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Having arrived very late indeed to the party as far as brass is concerned, I see that manufacturers of this type of kit are becoming fewer and fewer, and those folks I've got to know in recent times who are old hands at this dark art tell me that they feel they're the last generation that will do such things, has me thinking. Worsley is packing up. They had a good range of Irish stuff. SSM have less available than they used to. Their Bredin thirds and composites seem to no longer be available - and just when the IRM 800 class is about to appear too! They'd have been ideal. There are an impressive number of manufacturers of brass kits over in Starmerland, but they are either too expensive or too complex for anyone but the experienced, or both. Plus, even there they seem to be thinning out. I found one website online - can't remember which - and it said they were taking no new orders and packing up due to retirement. Plus, in almost every case, the prototypes offered look no more like anything that ever ran in any corner of this island, than an ICR looks like the Lartigue. So - to the future. Many brassers that I know are already of the view that this medium is a dinosaur about to die out. I dunno, but simply to parrot-like repeat what they say, the feeling seems to be that 3D is absolutely the future, and indeed we've seen this medium going from completely unacceptably crude to very high-end in a very short few years. The future for 3D seems very much assured and when we see the excellent quality from the likes of CK Prints, who could argue that. So, my brass-ish thoughts. I spent a few evenings bumbling about on the internet to see what I could find. The answer was nothing whatsoever that even with considerable alteration and artistic licence would be the slightest use to any Irish modeller - other than the REMAINING Studio Scale kits, and this: https://mousa-models.co.uk/scales/4mm-scale/coaches/bck1671-4-nsr-family-saloon/?v=25400724d737 A very GSWR-esque design; would go well with SSM GSWR kits as a first class saloon, or with "Genesis" six-wheelers, as being a British prototype it would be the same "narrow gauge" width, as all things from that area. They do many other kits from the same era, but they are of Midland (England) prototypes, so they are far too long and have curved ends - not remotely like anything here. Personally I am not interested in attempting a locomotive. I won't live long enough to finish it at my rate of output. As for wagons, British wagon design has always been quite unlike any company here, with the exception of many standard OPEN wagons, and I suppose much modern container stuff. Even British Rail 1960s palvans weren't like ours. So I have therefore drawn a blank regarding wagon stock. With the superb output of Provincial / CK Prints, SSM, IFM and of course IRM, I don't think there's any point in pursuing wagons in brass, but as for carriages - I wonder does anyone know of any brass kit etch makers who produce anything that would suit any pre-CIE / UTA Irish company? And finally, any thoughts on getting etches MADE for some sort of prototype HERE? Doubtless the market would be minute, with a production run possibly of less than ten items. Can things like this be done? Thoughts?  

Haha! And I did indeed take some photos to illustrate different types of weathering and damage on the boxes. They get some rough treatment! 

Nice weather and nice weathering 😛

This is I'm afraid the future, unless some highly skilled person want's to sink an incredible amount of money into an enterprise guaranteed to give no appreciable return. Sorry, but the emphasis of the hobby has changed and not necessarily to the kit builder (or budding kit builder) advantage I'm afraid. John Bruce.

The resulting hybrid of different parts looks a bit off...