Noel

Sure. First thing is you only need to remove one bar to get the two half loads out. Basically gently bend one using a tweezers which in effect will shorten its perpendicular length and allow one end to pop out of the little slot. It is not glued, it is a snap fitting. Same refitting it, just wedge it back into place ensure both ends snap fit into the slots. Alternatively gentle squeeze the two partition walls 1mm further apart (by flexing the plastic) and the bars should pop out with a little pressure using a tweezers

Just a tip. Decalfix is essential to help the weathering powder solution spread easily over plastic surfaces and avoid surface tension causing it to clump into droplets or small pools. With Decal fix 50% + water 50% the powder solution seems to spread evenly and adhere to the plastic better. Also allows reactivation later so it can be changed and reworked using damp cotton buds. First you make a mess, then clean it up. Trying to learn how to speed this process up. I generally leave it about 45mins to semi-dry before reactivating and working it with damp cotton buds to remove most of it. End result after its dried Used a blackish/dark brown gunk powder colour first in solution to define edges and recesses, later a second solution of cream white to simulate water stains and cement dust from odd burst bag. The load got a bath as well to dull down the white and give the bag shapes visual definition. Lovely loads on these wagons, well done team IRM. They even have pallets to if you choose to remove them from a wagon and place in a yard beside these wagons, looks great.

Would certainly be interest in one, especially if I could persuade @murrayec Eoin to build it for me. Me and Brass don't get on, so I'd happily defer to the forum's brass master especially after seeing the master piece he built for Jonathan.

A few better pics of my attempt at quickly weathering one of these fabulous wagons. Takes me back to 1974

No problem and thanks for the heads up. Just out of curiosity can your commerce suite not detect this automatically when adding items to a basket? (Ie prevent a mix of stock and no stock preorder items into a basket like amazon does). There may be a way of fooling the system into effectively doing this using product tags like perishable goods, etc, or product groupings, etc. I fell into this trap by ordering a b&I container and fertiliser on the same order but stephen kindly split the order for me after I spotted my mistake. It may be a pain in the neck for you guys but kind of a good problem to have as evidence of your product portfolio ramping up and exponential business growth.

Wheels, darkness, the tracks and metal gubbins and boxes that passengers never get to see. Bogie Parcel Brake Van, Park Royal, Bogie TPO, What looks like another bogie TPO, and a plethora of Laminates or Bredin coaches being shunted into the adjacent siding, possibly one craven in there. Kevin posted this pic

Ah yes that’s fair comment. I should have added they were very acceptable in their day, folks were delighted to have models of Irish rolling stock that were not available RTR. My point was things have moved on and the IRM wagons have raised the bar so high that the MIR kits are not on the same page which is true. Not a criticism just an observation of fact and praise for how far IRM have taken Irish rolling stock.

Yes these are iconic vans for the 60s to 70s CIE era that is my main nostalgia memory. Last year I kit bashed a Bachmann Parcel van into a pseudo CIE version Before

Had a quick go at weathering one of my new IRM Fertiliser wagons this evening. Mainly weathering powders washed on in solution and then rubbed off again using damp cotton buds. The loads also got a bit of a wash to dull the bright white bags. These wagons seem the best yet from team IRM. The fab four have pulled it out of the bag again. Thank you guys. Now what's next? No rest for the successful. The loads got a bit of dulling down as well. Two weathering powder solutions (50% water/50% decal fix), first is a grungy black/brown to stain recesses. The second a cream white to simulate rain streaking and cement dust from the odd burst bag. Its a bit like making an omelet you have to make a mess before you can recover it and tidy up (ie break an egg). The sole bar got a judicious amount of grey/white to simulate the odd bag on the bottom of a pallet load punctured by fork lift truck drivers rushing to finish their shift of an evening in the yard.

Yea stunning. The MIR is not on the same planet. The finesse and detail on these are the best yet. Fab wagons of substance.

Yes the Fertiliser Wagons are stunning. But I'd hope something like the CIE AEC 2600 class DMU might make the IRM futures list before a NIR 80.

The whole idea of a travelling post office sorting van seems incredible in this day and age, yet it enabled overnight post in the days before email and www. Its incredible to think that men worked through the night pre-sorting post so that it could plug into local delivery offices routes.

Wow 10

PS: Will have to get transfers for gouldings 10-10-20

Yea, Fert wagons arrived in the post this morning. Beautiful wagons, classic. They run free as a bird (ie not a hint SAS). These seem the best yet from team IRM. Nice touch leaving the couplings off in an accessory bag. Makes fitting Kadee's quicker and easier.

Yea, Fert wagons arrived in the post this morning. Beautiful wagons, classic. They run free as a bird (ie not a hint SAS). These seem the best yet from team IRM. Nice touch leaving the couplings off in an accessory bag. Makes fitting Kadee's quicker and easier.

Happy days, glad you discovered you have some. I still have four of your former MIR ones beautifully painted and weathered by you. Got them from Wrenneire some years ago. I tried to emulate your weathering on my own IRM Orange bubbles, and thanks for your tip BTW on the use plastic paste on the tops to simulate caked layers Before pristine untouched as delivered by IRM and afterwards

7 iconic wagons in that train and no RTR Irish versions on the market

Yes same here but as they are shipping from abroad could take more than the 24hrs by courier we became accustomed to with the ballasts and cement bubble deliveries from Dublin.

Yes Dapol now own the tooling and sell many of the same railway series kits as those famous ones from the 1970s

I made a slight mod by blanking off the mechanical gear on the kit as per the later CIE bogie TPOs. Enjoyed seen the pair of old coaches (ie TPO+GSV) at the head of a rake of mk2d Aircon coaches on the Galway-Dublin train before the tram invasion. The mk2 set had their own EGV, but the TPO needed a GSV to accompany it.

Yea I was hoping to use the grey decals with green writing but could not source same There you go a Mail train at woodvale junction. Bogie parcel coach + TPO + GSV all kit bashed

Oh I'm tempted by those grey ones, but I already have enough bubbles to make an Aero

Found this old photo of my childhood layout when I was about 12 or 13 many moons ago. I still have some of the rolling stock and buildings. I vividly remember mixing plaster to form terrain over scrunched up newspaper balls. No idea what the CIE shunter was. Most of the LLPs also survived and have walked the platforms of Kingsbridge. This was in the attic of my dads house.