irishthump

7 minutes ago, WRENNEIRE said:

So I got my delivery of chips on Friday
I also ordered some more 121 ones
Plain chips OK
DCC 
121
MM567 
MM645
141
MM567A
MM645A
Any idea why there are 2 versions for each loco, 
Maybe separate one for the 141 & 181 but why 2 for the 121's?
Have a few Peroni Nastro Azzuro's on board so grey cells are not up to scratch

 

They are for the 2 different engine types. Both the 141's and 121's originally had the 567 while the 181's were fitted with the 645.

Many of the 141's and 121's were later re-engined with 645's taken from the withdrawn C Class locos.

So running mate 126 was up next. Same techniques were used to give the impression both 121’s had been double headed for some time.

Forgot to mention I fitted body mounted Kadees to both locos before weathering.

Loco 132 finally gets some weathering. Hoping she’s suitably filthy for her mid 80s timeframe.

So being off sick from work is proving to be damn productive! Got a second fert done today. Repainted a few more panels on this one for variation….

Finally got round to weathering the first of my fertiliser wagons. I went pretty easy on the first one, just some washes and weathering powders. 

On 4/4/2024 at 9:56 PM, jhb171achill said:

You'd need some head for heights to walk across that gangway!

 

And some set of cajones!

On 4/4/2024 at 9:41 PM, Branchline121 said:

I always find it entertaining to look at photos of where airships were moored when they were relevant, trains weren’t the only things unfortunately phased out by planes. Here’s 2 pictures:

Don't think planes were entirely to blame for these being phased own. Their penchant for bursting into flames would have to be a contributing factor.....

Although there's a minimum of cosmetic updates on this run, they are still a damn fine model!

Just out of interest... what are the updates to the lighting functions? Does anyone have a photo of the loco with the body off? I'd be very interested to see the new speaker/PCB setup.

Since it's show and tell time....

I built this shed during the pandemic, 11ftx13ft if I remember correctly. The inside is like a bomb hit it right now.....

Late to the party on this... but personally I'll be giving these a miss. I own 5 of the older 141/181's already which is quite enough for my small layout.

Also, no disrespect to PM and his efforts, but I don't think the minor upgrades to the model will be enough to justify me adding more of these locos to my fleet. But as always fair play to PM for doing the rerun and I've no doubt they'll sell like hot cakes.

3 minutes ago, murphaph said:

We're lucky in that CIE/IR struggled until quite late on to put out a consistent shade of orange. We get away with these off-shades and in fact a uniform shade of orange in a train, even of mk3's, looks wrong. We can mix and match the new MM mk2ds and the earlier (later!) ones, as well as the MM mk2a/b's and the upcoming IRM mk2c's and they will look spot on.

Exactly. CIE stock was the very definition of mix'n'match!

17 minutes ago, David Holman said:

Colour is such an emotive thing and so much depends on ambient lighting, to say nothing about the effects of dirt, fading and so on. The variations display really are significant though!

Well said! As a kid, avidly watching the Supertrain liveried trains run by I don't remember anything but the heavily faded light-orange hue!

Scale is also an overlooked factor. The correct shade will tend to look darker when it appears on a model.

8 minutes ago, jhb171achill said:

The MM 182 looks, to me, to be too deep a colour for any era. The other shades are more accurate.

I thought that myself until I read Rails through the West. There are several pictures of freshly painted/cleaned locos and that shade looks spot on.

Very tidy work!

Unfortunately I missed this years event, ironic as it was on my doorstep! Glad to hear it all went smoothly.

Great stuff...

Looking forward to seeing Ballyercall live and breathe again!

23 hours ago, BosKonay said:

Not sure if going bust is dodgy? Wasn’t aware people lost money?

Yes, I heard of  several people who were left out of pocket. One is a member here (they haven't posted in 5 years) who told me in PMs that he paid $650 to MSB for sound decoders. Got no reply for 6 months and after hounding them was finally told they were "dispatched". Needless to say they never arrived and MSB resumed radio silence.

This all happened mid 2013 - 2014. A full two years before MSB folded.

On 23/8/2023 at 12:11 AM, popeye said:

 Model shop Belfast is on there but closed years ago.

And they closed down under dodgy circumstances as well. Lot of customers were left out of pocket.

6 hours ago, Jonathan_RK said:

Thanks BosKonay. At least one other member on this thread is recommending to use the ESU Lokprogrammer. Might as well ask - have IRM tested this reset process using any non-ESU programmers ? Perhaps that's not a matter for IRM, but it is of interest to the audience. Those who use the Lokprogrammer will know the answer. I could try doing a reset using the Digitrax DCS52, but I will decide on that myself. If you are interested investigating this, I'm happy to collaborate.

I believe I recommended the Lokprogrammer, but just to be clear, that is for detailed CV reprogramming work such as remapping functions or loading sound files. Any good DCC system will allow you to reset a decoder without risk of  mucking anything else up.

19 minutes ago, DJ Dangerous said:

To the re-mapping functions?

Yes you can remap the functions on any ESU Loksound decoder. However, it's best done with the Lokprogrammer. It can be done by reprogramming individual CV's but this is complex and risky. The Loksound V5 has over 2000 CVs many of which have to be accessed with indices.

30 minutes ago, Jonathan_RK said:

I have just noted a Digitrains video on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJHAZB-pft0

This looks like a demo of an IRM A Class loco with Crossley sound, sound decoder produced by Digitrains.

Presume this is a Digitrains project using their decoder complete with Crossley sound.

Has anyone posted a video of an IRM A Class loco running with Crossley sound, using the IRM ESU sound decoder ?

I actually commented on this video at the time and asked where they got the engine sound from. Apparently they used a generic file that was closest the could get to the Crossley sound.

On 23/7/2023 at 6:12 PM, Leyny said:

I'd be willing to spend up to €300-400 if it were worth it (as opposed to spending say €100-200). I've no experience of DCC but I'm confident I could figure out the Techie side of it quickly enough. 

If I were you I'd be looking at either Roco or Lenz. GeorgeConna mentioned above that he has the Z21 and I've heard nothing but good things about it and you can get it for around the €200 mark. I'm looking at the Lenz 101 for my own layout in the future but that's in the €300-400 range.

At the moment I use a Gaugemaster Prodigy 2 which I absolutely love, but it's getting on ow and it's very hard to source a new one from anywhere but the UK. The Lenz or Roco can be ordered from Germany and you bypass any Brexit shenanigans.

8 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

Love the EZ Command. I hope that other controllers are so nice to use. The simplistic layout is great so far and the power dial feels excellent. Limited to ten functions but that's enough for me, for now.

To be honest you won't use that many functions when running trains, ten is plenty if the main ones are assigned to F0-F10

Yeah I standard all of my loco functions whether they be Irish, UK, US or whatever...

All my sound decoders are Loksound and I have a Lokprogrammer which makes swapping functions simple.

I put the most used functions on F0-F9

F0 - Marker lights (if separate to headlights)

F1 - Prime Mover

F2 - Horn 

F3 - Brake function (I only use the loco brake function)

F4 - Drive Hold

F5 - Load setting (simulates a heavy train)

F6 - Couple/uncouple and uncoupling cycle (Kadee Shuffle)

F7 - Headlight if separate

F8 - Flange Squeal

F9 - Rail clank

Like I said I really only use these functions so the more obscure sounds are on F10 and above

5 hours ago, DJ Dangerous said:

I'm getting the impression from reading online, that sewing machine oil is lighter than 3 In 1, circulates better, leaves no residue and contains no acids, but that it is also known as "light oil".

Just to complicate things....

My old man was a tailor so knows a thing or two about sewing machine oil. (I once used his machine oil on the gears of my BMX, that didn't go down well!)

There are actually different kinds of oil for sewing machines. The "light oil" version which is thinner than regular oil which is used on the needle bar and the bobbin spindles and a "stickier" oil used on the larger gears inside the casing which is like a very thin grease. 

Anyway, just some trivia for you...

Oh, and don't get me started on WD40. The most misunderstood product in the world! It shouldn't be anywhere near a model railway

Nice job. Very tidy!