Noel

Bring it on! I can aim two air brushes at your gloxing boves and weather both of them before you've even realised. Suppose we won't fall out Twas your very self who converted me to bubbles in Bray about a year ago when you sold me four of @Georgeconna's weathered orange MIR bubbles.

Done. BTW, Model rail mags poll web site's layout and navigation is utter rubbish.

Sorry - But on my model railway they are arranged the way I like them to look, in symmetry with ladders all in the same direction. Call it OCD or personal preference but I can't stand the look ladder to ladder even if its prototypically correct - it looks all wrong on my toy choo-choo layout. On Kingsbridge the virtual lads who have to load and unload cement get over time!

Or it was bright day-glo orange causing nausea and dizziness

Thats a fabulous photo. They hey day of containers by ship direct to rail. Now that's all by road. There is a serious amount of CIE uniload containers in that yard. They must have had some decent freight traffic back then.

That confirms the Bachmann Y25 is a close enough match for those wagons. The Cambrian alternatives don't even come with wheels nor axle bearings. Too much hassle!!! Interested to see what Neil's next set look like. They will have the round buffers and mounts for the Bachmann Y25 bogies.

Bet you the rescue loco had kadee couplings but the failed loco had tension lock

Apologies no you don't - my mistake. I had another tab open with another black and white photo of a super train A class. I need to visit fingersavers. Your fab pic is of an early version of the B&T livery before they were rebuilt and ended up with the narrower stepped tan band. Mind you it looks like there is an 'R' after the loco number so could have been one of those Patrick alluded to.

Agree round buffer all the way. FYI, that's not a black and tan livery A class in the photo - its super train livery (i.e. orange and black) Black and Tan are basically all black with a white stripe and a small or narrow tan band above the chassis. It can seem confusing cause tan and orange all look orange from a distance You cannot beat C-Rail containers for quality and precise detail, as somebody already said earlier B&I is the missing link.

Thought all the bubbles were really the same project no 2, hence the difference liveries of the identical models were labelled packs A-F. If my memory is not failing me I thought when first announced the Taras are named as project 3, but I'm sure the lads can clarify. Intrigued Looking forward to the meet up on the 3rd. It will be a class event.

Just a wild guess troops but I reckon IRM might be doing these yokes in the not too distant future Hold on to your hard earned and relax. That's precisely what I was wondering when I first saw Neil's stunningly precise FUD models. On the brink of pressing 'submit' for a rake over on Shapeways . . . and then remembered Fran's comment above from the thread below. Waiting for the announcement on the 3rd may be prudent to see if 42 footers are to be project no 4 and what the ship date might be. But project 4 might surprise us all and be a different class of model altogether! http://irishrailwaymodeller.com/topic/6208-irish-railway-models-survey-you-have-spoken/

Hi Jonathan. 'Eau de nil' stripes added to test sample below. Is the one on the RHS anywhere near to the C class green post 55 or the coaches? Noel

In fairness almost as ugly as the Orange livery 201s which were visually incompatible with the tippex livery mk3s they hauled, unlike the few Galway livery coaches.

Listen Dave, what you do with your gloxing boves is your business The wanderers photos here might help figure out what goes where. https://thewandererphotos.smugmug.com/search/?q=belmond&c=photos&scope=node&scopeValue=hnLLK#i=0 PS: I am awaiting etch myself to have a go at these

You've done a great job on those wagons. Well done.

Yea fair cop - but I've a lexdysic excuse! PS: I do belatedly apologise for asking IRM to proclamate beat wogans in your customer server last year, I'm sure CIE never had a special wogan for musicians. But I could be getting mixed up with the radio train.

Can't help you with the Belmont coaches I'm afraid, but they could be very similar to the Belmond ones. See names below on SSMs new etches.

Na - train too short! That doesn't blow my skirt up. (opps did I say that out loud - just kidding) Just kidding, looks fab. Love the busy station platform scenes - a hive of activity. So that's two proper enterprise trains on the forum. Did Dave and Mark produce many of these sets?

I've updated the test sample photo below to show the Vallejo paint numbers used, apologies without ratios, as I usually mix paint by eye rather than by measure. When I am happy with the shades I will have to thin the final mix because some of the paint is pre-thinned for direct air brush use (Model Air), but the two greens are 'Model Color' spec which needs to be thinned for airbrush use. Vallejo have two product lines 'Model Air' and 'Model Color', both basically the same but 'Model Air' is pre-thinned. 'Model Color' can be better value as you effectively get double the paint due its thickness.

Very impressive, neat, tidy, and precise work. Looking forward to following this. I remember those Triang LNER coaches from the 70s. A friend had a set.

Excellent video Stephen. Those hand built DDs reek of quality. They look fab in a full size rake and the lights really add to them. Your impressive layout shows them off to great effect.

Agree B&I is indeed the missing link.

Popeye inspired me to try a few vallejo mixes of various greens this morning. Apologies for using a paint brush. I was trying to see if I could get near the RPSI green as well as various CIE early and late 1950s shades. Its a little subjective because in the flesh if I look at these samples in different light they can change appearance quite a bit. Not quite got the RPSI green but getting closer.

Wow. I'm weakening despite these being before my era. Methinks a rake is in the offing. For 3D the FUD versions almost appear to be bordering on IRM levels of quality even if not complete RTR (i.e. bogies, paint and decals required to complete). Were the original 42ft wagon chassis later adapted by CIE for other purposes such as fertiliser wagons, and timber wagons, etc?

Very interesting test patches. It would be interesting to see what the shades look like on a grey primer.