Galteemore

Have to say that you have brought more than a touch of Gravett magic to the Irish scene David! The locos look fabulous.

The ‘Drew Donaldson’ edition runs to several volumes.

You realise that now you are modelling in brass, the carpet monster has arrived. This creature survives by consuming small parts of etched kits dropped on the floor.

Looking great already Alan!

What technique did you try? For vents, sweating is normally the way. Tin both surfaces lightly and then use plenty of flux. Although in 4mm I’d be tempted to superglue them on once the main carcass is done!

Good to hear Joe. What a lot of us do is have a little ‘pot boiler’ layout on the go to keep the juices flowing. Lots of firms do small laser cut baseboards which provide a firm base for a little shunting plank of a few square feet. Easy and quick to build, and provides a test track to develop scenic skills etc while you work on the magnum opus! Building a large layout is a bit like doing a PhD - lots of effort but without tangible results for quite a while. Having a small set up in which you can run trains whilst the grand plan is under way helps keep your interest up and reminds you of what you can achieve. This kind of idea….it’s N gauge but Google ‘00 Micro Layout’ and see what appears….

Agreed. Will save a lot of cleaning up…..

Joe - sounds a great idea all round. What’s your layout building experience thus far? Only asking as this is quite a technical challenge to take on, especially if a lone wolf modeller. If this is your first layout, I’d suggest trying something more conventional first to practice basic skills. As a basic learner myself, I’ve learned at first hand how dispiriting it can be when a grand plan hits a snag. A small first layout will teach you a lot, and the frustrations/disappointments will not be on a titanic scale

Love the way you bring these things back to life Darius. Great work

Interesting resemblance to an RUC Tangi. Just imagine that patrolling the GN main line….

Somehow I think you always nail it in the end Alan….;)

Shows the power of a convincing paint finish. Looks very effective

Oh yes you would…..

Could be delays in getting the etches done. Des is one of the good guys and not a scammer.

Great work. Massive improvement!

The SG2 at Mullingar has a Dundalk-built tender - no lozenge cut-outs. A very considerate gesture towards modellers !

Probably 2 Compounds for an SG3! CIE seem to have found the 0-6-0s reasonably useful and of the passenger locos only the Us and Qs seem to have strayed much onto the wider CIE system

Pun-ishment will surely come. Spectacular work Kevin.

Maybe Kieran Lagan?

O gauge DCC sound version is amazing. Horns play Amhrán na bhFiann

got your name all over it @Darius43

Agreed Leslie. Fabulous set of pics and some especially good GNRI ones.

Love it Darius. Always had a soft spot for fire stations - spent a fair amount of time in them 45 years ago as my dad was a part-time fireman in NI. Mind you I do prefer the old school appliances they had to modern machines…. These ‘set piece’ scenes are attractive for modellers but often look as if they have just been planted without context. This looks very well indeed, and the scene hangs together as a whole.

Braver man than me! My Irish locos, crude though they are, will only leave the house under strictly controlled conditions…..

Fair price folks. If you want something that’s nicely finished off and looks ‘Irish’ it’s a no-brainer. Plus, for the especially devout, having been once owned by JHB, they count as a secondary relic.