Noel

Split chassis is a big avoid. Better to buy a DCC ready one like 32-235 for about £80 from somewhere such as Hattons and just change the decals to NCC.

Good suggestion. Did that Richie when mixing Vallejo primary colours but boy their red pigment is really strong, needs a just fraction of red to yellow instead of a 50/50 mix to get the right shade of tan.

Yes it's a shame to see wasting assets.

Expansion of low cost air travel possibly also a factor.

Agree, Indeed it certainly is. The IRM team are A class act.

As Carlsberg might say, WMRC layout exhibition is probably the best in ROI

Hi Guys which solder for brass etch kits 188 or 145 degree? Also Carr's red or yellow flux? (can't see much of a difference in product desriptions)

Thanks Stephen. Understand. I'm just one of those stuck in the mud types who liked using desktop pinch2zoom on phones. Remember the 'wow' when Steve Jobs launched the original iPhone demonstrating the New York Times web site using fingers pinch2zoom and pan rather than a 'stylus'. Will learn to use 'activity' menu step.

Or a survey photo of one sq inch of A39r cab door handle, and a little green foliage to make it authentic.

Coming along very nicely. Gerry I'm really interested in your choice of green for undercoat. It's what I would instinctively go for too, but I've heard some suggest a brown colour so static grass and/or green scatters have an earthy contrast underneath. How do you handle this? Thanks. Noel

Well call me a "brass fan" and etch my brain, I stand corrected and I thought I knew a thing or two about Garda fleet vehicles. Great finds Patrick. That blasted gear lever was a nightmare.

. . . And if only the Garda ever had marked R4s in their fleet

Hi Stephen Is it possible to access the full desktop layout of the forum on a mobile phone such as iOS? I’ve tried the standard Safari trick of holding down the refresh page icon, and it pops up with the usual ‘request desktop site’ option but the page just refreshes stuck in the mobile layout/theme. Thanks Noel

Interesting. Between the USAs massive switch to fracking and growing trend towards renewables, oil's days seem numbered. The entire geopolitical balance may change as middle eastern oil supplies become less important to western economies. USA is such a vast land area rail freight still seems to have a long term future.

Bizarre. Fools and their money!

Great thread Gerry, and very enjoyable watching your progress. Really useful to see how top class scenic work is done.

You are quite correct. Apologies I got into the habit of often referring to the green livery as the flying snail livery which is technically incorrect. May I extend my most frosmodic contrifibularities to you on brining this to my attention.

Fab photo find Stephen. I'm weak at the knees looking at that photo of the C class hauled train, which might have been green livery flying snail judging by the cars and the Caltex logo at the filling station.

Agree. It didn't take an engineer to see the CG of the boat would be too high, nor that the loco could be too heavy for the plywood truss bridge which has already broken under its own weight when carried (man handled after being wet). All par for the course as you correctly observed for entertainment TV. I've found a liberal drowning of wet electronics in WD40 can rapidly breath new life back into them. I've found a bath of WD40 can rapidly breath new life back into wet electronic devices. I'd trust dried RC gear in a boat or loco, but not on board 12ft wingspan 1/4 scale RC model aircraft!!!

Well done for making the leap. Enjoy PS: Re long trains, if modelling a branch line, Irish or BR, even branch trains operating across or off main lines, trains need no more than one or two coaches, nor goods trains more than a few 4 axle wagons and a brake van.

Yes we can deny it till the cows come home, but we model train buffs can at times have slightly interesting personality traits. I quite enjoyed the programme myself, son in law sent me a text 30mins after it started but caught it on Ch4+1 later. Thought it was perhaps a little long and repetitive, it have been edited down to 30-40mins. Next week looks like a howl of misfortune. Not sure how the RC electronics in the loco took to a dunking in the canal. Fun though. Recognised some prominent UK model youtube broadcasters.

Hi George. In fairness I will. Its been a while since I've inspected their stuff in model shops. Years ago I switched to Bachmann. If Hornby or Bachmann have any sound equipped steam locos that are close approximations to ex-GSWR or ex-MGWR steam locos I could be tempted provided only cosmetic changes and paint are needed especially if 0-6-0 tender layout. Having said that I'm shortly about to offload my entire collection of Hornby and Bachmann British outline stock, only keeping the Hornby-Dublo, some of the Triang-Hornby for nostalgia reasons and ye auld Lima 215s and Mk1 B&T coach rakes even though I will never run them again. Thanks in no small part to Murphy Models, this forum and other vendors including IRM, my interest in the hobby was reawakened and I have managed to switch from operating LMS/GWR/LNER to Irish stock in recent years. Noel

I doubt it. The Irish market is too small for their business model, and their level of scale finesse may not be good enough anyway given how far MM and IRM have raised the 'Irish' bar, and I'm not talking about pubs. Also if there is any truth to the rumour Oxford rail are to release authentic Irish Mk3 coaches there would be no room in the small market for anything Hornby might offer other than the low end toy sector.

Good to hear and not surprised at such a positive review. I will wait to read the review free of charge when it is a PDF on IRM's website at some stage in the future. I stopped buying mags of all kinds a long time ago (i.e. same old, same old, which became boring after a few years). Anyway well done guys and will look forward to reading it at some stage in the future.

Absolutely sublime. Your accidental meeting with the former signalman is a wonderful bonus. Well done - a lot of patience and attention to detail combined with superb skills. Respect.