Horsetan

The Boyne Bridge is surely a major - possibly insurmountable - obstacle to any sort of high frequency, high average speed running.

I have a view of 103 on the weedspray train going up the WRC at Carrowmore, and the windscreen top line is definitely above that of the cabside windows. Same goes for the photos Des provides in the kit instructions. It's much more noticeable if seen from platform level instead of ground level, but try this one. The whole optical issue is driving me nuts because Des's shell is essentially right in its proportions, and it's only the windscreen apertures which I think need extra work. The perceived asymmetry at one end (one corner pillar is thicker than its opposite number, and one part of the divided buffer beam appears wider than the other) is also something that needs correcting - my problem is that once I've noticed it, it won't go away until I do something about it. Yes, they do - it looks like something to do with the method of sealing. Your photo of B108 also suggests that the outer edges of the marker light box fairings line up with the outer vertical edges of the windscreens. There doesn't seem to have been any consistency as to fitting of windscreen wipers either - some are pictured with one, others have a pair.

I can see why Star Wars fans get incredibly passionate about their films....

I spent several hours just looking at three-quarter views of Sulzer 101s. Eventually, it occurred to me through my alcoholic haze, that the upper horizontal line of the front windscreens is some way above the top line of the cabside windows. The resin shell doesn't quite render this feature, so pencil lines were marked in: This is to remind me to open up the windscreens. The bottom edges might need a lift up to correspond. I think my eyes are playing tricks on me, but it looked as though one end of the shell is asymmetrical. I'm going to give that end a bit of a going over with the digital callipers and the pencil.... Incidentally, the GA drawing available on the Resources part of the Forum is useful, but do watch for a couple of things that did not seem to make it into service life - so far I've noticed that the B101s had two-pane cabside windows, rather than the three suggested by the GA. Also a minor difference in the marker and tail light boxes, being arranged White Red, White Red, instead of the GA's Red White, White Red.

I'd no idea it was your birthday, Fran. Happy Birthday.

That culture thrives today. And even the local Councils are at it as well.....

They'd look well with the SSM Bredins.

So all these lovely models are good for is looking at? Would you rather not have the lovely models, then? Change to Kadees?

'tis funny, in a way, that we take such models for granted that we moan about couplings. In years gone by, we never had the models....

I have to say I can't even begin to imagine the troubles you must have had to get the master looking halfway right. I have smoothed off the cab front "cap" at one end to match the other and get rid of the "threepenny bit" effect that was still there. Anyone needing to fill or reinforce a resin cast/moulding could do worse than mix superglue with model filler (or DIY filler from your nearest Wigoders will work) into a paste that will stick to your workpiece and set surprisingly hard, allowing you to sand, file or carve off to the desired shape.

Aha! So it wasn't my imagination, Des....! I found two clear photos of 103 in the "Rails Through The West" book, and the windscreen bases are decidedly horizontal there as well.

Window base is definitely flat -all three panes are in the horizontal. Same here as well

That would be Des. I'm definitely going mad.

The SSM glazing template looks like a rhomboid. I must be going mad.

Right so, a rhomboid shape and not a regular rectangle?

Started on the body, with a bit of filling and filing of windows and frames: The thing I'm confused by are the cab front windscreens: the SSM cutting guides suggest the outer pair are slanted, but all the photos I'm seeing suggest that they are perfectly straight:

I'm just after getting a massive power cut here. Whole streets affected. Merry feckin' Christmas.

....and difficult to get spares for if anything goes wrong. I've tried.

That's knocked four moves off mine.