Bumble_Bee

34 minutes ago, connollystn said:

Ah! With all this chat about colour schemes and which is the right shade of black etc., it's beginning to sound like an art class rather than a discussion about the A class. Right guys [IRM] - next photos please.

If yis are taking requests like a DJ at a wedding I'll take some pics of the day-glo panelled 90s rave loco's please  

6 minutes ago, NIRCLASS80 said:

Can I just say all the images so far have been fantastic. 
 

Just one question, is the cab front handrail plastic or wire?  It’s the one part that looks very easily damaged if the packaging has any weakness at all. 
 

Can’t wait for the IR images. 

due to the mould line I'm guessing plastic, but to be fair it looks like they could easily be replaced with a wire one if you wanted to

12 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

Now THOSE in CIE livery are EXACTLY what a green or silver “A” needs behind it! 

Agreed  

I wish Hattons released a rake of unpainted coaches similar to how Dapol do with vans/wagons etc. Not only would it be handy for us Irish modellers fighting over shades of green, but also for anyone interested in making their own fictional livery for their own railways. 

I've seen lots of great custom painted wagons with great liveries and ideas behind them, but not many custom coaches. 

(Also, forgive if this is going too far into derailment territory, but I wonder if it would be possible for IRM and Hattons to work together on a commission batch of coaches similar to how MM has done with Bachmann in the past, and how Rails of Sheffield does with Dapol etc)

On one hand, great news to hear that the run is 65% sold already, on the other hand, nightmare for me because I don't get paid until the 15th so will probably miss out on getting a second A class 

(Plus Hattons genesis are due next month AND a lot of Transformers pre-orders I have waiting so its about to be a VERY expensive summer  haha) 

Roof held on by magnets, body held on by screws instead of dodgy clips that break after one removal... bliss! 

Body removal/servicing is one of the biggest reasons I hate diesel models because I always end up breaking them haha. This on the other hand, looks totally eejit proof! Thank you!  

Related to that, do the bogies come out for easy maintenance too?  

Also to echo the comments above, my mouse cursor has been hovering above the 'pre-order' button on a few more of these over the last few days but I'm staying strong! 

Can't remember what number I ordered already but it was one of the late day-glo versions. I am sorely tempted to get one of the early liveries too, either that gorgeous silver or the green... having two similar but not identical locos running on my heritage layout would be pretty cool...

..no..NO! I'm away to have a cold shower!  

Oh my! Thats pure pornography, you should be hosting images like that on an 18+ section of the site  

Also I love how these models show how bizarrely skinny 00 gauge track is, not only for Irish locos but for British designs too. 

That said, I can't be arsed changing all my track...so 00 it is  

On 26/6/2021 at 9:14 AM, BosKonay said:

Yes, we have plucked one of each boxed models from the shipment and rushed them in ahead of the main delivery. The rest will follow in a packed full 40’

Where they flown over on expedited delivery on an Antonov 124 like IE 201 was?  

Gorgeous!!! I can't remember if I ordered A36 or A54 but either way both of them look gorgeous, cant wait to see what those day-glo panels are like  

that sounds ridiculous!! I can understand tax for things like businesses but surely a person to person transaction on the likes of ebay should be exempt from VAT, especially if its a personal account rather than a business/shop account. 

2 hours ago, MOGUL said:

Will check with an post tomorrow and pm you over a price 

No worries, cheers! 

How much to post the book to Belfast? I'm interested:)

4 hours ago, BosKonay said:

Thanks Bob!

just wait until we turn to Irish steam!

When do pre-orders open?  

I had thought of the same terminology with regards to my wagon book, but especially for steam there is a lot of overlap with the various companies so its not as 'cut and dry' as the UK with its distinctive 'big four' era etc. 

So far I'm working along the lines of:

Era 1 - Pioneers (Pre 1900)

Era 2 - Golden Age of Irish Steam (1900-1940)

Era 3 - Decline and replacement (1940-1970)

Quite proud of how these coal loads turned out! 

They are the Dapol ones that came with the unpainted wagons, sprayed with gunmetal grey to give a graphite sheen then blackwash to give some texture and matte areas. 

Super pleased that it captures the shiny yet dusty look of certain coal grades haha

I actually think they look fab hahaha

Updated pics of the finished wagons. 

I know they aren't accurate to anything in particular but now I have a decent length irish frieght train to run

I love seeing colourised pics like this. 

Yeah the AI generated ones have a long way to go, but they give an impression of 3 dimensions at least. 

Its amazing what kind of detail starts to pop out at you when you see it in colour. Maybe its just me but I find it quite hard sometimes to pick out B&W photos as 3d haha. 

There is a chap on twitter who does beautiful colourisations in brilliant detail but I can't remember his name now. I'll find it later and post it. Not sure if he has done any trains yet but some lovely city views.

Lovely day for a read in the Garden! 

Happy St Patricks day everyone.

Lovely model! 

Would look lovely in blue too for anyone modelling Whitehead:) 

Is it the late Coca Cola train delayed from the Christmas season?

I know these aren't due for another few months yet but after placing my order I'm already sitting at the window waiting for the postman in anticipation  

Cleared the table and added some of my rolling stock just to get a feel for the layout again. 

Any suggestions for buildings, platforms, scenery etc to add? (I know the signals are incorrect but these are just for decoration haha) 

Okay so I'm quite proud of this 'happy accident'. 

I made up some blackwash to weather the wagons i painted earlier, then proceeded to weather a lot of different wagons just to use it up, then i had a BRAINSTORM 

As seen in previous pics on the post, this siding area was covered in white filler (to represent gravel/dirt etc of a yard) and i was worried about having to paint it, however i thought i would try the blackwash on it and lo and behold, it has come up a lovely shade of concrete grey! 

I will make up more wash with a bit more paint in it to darken it further but for now I'm pretty happy with how well it looks! 

Also an excuse to weather the 'car ramp' which is just the old hornby one with painted brick and curbstones. Hopefully the blackwash dries as it looks here because it makes quite decent tire tracks! 

In my imagination, this ramp wouldn't be used as car transport but rather a way to easily load up permanent way trains with ballast/rails or loading loco tenders with coal etc. 

As a bonus, can anyone guess what the wagon in the third pic is based on?

13 minutes ago, Noel said:

Excellent

Exactly, great idea. Dapol unpainted wagons are inexpensive and come with NEM pockets. Works with vans too. I've kit bashed three rakes of assorted two axle wagons like these over the past 5 years.

Lovely!! 

Dapol are a god send honestly. I love that the van bodies are all interchangeable, i bought a few unpainted vans then some spare bodies for them so i can paint them into different liveries and swap them around and have different rakes for very little money compared to buying fully painted vans

Currently on the workbench. 

Some unpainted dapol wagons repainted into CIE. 

I know the hopper isnt accurate to anything real but it looks cool at least. 

Once the decals settle, they shall be weathered:) 

27 minutes ago, Ironroad said:

As this discussion evolves, some ideas are emerging. But as alluded to by Mayner, it may be best if this endeavour is driven by a "collective" rather than one individual (no disrespect is intended here the initiative already taken is great).  Perhaps that collective could be formed through support from MM, IRM, the clubs and individuals willing devote time and effort? Any thoughts on this?

I agree, I would like it to be a collective project rather than a one person endevour. 

Today or tomorrow I will draft an outline of ideas/goals based on what I originally planned, plus what has been suggested and discussed in this thread. 

Following that, I can post another thread asking for volunteers etc to help out. 

I am however, in no immediate rush, so it may not be until next week (as I am returning to work this week  haha)