Lol my wife is from near there! @LARNE CABIN may be able to help...there’s a Facebook group called ‘memories of Larne’ which may offer some help if you ask.
We had one of these when I was a kid and I well remember the inky ribbon. Yes letters were available as well as digits. Preserved railways on the Big Island use them so I imagine some form of consumable supply is in place. Might be worth asking some of the bigger concerns like Severn Valley etc. BR stopped using them c1990.
That’s correct. Guinness were well aware of the practice and there was a certain brand of biscuit tin which could be used to draw off just enough ‘overfill’ in each cask without diddling the customer. Story is in here I think https://www.amazon.co.uk/Round-Ireland-Gear-Eric-Newby/dp/0007367929/ref=nodl_
Just to keep vaguely on topic, Newby’s book also includes a few snippets on what it was like travelling with a bike on CIE trains in the 1980s - I remember his account of an ex Rosslare train.
Nice. That’s a very fair effort. NCC locos and their UK equivalents can be like the ‘false friends’ you get in language learning - a word that looks like one you know but is actually very different! There’s a host of subtle differences between a WT class and any Stanier/Fowler/Fairbairn/Ivatt. This model captures the NCC look nicely though. A smokebox door wheel and a UTA roundel will be the icing on the cake!
Given that Joe Biden is the first Irish-American president for a while, and a known railroad fan, I can just see an IRM presentation of a 121 on the White House lawn...would make a nice news item in Model Railroader....
Excellent. Part of the ‘knack’ of this business is working out what the signature features are of any model and getting that right - such as these doors. I can already see those distinctive side windows of a P van shaping up.
This is very exciting. I can see a series working best, as the subject is huge. As a starter, I’d suggest looking at a fairly small outfit. Plucking a name out of the air, SLNC? No personal axe to grind, of course
In my defence, your honour, I had a load of Nectar points on eBay which paid for the set! I’m intrigued by the technique as I have a rather special project to trial it on (which I will post here if it works!). One of many military modeller techniques we can learn from.
Excellent tip here. The ‘dot filter’ technique is one I’m planning to use in a few weeks time. Mig ammo do some sets especially designed for it https://www.migjimenez.com/en/oilbrushers/1172-light-fading-set.html
Thank you! Always good to see work in progress: such photos have been of great use to me in my muddling efforts. This is coming on very nicely. Is that compensation I can see on one of the axles?