Noel

Over on the FB group the topic of the various shades of Tan and Orange used by CIE and IR/IE over the years popped up, and the shades used on some models. In the pic below the colour of MM Mk2 coach seems to have too much yellow and doesn't match the shade used on either loco variant. Personally while the coaches are lovely models the colour especially the roof seems to scream out on the layout as it appears too day-glo bright and I'm wondering how I might tone them down a little them to suit my personal taste. 4 options to adjust the shade or tan/orange for the coaches: Full respray but that will be a big job requiring a complete set of decals for each coach Weather the coaches (i.e. much as I did with the Orange cement wagons) Sell them and instead respray eBay sourced Hornby/Bachmann/Lima Mk2e/f coaches also requires full set of decals but will obviously need to keep and respray the MM EGV and restaurant car. Leave as they are I'm leaning towards option no 2 as it seems the least work and quickest solution. Any suggestions welcome. Coach below does not match either loco, mind you 177 is mildly factory weathered. The bright orange coach roof might blend better with some weathering. 177 roof seems unaffected by the body sides factory weathering

Most RTR and kit footbridge models are designed for ground level installation, so when placed higher up on platforms it is ok to reduce the steps by the height of the platform.

The 1905 Amiens Street to Sligo on Fridays

Next up on the workbench will be some Silverfox resin kits I've collected over past year or two. A class B&T livery (rebuilt stepped orange band) - 071 donor chassis C class flying snail green Eau-de-nil livery - 141 donor chassis Sulzer 101 class flying snail green Eau-de-nil livery - Bachmann donor chassis (BR cl 24 sound project) Dutch GSV - RPSI green to run with their mk2 rake These may take some time. Will start by doing some of the common work on all four in parallel to save time. Then its cut'n'shut time for some centre drive donor chassis. Silverfox A + C class kits Silverfox Dutch GSV kit + B101 class Sulzer kit due for 'eau-de-Nil' flying snail green livery That'll keep me busy for a while

Hi Steve. How are these applied if they are not on a film? Are they still waterslide transfers? Thanks. Noel

Ah match day special to Croke park

Un Grand Exploit - Well done Accurascale/IRM getting on the front page of RMweb and placed on the top of Trade & Products section. Right up there in lights with Bachmann, Hornby, DJH, Dapol, etc. Clever alphabetic naming too for supplier lists and show catalogs. Well done AS/IRM. Saturn V is clear of the tower and all five engines are nominal. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/2-products-trade-area/

Yes in fairness IRM did indicate a very keen price for a pair of tara wagons before Christmas that was significantly less than the cost per wagon of the Ballasts. To me welcome evidence of a willingness to reduce prices as more certainties were established in the production process. I can't find the actual post but I have a screen grab of it somewhere.

Very impressive. And a very very keen price.

What I was particularly impressed with was the choice of driver uniform options

I complement IRM for asking your customers about this. Very happy to go with the flow. Just a suggestion, after announcing the annual programme, perhaps it would be nice to minimise subsequent announcements and have them close to delivery dates of each product rather than a series of 'announcements about announcements' which can be mildly irritating from a customers perspective. Your existing customer base is obviously massively larger than the 35 poll respondents and forum, perhaps email links to polls in future may give you a wider customer hit rate than just the forum. Keep up the great work and wish you well with Accurascale in the UK. Looking forward to hearing about your 2018 plans in the fullness of time. PS: I've changed my mind since I submitted a response to your customer survey last year, I'd now be happy to have an IRM A class without working windscreen wipers.

I could not find "Eau-de-nil" diesel loco transfer sets on RailTec or SSM websites.

What material or seeds do folk use to simulate beet loads?

Great stuff. Very interesting Eoin. Really looking forward to watching this evolve over time and the end result.

WSF = Wrenneire Stuck For-words FUD = Forumite Under Duress Yes that can be a problem with resin. 3D plastic can be an advantage for this sort of wagon as they stay straight and true without warping. I'm not sure about the weight though. I have a rake of 20ft 3D container flats from another source and they run ok without loads in forward or when shunted in reverse.

Sure is. I nearly fell of my seat laughing when I saw it. It's an SW1500 switcher that got bashed with an ugly stick. It's an old early generation Athern so not even worth chassis donor value. No where near as good a runner as later generation Atheran SW1500s.

Hi Jonathan, Its a Phoenix Precision paints product. Its enamel so I don't use it other than to create reference cards to help me mix Tamiya and Vallejo Acrylics to match. But you will need either AddressPal or ParcelMotel to get it shipped by post from UK to Ireland north or south due ridiculous hazchem H&S limits Royal Mail imposed a few years ago (i.e. including shipping enamel model paints off the island of GB). Noel https://www.phoenix-paints.co.uk/products/precisionrailway/irish/14p881 PS: You can mix up any of the CIE/IE tan/orange colours by using Tamiya X6 (orange) mixed with a very small amount of XF64 (brown), and optionally just a few drops of Red depending on the shade you are looking for.

In the link below Neil indicates a possible €15 for WSF version and €25 for FUD version. Bare in mind you'll need to add the bogies and wheels as well as paint them, but its beginning to look a very interesting possibility. Suggest keep an eye on his thread over on RMweb. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130341-42ft-container-flat-wagon/?p=3017372

121 on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CIE-Irish-CL121-bo-bo-diesel-00-gauge-please-read-desc/253381855240?_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140725133651%26meid%3D85897b4d1021471baf343bcec4bf71dd%26pid%3D100276%26rk%3D1%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D332525034693&_trksid=p2060778.c100276.m3476

Snap two. This was hand painted to CIE livery when I was 12 or 13 many moons ago. It had been a Tri-ang Hornby LMS coach (mk chassis and roof but bizarr sides)

Must be me! I also DCC'd a pair of split chassis Bachmann's and it was a challenge not to mention nigh impossible to get them to run as free as they did before I spilt and put the chassis sides back together again sandwiching the motor. Essential to isolate the motor from both sides of the chassis. I was ultra careful with the realignment and all the plastic bushes but no matter what I did even after re-running them in again they were not satisfactory. I then did a lot of reading up on it over on rmweb from folks with a lot of split chassis conversion experience and the consensus was they were not worth the effort. A few models have the motor exposed and therefore can be easily converted with splitting the chassis.

User Nile over on rmweb posted interesting 3D 42ft container flat with FUD option (frosted ultra detail) he's made for possible release on Shapeways. FUD option looks impressive compared to the normal WSF. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/130341-42ft-container-flat-wagon/?p=3013818 Photos below are Nile's linked from his post over on rmweb via link above. Makes one wonder what is possible in 3D with the right mix of FUD and WSF parts.

Kit building v RTR - In some cases can it be a false economy when RTR cost is perceived as a factor? I only ask this question in the case where both a kit is available of a particular model and a reasonably close RTR option. If I am really honest by the time you tool up with materials, tools, paints and all those little packs of extra bits inc postage, do many kits not end up costing more than their RTR counter part? For example while I really enjoyed my recent Lima GSV conversion, which wasn't even a kit more a kit bash, I wondered if it ended up costing me more than the €90 (RTR option). Yes I know half the fun was the time enjoyed building it, and doing some aspects of it more to my liking than the RTR alternative, but can't help wondering if making tweaks to an RTR would have cost less and ended up looking much the same. End of rambled wondering.

Not sure now. I had assumed it was the earlier split chassis variant from the sellers description "No DCC. this would need to added professionally". But it could have been the later pre-DCC chassis in Eoin's link. Hattons have new Black BR crested ones for £85 which are DCC ready.

Hi Dave. Sure understand. I just run them. Noel ps. The musicality of your little melody above got me wondering if you been in "the" D8 band?