Dave

Original crafted, not the copies you buy in the model shops?

 

Another dreamer that missed the boat.

 

 

http://www.donedeal.ie/hobbies-for-sale/model-irish-train-set/11106981?offset=1

He's talking about that Murphy Models rubbish

God loves a trier!

They look great Jason, nice work

Welcome to the site John, the NCE Power Cab is a good option and can be extended as your layout grows. It is a bit complicated to program and the display is quite small, but apart from that it is good.

Another good option is the Gaugemaster Prodigy.

Both controllers can be bought for around £130 sterling.

Stay away from the Hornby controllers in particular the select as it's not NMRA compliant.

Best of luck with the layout and keep us posted.

Here's a great little tool that I use. It's a flush cutter, I use 3 of them in the workshop for various jobs. Great for track cutting, brass and plastic kits. I liked them so much I bought in a load of them to sell!

Dave

 

Sorry to hear that, it would have been wonderful item to have in the workshop

 

Eoin

It would have been, he had a fully kitted out model engineering workshop.

My Dad had one. Sadly my Mother sold it when he died

Have a look at Eoins chassis, it runs like a dream with nice slow running. Including a working fan, directional fibre optic lighting. Well worth a look.

Excellent! Really taking shape. The trees look great.

That's a great start. Looking forward to seeing the layout progress.

Well done Eoin!

 

They are not Eoin's kits! Dive Controller misread my post.

Dave,

I did not realize that these were Eoin's kits. In that respect, my opinion regarding the kits and their pricing is unbiased by any relationship personal or commercial with the vendor. So as a consumer these kits are expensive, as has been expressed by others on the thread also. I do not doubt that they are good quality, but I just cannot really see them becoming a mainstream product at that price.

You are quite right when you say that Eoin has done a great job on the Dart. So good, in fact, that I would consider buying one from him and I have no particular interest in the Dart itself!

That being said, I stand by my comments regarding the pricing of the kits.

The constructive part has already been stated in the original post which is that these would become very popular if priced more modestly, aimed at the average modeler, however you wish to define that.

Good night

They are not Eoin's kits. Your comments were not constructive, in particular your first statement. I was speaking to Eddie one of the guys behind Dawson Hall at the October show, they are aware that the pricing is high and are starting to sell into the American market and with volume sales prices should fall.

He did say sales are good, at the end of the day it's only worth what someone is willing to pay.

=))

Seriously? This is cardboard, right?

This might be OK if you happen to be specifically modeling the kit that they happen to be peddling but there's no one going to outfit a layout with these buildings I don't think.

I'm sure there's going to be a counter argument regarding R&D costs and all of that but I would be willing to bet there's an outrageous mark up on these. It's somewhat short sighted in many ways, because I'm pretty certain there's a market of modellers out there who would buy these when building layouts at a reasonable cost.

....whoops, just need to sidestep the stampede here

Not a very nice comment, manufacturers need constructive criticism not to be slated if they are to continue to develop there products. Yes it's card but it's nothing like Metcalf, a lot of hours go into producing these kits.

If you read back through the Dart thread you will see the comments Eoin received a lot were constructive some not so. If he gave up due to the negative comments we wouldn't have the stunning model that it has become.

Give the guy a chance.

Maybe, but effectively not at such staggeringly insane prices of nearly €80 for a flat pack cardboard "kit" of a signal box. Seems priced more for commercial use than typical hobbyists. €220 for a station building that needs to be painted!!!

Yes I agree they are very expensive. That price for the station building is for assembled and painted.

Seriously good though

That is stunning. The detail is phenomenon.

Thanks lads, I slowly coming together. There is a lot of small details that take quite a bit of time to get right.

Very nice! Is that O gauge?

That is cool. I assume there's a large pile of containers to go in the middle ala north wall? Love the track layout, has a,nice realistic flow to it.

Thanks Rich, yes a lot of containers in the middle with two heljan container cranes at the dockside. Should look good when it's finished.

Bit of an update on the Port area. Got the back scene boards up. As this layout comes apart I designed the back scene boards to be interlocking ensuring that they stay in perfect alignment.

The buildings were custom made ultra low relief to represent an industrial estate backing onto the railway. This will be finished with a bit of a waste ground with a fence beside the track.

Interlocking back scene

It's really taking shape now, looking forward to seeing it finished.

I have 10 negative ion generators on order if anyone is interested in making their own.

That's a great pic! Just oozes atmosphere

Lovely scene Noel. The layout is really taking shape.

Here is a link to Track underlay and ballasting options:

 

http://s374444733.websitehome.co.uk/c-noise/index.htm

Good link Kieran. My method works well, a layout that I built for a client uses this method and resulted in very quiet running.

I only use PU foam (closed cell) which means glue can't absorb into it therefore the foam is glued down to the baseboard and the track glued to it and the foam becomes a excellent insulator between the two surfaces. Then the ballast is kept away from the baseboard resulting in quiet running.

It's a simple method that works!

Just thinking out loud, as I am currently building some base boards, would some forms of insulation or foam/polystyrene board underneath the baseboard take any of the sound away? I'm assuming the empty space between the framework and baseboard is contributing to the noise? Or am I away off the mark?

Your on the money Dave, the best way to do it would be to fix the foam above the frame then the top bonded to it