murrayec

Hi In the background of this shot is my mountain, I saw it from there and couldn't believe the size That's a samson post on the back for the skiers to attach their ropes Cool machine Eoin

Hi I have to agree with scahalne, it looks excellent the way it is. I got one for a Christmas present- looking forward to getting stuck in after watching yours. Use the green Delux cyano for sticking in glass- it wont bloom, its for that kind of thing Eoin

Hi Right on JHB, The destruction of DL's heritage started in early times and carried on into the stage some called 'The Celtic Tiger', its still happening today what with the new library development taking over Marconi House and the water storage quarry built to keep clean water for the men building the pier. The list is endless. I'm not against new development, sure I made a living from it, but I do believe in keeping our history and developing on it to share with the interested, not destroying it. Dun Laoghaire has nothing to offer a cruse ship now, a long time back DL city fathers and politicians turned their backs on the harbour and ancillaries. It would not surprise me if the Harbour Company decided to quarry the harbour walls for the granite to build apartments! Eoin

Oh and another thing- the mouth of the harbour is not wide enough, them boys that drive them ships slow into a harbour don't like walls close by. Did you ever watch a Wave Cutter coming in, they would line the boat up outside, watch the wind, and when it was favourable they gunned it in. While the boats were travelling to DL they monitored the Dublin Bay weather, if things were looking bad they would turn the ship around and go back! Eoin

Hi And so does the station design, here is closetmodeller's sketch of Greystones station hot off the scanner ready for CAD to make the templates to cut out the platforms and do the other stuff;- Eoin

Hi The harbour when built was high-tec and one of the biggest at the time- for sailing ships! When coming to completion the steam ship era was taking off, so to save costs the pier walls were shortened and the planned protection wall across the mouth of the harbour was abandoned- the plan was for ships to sail behind the wall, drop sail and fall into the harbour. This was a grave error, the mouth of the harbour faces Northerly and when the North wind blows the whole of Dublin Bay sands ends up in the harbour! When the contract was signed for the Wave Cutters to dock it was conditional that the Harbour Company dredged the harbour regularly at their expense (well our expense). Also when a Wave Cutter left the dock, they had very little control at low speed so they gunned it for a few seconds to line up with the exit and backed it off until outside the harbour mouth. This caused massive disturbance under water and caused major pile up on the harbour bed, so the dredging had to be done continuously. It was a deadly system, they had a dredging plough on wheels on the bottom connected to an awesome hired boat that carried out this work by remote control, again at our expense. Aside from my mad Lighthouse the museum would have been a major attraction for DL, yes it was disappointing. Eoin

Hi The Space Needle is the design our Lighthouse Project Tower was based on, we formed a partnership with DLR Architects in Seattle for the competition. A few years before the above competition we had another client looking at building a harbour hotel to add to their chain of harbour hotels around the world, they are still a big player. We proposed Carlisle Pier to them and we had the opportunity to meet with the Harbour Co director Mr Hanaho, who was very unfriendly and downright aggressive. Our client was looking at a 5 star hotel development, which Dun Laoghaire most likely could not support, cruse liners would ferry the hotel clients from hotel to hotel around the world. Again DLR Planning Dept was totally behind this idea- 5 star guests coming to plain old Dun Laoghaire, even if they bused to the city the spin-off would have been great for DL, fully behind it- bring it on! Our clients were preparing to submit proof of funds to the Harbour Company to enter into negotiations- suddenly 9/11 happened and the project stalled. A cruse liner cannot enter DL harbour, its not deep enough. Eoin

Hi The main factor is that Dublin Port from about 10 years back have been wooing Stena to use the Dublin port facility for no charge, the Dun Laoghaire Harbour company has known this for years- that's why they had those silly design build competitions to decimate the Carlisle Pier about 6 years ago with an apartment development! now they are going to do the same thing with St Michaels wharf to get an income. I'm predigest on this matter- we submitted for the Carlisle Pier comp back then- a Dublin Bay Museum harking back to the emigration period, restoring the pier and railway shed, and railway line to exhibit Dublin Bay heritage;- sailing boats, steam ships, and trains. The landmark feature of our proposal was a 100 meter tower with revolving restaurant and viewing area on top. Alas we got nowhere, the Harbour Company's plans were to privatise the pier, build apartments and sell them! We did have the full backing of the DLR Planning Dept, although they had reservations on the tower. The Maritime Museum was very interested in the replica Steam Ship for an exhibit hall. If you look closely one can see a little green Hibernia loco about to enter the Railway exhibit hall at the front of the building, running on the restored spur from the main GS railway line. Eoin

Hi Yes, the MM socket varies on the different coaches, I fitted Kadees 18, 19 & 20 onto cravens- but the coupler socket is a bit high so I super glued them to the underside of the socket! if you use the green Delux cyano you can snap them off again if needs be. If using Kadees- always use the setting up jig to get them at correct height. The instructions suggest using a .8mm strip of shim metal across the track rails and the trip pin should just touch the shim- if you don't have the jig. Kadees come with a very helpful leaflet to help setting them up Eoin

Hi I've had that problem with all the MM coaches- this is what I do;- The socket is a bit tight so I shave down the end of the coupler bayonet ends insitu- just a little and with a brand new scalpel blade. Then clamp the bayonet together with a tweezers and pull the coupler out. Best done in a cradle to protect the coach, and while pulling it out twist the couple to one side so that one bayonet enters the socket first. If you shave a small amount off the bayonets the coupler can be used again Eoin

The colour one is on page 62 of IRISH TRACTION in Colour by Derek Huntriss

Hi B Some very nice layouts there, very neat work- the majority of the scenes are very uncluttered.. very neat Looks like it was a good show Nice to see Eoin

Hi Interestingly, 3D Applied Solutions were demoing their €20,000.00 3D printer at the Cork Model Fair today, the machine looked impressive and it printed 2 25-30mm diameter pill boxes and 2 separate screw on lids in around 2 hours. Though the surface suffered the usual lairing surface dimples, with very poor low angle surfaces- basically steps. €20,000! yes some years to go yet.. Eoin

Hi Yes a great day, lots of bargain railway stuff, great to meet all the guys down there and the Kids loved the DART. Thanks to all who came over to chat and give support I took a few shots late in the afternoon when things dyed down a bit;- A punter givin it a go! Eoin

Hi Well now isn't that interesting, there must me some truth in my Cork man source! If it was designed by a German, this would logical lead to German insignia, whom they took it from the Romans, and the Romans took it from........ Eoin

hi i'm at the Cork Show- i'm told here that a German man in the German embassy designed the flying wheel logo, most likely the Holland bus and it could be still used in Austria! eoin

Interesting stuff, did you not see this section;- As inscribe on the entrance arch of the UN headquarter in Geneva, perhaps no one has ever articulated the true essence of humanity as Sa'adi, the 13th century Persian Poet: All Humans are integral members of one frame, Since all, at first, from the same one essence came. When by hard fortune one limb is oppressed, The other members lose their desired rest. If thou feel'st not for others' misery, A Human, therefore, is no name for thee. Though, when we went to Ireland to protect our King, All we came back with, was a bloody J15

Borithe you beat me to it! it was the J15 they took after the Guinness & Whiskey! Eoin

Hi David Lovely work, they are coaches I am looking at doing. I had a part built Tyrconnel kit in my hands only 3 hours ago- having a look at a fellow modellers work. It had a raised roof across the middle. You've now put the idea of scratch building them in card in my head.... Eoin

I bet there were Persians on the six wheeler after the design desk boys for nicking their logo! Ahruuu Mazda Eoin

Hi I love the flying wheel logo, and they should never changed to anything else in my opinion. This type of logo was not invented in the 1940's, although the 1940's design desk played a blinder by inverting one of the wings! The 'flying wheel' or it could also be called the 'flying wings' harks back to the early Persian Empire, whom had a symbol of their god 'Ahru Mazda' the supreme creator, god of light, which in its simplest form was a disk with outstretched wings on both sides, the complex form had a human figure standing in the disk. The Egyptians and the Romans adopted similar motifs and used it in carvings, decorations for all types of things, and jewellery. The symbolism was of the sun disk (representing the god of light) suspended in the sky by wings of a bird- naturally! what else back in those days held the sun up in the sky. Later with the oncoming of boats, cars, planes n trains in the late 1800's some of the manufactures adopted the motif again as company logos and to adorn the front and sides of their creations. The symbolism had changed slightly, substituting the sun disk for a wheel with many different variations of the theme;- front on, looking downwards, and side on. SS cars used a 3d flying swallow with outstretched wings, later when SS changed to Jaguar they used a logo not unlike the Persian motif, Bentley did the same- a disk with a big 'B' in it and wings on both sides. Other companies also used this symbolism on motorcycles, army uniforms, bicycles, etc... It was and still is generally used in the transport industry to signify wheels, flying, and speed, the most recent application I can thick of is the logo on the front of the new Mini car. Eoin

If I may M'Lud, I concur with my learned fellow and commend and support his issue of such a fine recipe... M'Lud..... Eoin

Hi Yes, I have one of those green engines also- still have the box to! Broithe I also had some of that Lone Star set! your photo brought back memories- I swooped it for a Class 08 diesel which was painted orange and CIE'd, I think I was around 9 or 10 years then! Eoin

Hi Kirley Just looking at the video- great stuff, the layout is looking very good, I love the photo backdrops they add a realism in the video that makes one think I'm looking at the real thing. On the wheel slip- if those flats are the white metal ones, there's got to be some weight in their frames alone- my guess on the cause of slip? Eoin

Hi driver301 You are doing a spectacular job on Connolly Station, I'm looking forward to seeing it if the opportunity arises. You will be glad to hear that the development of the N DART body is near completion. The body prints are now cutting to an acceptable level, which was a trial n error exercise over the last couple of months. The next item is the jig tool to wrap the body sheet to the glazing structure and a few moulds for;- door rails, roof vents, pantograph recess and corridor connectors, dare I say its then done!! Eoin