Mike 84C

Kevin I live In the UK but I will ask a friend of mine who lives at Dunmanway if he will take the photos for you. regards Mike

Would anyone know what the H vans wheel base would be? It looks quite long in photographs and is there any drawings in New Irish Lines before I trawl its archive?

Spent a couple of holidays in the Bantry area and I was very surprised at how little its changed since the demise of the railway. It must be one of the most modelable of railways and so much of the infrastructure is still visible. I think its Dunmanway still has the glass roof in the station and the loco water columns.

How did the stock get moved to the Waterford and Tramore? and was it far? I have a mental picture of rails laid through streets with gangs of men picking up the rail as vehicles passed over and relaying in front but surely not!

Warbonnet, at this moment there is a huge amount of Details West parts from different vendors on US ebay. I hope, I have bought some handbrake wheels!

Thought you might like these seen at Cranwell and Coningsby.

33; your MPD"s look brilliant, each build looks better than the last! And to keep all the cut and shut in line and square, takes a lot of skill, respect to the man!

You guys produce such excellent models and your comments are very much appreciated. I have decided the camera is a very cruel machine! I was looking at my posting and I can really see where I could have done better! Nelson, the transfers are from our good friend Wheshty at SSM and are waterslide. Mike

Warbonnet, Korean brass, wish my skills were that good! but most of the detail castings are available so a good looking model is do-able. My wife does not want me to paint them as she likes the plain brass finish. I have back dated a Bachmann 4-6-0 which is painted.

Acouple of CMR 2-8-0"s one a vauclian compound and the other as rebuilt as a simple. Need a bit more airbrsh practise and a lot of nerve before I paint them!

A few wagons made from modified Cambrian and Parkside kits. I dont claim they are spot on replicas but I hope they capture the feel of Irish freight wagons

Thanks for that idea Glenderg I"ll give it a go! i must admit to using the weathering powder before sealing the finish. Even tried a bit of abrasion with the fiberglass pen which did not work! Thats when I got into the "thats as good as it gets attitude!" But will try the light overspray with some light grey. Mike

Thanks for all the positive comments guys, glad you like the van. Nelson, the weathering is Carrs rust and mud dry powders; another first for me! and I also used Micro Marks Window glaze, it looks very much like pva adhesive when wet but dries clear. But it worked very well. What I didnt say, was that I glued the roof to the Evergreen strip that was Acc"d to the curve of the roof. Mike

Hope I have done the attachments correctly! I deviated from Wheshtys Instuctions a little by makeing the roof from a ply lamination of 2x20thou; plastic sheet;this was curved by taping the sheet to a curved biscuit tin and gentle heat from the SWIMBO"s hair drier. The chimney is a piece of brass tube into a hole drilled in the roof with a chimney collar punched from the plastic sheet. I then covered the roof with a single ply of handkerchief tissue to represent felt fixed with a wash of Di-Limonene solvent. But! before doing all that I glued with acc Ever Green strip to the curve of the roof at the balcony ends and just above the doors into the cabin. My van is all soldered, I did try acc on the running boards but would recommend solder,glue didnt work for me! I also put extra bracing on the back of the hanging brackets before accing them in position. The other extra was to sloder an 8BA nut to the veranda floor then attatch the chassis with a short 8BA nut. This trapped the running boards and has made the whole van seem stronger. I also put a very basic representation of the brake pull rods underneath. I am pleased with the way the kit has turned out, having never built an etched kit before and my soldering skills have been improved. My only dissapointment was the lines around some of the transfers. I did use solvaset and have not had this happen before;advise please?

Nearly finished mine,when i have a photo or two I"ll post them. The battery was flat in the camera! Weshty, would you mind if I wrote a few words to show where I deviated from your Instructions? Mike

Thanks Richie, you have answered all my questions! and another I have just thought about. If the van has a full length foot board is it supported in the middle? answer is yes! I did not feel supports at the ends was a very elegant engineering solution! And your model has shell type vents on the roof. Thanks again Mike

I am also building one of Whesty"s brake vans; three questions, were they running in the latter steam period and if they had the snail totem where would it have been placed? Were they always painted oxide red or is grey an option? I am thinking of putting vacuum brake gear underneath as it looks a bit naked! Thanks in anticipation, Mike

Thanks for posting, Snapper, that looks like good news . Mike

There was a post on one of the US groups I"m on that Carstens publications ceased trading back in May. Could one our American contributors confirm this? If its true,its rather a shame, I enjoyed the Craftman magazine and the narrow gauge annual was a very good buy.

My niece is a BTC police officer,a quite new recruit! from what she tells me John has got it about right but where she is based lots of drugs stuff happens. When she is in uniform you would struggle to tell her apart from a 'normal' police officer

Well done Nelson, your work is to the highest standards and getting commissons is recognition of your standards. Getting paid to pursue your hobby how cool is that! Mike

I tried the Johnsons Kleer as a base coat for applying waterslide transfers, works a treat! I used a wide flat soft brush to apply the Kleer and it does dry in 20 minutes,even on the kitchen floor. Mike

David, all those invites for Arigna wow!! you deserve the plaudits, look forward to to seeing Arigna at York maybe.

Check this guys website; http://www.goldenarrow.me.uk , talked to him at Chatham show he could be interested in doing an Irish prototype if enough of us show an interest. His kits look to be of good quality and not overly expensive, the SECR O1 with Stirling tender looks nice for£55. And he will sell the tender separately for about £20. Just to say I have no connection except as a prospective customer. Mike

Congratulations David, Arigna Town looks good and ran well. Truly launched on the exhibition circuit. I also enjoyed the chatting about Irish Railways and learned a few things. Mike