irishthump

I had recently started repainting my own rake of MK3's into Supertrain livery in anticipation of the arrival of the 071's.... I had picked these up on Ebay a while back. They cost me next to nothing and when I got them I could see why! These are the older Hornby MK3's, the windows and glazing are a single strip which would be a nightmare to repaint.... I tried to mask the glazing with tape and cut around the window frames with a scalpel but this did'nt work. So I made small masking pieces from thin sheet styrene and fixed these over the windows before spraying with black primer. Did'nt work out TOO bad! A bit of overspray worked it's way under the masks, but since the end result would be weathered I could live with it. The bodies after several thin coats of orange... I used an aerosol can of acrylic which I stumbled across in the local Art and Hobby shop. Although I have an airbrush I chose the spray can out of pure laziness! Once again my masking let me down a little, so a fair bit of touching in was required.

Lovely work! I'm wrestling with a few old Hornby MK3's myself, if I can get mine to look half as good then I'll be happy....

Anto, can you give me any more info on this fault? I picked up a 141 cheap on Ebay a while back which I discovered was'nt picking up at all on one bogie. I could'nt see anything wrong with the board and ended up soldering the pickup wires from the dodgy bogey to where the other bogie's wires connect to the circuit board. Since then, it has run perfectly.

Layout is looking great! As the lads said, the lights take it to another level. I love the water tower, the rust looks so real. I noticed an Ikea bag in the backrocund of one of the pics, did you buy your ballast there?

Ah, sweet! Seems they learned from the 141/181s. I too have horror stories about removing the bodies from them....

Lovely work, Kirley. Personally I love the variation in the shades of arange on the MK2 stock... just like the real thing!

Styrofoam shaped with a hot foam cutter. I covered it in a mix of ordinary plaster and pva then painted it grey when it was dry. It was then drybrushed to bring out the detail.

Thanks Boskonay... Yes, I used hanging basket liner from Woodies for the grass base. I'm gradually adding some layers of flock to give it a bit more variety of colour. The rails were painted with Rustoleum Red Oxide Primer in aerosol form, also bought from Woodies. I also saw it for sale in Halfords in a normal tin as well.

Finally got around to ballasting the scenic break on the layout, as well as adding a little more vegetation... Still a bit to be done, reckon I'll tone the ballast down with some washes and add a bit of grime.

I picked up some Scenic Rust the other day and decided to give it a go on this wee wagon...

A couple of repainted MK1's that I recently weathered.

Regarding installing a decoder: is it the same drill as with the 141's, take off the main body? They will some with a speaker installed as well won't they?

SEEP point motors also have a built in switch which can be used for LEDs. I don't use them for point indications but I have LED signals that are connected to them.

I'd say Anto will be all over both of those pics!

Looks great! Any update on when we'll see the Supertrain livery arrive?

Very nice! Any idea which wagons is he using for those Bell containers? Are they RTR or kit/scratchbuilt?

The Model Shop decoders are Zimo and they are fantastic. I have 3 of my 141/181s fitted with them, here's a few videos I posted of them in action. http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/showthread.php/315-Graham-s-layout-Monkhill-and-Saltstown?p=10161#post10161

Same here, Rich. Sorry to here you're unwell, a speedy recovery to you sir....

Much obliged Anto. How close are these to the IE wagons in use today?

Fantastic Anto! Great to see that monster engine shed bursting at the seems with locos... Can I ask which container wagons you're using in the pics with the crane?

Yeah, no sound at my end either! Nice bit of footage though. A lot of it was shot out in my neck of the woods - that was Dun Laoghaire/Mallin station at the very start and at the end.

Jayzsus, those platforms look unbelievable!

Here are the same vids on Youtube. [video=youtube;OwiBnQG7a-s]

Thanks for the compliments! That's a Bachmann class 25 in the first vid, with factory fitted sound. The 141's are using sound chips from The Model Shop which were fitted by myself.

Here's a some short vids of the layout... http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/Irishthump/Train%20Vids/?action=view&current=video-2012-09-04-22-51-35.mp4 http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/Irishthump/Train%20Vids/?action=view&current=video-2012-09-04-23-00-37.mp4 http://s71.photobucket.com/albums/i131/Irishthump/Train%20Vids/?action=view&current=video-2012-09-04-22-40-26.mp4