murphaph

A first for me but seemingly a well worn path...preparing Lima mk2b coaches for respraying. I'm removing the raised and obviously not prototypical paint moulding from these and filing out the windows to receive south eastern finecast flush glazing. They were stripped in brake fluid which seems to do no harm to the plastic on this type of model. I am trying rattle cans first and depending on the results I may or may not try an example with my as yet unused air brush!

This is really cool. The footbridge looked great already from the 3D printer but a modular factory finished version of Robert's design will do it even more justice no doubt. Fair play to all concerned.

As well as the Bells the UBC and if I'm not mistaken the IFF ones also ran/run on Irish rail.

The pantographs might be a problem

That's crazy carry on. The touting of the localink is about as cheeky as it gets. 150% markup and as you say no word of the poor finish despite knowing about it. @Warbonnet are they your copyright images in that ad by any chance?

Slightly off topic but does anyone know why most model buses and other road vehicles tend to be diecast metal whereas most railway stock has plastic bodies, at least in 1/76 scale?

I understand how the window frames work in say a mk3 with Lazerglaze as glazing fitted but how do the mk2b/c window etches work? I take it you file out the pressure vent glazing bars completely, leaving a rectangle, slightly smaller than the etch. The etch is then presumably glued around this opening but how do you glaze these? I'm not going to do it, I'm going to use the SE Finecast stuff which is good enough for my rake of Limas but I'd like to know how the Shawplan stuff is supposed to work for these coaches. I have found a few pics on RMweb of stuff in progress but nothing complete.

That's really very good.

Oh that's great news. Fingers crossed they can buy their stuff back as cheaply as possible.

Yes we also travelled on it in 2017 it was. A lovely setting and I'm sure a big loss to the wider area. It was definitely a tourist attraction for the town.

Very impressed with this. I love the grungy 161 the most. Any chance of weathering up the ballast wagons too?

I prefer to wait a bit longer than be disappointed with the quality Given the shipping container shortages it seems to make perfect sense to use the "bought time" to rectify any issues rather than approve the shipment only for it to sit in China waiting for a container anyway.

That looks the business Ken.

Some day I hope to be able to have a go at this kit so this thread will be bookmarked! The detailed step by step pictures are totally invaluable to someone like me.

Same here. Not using a sniper only helps drive the price up for eBay and the seller. If everyone used a sniper stuff would be cheaper.

Much appreciated

Can any truck experts say what year these models vehicles could plausibly have appeared? https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/volvo-fh-box-trailer-lucey-transport-vol01bx https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/scania-r420-curtainside-scania-tinnelly-transport-sca03cs https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/volvo-fh-curtainside-barline-vol01cs https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/scania-t-cab-curtainside-ian-hayes-76tcab009 https://www.oxforddiecast.co.uk/products/volvo-fh-recovery-truck-a1-marsdenvol03rec I suspect most if not all of them are too late for my planned 90s layout but no harm in asking.

Cheers. The Bell reefers aren't available at the moment, right @Arran ?

Lovely pics. Are the Bell reefers also from crail?

It's a real thing of beauty.

I'd take a new release of (modern era) 2600s over a rerun of babies any day I have to say, seeing as the multiple units came up Still in service today and been around since 1994 is it? Getting on for 30 years and what, 3 or 4 liveries? Nice overlap with the end of the A's.

Happy days

The last A was stopped in September 1995 so I'd say there's every chance they pulled IE branded mk2d's. Nobody will ever be able to say it definitely didn't happen which is my rule of thumb lol.

BosKonay's mere mention of "decade" just sent the price of used baby GMs on eBay through the €300 mark lol.

Would you not buy half a dozen rerun MM babies though? I know I'd buy any rerun IR/IE ones. I'm still missing two tippex babies but I've given up on getting them cos I'm not prepared to pay 250 for one. To my eye they still look the part next to a 121. They aren't some Lima pancake motor job in fairness. Mechanically as good as the 121s IMO too. If the babies were rerun they could even fix the lighting easily (soft white LEDs for the lights where required and independent control of the headlights, no tooling upgrades are required for those modifications but they would add a lot of value).