David Holman

Clearly not, seems to be the answer! either I have stumped you all, or [more likely], this is not an area of interest perhaps. Anyway, managed to get some answers of my own, which weren't entirely what I was hoping for, though many thanks are due to Ixion for their advice. The little Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0T is a fair ringer for the J28 which ran on the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry tramway [though this was actually a Hunslet]. I was hoping that I could replace the axles with extended ones available from Slaters and then tweak out the pick ups and move the brake shoes. However, the Ixion wheels are on 1/8" [3mm] axles, whereas the Slaters ones are 3/16" [5mm]. Ok, longer axles could be cut from suitable steel rod, but might present issues with wheel quartering. In addition, the drive wheel axle is knurled & getting the gear off could be tricky. All this adds up when you have to spend [a very reasonable] £225 for the little loco & immediately invalidate its guarantee... Which is a shame as it could otherwise have present an ideal intro to 7mm scale Irish modelling. Having said that, if you are happy with 32mm gauge, then why not? If so, I would urge anyone contemplating such a project to go for light section rail [say Code 100]. Once did this for an English roadside tramway and have several folk asking me if it was broad gauge. Tyrconnel models do the other two Timoleague locos and some coaches, so a model of this delightful line is perfectly possible. would still aim to do 36.75mm gauge though - it just looks the part.

The last few weeks have seen the completion of a couple of brake vans [sLNCR types] and a change of focus to the scenic side of things. A total of nine tree 'skeletons' have been made from a mixture of florists and other wire, then coated with layers of filler and PVA, before being painted, ready for 'dressing'. The process seemed to take forever, but when it came to dressing the first tree [an oak to hide the entrance to the fiddle yard], it seemed only a few minutes work with Woodlands Scenics 'matting' and a reasonable representation was in front of me. Planting took a bit longer, as it is important to fit the whole thing into the ground, but while I'm sure I'll want to go back to it, there was much encouragement in getting this first little cameo in place. Next to the tree is the Station Garage. Based on the Alphagraphix kit, this is in fact made almost entirely from plastic sheet. Essentially a fairly simple building, it will be all the bits and pieces that go with a garage forecourt and exterior which made of break this scene. The petrol pumps are made of plastic and clear sheet, with filler nozzles coming from suitable looking bits of whitemetal from the scrapbox, while the hose is just wire, still in its sheathing. The level crossing gates are also scratchbuilt and are hinged, pending some future date when I build up the courage to mechanise them. Over the crossing is a detached Georgian house. Done in half relief, the oak tree tries hard to hide this, while in front are lawns, gardens full of perennials, hedging and a rose arch over the front gate. A mixture of woodlands scenic scatter materials, lichen and fibres - work out for yourselves which is which! The next step will be the end terrace on the other side of the road, plus the area around the signal box. this will test my ability to follow the ideas outlined in Gordon Gravett's new book, which deals in some detail with the rough ground we find in yards, lanes & the like. Another tree will go behind the signalbox to hide the part relief of the Welfare Club. My workshop is a total mess at the moment, with tubs of scatter material, glue, sprays, filler and goodness knows what else. Scenic work certainly requires a wide range of materials.

Am now at the stage where 'ground cover' is being added, so decided to start from the fiddle yard end. Hopefully the tree and garage help to hide the exit to the train turntable. Relied heavily on the writings of Barry Norman, Tony Hill and, especially, Gordon Gravett, who's new book, 'Modelling Grassland and Landscape Detailing' deserves to be the reference book of the next few years. you do need an electrostatic grass 'planter' though. Will add some more notes in my blog. The garage is still not finished and the close ups of the petrol pumps expose the crudity of my hand lettering. However, while the Classic Commercial castings and transfers remain unavailable will have to do for now. The pumps are [like pretty much everything else] scratchbuilt and came from doing an internet search for pictures. the choice of Esso was down to the 'head' being the simplest shape, though have since found that headless examples were quite common in Britain, so presume the same occurred in Ireland?

The resin [a 50-50 mix] sets more slowly than your stuff. Instructions suggest an hour, but it is removable within 30 minutes, when it is still flexible - which may or may not be helpful! Have not had any problems with bubbles in the casting process, though I've so far only done wagon an van sides, hence thin & open at the top. The detail the resin picks up is very good indeed. Scrubbed the master with a glass fibre pencil to impart a bit of wood grain and it is all there, along with finger prints etc if you are not careful!

Impressive - well done. Know where I will go for my next lot of mould making stuff now. Thanks!

Does anyone know if this loco can be adapted to 36.75 mm gauge. Just got a copy of Colin Boocock's Locomotive Compendium of Ireland and on p44 it shows a J28 Hunslet which is very similar. RTR models being still fairly rare in 7mm scale, with Irish ones even rarer, strikes me that this would make a nice introduction to doing broad gauge. The prototype ran on the Timoleague and Courtmacsherry tramway and at Fenit too. Would make a nice mine engine for my Arigna Town model if conversion is a easy option and £225 for a sweet running little engine is good value.

Got mine from Easy Composites as a casting kit. The resin lasts well but the silicon mould stuff definitely has a shelf life. The vans mould had bubbles that needed trimming. Will get new moulding stuff before I have another go! Will look forward to seeing what you are making

Now that's what I call trivia - much appreciated Minister. Reminds of a time years ago when operating a friend's layout of Groombridge. Very accurate model but got criticised by a viewer because the station garden did not have any runner beans growing & they were a feature of the time modelled. Needless to say, they were there the next time the layout went out... Will see what I can do about the poster!

Thanks again. All ideas and comments appreciated, especially in terms of prototype fidelity. The combined knowledge out there is wonderful.

Very much agree! peco track is fine for simplicity, geometry etc, but the sleeper spacing is wrong, being an amalgam of HO and OO. Works best with American outline.Marcway points are almost the same price as Peco and I can vouch for their robustness. They are also live frog and self isolating. However, for a truly Irish appearance the only thing that works is 21mm... By no means as scary as it sounds and Marcway will custom make points for a small premium over OO. Appreciate that for anyone starting off that OO seems more do-able, but consider 21mm in the long term as it sets the layout more than any other way can.

Many thanks once more for the positive comments. They are very encouraging to someone with no direct experience of the railway other than via photos. The idea of the Parkside van is very interesting, not least because I have several on my BR layout, so will definitely be checking the stock box. While I appreciate the comments on detail, the vans ( indeed all my wagons) are far from state of the art. For example the brake levers are Parkside left overs while the brackets are no more than two pieces of 60thou micro strip. The bees are also cut down Parkside and the lever does not link to the brake gear, mainly because I'm not sure how. The moral of all this is the good old three foot rule - actually more like 18" in my case - in that if it cannot be seen at that distance that you do not need to model it. I am guilty of including more, but it is hopefully that which contributes to the overall impression and or what stands out to you personally. For me the door chains matter, and the marks they make, so short bits of fuse wire, or strands of multicore, twisted up give a good idea of the chain. Barry Norman mentions this in one of his articles and it is so easy to include, in 7mm scale, anyway. As for weathering, having previously extolled the virtues of Martyn Welch's book, have mainly used powders on the bodywork, though did put a wash of dirty thinners over a good rubdown with a glass fibre brush to highlight the wood grain. Freestone Models do a very nice powders set, but there are others. However for underframes you can't beat Martyn's mix which is gunmetal and bauxite (Humbrol 53 and 133) plus a little grey or black. Hope this encourages others to add a little extra detail of their own, for there really is nothing difficult here that a bit patience can't overcome.

Very nice indeed - love the roadside tramway concept. Re the rubberised horsehair, in the absence of the proverbial runner horse, then industrial type floor scourer pads are a good substitute. As an ex teacher [& indeed headteacher], a chat with the caretaker produced an new circular pad, about 50cm in diameter, which I've been using for years. That said, the other varieties mentioned work just as well. Barry's book is still a great standby, while more recent works by Tony Hill and Gordon Gravett bring things up to date and are well worth having.

This is seriously useful stuff - thank you. Humbrol is indeed still available [owned by Hornby now] and 64 is the colour for wagon grey and 133 for brown [bauxite], though the latter is a satin finish. For quite a while though, I've been using Halford's automotive spray cans. These give a very even finish and their grey & red primers are ideal for wagons, especially in 7mm scale upwards. Add on the usual weathering and it works perfectly well.

VERY nice sir! Dare I mention that Tyrconnel [alphagraphic catalogue] produce a 7mm J26, while there is a 7mm small tank also available again. Methinks you are very much doing the right thing in terms of gauge though. 21mm looks so much better than 16.5

While I have hopes that such devices may have the same impact as photo-etching & lost wax casting, I'm still happy making my own stuff, however tempting the idea of 'off the shelf' is from time to time. Just remember - you are never alone with a clone! And if you can, check out Orphan black on BBC 3 and be very afraid...

Hear are a few pics of the 9 ton vans I've been working on. Three so far, using self made resin castings - see my blog for more details. Have included pics here because wanted to show the difference in size between the GNRI vans and the SLNCR 7 ton ones. The latter were built by using the Alphagraphix card kit as a scale drawing, but am a little concerned that they are noticeably smaller than the GNRI ones - 7 ton v 9 ton capacity notwithstanding. Alphagraphix seem to have used the same outline for the cattle van kit, as well as their own GNRI van & [much as I value everything they do] have been concerned about this discrepancy for some time, so would welcome any further comments.

Recently been working on some GNRI vans, from drawings found via the website. These are 9 ton versions & were made from my own resin castings. A picture of the master is also shown. As I've mentioned before, there is nothing difficult about making your own castings and there has been a regular advert in Railway Modeller for the all important materials. however, have found that the silicon mould material has a definite shelf life & the stuff I used was a bit too viscous, resulting in some bubbles. Think I will make another mould & add some detail differences to the master to make what I assume were later versions of the vans, with different door fastenings. either way, it seems from photos that one can never have enough vans on an Irish layout! The eagle eyed amongst you may just notice that the trackwork has been weathered somewhat, prior to getting busy on the ground cover over the next few weeks. No less than 9 tree skeletons are in the process of being coated with PVA/filler & I am looking forward to getting some colour on the layout. In the meantime, have also been building brake vans, so will hopefully be adding pics of these in the next couple of weeks.[attachment=:name]

A wonderful resource and many fine photos in their own right

Could not agree more! Colour is very much in the eye of the viewer and light, weather, weathering etc play an enormous part in how something looks. And that is before quality of film, memories etc kick in. For me, livery needs to be generally right, but the many shades that paint became over its lifetime mean that unless one is going for a museum standard, it is not worth worrying over too much. In any case scale colour is not necessarily the same as actual colour. Read the likes of Martyn's Welch and Ian Rathbone (professional model painters) and you soon learn that 'black' is a very difficult issue, but there are many colours in the Halfords range which work extremely well.

Have the drawings and a fair selection of pictures so Yes, will be having a go. Railcars and indeed diesel locos are very complex things to model because of the many subtle curves and shapes. However, did a 7mm Wagon und Maschinbau railbus a couple of years ago, so am aware of the issues and the need for filler and abrasives! Interiors a pain too and with big windows they need including. Am intending that the next item of motive power will be a second Small Tank, but all being well will start on B next year, so have already been thinking about how to best make the power unit. In 4mm scale a SPUD would be favourite but proper coupled drive unit is more practical in 7mm scale.

May I also suggest this is possibly the most useful thread ever. So many ideas and much amusement too. My favourite 'proper' tools that I could not do without are a 7mm scale rule, snap off craft knife [only really need the tip, so when it gets blunt snap off a new one], fixed and portable anglepoise lamps, electric drills [one for drilling, one for slitting disks], GW models rivet press and an RSU soldering station with a foot operated switch - saves much burning of fingers and resulting curses.

Have also seen eyeliner used to colour the edges of cardboard kits. eg Metcalfe. Indeed, methinks were a very much in touch with our female side. Among the many things I've acquired there is/are: - hair grips, v useful for holding bits to be soldered - hairspray: cheapest & stickiest. Used for holding crumb/flock/static grass for trees & ground cover - baby powder: wonderful for toning down models. Try a light dusting - works a treat - emery boards: great for cleaning up metalwork - Shiny Sinks cream cleaner: essential when scrubbing off flux after soldering brass or nickel. Equally I also use Birchwood Casey Gunblue, which is a very effective metal blackening agent. Helps me feel more butch, though opened the door the other day wearing my Gauge 0 Guild [say it quickly] green apron, with aforesaid logo and frightened the bejaysus out of the postman. Apron was a birthday present from my wife I might add and is VERY useful for catching small parts that ping off the workbench, as well as keeping paint off clothes of course...

Here are a few notes on the two turntables in last weeks 'photos' section. The loco turntable is a much adapted Dapol [ex Airfix] kit. Very cheap [about a fiver] and reasonably cheerful too. Turned the whole thing inside out & upside down, so it is now an underhung table. The plastic bearing surface is fairly robust, so the outer wheels are really only cosmetic. The design is influenced by the SLNCR's one at Enniskillen, though the well has turned out somewhat deeper at a scale 4'. The plastic kit was installed in a timber subframe, which is screwed to the underside of the baseboard. The walls of the well are 40 thou plasticard, covered in watercolour paper to simulate a rendered finish, while concrete slabs around the edge [more plasticard pieces] hide the small gap between them & the well wall. Running rails are the usual code 100 flatbottomed, soldered to longitudinal sleepers and the glued to the deck with 5 min epoxy. The outer wheels are 7mm scale 'lowmac' ones I had in the spares box and are about 2' 8" diameter. They used shortened stub axles, fitted to some U shaped brass section, this in turn is fitted to the ends of the deck by brass rod, which enables these wheel sets to 'rock' and therefore induce a bit of compensation. Power to the track comes from 0.5mm phosphor bronze wires at each end on the well & these are lightly sprung to wipe on small brass plates that are glued to the end girders of the deck . These are in turned wired to the rails. Though simple/crude, the system works well thus far. The deck is turned by a Frizinghall Models hand crank, which consists of a large gear wheel, plastic worm and some steel rodding. The turning handle can be switched from front to back of layout according to need. Late on, the design was changed slightly, by adding extension rails, so the track actually projects over the coping stones and extends the overall diameter to a scale 40'. This was because the new Railbus was found to be a very tight fit. however, perchance it will enable me to run small tender engines [sLNCR did have a few 0-6-0s]. Am also pondering the need to have walkways either side. The SLNCR's table at Enniskillen did without them, though the well was a fair bit shallower. for now one of the crew will have to dismount the engine before it runs on to the table [needs someone to crank the handle anyway]. If not, the a step ladder will need to be kept in the cabs! The other turntable is the fiddle yard. In the past I have used cassettes to good effect, but with each baseboard being just 46" long, I felt it would be interesting to have a full train turntable. Originally hoped to have 5 tracks, but the curves required on the outer roads become increasingly severe & in the end had to reduce to 4 roads. Even so the locos grunt a bit on the outer ones and I have increased the gauge to around 37.5mm to compensate. Alignment is by home made bolts. These use brass tube/rod, soldered to brass plates, which are wired to the rails. Two bolts are needed at the layout end, plus two receiving tubes for each track & at each end. didn't take long to make or fit & again, seem to work well thus far. This week, have started on a rake of GNRI 9 ton vans. Made a master for side & end on Monday, created a silicon rubber mould on Tuesday, then cast three sets of sides and ends on Wednesday. Assembled these Thursday and added wheels, buffers, brake gear on Friday and Robert is your father's brother' as the saying goes & I now have three more wagons. Course they still need painting, lettering & weathering & that will take as least as long again. Hopefully some photos soon.

Some fascinating discussion here - thanks everyone! Interesting [& a tad frustrating that John mentions Drumkeeran as a line through there [as a pure SLNCR route] was proposed in 1905... Frustrating because did not go that way on my field trip in June. Will have to travel by Google again. Also, according to my much thumbed Railway Atlas of Ireland [Maxwell Hajducki], this could have used the Creveela Ironworks tramroad of 1852 for a [short] part of the route. My love of maps now tempts me to mock up the Drumkeeran line [can still call the terminus Arigna, of course]. However, would have to have the SLNCR acquire and E class 0-6-0 to work the coal trains - or perhaps the GSR might have offered anyway???