Noel

@popeye was looking at the photos of your sublime 42ft again today. Mind blowing precision craftsmanship. It seems the best 42ft by a country mile and the first 42ft brass I've seen that is straight as a laser beam.

I couldn't walk past that without rotating the cover right way up! Opps did I say that out loud? Seriously some great pics. You have good eyes to see things.

Thanks. I discovered I have some. Not entirely happy with the ride height as the buffers are marginally too high, so will replace the 12.5mm dia wheels with smaller ones and then readjust the height of the NEM pocket. Also noticed some of the wagons had a horizontal channel beam bracing the two centre stanchions which I may try and add.

Was just realising what a great resource the folks on this forum are. I never new such a wagon existed until I re-read @jhb171achill's book, posted a question on this thread only last week, got fab information, a magical machine in a foreign land printed a plastic body shell, a parcel flew by air to Ireland, a postman delivered it in a little green van, I did a little kit bashing and painting, and 8 days later I'm running a model of the wagon in question. Thanks again chaps.

A pair - snap. Very nice! Now I might have to invite you over for a play day and we can run a timber train.

Work continues on a sample two axle timber wagon. Painted and weathered, just decals, vacuum pipes and white tips left to do. Happy with the way the kadee worked out on the ancient 1972 Tri-ang wagon chassis - now thats recycling. May try and copy this body with a few pasticard repeats. I've loads more old Tri-ang wagons for chassis donors.

Isn't it a wonderful problem to have. Ten years ago there was virtually zero decent RTR Irish rolling stock. Now the supply and standard have sky rocketed so high thanks to MM and IRM we can afford to raise our expectations and are becoming spoilt for choice. Once upon a time if a poor model had orange paint on it we were happy it was 'Irish', now we might notice if the font on wagon lettering is marginally the wrong type face. For IRM rapidly increasing numbers of satisfied customers, fuelling ever higher expectations is also a welcome problem for any successful business. In the fullness of time due to age profile in the hobby the sales of CIE era may surprise - or it may not, but I'd bet my favourite Black'n'Tan 141 on the former. When you raise the bar you also raise customer expectations. Managing that can be fun. Happy days ahead. PS: 7 out of the 17 MM baby GMs were done in a CIE livery.

There is no 'Like' button available on your posts @BosKonay so here is one

CIE era my personal preference too, especially pre 1975. The three wagons that I could almost guarantee would brake all sales records are Bulleid corrugated single beat, double height corrugated beat, and H-Van. The most populous wagons that ever ran on Irish rails and operated over the entire network. These done to the exceptional IRM RTR standard would simply fly . . .

Thanks Stephen. Yes it only took about 45mins to get to that stage, mostly filing and sanding all the crude seams off the old Tri-ang chassis, and then build up the NEM pockets. I tried all the gearbox Kadee's I had, but I didn't have 142 (medium overset) which might have screwed nicely on to the chassis without any spacers needed, so I went the NEM route and plugged in a no 18, and changed the plastic white rimmed wheels for metal ones. What donor chassis did you use for yours?

Ah that's brilliant. So if I switched to the IE version all I might have to do is remove the window grills and add a black CIE broken wheel logo.

Thanks to @BosKonay's 3D link I decided to try a two axle timber wagon. Started on the bench today. I recycled and part cannibalised an old Triang chassis I had since childhood. If I like the look of it when I'm finished might try scratch building a few more bodies using this as a measurement template. DIY NEM 362 pockets fitted so I can use Kadee or TLCs in the future.

Thats an absolutely superb job @popeye. Sharp, square and no warping. Love the finishing touches. 42ft not really my era but looking at that I might even be converted (oops did I say that out loud). Did you enjoy working with brass as a medium?

Apologies Stevie, I'm not a fan of Zuron pliers for cutting track rails. Two broke on me, could have lost an eye with one, but luckily I was wearing goggles, they are not really designed to cut material as thick as code 75 or code 100 rail. They are also less precise than micro disc cutters. They are however great for cutting thiner metal materials such as cabling, wire grab rails for rolling stock, plastic, thin bits of brass, etc, etc. Carborundum disc causes zero distortion unlike pliers once they get older (i.e. easier to get fish plates to slide on after cutting).

https://www.mfacomodrills.com/mini_drills/drills.html https://www.amazon.co.uk/Rotacraft-Carborundum-Cutting-10-Silver/dp/B007RC5B7Q http://www.marksmodels.com/?pid=18800 https://www.mfacomodrills.com/mini_drills/drills.html If you already have a modellers mini drill you also need a spindle to mount the discs on, but you can also buy complete kits like some of the above.

Agree 100%. Carborundum disc on a mini drill is your only man for cutting track. It is by far the easiest and least labour intensive, and accurate.

Thanks Fran. On the IR/IE versions do you think it would be easy for modellers to remove the wire window grills? (i.e. will they be separate pieces glued over the glazing or are the an integral part of the body).

Talking about close coupling and gangways, etc. One of the things I remember as a child in the 60s was jumping over the gangway flaps between carriages with the tracks clearly visible flying underneath, with the gangways bouncing around, the big thick rope hand grabs, daylight gaps appearing and disappearing as they flexed over wobbly jointed track work - and the noise! It all looked so feeble and as a child you wondered if the two carriages could part company just as you were moving from one to another. Another time when trains were proper trains with engines and carriages, instead of soulless boring rail cars passing lifeless deserted stations devoid of any goods traffic. Not like the 60s and 70s when every tiny station between Dublin and other cities was a hive of pickup goods traffic, nearly always with an interesting goods train waiting in a loop being overtaken by the passenger train you were on. Men shunting a closed van into the little goods shed, it all seemed so logical and systematic. Oh there was so much interesting stuff and track formations for a child to look at in wonder out the window of a train carriage. A few days later you'd try and recreate the scenes you'd seen, past copies of Beano hardback annuals making up platforms beside Hornby-Dublo track, and humming train noises, buffer clashes, couplings, guards whistles and notching GMs. You became quite an impersonator - but of imaginary trains not here today gone tomorrow celebs. Nostalgia! I've got a fit of reawakened nostalgia from reading 'Rails through the West' - yet again!

Likewise the CIE version would appeal to me too (i.e. without the window grills). Ordered the IR version in the mean time.

Stunning model.

Close coupling tests on setrack. I was asked over on the FB site how the recoupled coaches might perform on setrack curves. I don't have any setrack on the layout, but had some in the attic from old train sets which I set up for tests. MM Mk2 coaches with the Hornby R8220 close couplings performed incredibly well on 1st, 2nd and 3rd radius setrack curves. No buffer locking. See pics below. The MM Mk2 with alternate kadee no 20 and 19 at each end were OK on 2nd and 3rd radius but buffer lock on sharp 1st radius curves. The Cravens were fine with the short Kadee on 3rd radius push or pull, but on 2nd radius when pulling ok but buffer lock when pushing. Probably because I used the shortest kadee possible. With longer kadee the 2nd radius would have been OK for cravens. No chance on 1st Radius with the short kadee's. So my personal conclusion is Hornby R8220 or Roco 40270 close couplings can cope with anything and provide excellent close coupling, and kadee's ok with mk2 stock on 2nd and 3rd radius. These close couplers should work well for fixed rake coach formations. These tests were only between adjacent coaches only. For loco to coach coupling you may need longer kadee no 19 or 20 between loco and first coach on 2nd radius curves.

'Au Revoir' met.ie old web site on the 18th. It has served well for many years, was concise and visually effective. One of the first to incorporate an animated rain fall radar which was one of the sites best features. The all new singing all dancing met.ie web site launches later this week. It has tons of visual data.

Craven Kadee conversion continues. Photos below of stock being tested for vertical alignment, spacing, and running trails both pull and push around curves and over points. Kadee on Craven below is now lining up correctly with MM 141 loco (no 19 on loco, with DIY adapter and no 17 under coach). The two white plastic adapters are clearly visible. These will get a coat of sleeper grime once further running trials have completed. Closer than with the standard TLCs. I didn't want to use Hornby/Roco close couplers on the Cravens because they will be frequently marshalled and shunted into varying coach formations containing Park Royals, Laminates, Bredins, and all manner of vans such as GSVs, TPO, HLV, etc. PS: @jhb171achill I hope the 'men in black' pics above will go someway toward exonerating me from my temporary encounter with the modernity of mk2 oranges and 'yellow fever'.

Thanks, that's useful to know. Just ordered a rake of Tara's with that Payment Method.

Yipee - Craven Kadee height problem solved. I tried all manner of Kadee's this evening, long, short, medium, underset, overset, centerset shanks, etc, even No 5's but in the end the simplest solution proved the best. A home made adapter using no 17s. Glue shortened Kadee no 17s to a DIY plasticard NEM shaft (12mm x 3mm). First remove the nibbles from the end of the tongs (i.e. shorten the no 17 by 2mm). Then plug this adapter into the existing Craven NEM pocket. Option to fit using friction only, or small screw through the NEM pocket to secure.