Noel

Agree. I've enough of those including damaged ones collected over the years as respray donors and in one case as a chassis donor. Last one I bought retail from Marks just before Covid cost €139 new. €300 is just too much IMHO, and €500 for the NIR blue ones or freight grey ones seems almost obscene waste. Can you believe about 7 years ago when Seamus Graham was still running the excellent model shop portlaoise I sent back a grey 7078 because he accidentally shipped me two 7078's. About to respray 085 as 7071 in freight grey (slightly damaged donor cost €110, paint will cost about €8, plus a few hours, plus some decals from SSM).

Stunning despite the bad fortune. Your Perseverance is admirable and no doubt will pay off.

Result. I can feel the humid heat from here. Excellent

Tangy Freshers perhaps?

Fabulous scratch building

Aviation control is entirely virtual and digital,yet the speeds are greater and the consequences of mishap orders of magnitude higher. Why slow 100 mph trains cannot be controlled and separated digitally seems difficult to understand. The cork train service is excellent love travelling on those CAF PP sets. Is there a mental block in thinking about physical interlocking and physical mechanical default fall back. It’s a national shame we don’t yet have a high speed rail link like TGV between our three principle cities, not to mention the laughing stock of Europe for not having a high speed airport rail link to EIDW and EINN

In the 21st century why are railways not using virtual digital signalling instead of physical signals. It seems Jurassic that wires are still used. Lines could be cost effectively and quickly re-signalled to have more shorter block sections enabling a trebling of pathways.

Yes agree with much of that but some new models are so fiddley with detail parts that easily fall off putting in and out of their packaging is almost more likely to cause damage. Eg the MM 121 packaging was like a puzzle and if you didn’t get it right you could rip one of the horns off and the cab gard rails. The card board packaging used by Hornby Dublo, then TriAng and Wrenn were much more user friendly for reuse. Then these stupid clear plastic sandwiches became vogue some years ago, they can cause more damage than protection, never mind the sheer waste of materials.

Great. Any pics?

Or buy new unpainted Dapol wagons (vans) for €8ea and paint them to CIE Livery with decals from SSM

If it runs ok the chassis may be fine, perhaps junk the body or sell bits of the body for spares and use the chassis to drive a Silverfox C class resin kit. Years ago I bought two inexpensive damaged 141 models for €90 & €110 just to get the chassis for A class. I used one of the cab ends to house a gopro for layout cab ride videos. One day for fun might respray the body parts in 201 intercity silver and green. The other one in the photo was a badly damaged 071 donor (other side) as a chassis for a SF Sulzer 110 kit. But fairly drastic surgery and cutting needed on the chassis of that one unlike the easy 141 modification. Basic compared to IMP but passes the duck test and runs like a Swiss watch on DCC. Chassis only needs about 5mm of metal sawed off at both ends for a perfect fit between the resin body and the 141 chassis. Some day I might try and Tweak the resin bogies.

Still there. Not much has happened to it this past year. This winter planning to do scenics similar to Gort. I've spent most my time these past two years on Gort, and rolling stock kits, resprays, weathering, kadee conversions, and running sessions. Next few weeks on working signals for Gort and lighting. Autumn scheduled for Gort extension to fiddle yard loop. https://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/8721-kingsbridge-old-new-layout/page/11/

Cheers. We're all here to share and learn from each other. Youtube university was brilliant help to me. Especially Richard's Everard junction channel. Learning to do new stuff is great fun, challenging and rewarding. Have fun!

PS: Marks models sell badger airbrush kits, they are the only source in Ireland I am aware of, otherwise its d'internet Some sell complete kits including airbrush, hose, compressor, cleaning gear:https://www.amazon.co.uk/Airbrush-Fengda-FD-186K-compressor-accessories/dp/B01984G4SU/ref=sr_1_7?crid=1BKR6LFZTPJKL&keywords=airbrush+kit+with+compressor&qid=1684565887&sprefix=airbrush%2Caps%2C62&sr=8-7 I bought my gear from BartSharp before brexit screwed up dealing with GB.

A few visuals better than lots of words. Started with airbrush about 6 years ago thanks to some advice and guidance from Richie and others. I started using Tamiya and Railmatch acrylics cause less noxious and less smelly indoors, also was easy to mix CIE orange tan using Tamiya. I’ve since adopted Valejo acrylic paints. Acrylics are water based so easier to clean equipment after painting. Best bit of advice was not to bother buying expensive airbrushes, this Veda no longer in production cost about €28. I was terrified of taking airbrush apart to clean it after first session test, it took me an hour I was so pedantic, then I got cleaning time down to 10mins, now about 120 seconds. In the beginning it too more time to clean than airbrush. It’s not rocket science once you get used to quickly dismantling and putting back together. This airbrush cleaning pot reduces nasty fumes when cleaning airbrush IPA readily available from pharmacy shops is handy for cleaning. Do not use white spirits. compressor was about £80 from Bartsharp in uk prior to brexit costs. Worth spending the few extra euro for one with an air reservoir bottle, and a moisture trap. The air bottle means the pump only runs every now and then to fill the bottle so you get a smoother constant flow of paint and its quieter as most of the time the motor is not running. Acrylics are more forgiving and easier to clean up as they are water based. MY wife would not tolerate the solvents in enamel paints but they can flow better through an airbrush. If you properly thin acrylic paints and use Vallejo flow improver they will not clog up the airbrush. Lower air pressure also a help (ie 20psi rather than 40). Vallejo 'model air' are pre-thinned but I still add a little more water based thinner. My first resprayed coach. Good quality masking tape is essential. It takes more time to accurately apply masking tape at the various stages than painting time. Patience also required, don’t rush to next step in a job. This was done using the standard ‘reverse masking’ technique. YouTube is your friend and university for learning, and giving it a go, start with some older stock. More than anything have fun and enjoy the learning process. The more you do it the quicker and better you’ll get. My first airbrush stayed in its ca se for nearly a year such was my fear. https://www.bartsharpairbrush.co.uk/?doing_wp_cron=1684564496.7064940929412841796875 WARNING: Do not airbrush varnish indoors or near your other stock. It will turn all windows opaque. When varnishing models you will have to remove all glazing and windows or carefully mask over them with tape or maskol paint. Or they will end up opaque milky white.

take me to your leader. We come in peace

In awe a people who can do precision brass modelling. Engineering excellence.

A pal of mine is planning to build a working 3D beet loader like the one that used to be at Wellingtonbridge station. All those south wexford lines had a standard layout and buildings (eg island platform and prefab signal box).

Personally I’d prefer a proper loco that could haul coaches or rake of two axle wagons. Hence the 141 mention as that could haul resprayed br mk2 O gauge stock or resprayed collets as fake laminates, or any resprayed GWR wagons. Shunters don’t quite fit the bill for that.

IMHO, No viable market here for O gauge Irish stock. But I'd nearly shave my head for an O gauge 141 to IRM's standards. But reckon over 3 years you'd sell max 200-300 locos if even that.

Not bad price for an O gauge steam loco.

Yes with these 8k printers they are even better than IMP for resolution. Excellent results @KMCE and excellent CAD work.

Or even DCC 800v

Yes interesting points. Mind you the dart line faced similar insurmountable obstacles in densely populated parts of the capital, yet they were solved by engineering. At that time we were in severe recession, unlike today when Ireland is now the 6th wealthiest nation on the planet and can afford capital projects that seemed unattainable only 15 years ago. We have to invest heavily now in public transport and at scale, dart underground, airport link, intercity electrification, etc. This is a hundred year investment and the capital costs can be spread over 100 years. Rail is vital to public transport success and electrification vital to cutting CO2 quickly. We've run out of time for the niceties of gradual managed transition to cleaner energy. The raw data suggests we have to act now. Not sure how my grandchildren's generation will cope in a world when billions of displaced climate refugees get on the move. There's loads of alt tech to solve engineering problem such as battery packs to enable trains run shortish distances without pantograph or 3rd rail (eg the Luas in Nice, France as an example has no overhead wires in the city centre scenic spots). Same could be done for the Cork Tunnel, instead of dropping the track bed 6 feet lower as they did along much of the Dart line (eg Dun Laoghaire, Sandymount, Dalkey, Killiney, etc) to get overhead clearance for pantograph. We live in exciting times as all the alt tech has already been invented and proven, we don't need to go back to living in caves nor do without the lights on, rather instead we just need to make intelligent 'adjustments' to how we consume energy and food. alt energy is also the biggest economic opportunity our nation has before it. In 25-20 years time energy could be our major export rather than agri-food, pharma and software. Only time will tell. With Dart and Luas we're already 1/4 of the way there perhaps, especially with extended dart commuter lines using hybrid battery for unnelectrified CWR stretches. Yea but they could dry cloths too up there! The 071s have been incredible work horses and proved to be some investment but they must be getting close to that time they become beyond future economic overhauls. One wonders if there is a plan to replace the Rotem drive units with Hydrogen or Electric units, even Diesel/Hybrids so no emissions when stopped in stations idling for days on end belching out harmful NoX.

In time the 22k's, 201s and 071s may also be cut up as they don't meet emissions targets, and diesel will be phased out sooner than we might think as the climate crisis worsens. Hopefully electrification of the main lines is not too far off.