain "box shifter", six of them were of no use after a few movements.

I contacted the original seller who unfortunately didn't want to know, I therefore contacted Cobalt by email ( who were in the process of moving to this country at that time ).

The following day I had a response from the Australian HQ and was told there would be some replacements in the post.

Six days later a box of six arrived from Oz with a note explaining there was a manufacturing problem with a certain batch of the earlier motors of which they had been aware.

Bottom line is they responded very quickly and when tested the replacements were of the newer type.

 

Ironically I am now going over to using servos which will suit my needs.

 

G

[Ian Morgan]

Our club purchased a load for their new fiddle yard (IP analogue), and a dozen went up in smoke. Cobalt refused to repair them as they reckoned too high a voltage had been applied. I have repaired one by replacing the on-board surface mount voltage regulator that had exploded (cost 20p). I have not had time to look at the others yet.

 

 

[St Enodoc]

2 hours ago, queensquare said:

Ive emailed DCC concepts with an offer to send them the old ones and pay the difference to upgrade to the new ones. Id like to be able to recommend Cobalts to other modellers and customers but my experience of the original design is not good. We shall see.

 

Jerry

I can definitely recommend the iP versions, both analogue and digital (usual disclaimer again).

[St Enodoc]

1 hour ago, Ian Morgan said:

Our club purchased a load for their new fiddle yard (IP analogue), and a dozen went up in smoke. Cobalt refused to repair them as they reckoned too high a voltage had been applied. I have repaired one by replacing the on-board surface mount voltage regulator that had exploded (cost 20p). I have not had time to look at the others yet.

 

 

DCC Concepts' manual says they will work between 7 and 23 V dc. I run mine from DCC Concepts' own-brand +9/0/-9V dc split potential supply. They work fine.

[queensquare]

An evening listening to a historic debate and vote in Parliament (no comment please) saw the final details added to the Midland shed group of buildings. I shall be taking them to the AGM at Swindon at the weekend and they will form part of my demo at the Portsmouth show in November following which the scene will probably be built into the main layout.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

jerry

Edited September 3, 2019 by queensquare

[Oldddudders]

You once told me - Railex 2013 - that 2mm modelling inevitably included a some smoke and mirrors. The only smoke I see here is above the tracks leading into the shed. And not a mirror in sight. Simply beautiful. 

[queensquare]

54 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

You once told me - Railex 2013 - that 2mm modelling inevitably included a some smoke and mirrors. The only smoke I see here is above the tracks leading into the shed. And not a mirror in sight. Simply beautiful. 

 

Thats very kind Ian but as with all my 2mm output there is an awful lot of smoke and mirrors. Much of the fine detail is either suggested with careful painting, crudely added albeit proportionately correct or simply left off completely. A couple of examples below;

 

 

The water gauge is a length of 30x30 plasticard representing the box section with a chopped up bit of wagon brake gear stuck in the top to represent the two pulleys on an arm - thats it, your eye will fill in the rest. The visual water level marker is a spot of off white paint. The cream panels on Atso's lovely water tank were a pig to paint.

 

 

 

The coal tubs are really crude. A block of plasticard with wheels from slices of plastic rod, a fuse wire handle and a bit of coal dust glued on top. The hoist in the coal stage is more bits of wire, strip and left over bits of wagon kits. 2mm Association wagon kits are a wonderful source of useful bits as they contain all sorts of left over strip, angle, brake gear etc

The trick with any detailing is to keep it to scale. Simplify by all means but if its too small to sensibly make, leave it off. Most of all, make detail earn its keep, put it where its easily seen and will have some impact - the eye and the brain will fill in the rest, particularly in 2mm.

 

 

Finally, careful painting and weathering, there's nothing ground breaking here - a combination of washes of colour followed by dry brushing and finally powders. The main windows are etched (still waiting for the glazing material) but the roof lights are just clear sheet with the bars scribed and filled with paint. The downpipes are plastic rod stuck directly to the wall. The roofing is Slaters sheet, lightly rubbed down and painted. The lead flashing is an example of a really effective detail that is simply added with paint.

 

Jerry

[Donw]

There may be a touch of smoke and mirrors Jerry but you are a master at it. One is surprised when you show us how it is done with the coal tubs.

Don

[queensquare]

Before leaving the theme of smoke, mirrors and simplification I thought I'd post this picture. There was some discussion a few pages back about the interior roof structure and anyone who knows anything about roofing would tell you I've missed an awful lot out. That said, I'm very happy with the feel of the interior which, to be honest, can only be glimpsed from certain angles anyway. The soft yellow LEDs barely  pierce the gloom which is probably pretty authentic!

 

 

Jerry

[Rowsley17D]

Hi Jerry, some lovely works of art there. I managed to make my coaling tubs out of strip so I could fill them with coal, but I work in 4mm. Did the same trick with the wheels but I used tube rather than rod.

[queensquare]

The next area to be focused on will be the station board, including getting the track down and finishing the roof at long last. First up though will be the area around Bridge 44 over the Avon, and in particular the backscene which JBS has kindly volunteered to help me with.

The model photo shows the current state of play although the card Midland shed mock-ups have gone - as have Denys Brownlee's 'tall coaches'!

 

First job was to get a few reference pictures so yesterday afternoon I popped down to Bath and by great good fortune coincided with a couple of hour window in the almost unrelenting grisly weather and enjoyed some autumn colour and sunshine. There are far more trees lining the river than almost a century ago but, that aside, the scene hasn't changed too much. Hopefully these, combined with some contemporary shots, will be enough for John to work his magic with the brushes.

 

Jerry

 

 

 

 

 

[teaky]

I trust you made a careful note of the number of rivets in the underside of that bridge Jerry. 

[Brinkly]

Some bloody excellent modelling on this thread Jerry! Looking forward to future progression.

 

Kind regards,

 

Nick.

[queensquare]

Not really linked to the Bath project but still very much S&D. Kim and I decided to have a day out last Saturday that didn't involve playing music or trains - well almost! We popped over to the lovely city of Wells for a stroll round the market and take in a bit of lunch. From home we cross the Mendips and as it seemed like the first day in ages that it hadn't been tipping it down I pulled over near the summit to take a couple of snaps of Masbury. 

The station site is looking really good with the platform and trackbed clear and steady progress being made on the signal box. I didn't investigate further as it was cold and Kim was sat in the car reminding me it was a no trains day!

 

Jerry