RMweb Premium southern42 Posted August 3, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 3, 2016 I knew they'd come in handy, one day! Some ribbon and elastic pulled to threads. Cut to length, a touch of glue, and hey presto! Miss Marple gets a shiny watch and the bishop a cross and chain. And, in case you are wondering, the bishop has, under his arm, his old copy of Murder on the Orient Express to read on the train though that may not be possible now that Miss Marple is explaining the little known murder that took place in this part of North Cornwall. A note on the modelling. The bishop's cross and chain is in full view but only so that CQ audiences know that he is the bishop and not the vicar! His cross looks very prominent in the above picture. This is because the figures were facing the window for maximum light so that I could get them in focus. In a darker exhibition hall I doubt it will show up much and for that reason it is (possibly) a little oversize. The cross was the third one I made, the previous two hardly showing up under normal lighting conditions. Several hours work over a few days but hope it was worth it. I will pop them on the layout when we next put it up but I have a few more figures to do before then. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Happy Hippo Posted August 3, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 3, 2016 (edited) Polly, My Lord (Bishop) should probably be wearing a purple shirt in order to distinguish himself from the run of the mill clerics at the monthly diocesian trainspotting meeting. Edited August 3, 2016 by Happy Hippo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold ChrisN Posted August 4, 2016 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 4, 2016 Polly, That is very clever. Finding things that are naturally small enough to add as accessories to 00 models is always a challenge but these look great. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
class"66" Posted August 8, 2016 Share Posted August 8, 2016 More nice stuff here Ray and Polly.. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 10, 2016 Author Share Posted September 10, 2016 (edited) Hi All. Not a lot been happening here recently, but just received one of these. An Alpha Mimic from DCC Concepts. The idea being that it will display the status of all the turnouts (and semaphore signal) on Camel Quay on a more traditional Mimic Panel without any additional wiring apart from a connection to the DCC bus. A Mimic Panel was not going to be easy on CQ as I've used servos for the turnout motors with no switches to power the lights on a conventional panel. Even if i fitted switches to the servos it would have meant a bundle of wires from across three baseboards to be taken back to the panel which i wanted to avoid. The only cross board wires currently on Camel Quay are the two DCC bus wires. The DCC Concepts Alpha Mimic avoids all this wiring by using the same DCC accessory commands that switch the turnouts to light LEDs attached to the PCB. Thus the only connection to the PCB is a DCC supply from the layout and the LEDs. DCC Concepts supply a 'Word' document (Download) with a range of symbols to make up a layout diagram just by 'cut & paste' as shown in the above picture. The printout will be laminated and glued to a 3mm ply or MDF panel before drilling out the holes for the LEDs. The pre-wired LEDs just plug into the PCB. Will post more pictures as i progress. (Hope to get this finished before the Blackpool and Flyde Exhibition next weekend) Edited September 13, 2016 by tender 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) The printout of the Layout Diagram was next laminated and holes for the LEDs punched through the laminate. It was then glued with spray mount on a piece of 6mm MDF (Laminate flooring) and the MDF trimmed to size before drilling the holes through 6.5mm for the LEDs. These were a good tight push fit. The numbers printed on the layout are a reminder of the DCC accessory decoder address should i ever need to switch one manually. Edited September 12, 2016 by tender 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 12, 2016 Author Share Posted September 12, 2016 (edited) And this is the back of the Panel. The PCB is mounted on plastic pillars and the pre-wired LEDs all plugged up. The wires for the LEDs are about 250mm long so in my case there was some length to lose by folding the wires up under the PCB. Not the tidiest solution but it does make it plug-n-play with no soldering. The 4 digit display and two push buttons are for setting the base accessory address of the board (default 1). The LED outputs, (two for each address representing Left and Right routes) are then numbered Base Address+0 to Base Address+12 allowing up to 12 turnouts to be displayed. I my case I only have 10 turnouts (address1-10) and 1 semaphore signal (address 11) with output pair 12 being unused. The two larger white connectors at each end of the PCB are for daisy chaining more boards if you need more than 12 turnouts for which a link cable is supplied. The green connector is the DCC bus input. Next up - assemble the layout and give it a test. Edited September 13, 2016 by tender 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 (edited) So, here it is temporarily propped up on the fiddle yard of CQ. The only connection to the layout is the two DCC bus wires (orange) in this case just wrapped around the two rails of the fiddle yard track for testing. As each route is selected from the NCE Powercab (using the MACRO feature) the LEDs light up (or extinguish) to reflect the transmitted accessory turnout commands. Next job to make a suitable fixing to hang the panel on. (Sorry about the quality of the pictures, its the best my 'not so smart' phone can manage under poor lighting conditions) Edited September 13, 2016 by tender 7 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danemouth Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Found your description of the Alpha Mimic Panel most interesting. Unfortunately I cannot find anything about them on the DCC Concepts website! Could you tell me where you purchased it please? Many thanks, Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 13, 2016 Author Share Posted September 13, 2016 Found your description of the Alpha Mimic Panel most interesting. Unfortunately I cannot find anything about them on the DCC Concepts website! Could you tell me where you purchased it please? Many thanks, Dave Hi Dave. The website, so i'm told, is in the process of being updated. I believe the Alpha Mimic is a new product so not made it there yet. I got mine from Gaugemaster they seem to have most of the range. Ray. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danemouth Posted September 13, 2016 Share Posted September 13, 2016 Thanks Ray, found it http://www.gaugemaster.com/item_details.asp?code=DCDCD-MPR&style=&strType=&Mcode=DCC+Concepts+DCD%2DMPR Regards, Dave Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 (edited) Mimic Panel completed just in time for first outing to Blackpool and North Fylde MRE, just hooks on the back scene with DCC power from the fiddle yard. I had been having problems with O2 30193, it seemed to be plagued with poor electrical pickup, repeatedly running just and inch or two before stalling and requiring a nudge. No amount of wheel cleaning seemed to help so, frustrated with it, just before leaving for the exhibition i took an last resort solution and dumped it in the ultrasonic cleaner, filled it with IPA up to the axels and gave it a blast of ultrasound for 3 minutes. Then let it dry off for a few minutes before putting it in the stock box. Seemed to have done the trick as it ran faultlessly all weekend, seen here with a glimpse of the new arrival Ex LSWR Non-Corridor set. Edited September 19, 2016 by tender 14 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 What's IMS please? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 What's IMS please? Sorry, that should have been IPA (isopropanol), post corrected. (IMS - Industrial Methelayted Sprit) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
smokebox Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted September 19, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted September 19, 2016 On the buses at Camel Quay Oops! That's the Fleetwood tram to Blackpool we saw after setting up the layout at the exhibition. Here's the right one - Stan and Jack waiting for the next lot of passengers for the round the houses to Padstow.bus. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amdaley Posted September 19, 2016 Share Posted September 19, 2016 I take it you need a DccConcepts mimic panel for every 12 points points you have on the layout or are there add on panels you can get ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 19, 2016 Author Share Posted September 19, 2016 I take it you need a DccConcepts mimic panel for every 12 points points you have on the layout or are there add on panels you can get ? Hi Tony. Yes, the Alpha Mimic panel will 'mimic' the state of 12 DCC accessory decoders. You can add extra LED's to each output if you want to light-up complete routes with the Add-on LED Pack. If you need to mimic more than 12 decoders then you need another Alpha Mimic which just 'daisy-chains' to the first with the supplied cable. The DCC addresses continue from the first panel. i.e. if the first panel was set to 1-12 the second would be 13-24. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
amdaley Posted September 20, 2016 Share Posted September 20, 2016 Hi Tony. Yes, the Alpha Mimic panel will 'mimic' the state of 12 DCC accessory decoders. You can add extra LED's to each output if you want to light-up complete routes with the Add-on LED Pack. If you need to mimic more than 12 decoders then you need another Alpha Mimic which just 'daisy-chains' to the first with the supplied cable. The DCC addresses continue from the first panel. i.e. if the first panel was set to 1-12 the second would be 13-24. Thanks for that tender. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Todd Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 (edited) i took an last resort solution and dumped it in the ultrasonic cleaner, filled it with IPA up to the axels and gave it a blast of ultrasound for 3 minutes. Interesting, do you have a photo please ? Edited September 29, 2016 by David Todd Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
tender Posted September 29, 2016 Author Share Posted September 29, 2016 Interesting, do you have a photo please ? Not off hand but it's something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Products-Ultrasonic-Jewellery-Spectacle-Black/dp/B00112B0U0 Could be found cheaper if you shop around or you could pay a bit more and get a more professional looking job, but they all seem to do the same thing. Be careful with the IPA, it might attack some paintwork/weathering so test it on somewhere unimportant. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Todd Posted September 29, 2016 Share Posted September 29, 2016 Not off hand but it's something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/James-Products-Ultrasonic-Jewellery-Spectacle-Black/dp/B00112B0U0 Could be found cheaper if you shop around or you could pay a bit more and get a more professional looking job, but they all seem to do the same thing. Be careful with the IPA, it might attack some paintwork/weathering so test it on somewhere unimportant. Thanks,for your time to reply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium southern42 Posted October 24, 2016 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 24, 2016 (edited) Countdown to Hazel Grove and courtesy wagon.and BR china clay van both lightly weathered. Found a suitable figure for the wagon's owner who is carrying something but you will have to wait and see to find out what! All hush hush until the Show! There is a connection with the Club's 50th Anniversary but I'm saying no more than that! I've got a couple of figures to paint, and maybe get the driver into the tour bus - hacksaw, anyone? Edited October 24, 2016 by southern42 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWales Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 Shame I can't make it to see you both Polly and Ray, but I'm at an exhibition myself this weekend in Spennymoor, County Durham! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
georgeT Posted October 25, 2016 Share Posted October 25, 2016 The panel looks very neat Ray, hopefully will see you both at Hazel Grove... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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