murphaph

It's a no-brand chinese diode laser, 40W input power, unknown output power lol. It's mounted to a 3018 cnc machine, again a no-name Chinese thing with the most questionable instructions. I did originally look at Cricut machines a couple of years back but personally I think for most applications we are already beyond them with laser cutters. The primary advantage of a Cricut I would say is that you can cut PVC materials without releasing chlorine gas, which is what happens when you burn it (as a laser does). Chlorine gas is highly dangerous obviously. Nice one George. I did consider overlapping my 10mm stuff but I thought it might be tough to properly burnish it where it overlaps so I have just ordered some wider tape from a local supplier. Should be here in a couple of days and then I can see if the whole idea is folly or not. Probably handy to have anyway. I think Tamiya actually does A4 sized sheets of paper backed masking tape, for exactly this sort of purpose.

And now for something completely different.... As some of you may know, I am (for the longest time now) repainting 3 086's into NIR 111's, in mid 90's condition. I wasn't entirely happy with the large NIR logo transfer so I decided it was finally a good enough excuse to buy a laser cutter to see if I could cut out my own masks and airbrush the logo on instead. Well I'm not quite that far but progress has been made as the laser cutter arrived and has been assembled and tested. Using plain copier paper I can achieve a very crisp mask. I am hopeful when I get wide enough Tamiya masking tape that it will produce a very decent mask and I can forget about getting transfers to sit down into all the unevenness of the side of a 111. Interestingly I believe the MM logo is slightly too rounded, when I compare it to the mask I have cut out and when compared to the real thing. Side on Flickr image for comparison: Even the prototype looks, well, a bit off if you ask me. The bottom strokes of the N and I are not parallel. I guess it was hand painted after all. It's not a vinyl sticker by the looks of it.

Do you think I could use the same excuse for Guinness Kegs??

Thanks Stephen. I'll keep an eye out for the next one.

How does the review process work again? We should get a link to review an item once it has been shipped, right?

Really nice job Darius. You must be pleased.

Jesus I really was expecting them to hang around for a couple of hours at least. What vultures we are!

2 rakes ordered. Super deal. Took a blue Tara pack E as well. I don't need them (out of era, largely out of region apart from ones and twos passing through to Limerick wagon works) but at that price and with the 10% bundle discount applied because I was ordering the dickies anyway, it works out at a very nice price for a very handsome pair of wagons. Weathering those is going to be tough! Thanks IRM. A genuine Black Friday deal once again. No BS.

F5 F5 F5 F5......

Yeah a few members kindly ordered them. Some may still be in the post though.

Down to single digits on fert pack E now.

I hope there are some still available when the dickies go live. I will take a pack at that price, despite them being too early for me livery wise. Nice one.

A fine structure indeed. It actually looks like you'd be able to add external wall insulation relatively cheaply and easily yourself, unless it's built right up to the boundary and the neighbour would object to the overhang?

This one is really getting out of hand! https://www.ebay.ie/itm/185665003427

I'm in Germany and I will be forwarding a rake to a GB resident myself, assuming I can get them NI is a better option for anyone with NI contacts though, shipping will work out a good deal less.

Quick, somebody set up a reverse parcel motel!

A beer keg and fertiliser shipment from Ireland to Britain.....yeah I'm pretty sure that should set some 1990's coded alarm bells ringing in some system somewhere

Can't help with the rolling stock Dave but having looked at your website I am really looking forward to your CIE layout

Delightful scenes at the mill!

Are these the decorated samples? They look lovely.

It definitely came together David!

Indeed. Class work. Hard to tell it's N gauge.

I think almost anything from the mid 50's is commercially viable nowadays as we have the RTR locomotives out there in the wild and the odds of a C Class are not insignificant (a locomotive that was withdrawn before IE came into existence). I entered the hobby wanting to do only 90's IE stuff. Then along came those delightful silver and green A's, so I bought A1, A30, A42 and A46 and then as I believed that the stock will eventually become available I bought B121 and B135. I strongly suspect I am not the only one who is now looking at earlier stuff too. It will take some time but I am personally fairly confident that this era at least will in time be well catered to by IRM. I do not believe, for example, that 3 packs of open plank wagons or 2 axle covered wagons wouldn't sell very well at this stage. They even have an advantage over bogie stock for those tight on space. This "moving back in time" phenomenon happened with GB outline modellers too. I suspect that we will definitely see bogie coaching stock from the mid 50's as this also had a long life into CIE and in some cases IR days, like the A's.

I decided to take a chance on the convertibility of these to 21mm and have pre-ordered one of each, except the B&T one which is too late for my chosen era (the "green and grey era"). If, for whatever reason they are a mare to convert, I suspect I will have no trouble off-loading these as by all accounts the run is not huge and I expect them to sell like hot cakes to be honest.