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The bubbles have landed and the first shipments are on their way! 

The balance of our ivory bubble order has arrived from China! We have been working hard all day doing QC checks and we've even managed to get some orders packed and sent out this evening! We will be doing the same over the next few days. It should take about a week to check all orders and ship them to you.

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Thank you everyone for your support and patience as always. We hope you enjoy the definitive model of the iconic cement bubble! 

We still have bubbles in stock but with just over 70% of the run sold out already they wont hang around for long! Order yours today on our website

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Got my four A B C D packs today. I have had a good look at them and having loved the prototype it was time to look at photos and notes taken many years ago. First if anyone has ever worked in metal fabrication they will know how tube and barrel shapes can be constructed especially when they have rounded ends. They tend to be welded together in segments while the center parts can be rolled and seam welded. This is the way that the prototypes were constructed and the models capture the look spot on. The chassis itself is like the ballast but differs hugely underneath the solebars. The amount of pipework is testimony to IRM's standards of wanting to produce a model that sets the bar each time and they have done it again. The livery the printing the etched parts are all quality but the most important thing is capturing the looks and producing an accurate rendition that is as physically and mechanically possible. Well this model is all those things. I am mentioning the weathering job Richie has done on his model and apart from that, changing couplings , and re-gauging there isn't anything that could improve it for me. A top model gents top marks to all four of you, and I hope the other three lad's won't mind me giving a shout out to Pat for the graphic design work and packaging, it looks great.

Rich,

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54 minutes ago, Broithe said:

It's not him - Bubba wouldn't let him in.

'Careful what you say about Mein Fuhrer Broithe - or else you could be a few stones lighter!!!'Watching you animated emoticon

BUBBA!.jpg

26 minutes ago, Garfield said:

Glad you're happy with your new arrivals, gents! We hope to have the decks cleared re. all outstanding orders over the next two/three business days.

The delivery arrived and I wasn't here!!!!Big tears animated emoticon

Edited by heirflick
error
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38 minutes ago, RedRich said:

Got my four A B C D packs today. I have had a good look at them and having loved the prototype it was time to look at photos and notes taken many years ago. First if anyone has ever worked in metal fabrication they will know how tube and barrel shapes can be constructed especially when they have rounded ends. They tend to be welded together in segments while the center parts can be rolled and seam welded. This is the way that the prototypes were constructed and the models capture the look spot on. The chassis itself is like the ballast but differs hugely underneath the solebars. The amount of pipework is testimony to IRM's standards of wanting to produce a model that sets the bar each time and they have done it again. The livery the printing the etched parts are all quality but the most important thing is capturing the looks and producing an accurate rendition that is as physically and mechanically possible. Well this model is all those things. I am mentioning the weathering job Richie has done on his model and apart from that, changing couplings , and re-gauging there isn't anything that could improve it for me. A top model gents top marks to all four of you, and I hope the other three lad's won't mind me giving a shout out to Pat for the graphic design work and packaging, it looks great.

Rich,

Which is your favorite pack Rich?Confused face animated emoticon

 

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7 minutes ago, heirflick said:

Which is your favorite pack Rich?Confused face animated emoticon

 

Oh definitely pack B pack Seamus I love 25195 with the Bulk Cement stencils. I love the smaller CIE broken wheel models also. It's not that I don't like the Irish Cement logo I just can't remember ever seeing one out shopped in that livery or before the printing disappeared behind the dirt and cement dust. I seem to always associate the Irish Cement logo with the bogie cements. Either way they will all be weathered in time. Richie's weathering of his model is where the bar is and I would consider it more special effects than weathering it is that good.

Rich,

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1 hour ago, RedRich said:

Oh definitely pack B pack Seamus I love 25195 with the Bulk Cement stencils. I love the smaller CIE broken wheel models also. It's not that I don't like the Irish Cement logo I just can't remember ever seeing one out shopped in that livery or before the printing disappeared behind the dirt and cement dust. I seem to always associate the Irish Cement logo with the bogie cements. Either way they will all be weathered in time. Richie's weathering of his model is where the bar is and I would consider it more special effects than weathering it is that good.

Rich,

Same here - that model 25195 is just the 'Mutts Nuts!'  'Tis hard to believe that there was only one in existence, but if the High command at IRM say that's the case  - so be it!  ( Must admit that if a pack was produced with 3 of the same - I'd go for it big time!):dancing:

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8 minutes ago, heirflick said:

Same here - that model 25195 is just the 'Mutts Nuts!'  'Tis hard to believe that there was only one in existence, but if the High command at IRM say that's the case  - so be it!  ( Must admit that if a pack was produced with 3 of the same - I'd go for it big time!):dancing:

Well, we can't say definitively that it was the only one, but it's certainly the only one we can find evidence for. Of course, the orange bubbles had similar stencilling... :)

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4 minutes ago, Garfield said:

Well, we can't say definitively that it was the only one, but it's certainly the only one we can find evidence for. Of course, the orange bubbles had similar stencilling... :)

...Ah Jaysus Pat - you don't miss any marketing trick do you?=D   - and why not?  That's why  a full rake of the orange is already ordered!  'Twas my first encounter of freight when my Dad (the best Dad ever!) took me to see train movements in Malahide  back in the days ...when my jaw dropped seeing the 'Enterprise' top and tailed with those Hunslets!  Oh to go back in time.........9_9

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Yes, I remember that too, heirflick..... Topped'n'tailed Enterprises and the Belfast / Dundalk goods with H vans and bubbles* going on forever, and a proper guards van instead of an oul tail light stuck on the back of a container truck..... not a bogie wagon in sight! And a black'n'tan 141 up front, no "pairs" then - a loco could do a day's work without help!

 

(* ordinary wagon grey when I first saw them - orange with grey chassis later!)

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52 minutes ago, Garfield said:

Well, we can't say definitively that it was the only one, but it's certainly the only one we can find evidence for. Of course, the orange bubbles had similar stencilling... :)

Pat knowing the diligence among the the four of you lads they were investigated  thoroughly. TBH I can't find any record of another one neither and I have tried.

Rich,

 

 

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Was your Dad a railway enthusiast also Seamus. Lovely memory by the way and also very nice to see someone refer to their parent in a loving and respectful way, you don't see much of it these days on forums, maybe only on here.

Rich,

 

 

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47 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Yes, I remember that too, heirflick..... Topped'n'tailed Enterprises and the Belfast / Dundalk goods with H vans and bubbles* going on forever, and a proper guards van instead of an oul tail light stuck on the back of a container truck..... not a bogie wagon in sight! And a black'n'tan 141 up front, no "pairs" then - a loco could do a day's work without help!

Oh yes, we are very much on the same page JB :)  

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My recollection of trawling suggests that when they had the grey and orange livery, they had a specific branding, very similar to the one on 25195, but more compressed. The "CIE" in the centre was of the early version, and the "bulk cement" was a standard stencil. But when they came to go ivory, they seem to have played around with it - given the "CIE" a more Art Deco style, and a custom stencil for the bulk cement that had more distance and presence than the previous orange/grey livery version. If adopted, it would have been a gradual change of corporate branding, in the way black and tan was to supertrain. Sadly it wasn't given the thumbs up across the range, but at least she held it until the bitter end. I do love an aul livery oddity, and would loved to have found more to add to our range, but they just don't exist in photographic form :|...yet....

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Regarding the CIE "broken wheel", the variations in its design were exceptionally few (2!) but extremely interesting.

This logo, like its predecessor, the "flying snail", or its successors,  the "set of points", the "three pin plug", and the "N-shaped flag", were always of the exact same dimensions and shape and size, even if there were rare colour variations.

A single painted-on example of the "points" on a departmental wagon was the solitary variation I ever saw of ANY of the above bar the "wheel", which is the one we're talking about.

The 071 class, when new, did NOT have the standard sized one now on 071 (nor the style of numeral it now carries), though it was (as on 071) untypically white. (Nor was it in the bright orange it now carries - it had a darker browny colour - this is another story...)  On first and all subsequent repaints a standard broken wheel (or "roundel") was used. 

Its variant was Illinois-generated, with the wheel bit somewhat larger with thinner "bits" but greater gaps between them. The letters "CIE" were marginally thinner too.

Look at a pic of an 071 when new and compare.

Why am I wittering on about 071s in a post about bubbles?

Because for some reason the roundel used when these things were CREAM was of the same sort of non standard dimensions, as exactly found on Mr Garfield's excellent* product. 

As introduced, these wagons were in the all over grey of all wagons back then, including PW stuff. When the actual bubble started appearing in orange, the chassis remained grey. In both of these liveries the broken wheel roundel was standard size and shape. Then in the cream (or ivory, as it's often called - but it was actually closer to cream), this oddball logo variant appeared, only to disappear again under "Irish Cement" branding. Pat  & Co have captured it perfectly.l

(*  but there's ONE thing that none of the IRM ballasts have - a major omission, Pat. I haven't seen one with the empty mars bar wrapper I once threw into one.......)....

 

Seriously, on an ongoing basis, I join the chorus who cannot praise IRM too much for developing these wagons - both the ballasts and the bubbles. Bring on the CIE cattle trucks and 30' six-wheelers! ;-)

 

 

 

 

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