Glenderg

Go DC altogether, it's never given me any grief, way cheaper, and makes the telly nice and fuzzy for the missus. [i'll get me coat]

(no stress seamus!)

There are loads of IRRS Journals upstairs in Chapters, Parnell Street, but they are about a €10 each.

Well said, and can I ask for some closeups of the wagon behind her? It looks like one in an old B & W photo of Achill a loooong time ago.

I agree David, it can be done that by sanding the edge of plasticard and looks spot on, but when there's loads of them to be built, (24ft of them) I had to find an alternative method! This is the latest version of the jig, and only takes about 10 minutes to make about 12 feet of industrial guttering. in place on a model Richie

excellent work all round, more photos please, and Dunluce Castle is glorious anto. Richie

My bad, I meant Sambo, not Jumbo. Chassis appears right, and it would make a nice scratchbuild conversion. J. Mayner and RedRich may have more info. http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/18279129_TbnP49#!i=1508041565&k=VVjs9JV

Looking forward to it. http://www.ontracks.co.uk/index.php?page=product&prodID=158720

Top class bogie photos, plenty colour variations.

That's bloody sweet Anto, didn't think you were a kettle fan. In last months Model Rail, OnTracks are releasing an electrotren 0-6-0T with offset wheel centres, which could be converted to "Jumbo" the shunter, I think. It looks plausible, and for £49.99, is good value too.

ORANGE PAINT Making things fast since 1962 [quick and dirty but you get the gist] R.

I'll have a go....

Thanks weshty (and I just wanted to start small and do signal boxes...( ) The old steam shed in Inchicore would be a real cracker all right though I could imagine Domestic Authorities denying Permission on the grounds of over development! [8 roads in? about 800mm wide? The front would make a nice entrance/backdrop to a fiddle yard though....

Ooh, Good tip indeed!

I have a can of the same stuff, and I've never found it to be very good, leaving a speckled finish on the model, and it did take quite some time to dry. I think the paint underneath must not only be dry, but cured, at least a fortnight. I haven't used that varnish since. Maybe take the varnish off - white spirits, and try something else.

Lads, thanks for all the kind words, it was one hell of a build, though I'm a bit spooked about the shallow clearance with the 121. That said, I'm looking forward to seeing her in the flesh with her second layer of weathering The gutters, downpipes and mushroom ventilators will be winging their way north in the morning to complete the build. Richie.

The pile up top is the dry stuff, bottom left - the pva is between the rails and the ballast tapped into the glue. appears to hold its shape. bottom right - diluted pva on top, total fail, turns to mush. It looks a lot more grey/tan in the daylight. I'll post again tomorrow when it dries. R.

I'll do a quick photo test later with a piece of track and post it up. It's a while since I did it.

Great photos Wanderer, thank's for taking uz for a spin! Especially liked the zephyr lot, especially the shot of the disused union station. Richie

26 - Cheap large plastic sieves - find of the year! - cut out the net/basket, trim in lengths to make ladders to stick to cement bubbles and semaphore signals.

I've copied, pasted, and added to a few of my replies to threads to put it all in one post here. I hope it's of some use, I've been modelling on the cheap for 25 years, and these are just some of the thoughts that spring to mind. 01 - Paintin and decorating shops have sandpaper sponges in a variety of grades, cut into 1inch squares are great for sanding curved roof profiles and tricky curves. 02 - hypodermic syringes - great for applying glues, plastic magic and poly cement. 03 - cocktail sticks - multiple uses, for pushing decals around and getting little blobs of glue into odd places, great for adjusting small items. 04 - clothes pegs - as cheap clamps for keeping small things together. Really cheap plastic ones have poor springs that wouldn't hold an underpants on a washing line, but will clamp small items without distorting them. 05 - rusty rulers from car boot sales. If they're still on the go after all this time they're good. Take the rust off with wire wool, and hold on to it for weathering locos. 05a - The best ones to use are about 150mm long and are the slightly cheaper model than found in eason etc. EuroWorld type places have them and the edges aren't fully refined so they grab plasticard stopping it from slipping. These are also have a duller finish than the expensive ones, so are much easier to read the markings. This rough edge is great to grip card, styrene, etc. Avoid the branded ones as cutting guides. 06 - Johnson's Klear Floor Polish - Cheap alternative for varnish, dries quick, and if it goes wrong, wash it off. 07 - Brake Fluid & 2 Litre fizzy drink/cider bottle - Cut the bottle in half, fill with brake fluid, small tub will do. Drop a badly painted model in, turn and marinate for 8 hours, and watch the paint peel away without damaging the plastic. 08 - Swann & Morton Scalpel Blades - Go to an old skool chemist and ask. They generally sell them in boxes for around €20 for about 100 blades. Much cheaper than Eason. 09 - Evans art in St. Mary's Abbey, off Capel Street, Dublin - The best value place to buy lollipop sticks, glues, paints, brushes, card in Ireland. To compare - Easons Spray Mount Glue - 24.95, Evans, 16.95. 12 branded Charcoal Sticks Easons, 2.99 - 11.99, Evans, 10c each. The generally supply to the schools, are open to the public, and you can get cheap poster paint by the gallon. 10 - Upholstery shops - Once you've got the poster paints, mix it up into a leafy green colour. Get a lump of old foam offcut from one of the shops, thoroughly get the paint into it. When dry, stick it in the wife's blender when she's not looking, tada, lumps of bushes and foliage. Let it blend for longer and mix different colours to make flock. Make sure wife doesn't find out. 11 - Cheap bottle washers in Euro Shops [3 for €2] - Cut to point to they resemble pine trees. Dip in PVA, and roll around in green foam at no 10. Like Heki, but not. 12 - Track Ballast & Dry Stone walls - No painting required. Tesco Cat Litter 5 Litre, around a fiver. Either get two cheap sieves, or find some that may not be missed. [cough] Scoop out 80% of the bag, and sieve the remaining 20% at the bottom. Tiny chippings are grey and there's a good amount comes out of it. The larger pieces can be sieved out to make scale dry stone walls or quarry backdrops/piles. The biggest bits can be used for the cat to poo in. 13 - Multipack of cheap tweezers - If these are out of the budget from a Euro shop, ask the significant other for any that she's done with.[ She may also have make up brushes that can be used for weathering] Careful with this one, she may get the wrong idea. Used tights also make fencing material. How do I know this stuff??? lol. 14 - Cotton Buds - Can be used to dry up around transfers and used to apply weathering powders. Can be used to put in ears if getting nagged about stealing her make up stuff. 15 - Cheap Weathering Powders - Charcoal sticks and kids chalk ground down, can be used to add subtle hints to objects. If you're unhappy with the results, wipe off and start again. If happy, proceed to no.16 . Pastel sets also work well if watered/oiled down. 16 - Cheap hairspray - If it smells really trampy, you're in luck. The worse smelling, the better it holds weathering powders in place. Some places do super size ones for a euro. Good for years. Not for hair though. 17 - Card for modelling - Avoid Cornflake boxes etc., unless it's to be glued on a backing piece. It will warp and fail. The best card can be found in Whiskas type boxes, Washing Up Powder boxes etc. Avoid Ikea corrugated stuff for buildings, but it's great to build up landscape shapes, to be covered with chicken wire and papier mache. 18 - Glues - avoid solvent based glues from Euro Shops, they smell like a dead rat in a tube, and have the same amount of sticking power as frog spawn. The PVA glues are bang on though, and great value. Be careful with the 8 for a Euro superglues. They tend to erupt when opened, and dry out when the lid goes back on. Best to have one tub of Roket or Loctite for emergencies. 19 - Coffee shops & fast food outlets. Whether you take coffee or fizzy pop, always take straws and stirrers. Take a heap of them. Straws once painted with lumpy acrylic or added pva, will dry giving a bit more rigidness to it. Can be ideal to put on roofs to make industrial/cement type buildings. Coffee stirrers have a bazillion uses. Both come in different sizes so a nice stockpile can be built up reasonably quickly. 20 - Brass Wire - Model shops sell this stuff at outrageous prices. Go to a music shop and get the cheapest set of guitar strings, steel and spanish. Steel strings come in a variety of gauges, and have all sorts of detailing uses, from refuelling hoses, to vacuum brake pipes. The spanish guitar type are plastic, and will happily do the same though easier to paint and glue, and make nice downpipes etc. 21 - Wire Hangers - Cut with a tough snips and the head bent over with a piece of card covering, can appear like modern street lamps. Drilling into the baseboard to accept them, a bit of glue, and though they might not be prototypical, they'll take a lot of abuse. 22 - British Eighth Army 1:72 - Nice soft plastic which can be easily cut, these guys can make nice additions as carriage occupants, cut at the waist, MKII helmet trimmed and a bit of paint. Not be done in front of the telly with beer though. Hands and legs all over the shop the following morning [Experience] 23 - A Walk in the Woods - Pick up conifer cones, dip in PVA, and cover in homemade flock, appears like trimmed formal shrubs. Bark off trees, can't remember the type that peels, but if glued along an embankment and covered in sloppy plaster, appears like rock walls. Lichen and moss at the bottom of tree trunks, can be peeled off and dried. Loses it's colour naturally, and looks great. Some hardy weeds have mini branch like structures that can be dipped in pva and flocked to make trees. 24 - Corrugate roofing - This has been done before, but I'll put it on again. Buy a sheet of Evergreen/wills roofing and press tinfoil into it. Turkey Foil is the heaviest, and should be bought in Tesco/Supervalue not a euroshop [that stuff is near see through] It can be folded over on itself, dull side out, and layered to make a fairly stiff sheet of metal. Spray mount glue or a coating of PVA will stick it together and give it long term durability. Press is into the sheet of plastic, and use a strip of the plastic as a press to form the corrugation. Also, Cling Film folded on itself 8 times with PVA, and doing the same process makes great roof glazing. 25 - bottle opener - bloody useless for modelling, excellent for opening a well earned beer. Apologies if I have horrified any of the purists. If I think of/remember any more I'll post 'em up. Richie.

Tidy bit of work KK, and I see you've got the first rule of baseboard building down to a fine art. "Always have a cup of scald present at all times". Looking forward to seeing more photos & trackplan. Richie.

This is so impressive, looks fantastic, well done. Scale doesn't apply really. The more I looked though, the more I wondered why the dude in the white overalls and pink undergear was shiftin' 146. I don't expect an explanation , I'm really impressed that you made it look so natural!!! Richie.