33lima

Having applied the varnish, t'was high time for the job I was really dreading - lining. In my 1990s model, I used some proprietary waterslide lining on the tender - some of which I still had, but not enough, even if it was still usable. For the loco, I hand-painted the white on boiler and cab sides then applied the black with a fine marker pen. Decals apart from cabside numbers were not needed as this was for running with UTA stock. For the GNR(I) crest, I used the Railtec GNR railcar set. A helpful recommendation via Facebook meant I used Fox GNER letters for the tender. But I could not find the waterslide lining I got in 1990 so with considerable trepidation, I opted for what I could find - HRMS 'pressfix' LNER loco lining. They offered a 'methfix' alternative but I suspected I'd make even more of a mess, using something so exotic and unfamiliar. So HRMS pressfix it was. Painstaking but do-able, I found it, even though I had to twist some sections a bit to get the required shapes and curves. The results are not 100% right, but considering the right mess I feared I'd make, I'm well enough pleased with the results. As for nameplates, I was unable to print my own decal versions so ended up using the decal paper, painted gold, with letters written with a fine pen and then cut to shape. If I come up with a better alternative, they are just PVA-glued on. Larger, turned brass buffers have been fitted, along with an etched brass screw-link coupling and a wire vacuum pipe. Front coupling removed. A final touch was to blacken the outer edges of the silver wheel rims and the connecting rod with a Sharpie pen- after most of the pics below were taken. This makes those big, shiny front bogie wheels a little less conspicuous. A better chassis (eg a Hornby T9, without the mazak rot) or extra pickups would be an improvement, perhaps. I might also add a small front coupling so she can run tender first. I did add a couple of front headlamps with little jewels as per recent appearance when running and may add then also to the tender rear. Anyhow, 171 has stretched her legs both on the home layout and at Glenabbey MRC; it only took me thirty-odd years!

For painting, I brush-paint then finish with rattle-can spray varnish, to get a good overall final sheen - Marson One clear lacquer matt or satin, usually in stock at The Range, is my preference. Looking at what recommendations I could find online - eg Humbrol Mediterranean Blue or a Railmatch Caley blue - and studying many pics of the real thing and models, I could not find a ready-mixed colour I was happy with, including the nearest Vallejo blue I could find... ...and ended up mixing two Vallejo blues to taste. The results lacks the slightly grey-ish tinge of the real thing and for some reason, comes out too strong a blue in many iPhone pics, but I settled for it, having first tried an unmixed blue, as seen on the tender build pics and on the loco on the one above. As you can see, I have left the original moulded-on handrails in place - these are quite fine in real life and replacing them could have ended badly. Florist's wire provided the LHS steam pipe along the boiler, the moulded one on the other side having been cut off. Similar wire added the pipework on the upper cab front. In these pics you can see the re-profiled tender rear frame, where the lower rear step was cut away. I could have cut back the front of the smokebox a little but that seemed a lot of surgery for modest gain. I settled for sanding back the smokebox door a little and adding a wheel in place of the lever and a small handrail in place of the numberplate. Also two footsteps below. I missed the small handrail below them maybe for another day, along with the cabside glass windshields. To be continued!

The tender was a project in itself. The only work I did on the tender chassis was to cut away the lower step on the rear and curve the adjacent profile of the frames (not yet done, on the pics here). I squared off the top of the rear bulkhead, cut away most of the internal detail at the front and replaced that. I should have moved the rear bulkhead back a little and modified the details there too, but left 'as is'. A damaged side panel needed fixed and a new upper panel added each side and at the rear, with new 'beading' fitted along the top; all from plasticard, apart from the wire stand for the tender handbrake (maybe there should be two? stuff like that, and adding maybe some tweaks to details, I can fix later). Four footsteps were added to the tender rear - I've seen pics with two and with four. This is intended to represent the tender most usually seen on the 'S' Class, not the (compound?) one with the flared-in upper panels she has at time of writing. Main reference used for details not often visible was an online build piece on an etched brass tender! To be continued!

Some pics of a recently-modified Triang-Hornby LMS 2p. Been meaning to do one of these for myself, ever since making one for a fellow-modeller in the early 1990s. Sources included Charles Friel's essential photo-survey published by Colourpoint in the 1990s and of course the many pics available online these days. The basic model. Main issue is that the running plate of the loco should be lower, in relation to the chassis. Adding a little to the 'skirt' helps only a little but I decided to settle for that, to avoid a more drastic rebuild. Almost everything needs changed. In particular, we need to change the firebox top from a squared off to a rounded cross-section and give the cab roof a flatter-topped aspect. And of course drop the centre section of the footplate and add new splashers. Cabside steps need modified so the lower step is swept back and a central one added. The dome needs a more rounded top and the chimney needs raised and given a tapered profile. Lots of razor-sawing and general hacking was needed, followed in equal measure by the application of plasticard and model filler - I like the Revel variety. The white of the plasticard shows were details were added, including what I assume to be a visible section of the reverser lever ahead of the foremost splasher and what might be a a mechanical oiler above the new frame, further forward. A first coat of primer highlights were some fettling is needed before moving on. To be continued!

I was happy just to repaint a few ínto black and tan, and add a converted Mk1 genny. Tried to stick to ones without the bowed ends and may replace the clip-in underframe units at some point. Usually seen behind my black and tan A or C Classes. Have a second rake repainted in lined mid green.

Speaking of yellow things, where's the flying, thumping banana? Aka the Last of the Eighties, aka the NIR Sandite train? Seems to have disappeared from her siding at York Road Works. Indoors, being readied for her next/last Sandite season?

Snapped the hopppers at Central on Saturday, on the way back from the UMRC show:

Still there today (25 Jul 17), as seen through a grimy bus window...

Very nice! A rake of three might have been enough, though...

Pics are up on Flikr, for those unable to make it: Bleach Green: https://www.flickr.c...157657599108826 Lisburn: https://www.flickr.c...157657247251099

Didn't make Saturday as originally planned, but got up today. Highlight of course was seeing Bleach Green, the current BRM piece serving as a nice appetite-whetter. Well no, the highlight was being invited behind the scnes and meeting Colm and Ken whose layouts and stock - and a certain Irish DMU book by the former - account for about 90% of my motivation in returning to the hobby in the last couple of years. Being able to see and snap a fiddle-yard full fo NIR & UTA stock was not to be forgotten. Will post the pics on Flikr; in the meantime here are some of Bleach green, the other outstanding local layout 'Lisburn' and some O Gauge GNR(I).

You might be interested in this, then, if you can find one second hand: http://www.marksmodels.com/?pid=6452

Thanks John, too kind! Re RTR railcars, there's these, from Silver Fox... http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/nir-ir-ie-2600-class-railcar-aecpark-royal/ ...basically, repainted BR Cravens DMUs. Though too short, you could get a roughly comparable result by repainting a Tri-ang DMU, after cutting away the two cab front window pillars and replacing one, in the middle; and preferably rounding the 'peak' in the cab front (and possibly repositioning the three headlights to more correct positions). Two power car bodies would also be preferable as the AEC power cars all had brake compartments, IIRC. With just a repaint, a Tri-ang DMU is not bad for UTA railcars 6 & 7, though again, two power car bodyshells would be better than just one; and again, the cab roof peak should be rounded. Stick a Grafar suburban coach in the middle for a trailer. Steve Rafferty had such a set and it looked the part - there's a pic in issue 5 of 'Irish Lines, available here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zgbbr6m6jvvi1cp/Irish%20Lines%20-%20Issue%205%20-%201993%20Winter.pdf UTA and NIR MPD railcars can be made by motorising a repainted Hornby Stanier coach, perferably the compo as the brake third has much too big a brake compartment. All tyou really need tyo do is creat a cab at one end. At its simplest, cut a window either side of the corridor connection at one end, or laminate plasticard over the end to give a rounder profile. Other stuff is optional, like trimming off the roof ribbing or hanging simulated mechanical components under the floor of the power car. Works drawings of most of the older railcars are in my RMWeb gallery, which with suitable pics can assist in selecting suitable RTR donors: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/gallery/album/2408-uta-railcar-drawings/ Recommended reading would be: 'Diesel Dawn' by Colm Flanagan, covering the early railcars, up to the 1970s: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diesel-Dawn-Contribution-Development-1931-1967/dp/1904242081 A 1990s edition of 'Irish Railways Traction & Travel' by Peter Jones, which covers not only then-current railcars but also withdrawn ones: http://www.stmarysbooks.com/product/94855/irish+railways+traction+%26+travel/#.VdShOJerEl8 ...and 'Irish Railways Locos, Multiple Units & Trams', by Robert Pritchard, to bring the picture up-to-date: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Irish-Railways-Locomotives-Multiple-Handbooks/dp/1909431044

Who says railcars/DMUs aren't popular with modellers here? http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2279-UTA-suburban-MPD-set http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3478-Class-80-Builds http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/3459-UTA-Multi-Engined-Diesel?p=53934#post53934 http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2345-NIR-80-Class-DEMU http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/2678-NIR-70-Class-DEMU http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/78-Kirley-s-Projects?p=48753&viewfull=1#post48753 http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/4548-NIR-450-class-from-bachmann-150-1 http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/625-GVS-and-Adelaide-lookalike?p=26604&viewfull=1#post26604 http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/101451-uta-railcars-no6-7/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/79300-nir-80-class-demu/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/49402-uta-med/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/100199-uta-railcar-no-1/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/56180-out-of-storage-some-of-my-old-uta-and-nir-stock/ http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/87521-multi-purpose-diesel-mpd-build/ ..and because a picture is worth a thousand words...