Noel

Hi Dave. I do find painting quite difficult if wearing gloxing boves. Seriously, yes yours sounds like a similar pattern. Primer first, then approx white band un-masked and at the same time the approx orange area un-masked (i.e. both overlapping where the black will be). Than put masking tape over where the white stripe and orange band should be, and spray the black. Wait 20 mins and pull the masking tape horizontally and reciprocally off. Noel.

Perhaps one day . . . but back on topic, Port Cumtha looks fabulous.

Yes only in Ireland do we put a bus on rails on the surface blocking the streets instead of an under ground. At least they seem to be getting that bit right with Metro.

Photo with better focus. Doodling with this little project has been quite enjoyable. Masking on this was a little tricky this time because there were so many raised relief items on the body sides close to the edge of the masking tape. It was not possible to do my usual air sealing of the tape using the wooden toothpick around some of these relief items, so instead of the usual airbrush distance and angle, I turned up the paint flow and sprayed exactly perpendicularly from a greater distance so no air pressure to blow paint under the bits of masking tape that were not flush with the sides. Vallejo paint seemed to make this easier, Tamiya may have started to dry a bit between the nozzle and hitting the sides of the coach due the longer distance the paint had to travel through air.

Yes the hobby here in Ireland even per-capita has always been much smaller than the UK which may be a factor. The number of clubs and skill base seems pro-rata less than the UK which has a long standing tradition of railway modelling in all its aspects. Perhaps one day a small 21mm branch diorama might tempt me, especially if I can find a modeller with the skills of a watch maker to help re-gauge a small selection of rolling stock and get it to run as reliably on track as it did on 00. As I said I have always admired 21mm layouts - but from a distance due to practicalities and my limitations.

Yes I remembered well your warnings and advice about this.

Some folks seem put off 21mm by the amount of work to modify all their rolling stock, getting stock running reliably on track after modifification, and for some the lack of ability to run stock on friends 00 layouts. That's my excuse also, but I admire and love looking at other folks broad gauge layouts.

Thanks Richie. That makes sense. What was also interesting is the Veda 186 I normally use has a 0.2mm needle/nozzle but the Veda 134 backup I used tonight had a 0.3mm needle/nozzle which doesn't sound much different in size, but it allowed a significantly wider paint area. In fact I may use 0.3mm in future as it allowed better coverage for 00 gauge bodies anyway.

That is a delight to behold.

Just pulled the masking tape off the CIE Brake Parcel van conversion (ex Bachmann LMS parcel). Tonight was spraying black over the reverse mask covering the orange and white. Next up the chassis, glazing, new corridor connectors, etc. The painting took longer than expected because when I test sprayed my usual airbrush it was not allowing paint to flow smoothly despite a deep clean last time it was used. Luckily I had the spare airbrush. Not as straight forward masking job as previous resprays due protruding vents over the doors half into the white stripe. Will give it 24hr before gloss varnish in prep for decals and weathering powders.

Ah well, only one more year of 'shovel belting' will help keep me fit

Started painting the brake parcel van tonight. Got both the white and tan on in one session ready for reverse masking tomorrow. Then black on sides, ends and roof, fit Keen systems LMS suspended gangways, glazing, fit new NEM coupling pockets so she can be used with TL or Kadee couplings, paint chassis and bogies, paint new wheel sides, then gloss varnish, decals, weathering powders, weathering overspray, and finally matt varnish. It passes the time nicely.

Excellent and tastefully edited video. Looking forward to visiting the exhibition. Really impressed with the number of layouts.

All is forgiven. I have plucked the ICR dagger from my chest (missed my heart by 21mm). Welcome back into the family of proper trains, the zenith and golden era from 1930 to 1972 The great days of Irelands railway trains before the contamination of plastic formica super train and AEC sets, before the scalextricisation by hair dryer darts, the fibreglass seated yo-yo DMU & ICRs that spawned a dawn in the osteopathy and hearing aid industries, and the final insult, yes the meltdown of bendy lousy luasey buses on rails pretending to be trains.

Et tu, Brute? No surely it cannot be true that the 'oracle' JB would tolerate a turbo roller-skate toy yo-yo ICR (fake train). Now Mk4 forming a real train hauled by a ready supply of correct livery locomotives might sell especially for folks with layouts large enough to cope with the long length of mk4 coaches and 201 locos on gentle radius curves.

Is not 1940-1960 a big RTR gap? Especially steam locos, bredin/laminate & park royal coach era, A, 101, and 113 class diesels.

I've used Dapol RTR unpainted 5 Plank wagons @ £7.18 ea. I really like the fine detail on Dapol RTR chassis. Easy to paint body CIE grey and chassis CIE weathered grime (i.e. definitely not black), and pop on either CIE roundal or Flying snail logo They look well mixed with a range of open beet wagons. The coal load can easily be removed via a screw. https://www.dapol.co.uk/shop/oo-gauge/wagons-OO-Gauge/unpainted-wagons-OO-gauge/a001-oo-gauge-unpainted-5-plank-wagon-10-chassis-213

Yes I did. Super find Richie.

Ireland - Six Nations champions 2018 with a match in hand.

Very impressive indeed.

A little progress. The six nations is getting in the way of work today.

Nice job Jason. Looking great.

Fotograf?

Any nice pics with an Irish Rail/CIE loco hauling them?

I feel sorry for Neil over on RMweb since he produced some stunning 42 ft wagons using Shapeways 3D FUD, but IRMs 2018 product line up has put paid to his efforts. Just bad timing and choosing the wrong prototype. It is still good though to see guys with top class 3D design experience come up with Irish models. Most of the other Irish 00 gauge stuff over on Shapeways is not of the best design quality and being WSF requires quite a bit of work to smooth down the surfaces. The B113 'dalek' sulzer looks a bit of a horror story. 3D is improving all the time though and FUD may yet have a future for producing niche models that don't make it into the future plans of IRM or MM.