David

It's another type of paint. They likely only sell cellulose and water based. Water based is not great and I don't know anybody who buys it so when you got a price from them it was probably for cellulose. I was just curios how much they were charging. Custom mixed paints are expensive unless you buy them in large quantities. You should consider trying to mix humbrol paints of similar, especially for the RAL 1021 because you wont be needing a lot of it. It may be worth buying a litre of RAL 2011 because you'll probably use it a lot.

BabyGM, How much did Vinny Byrnes want for a litre of cellulose?

http://www.adams-packaging.com/acatalog/red-lithographic-adhesive-tape.html Don't ever use it with water based paints or get it wet. Make sure it never sticks to your clothes because when exposed to water the red dye comes out so you'll have all pink towels! Because it's only 45 microns thick it is super easy to cut when on the model and it has excellent tensile strength as well. I have never had it cause any damage to paint except if you didn't prime the model properly and never use it on solvent based paints that are not completely dry.

I'm still alive! Just getting to the CAD rework now so about another 2 weeks and you'll have a DVT in livery to check out. @waffles, There'll be an option to have a mk3 egv included in the rake. It'll cost the same as a standard coach and will be fitted with the same draw bar coupling as the DDs at one end and a kadee for the 201 at the other.

@Shinkansen, I have recently tried the 1mm tape weshty suggests. I found it very fiddly and it seemed to have insufficient tack to stay in place with any degree of reliability. I have also used litho tape cut into 1mm strips. I found this much better. One method you might consider for doing IE/IR mk3s is to paint the orange first, mask it and then spray white. Then mark 1mm away from the masked edge of the orange with the tip of a scalpel about every 5-7cm. Then use 6/10mm tamiya tape to overlap the edge of the orange masking to the scalpel marks and this will perfectly mask your white 1mm lines. Then obviously spray the black and de-mask. It's a million times less fiddly than 1mm tape and it means that there is less of a step or ridge between colours. Hope that helps!

Cheers for the feedback Tony! Glad you like it

Arrange it so! I'll seriously consider that. It would be nice to do a relatively simple project squeezed in with all the other ones.

2700 is a strong possibility. Whether or not I consider a mk4 or not will depend on the success of the De Dietrichs when you consider that there are an almost identical project from a design point of view. Have you any photos/drawings of those inspection cars?

Noel, Cheers for the good press!

Looking good Des! Can you zoom out the shot so we can see the rest of the loco?

The initial freight stock will almost certainly be of the 4 wheel modern variety before I have the balls to venture into doing bogie freight but you never know. Hopefully this discussion will help to prioritize the order of things to come. I'm still very open to persuasion lads!

@Garfield, It turns out that Weshty is doing it so we're not standing on each others shoes! David

I knew there was something we forgot! BTW, the above releases are not necessarily in order of release.

@201 Maynooth on the green and orange ones and Connolly on the silver! You can actually read it and it is in Irish as well

Hi Richie, Cheers for the compliments. They're mainly brass running on a bachmann chassis. I have a preference for using RTR chassis' for operational reliability. Nothing worse than a great looking model that drives like sh*t!

Hi Guys, The future projects more or less decided on are below. Feel free to debate. All models will be RTR and some will appear as kits. Freight wagons(types still to be decided on) 22000 ICR Park Royal RPSI Steam loco(to be decided on which one) Another railcar(either 2700 or 2800)

Astronomical cost!

The coaches will be coupled by a draw bar concealed within the lower gangway. There would also be space there to run wires through. One option being seriously considered is always-on coach lighting. This would only work with DCC and there would be pick ups on all wheels of each coach separately so no need for intercoach wiring or decoders. The only con would be that you can't switch it off but it would be designed to be fairly unnoticeable by day and very apparent by night. Bear in mind that the real interior lighting is always on. Needless to say, this would come under the heading of an optional extra and would cost more. Remember guys, I can put passengers waving at you through the windows but it all comes down to how much it costs.

Lads, Just to clarify. The models will not feature opening doors. Certainly not as standard. I have just glued that door open for effect and to show that they are separate from the point of view of kit builders. The doors are separate to make it easier and quicker to paint the livery, particularly the new livery. Also it will make it much easier to paint the rubber seals around the doors. If there is some DCC door opening actuators available on the market then I'm sure they would be handy enough to fit but it would cost extra obviously. I'd imagine every coach would need to be chipped.

Anto, I meant to PM you about that. Apart from the fact that Mark couldn't head up, I discovered some changes needed to be made to the CAD when I assembled the buffet so I didn't go ahead and assemble the rest of the coaches. I'll have to fix the problem on the CAD for the next lot and make changes by hand to the ones I have already. The kit is most likely to be pre-formed. It's a pain in the arse to bend and even harder to get it to bend in all the right places and we can't have people pulling their hair out!

Marks point is correct. The coupling seems to have a lot to do with it as well. One of the first considerations when designing a push pull train was to make sure they would have the best possible reliability when being pushed at speed, especially when you consider that almost every layout has at least 1 sharp curve somewhere on it! The draw bar couplings mean there is minimal chance of a derailment when pushing. Noel, when I do a set for you just ask me to add some weight. I can do that for you no problem.

Glazing in going to be tinted glass(acetate) as per the prototype. This more or less negates the need for interior detail. Depending on interest I make look into doing an interior as an optional extra but it would be hard to see on the model unless it was fitted with interior lighting(which depending on interest may be offered as an option.

Cheers Rich and Noel. @201bhoy, neither me nor the DDs will be there unfortunately. There is a tiny chance I might make a surprise appearance on one of the days but extremely unlikely. Just hang on a little longer guys, I still have a backlog of railcars to clear off so I'm doing the DD development in my second set of spare time. I also have test etches for the DVT and the standard but they have to be modified slightly before I assemble them. FYI, the coaches will be coupled to each other by a purpose built draw bar that is completely concealed within the lower gangway. The loco end of the set will have a kadee coupling so it will be necessary to fit same to one end of your 201. I can do that for you if you need me to.

Thanks guys, I haven't finalised prices yet but I'll have them shortly. I need to set up my jigs and time how long it takes to make a rake. All I can say it that they will cost less per vehicle than my 2600s. BTW, that open door is just glued in the open position to show that the doors are removable for ease of painting for when the kit version comes out.