Robert Shrives

Leslie,

Indeed and the hobby would be poorer without your kits.  "Spoils of war" are great wagons  and the double beets were great to produce. With a bit of cross fertilisation  of SSM, MIR  and IRM bits and your 20 foot flat or skeletal does give lots of choice.  The coal container could be a quick win with 3D printing - unless you are the designer and printer of course !  The Bitumen wagon that got mentioned needs four suppliers and your skeletal.  This is indeed the fun of modelling - get bits together and assembling. But not for everybody so rtr has its place.  But the hobby is a place for everybody.

Robert      

36 minutes ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

My wish list!

C Class also NIR MV

NIR 80 Class

Bogie timber

Short flats for 20’ containers

Bagged cement wagons, both versions

But I’m sure if IRM produces anything that ran in the late 1980’s and 1990’s then the bank balance will suffer!

All very likely as I have sweated over a hot cutting mat making all/ working on all of these...  Like my luck on the lottery really, time will tell of course. 

It will be good to see what comes after the A class - C/MV would be logical at some point.  Having got kits of the spoils and the Railbus part done I am confident these should be ok. But P47 and P20 ideas abound - Beets would seem logical given froth they cause. Cement pallets  with 4 in build and bogie tanks and bogie cements offer use of existing bogies and as I have some of these in the build heap it would be a good guess that these will be rtr before I finish mine.  

Really the 80 class and ICR would be fun of course, but would be investment rich so perhaps not yet but good for dreams.

Good looking work all round and the couplings will be an improvement.  Hopefully they will have a role in the future development projects like CIE MK4s and the Enterprise stock.  might even enhance the class 80 and 450 railcar projects.  Having cut your teeth on these for the UK market hopefully the skills learnt will speed up the CIE/ NIR projects !

I`ll get my coat ...

Robert         

Yes deburring  rail and ensuring web is clear of debris/burr is key. I found the tiniest drop of lube oil worked wonders as well.   Good to know your first point was "straight-forward."  But it is a learning to swim - I had built some 3mm points and the next was   a 2 foot gauge 3way stub point- ably helped by a school gang!   Layout follows a tradition of cricular 2mmfs layouts. Mine is an N model of Powderham - but currently stored in Wales having wiring refurbished, but I am not in wales !

Happy track building .

Robert         

Athy is a good choice for traffic and diversions along with the useful bit that back in the last century the Railway Modeller ran an occasional Irish stations article and Athy was done with drawings and trackplan. 

Just dug out article . June 1989 page 274 - 276.

Robert 

Gauges arrived today and very good they are , hopefully others will buy and make use of them - my only connection with Paul is as a satisfied customer and fellow volunteers on the World Famous Ffestiniog Railway !  

As Garfield notes and as the picture shows  a difference was it had operating wheels etc at one end only. Worth checking but IIRC the vac cylinder was at the non operating end, so to get a better look you will, like me, have a little bag of spares. 

Check out Railtec transfers Irish range for numbers and crests - I am sure that you will have the weathering  spot on! 

Robert  

Passed this on to several friends and good to see PRONI getting active again.  I still have inquires unanswered from mid 2020 so hopefully news soon..

Sadly at work so will miss this - if any of the pictures could land here it would be very good and I would be very grateful.

Robert  

Lovely looking work and hours of fun to follow, thanks for update. 

viz sleeper strips keeping the sprue attached is key even with the jig and yes once rail tip slightly honed to give  a fine end rail is easy to make. 

The point blades will be fun with the curve, good luck!

Robert     

https://ngtrains.com/shop/product/back-to-back-gauge-for-21mm-gauge/

Hi this might just be of use ...

Robert 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/johannes-j-smit/3133183400/

Hi not my pic but knew I had seen something so a quick google.

Several pics on the page

Robert   

Well a bit of progress.

After umpteen fill and sand cycles now painted in a gloss light grey. 

I could perhaps add some archer rivets along the top of windows but most pictures they can be barely seen.  The join between cab end and door looks better in flesh and will have had rails over.  Quite a bit more to do but to me seemed a good leap / stumble forward.    

Spoils continue but no pics, jumping back a bit to the Beet wagons I was able from MIR get some bits and pieces last week, along with a restock on kadees.  Today as day off between extra shifts has seen a  bit of progress:

Robert Roche created 3D print of the 4 wheel rebody beet wagon.

Resin 45 foot and a 20 foot container chassis - resin  NQPs from Ian, boiling water to soften and fix twists and bends.  Bogie flat on a pair of Bachmann bogies and kadees fitted. Will need to sort handbrakes and vacc cross shafts as middle is a bit bare, cast buffers and vac pipe from SSM . All in all about 4 hours work over last two days to this stage. 

The 20 foot took more work as twist and axle box bearing supports all a mess. I ended up with a 1mm plastic floor having cut out and thinned resin to take MJT W iron frets - this has 3 point suspension so should road hold well. Plasticard mounts and kadee fitted.

Derailment shot ! showing weights, MJTs and coupling mounts. Buffer housings recylced from  the Tank wagons, need to sort heads, brake gear - on both 4 wheelers. But a fun couple of hours. This will get one of the Oil containers shown a while back.   

Finally,

Thanks again to Robert Roche, Mayer and SSM on here, plus Kadee and Peters spares for couplings and wheels . The first of 4 beet bogies now done - others on bench to have Kadees added. I think this is the first completed wagon of 2021.

:

//www.hattons.co.uk/stocklistdatabase/154522/mistral_27_01_b001_type_1_ballast_wagon_sncf/stockdetail.aspx

Hi, Spotted this the other day , looks really like the NIR beasts , but of course HO - so does anybody have one or three ? and how do they compare to 4mm  - Fear they will look much to small compared - time for an HO  MV?

Robert  

IRM or ? will naturally release  RTR / made easy 21mm track as your model is featured in a magazine! 

Robert .

Given few alive who would have ridden in these ! I guess it gives all the pregrouping short train modellers options in making a good stab of a representation , much like the Hattons originated models but the duplication/competition/ splitting the small non profitable market size does seem commercially very strange given the time and place., looking into the fish bowl.  

At least it will give varations and given the Highland Railway was unable  or loathe to replace then these two sources give a good basis of modifications - and I would think enterprising modellers will be able to adapt for Irish lines as well.   

An acceptable compromise ? But when some suggest the drivers moustache is out of period when a steam loco lands with a fantastic paint job and lovely motion I do wonder how  you can please us fickle perfectionists - even if the gauge is wrong and its made of plastic !!  ho hum.   I guess it does link well with the NRM LNWR loco projects.       

Adam has advised that the malnourished Intercity will be redone shortly.

Range covers a control car and suburban variants  long with catering and genny - which will need some work on a donor of course .    Suited best to vehicles with black roof or need to paint donor - but at least its one colour and easily done.  

https://www.facebook.com/108205092546125/photos/a.186402504726383/4076042622428999/

A look up for those wanting to create a train .   

To lovely to paint !  Thanks for showing build .  I hope you have good fun running it on layout.  

I have to agree with Mayner on the volumes of active folk in 21mm and thoughts of issues with trying to provide more than modelling aids - if rtr provides the opportunity then that is the best that can be hoped for in the foresseable future.  An increase will be provided if trackage is reasonably easy to provide a working system - even if not every esoteric formation is made.   3D resin printing could indeed help with production but as  I have said before it makes it no cheaper just different.   

Long may the 21 mm band grow and continue to showcase all that is best for the hobby.        

Lovely work and contrary  to the muse that gentle curves add realism- when the prototype laid out with a human Mk1 eyeball  as straight as this it works very well. I am looking forward to the day when power is on.  Keep up the good work!   

FWIW  I have asked Paul martin at Edm trains for a 21mm gauge back to back set - 19.3 mm to see what he can make - current guess was aruond £15 mark..  just now on Rm web asked Wayne Kinney about 21mm gauge point bases for code 75 BH rail.  His new and almost ready to go to market is based on a 3d printed flexible resin base with chairs printed - user has to put in rails but as in his N gauge models almost shake the box technology  and worth watching.   Using with C&L parts to make on plain track 21mm is much nearer.    Wayne could perhaps produce  trackbases in 21mm by same take and so the user just has to thread rail - an as long as not building all of Mayos lines or a scale length Belfast - Dublin line not three onerous .

two pics of N points from a few years ago

      before blades filed to shape 

The N version has a cast frog/ crossing nose for ease of building. It is sat on a natty paxolin jig for filing and cutting blades and joining on to a tiebar. The OO / 4mm version looks to have a moulded tiebar. 

Lets hope Wayne will be able to bring to market 21mm turnouts and perhaps more complex arrangements later. 

Robert 

Very topical scenery as well !  that does look a lovely model and nice to the stabaliser rails  for units to lean on as well! 

Robert 

Not too offtopic is to look at what Wayne at Finescale N has done with milled plastic bases https://www.britishfinescale.com/.  They are not quite shake the box as a bit of filing and soldering required. "blowing up "to a 21 mm base  and using C&L glueable chairs, rail and crossing components would offer a road forward.  But still not an answer to those diffident with traditional skills of soldering and filing. 

Robert