David Holman

After a coat of matt black, the chassis has been reassembled & now the paint needs to harden for a couple of days before I fit the pick ups. That just left the boiler and smokebox as the last main section. The latter is designed for the later, J26, version which has plenty of rivets, but photos suggest in original form the E class had smooth smokeboxes so decided to file the rivets off. Unfortunately, I forgot to take photos of the assembly of both this and the boiler, though as all the etches are in .009mm thick brass curving and rolling the etches to shape is fairly straightforward, if a bit fiddly. The smokebox wrapper is rolled round a piece of plastic water pipe, then carefully soldered to the front and rear faces. An extra hand and asbestos fingers would help, but with remarkably few rude works and some lolly sticks as insulation, it all went together fairly quickly. It would have been nice to have used my rolling bars to form the boiler/firebox unit, but as this is a single etch, with only the front section actually making a tube, I had to resort to various diameters of brass bar and tube instead. The same thin brass is used, so most of the forming took place quickly, though where holes had been etched for the chimney and dome, this caused problems as the metal tried to kink at these points. An hour of trial and error eventually sorted it though. A circle of brass is supplied to solder inside the rolled tube at the smokebox end, with a another piece the right shape for the firebox to go at the other. It is then possible to use a 6BA nut and bolt to hold the boiler and smokebox units together and ensure they are correctly aligned before soldering them together. The combined unit is then slid into place and [helped by a couple of tabs to align things], also soldered in place. A few more odds and ends then need forming and soldering, including the handrails and cylinder cover, but suddenly the superstructure is complete and the rest of the detailing is mainly white metal castings. One of the latter [a nice firebox backhead from the spares box] adds a bit more substance than the flat etch supplied with the kit. However, a couple of other details have since been soldered on - the nameplates and etched numbers. Decided on 107, Robin, as the Slater's etched numerals seemed the best fit on the sandboxes - though they were certainly a fiddly job to fit. The builder's plates on the bunker sides are actually etches of some Simplex ones I had in the scrap box. I've soldered them on upside down in the hope of further disguising the tiny lettering! About five hours over the last three days, brings the build time to 18 so far. I've perched the chimney, dome and safety valves on the boiler for some photos and it is interesting to see how much more dainty the new loco looks against its J26 sister with the original chimney. Am currently pondering on whether to paint Robin in early MGWR green, or try the short lived blue livery, but for now work will have to take a back seat for a few days as Fintonagh is the the Orpington show over the weekend, so I will be busy with that.

And all the shunting on scene! You might find that there is no room for a building on the island platform, as the minimum space for passengers was 12 feet (half that for single sided). However, no reason why the station building can't be where you have labelled the car park, nor why a simple boarded crossing for passengers, rather than a footbridge. Another thought - with that Y point under the bridge, you could have the station building on the bridge, with two tracks coming on scene from the fiddle yard/storage roads, instead of the Y. That would allow a longer platform, with steps down from the bridge. The fiddle yard could then be either a swinging sector plate, or if you haven't the room, use the cassette method instead.

Lovely stuff John. Oozes atmosphere.

Delightful! And still looks like a 7mm scale model to me...

Rather nice by the look of them, especially if those horrible couplings can be replaced with something else!

E class working chassis Having got a nice rolling chassis, the next job is to take everything off again to fit the motor gearbox. Time was it would have been one of the Mashimas, but now it is a Canon motor, prefitted to a Premier gearbox. Still a nice combination, especially compared to making up an etched box, because all the work is done for you. A worthwhile tip when fitting the wheels is to file a flat on the driven axle to make the main gear more secure.. After that, it is a case of soldering a couple of fly leads to the motor and then putting all the wheels and rods back again for another test. This revealed a slight tight spot entailing the coupling rods being removed for a third time, just to open out the holes a fraction, after which all seems well and with power applied to the motor a nice, slow crawl is possible. The next job was to fit the brake gear. This is one of those tasks that is a bit of a pet hate. Etched kits almost always mean you have to make up the brake shoes in two or more layers & [apart from cost], I can never understand why moulded plastic ones aren't supplied - not least because it would take far less time to fit them AND you could get them closer to the wheels without risking a short. Yes, there are ways and I will put a smear of superglue on the brake surfaces to help, but brake gear really isn't my favourite pastime. The other things fitted today were the guard irons, after which the chassis was taken apart yet again, to be cleaned up and given a coat of primer. Fingers crossed, once a coat of matt black has also been applied that should be the last time it needs to come apart - though you never know! This latest work took about three hours over the weekend, bringing the total up to 13 so far.

Track is more curving and flowing than you might think, Andy and from a visual point of view looks better on a layout than everything parallel to the baseboard edge. Hence your diagonal designs are the ones for me too. Nice curves are also attractive to the male eye for other reasons!

As the saying goes - imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Coming on nicely and speaking of NIL, see there is a very nice model of a certain diesel in the latest edition. Am going to steal your idea of a central section to support the cab roof for my E class too.

While the Tortoise has built in switches to control the current on live frog points, insulfrog ones don't need that, thereby avoiding the extra wiring.

The latest one has additional interest with a third siding, but not sure about the loco shed (it blocks the view of the headshunt), nor the goods shed (ditto). Also, when you think about it, the latter's purpose is to store stuff for onward movement by road and vice versa, but there is no room for road vehicles. Ultimately though, is this project going to be mainly about operation/play value, or more of a leaning towards creating an interesting scenic diorama that also has a bit of operational potential? Less track is better for the latter and certainly on Fintonagh, two sidings, the station and turntable offer plenty of amusement for an hour or so and even a full day at exhibitions.

Not yet, but reminds me I must order some from Langley.

The third one, above, easily has the best 'flow' about it and keeps all the shunting on scene. I do wish my spell checker would stop substituting haunting for shunting though! Another thought is to use the turntable as the headshunt. This saves the left hand Atlas 6 and space too.

Thanks JB. Neil Sprinks IRRS book on the Sligo says 28' 3" overall. There's a nice drawing of one of the early 0-6-2Ts on the cover, which is yet another loco on my to do list - unless Galteemore gets there first!

After weeks of fitting and testing AJ couplings, along with a host of remedial work as well, NPQ is now back on its shelf as I get back to other stuff, like my E class 0-6-0T. This is not to say that everything is finished on the layout, but hopefully there will be time for final detailing nearer its exhibition debut in October. In the meantime, here are a few photos of it reassembled. The Acla has been screwed to the baseboard, the travelling crane is back on track and Sir Henry is on scene with a short mixed train of the type I've been asking about on another thread. Time to get back to some proper modelling for a change.

Like the "less is more" by not overcrowding with track, but not sure about the front siding as the loco will always be shunting it from off scene. What about having it fed from the headshunt end, as per the beet siding, so stock is always on show? Alternatively, as suggested, use the Wye to feed a turntable where the hill is, because this will be more fun and certainly more Irish. Another thought, if you have the space, is to arrange a hidden siding disappearing off scene (either end), which can then go to any source you fancy, further increasing operating potential. Have a look at my Clogher Valley thread in the layout section. Yes, it is 7mm scale and 21mm gauge, but the principles are similar to what you are thinking about. The layout is 2m x 50cm and includes a station, turntable, two sidings and a third going off scene. All using 90cm radius curves, so you should be able to fit something similar in your space with smaller radii in a slightly smaller space.

Correct, he does - and makes it sound easy too. Chimneys, domes etc are turned in a drill chuck, not a lathe. No DCC either, so the control panel is a bit complex at first with lots of section switches, but ultimately adds to the satisfaction.

Have had the pleasure of operating Ballyconnell Road and it is every bit as good as it looks in the video. The quality of the running is exceptional, aided by correct signalling and reliable uncoupling. All the steam locos have working inside valve gear (yes, really) and there are even a couple of working road vehicles. All in all an absolute joy. Forgot about the new TT being 1:120 - as Mayner rightly says, it is just a further complication to attempting the Irish scene. At the end of the day, it is either a case of accepting compromises of gauge or going the extra mile. Nothing wrong with either of course - it is all about personal choice.

The correct gauge for 3mm/ft scale would be 15.75mm (3 x 5.25), so not far out at all. However, it also depends on how the scale is measured. The old TT ran on 12mm gauge track, so about as bad as 00. One foot is just over 300mm, so a scale of 1:100 is pretty realistic and nominally easy to work with. I think the Irish track gauge is quoted now as 1.6m, so that makes 00 track just half a mm too wide and certainly a lot better than 4mm scale. The fabulous Ballyconnel Road is 3mm finescale and not sure what gauge is used there, though am guessing 15.75 Indeed the sums do not always add up, it seems!

Amazing models. 3D printing is definitely going up in the world and the skills required to produce these are every bit as good as any scratchbuilding.

Wonderful information! Many thanks John. Never ceases to amaze me what is out there.

Excellent stuff - many thanks, as ever! The reason for the request is I'm grappling with a couple short mixed trains on Northport Quay. My 1900s period is a 6w brake 3rd with a semi and a brake van, though was wondering if the brake 3rd could go at the end, to make shunting easier. There again, if the semi was fitted, that solves the problem anyway. Trouble is, did any of the semis ever get vacuum brakes - or indeed any early vans when used for fish traffic? Which takes me back to the original question about livery. MGWR horse boxes were fitted and also painted in passenger brown livery. Would a fitted fish van have got the same treatment? A GSWR fitted fish van in their very dark passenger purple/black seems unlikely though. However, seems like I could get away with an unfitted van in front of the passenger train on a short branch like NPQ, while a 1950s SLNCR consist of a brake 3rd and a couple of fitted GNRI vans won't be a problem. Much easier on Fintonagh, where all Clogher stock was braked, while when I go down the Swilly/Donegal route the same applies - not that the Swilly bothered much with brakes from what I've read.

Lovely stuff. Have to keep reminding myself it is 4mm scale. As for 14ba nuts, bet the carpet monster loves them!

When using DAS to cover a building (to be scribed for brick or stone later), I always put a thin smear of pva on first, which helps it stay in place. As JB says though, any cracks can easily be covered with more DAS and painted over. It is also easily smoothed with a wet finger, spatula or some such.

Eternally grateful for the knowledge they wrote down and passed on to good folk like yourself, JB!