Noel

Richie @Glenderg gave me good advice some years ago on airbrush equipment which as a novice I followed. A good tip was that there was no need for the very expensive top end airbrushes such as Iwata (£70-£130) or Harder and Steenbeck(£240), as there were some keenly priced mid range gear that was as good. Back then it was the Veda range of Airbrushes (£16-£35) since replace by BartSharp's own range of airbrushes with similar build quality and performance to the Veda (Iwata look-a-like). Which ever model you go for chose one where spares are inexpensive and readily available (eg replacement nozzles and needles, O-rings, etc) as you will at some stage need to replace them due to ordinary wear and tear and handling. Don't take short cuts on a choice of compressor, one with an air reservoir gives to more consistent flow and most importantly its quiet. Don't forget air hose and quick release valves, water trap, etc. Richie introduced me to BartSharp in UK (Alison) where I sourced my first airbrush and subsequent spare parts.

The quality of journalism!!! "A nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine has been involved in a near-miss with a ferry." So they collided (ie nearly missed is logically a hit)!!! The same error is routinely made when the media report close quarter aviation incidents.

The BartSharp TC88 compressor with its 3 litre air reservoir is a quiet and reliable compressor (ie the motor is off 90%) of the time you are airbrushing. https://bartsharp.co.uk/index.php/airbrush-compressor/tc88t-airbrush-compressor.html https://bartsharp.co.uk/index.php/bartsharp-airbrush/bartsharp-airbrush-187-gravity-feed-airbrush.html

Some progress today on the MIR Irish Cement curtain pallet wagons. Fettled body and chassis parts for snug fit. These are nice kits and require minimal tidying up (ie removal of flash, etc). White metal break bits added, then primed with Halford's ready for next phase. I hope to eventually build a rake of these with some fine results already posted on this forum. The only additions I intend to add are stuff like kadee couplings, vacuum pipes, additional weight, tail lamps, etc. I hope to build a complete rake of these over time. It is good to see MIR back with their products available via eBay seller 'sylvimcnall-0'. Ian tells me he has more products available than those listed on eBay. https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sylvimcnall-0/m.html?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEFSXS%3AMESOI&_trksid=p2053788.m1543.l2654 White metal break gear stuff added saves fabricating parts from plastic card. Holes drilled out for axle bearings. Undercoat primer is the usual Halfords plastic grey primer aerosol can. I keep a can in hot press so it is never cold when being applied. This inexpensive fan assisted spray booth came from BartSharp last year, had duct out velux window so avoided noxious and smelly odours in house. Primed with Halfords plastic grey primer (love this user friendly stuff) ready for next steps. Now to mix various shades of blue paint (ie one shade for body and another for the curtain sides)

Priceless Intrigued as intended by the clever marketing what the next loco might be

Anybody remember Davis Charlton Diesel model aero engines made in IOM with their compression screws, and quick start spring. Oh many memories of hurt fingers!!! Pocket money and bob-a-job money saved for many months if not years to be able to buy one of these and put it on a control line model, or 'free flight' with burning timer fuse - remember those? The noise from these DC engines was astronomical http://www.modelenginenews.org/people/dc_ltd.html http://www.adriansmodelaeroengines.com/catalog/main.php?cat_id=56

C'est Incredible. This is more like a professional model build for a movie set.

Agree. Cant wait to see it painted, glazed, seating with seated pax inside. Eoin what are you planning to use for door handles and door hinges?

Fabulous work. You have become a brass master Eoin and seem expertly tooled up for working with it. Those coaches are superb, trust they are routed for a good home.

I got a sneak preview yesterday of WMRC 3D ground signals. WMRC member @Junctionmad (Dave) designed and printed these stunning working grounds signals. The detail is at FUD levels or better. These are 7mm scale destined for Little Siddington layout with servos driving them. As 3D continues to improve year on year it could be a game changer for the hobby. If there is no RTR available just print your own high quality kit parts assuming you or a pal can handle the CAD learning curve, which is the resistance bar. But the possibilities are limitless. Ground signals - will be hooked up to servos on Little Siddington O gauge layout. The finished material is quite strong too and takes man handling well. These took about 20 mins to print the separate parts

Thanks. I thought I read somewhere that there was a company who will print back scenes from your own photos. Any ideas. I'm keen to pop over to Co Galway and take a few wide angle shots on a sunny day with the distinctive connemara countryside and all the grey stone walls.

Sublime Eoin. Love it. Photo realistic. Where did you get the custom wicklow back scene from? It looks like a photo taken just SE of the Glen-o-the-downs. Perfect for Greystones

@WRENNEIRE Dave Bracken may be able to help you source same. Otherwise they come up on eBay from time to time at sensible prices. I got most of my baby GMs on eBay long after they had sold out through the channel. Over time stuff always seems to turn up.

On the Wheeltappers project, It doesn't completely turn it off, it just reduces it. I've superglued the blasted 'momentum' button on my NCE cabs because it ruins the accelaration/decel CVs on decoders which can really mess up some sound programmes, usually required a reset to get back to factory condition. I gave up using JMRI because its too clunky and slow, very 1990s windows/DOS like with its Java app.

It seems to reduce the inertia delays in acceleration and declaration (ie motor responds more quickly to throttle changes), which helps shunting, the change of cab walkway sound sequence is skipped when change of direction is selected on cab, which is a real PITA when shunting if you have to wait for the virtual driver walk with sound footsteps from one cab to another. It sounds novel the first time you hear it but it gets really annoying when you want to quickly change direction (eg uncoupling, shunting, runarounds, etc) operating the layout. It also reduces the notching frequency suggesting a lighter load to haul. Kieth has something similar on his Zimo RealDrive 141 sound projects (ie F5=Light Engine mode, no coasting, reacts with little delay to throttle changes, etc, almost DC control response to speed inputs).

Good to hear. Wheeltappers produced a modified version of their 141 LokSound project for 121. The main change is the change of direction walk sequence from cab to cab with footsteps along the walkway and cab doors opening and closing as the driver changes cab ends has been removed in addition to new wagon rail clank noises and flange squeal functions. This removes the change of direction delay when shunting. F12 is auto-uncouple function for kadee couplings that works over track magnets. F16 is a light engine mode which is also useful for shunting and marshalling wagon.

Yes it will plug into the 21pin socket and work (ie drive and make noise), but the sound of the more powerful 071 EMD powered loco is very different to the smaller 141/181 locos. The only light function that will work is F0 which will turn the directional running lights and head lights on. On 071 you have separate control over the head lamps and cab lights (F4 and F8 respectively). The chips I use in my 141/181s is the same LokSound V4 chip the MM sell for the 071, but they have a different sound file project on them with the engine noses of the EMD 567 and EMD 645 used in the 141/181 locos. I use http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk for my Irish locos (Neil ie Wiggy from RMweb).They have a good selection of demo videos on their web site. They also have Irish Steam loco sounds including the OO works J15. http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/page147/index.html http://www.wheeltappersdccsounds.co.uk/page78/index.html PS: You will have to fit a speaker to 141/181 locos and solder connections to the 141/181 PCB board. The MM017 locos come supplied with pre-wired speakers.

A few more 3D 121 bodies on the workbench with one of the Athearn SW1500 donors. Looking forward to getting my teeth into some more of these now that I know what's involved. The Athearn is a geogeous little switcher, seems almost a shame, but the prize is more 121s with a fabulous precision running chassis under them, that's DCC ready and ready for lights.

Just about to start some MIR Curtain Pallet cement wagon kits. Tidy resin bodies. These look at home when marshalled in a rake with some IRM Cement bubbles.

The once distinctive green'n'blue toothpaste tube won't stand out on airport aprons as much anymore nor the nose at gates which is what the public see most of the time from inside airport terminals. Anybody remember the old striped green tail livery? I think there is one aircraft currently painted in the iconic 1960s livery. It's great to see WW an Irish Pilot turned businessman head IAG one of the world's largest airline groups.

Yes I remember when Aer Lingus were near retiring the 747 fleet in the late 80s and early 90s, two of those ended up with all white fuselages so when wet leased to other airlines out of season, they could quickly and cheaply apply their own logo above the windows. IMHO it is a big mistake, BA tried something similar in the late 1980s when Maggie Thacther at the opening shouted on camera how bad they looked and had lost the famous BA identity, and on camera she took handkerchiefs out of her hand bag and covered the offending colour scheme on models at the launch. I suspect this livery will be short lived. Aer Lingus brand has been one of iconic schemes of the last century and stand out a mile at crowded international airports, and instantly recognisable in the air at low level. Big mistake IMHO but they will discover that themselves as did BA. It should save a bundle on maintenance costs.

Agree, its pretty awful. Some people are just born with a natural talent for branding and marketing, others are not. Similarly unjoined up thinking to the uncreative process that came up with the disastrous original 201 class IE orange, black, yellow livery. At least the Rotem yo-yos have a nice crisp, noticeable and striking livery. I'd guess the new aircraft livery is more a cost saving exercise for savings on aircraft maintenance and purchase price. Every time a panel or window is replaced with the current livery requires painting, all white makes this quicker and simpler. Pre-painted panels can be afixed. Costs cost, costs, but at the cost of a bland unmemorable livery from a marketing perspective.

No very true TG, but uploading photos, videos and cloud backup now all become easy and possible, it was torture beforehand. As I said the benefit of such infrastructure may not become fully apparent for another decade. To be honest for most family households 20-30mb download and 6mb upload would suffice (ie kids on Netflix, youtube, BBC iPlayer, other TV companies media players, etc, mum&dad email and web browsing.

Very good JHB. To be honest had we been able to get 14mb down and 2mb up wI'd have been more than happy for our needs. This insanely fast and its main advantage will probably not be realised for another decade. All TV will eventually move to internet with terrestrial and satellite broadcast ceasing. In the future there may be more HD and 4k content over IP. A nice little side effect of this is we have been able to cancel our Sky Sports package saving quite a few bob, because we now can watch Rugby on Eir Sports 1 & 2 and BT Sports 1,2,3 Free (ie Pro14 + Heineken Cup). Cloud backups of our Macs is now feasible. Yes all the techno babble sounds gobbledygook and the marketing cliches annoying, but the main thing is its fast, fast enough for TV, work, cloud backup, Photographers and videographers. The old 3mb DSL could not cope. They started digging up the rural roads out this way about 4 months ago, but finally got switched on this week. Its not something I expect we will need to consider again for the next 10-15 years, hopefully longer. You may see some more youtube model clips from this direction. Before I had to put mobile phone upstairs in the hot press, and hotspot a Mac off it to get enough upload speed over 4G to upload a youtube clip of models running.

Brilliant