Noel

Ok take 3 - added some grey to the top of the tank and a little power on the top surfaces of the chassis frame Kind of trying to make them look like their first year or so in that livery with minimal dirt Note entirely happy but still newish to this weathering malarkey so will probably now do the full rake looking similar to this first pack. Thank you team IRM for truly superb wagons. Video clip in due course.

WMRC open day. Catering for visitors to the WMRC open day. SDMRC show could learn from this. I was astonished the Dublin show lacked catering/cafe facilities for visitors, only for exhibitors behind closed doors. Hospitality is a vital aspect of any exhibition or show, it encourages buyers and visitors to linger longer, spend more, as well as offer a better overall visitor experience. Well done WMRC.

Trying to figure out what next for the IRM bubbles. Personally I visually don't like prototypical the way they looked at end of life when they were filthy, so hoping to just gently dust them all and have a small amount of cement dust on top and the top sides of the chassis. I'm experimenting with one set before tackling the full rake. Think next up needs some grey weathering powder followed by dusting of grey paint on top.

Got two more Murphy Model 141/181s lightly weathered last night. Just enough to get the pristine finish removed and dull the shine off them. In the B&T era they kept the locos fairly clean anyway. I've finally figured out a quicker way of masking off any bits I didn't want paint to go (e.g. windows, wheels, pickups, etc) I just loved the B&T era.

Hi Jason. I know 'Mr Pristine' wants to lightly weather these gorgeous Irish Cement wagons! For my personal taste buds a light weathering should be sufficient as they are very attractive wagons with the blue Irish Cement logo.

Started to very lightly weather some of the new cement bubble wagons this evening. I have to admit to being scared witless I might destroy these fabulous wagons, but have tried to keep the weathering minimal. First some frame dirt on the black chassis and barely a dusting on the bubble just to remove the pristine look, and then some powder. Will look at it again in the morning in natural day light before deciding what if anything to add. Perhaps a little greyer on top. Left two wagons had a light dusting with air spray, the third wagon on right has had a little weathering powder added. Will probably need a little tidying up tomorrow when I can view in day light.

Got itchy this evening and took first steps towards very lightly weathering a pair of baby GMs, four mineral wagons and three cement bubbles. Will try some grey dust on the tops of the bubbles tomorrow after I get some more work done on the GSV.

Had to wait for natural daylight to photograph the black chassis on the cement bubbles. There is so much superb detail hidden by the black I'm going to lightly weather the chassis a slightly brighter colour so the details becomes more visible in relief. The detail is just on another stratosphere http://www.derg.ie/albums/kingsbridge/IMG_3384.jpg

Good news is MM have a fix for the wobbly RPSI Cravens. Chatted with Paddy Murphy yesterday at SDMRC and he has a fix for the RPSI cravens that will be available soon. It's a thin sprung brass shim washer that sits between the bogie and coach floor. Apparently the RPSI Cravens were built with the exact same tooling as recent MM B&T Cravens but in a different factory. No rhyme nor reason for any difference but something about the process in the other factory may account for the tiniest difference in clearances where the bogies snap fit onto the chassis. Alternatively a very thin plastic card shim washer between the bogie and coach bottom will do the same job.

Your welcome. No prob re chat, I could see you guys were rather busy

Or a glass baseboard

IRM Cement Bubble wagons arrived on the layout this evening. They are stunningly sublime. Stephen, Richie, Patrick and Fran take a bow. The detail is up yet another level Looking forward to 'gently' weathering these The detail for model wagons is just beyond belief. Look at the reading on the pressure gauge. And the underside . . . words are insufficient. Well done team IRM - class product. PS: There was no cement inside any of mine

Well done team IRM. Cement Bubble wagons arriving at SDMRC show in Blackrock College.

Good luck today guys. It's a tall order to make the show today but appreciate the effort. Adds a 'suspense' element. I've B141 and B121 fuelled and ready in the pilot siding ready to couple up to the rake of bubbles.

Very nice indeed. Love the added rivets. Looks super.

GWR 0-6-0 Tank and an auto coach is one of my favourite combinations. Iconic GWR heaven.

The foliage is a good clue

GSV 3185 (BSK) continues. First coat of primer to reveal any filling blemishes. Next step is to fill the blemishes, insert the side grills, cut the water feeds at each end, and Keen systems suspended LMS gangways, B5 bogie kits from Replica, Bachmann oval buffers, modify the roof, add under frame fuel tanks, door steps, spray then decals from Studio Scale models, varnish, etc. As this is a Lima donor, the roof is also connected to clear plastic sides for the windows which slide inside the body in one piece, so will cut some of that away, but it will be useful to retain as its an easy snap fit which will allow me to fit out the interior at a later date and perhaps even add some DCC lighting and tail lamps. Flirting with the idea of leaving one of the guards door open, but might leave that for the next GSV which will be 3173 (BCK) which has a totally different door and window layout.

Depot building looks fabulous.

Hi Stevie, In case it is any help, I just successfully sent a PM with a photo. I 'dragged and dropped' the JPG into the message body and it appeared after a few seconds and sent ok. Noel PS: I always resize photos from original size down to about 250k instead of 5mb straight off the camera. This helps when sending electronically using email or forums (i.e. 1024 pixels wide instead of 24mp)

Eoin, those scenes and that loco are simply sublime. Greystones has evolved such a high level of realism that it defies adjectives. I'm dreaming I'm 12 again, and just about to drag a mirror dinghy up onto that beach as the train trundles by, its shrill whistle scaring the sea gulls off the adjacent rocks.

Side one: Body modified, now filler and rub down, see blemishes, refill and run down again Humbrol model filler seems to dry in a few hours and then files and sands very easily Side two: Completed modifications to other side. Twin doors swapped with window, two single doors filed flat ready for filler. Vent window squared off. Plastic panel RHS inserted to replace double doors moved where LHS 2nd window used to be. Next step filler, file, sand and first prime to reveal any blemishes. As these Lima roofs are snap fit and pop on and off really easily will leave interior for another day, but will have to make mods to under frame and source B5 bogies. Haven't really worked much with plastic card before but enjoying trying to figure it out. This is kind of fun.

Step 1 - Swap double doors with window and file away two unwanted single doors Step 2 - Fill in unwanted door windows and small window Step 3b - fill window + door window with plasticard Step 4 - Use filler to fill the two unwanted door panels and plasticard joins + File out window square for grill More anon over the coming days . . .

Never ends? But don't you just love this sort of IT challenge. (even if in secret)

Really like the new BB software. Folks may not realise what a big undertaking it was to migrate from vBulletin BB software to Invision (an IP.Board derived BB). Lots of unseen work going on to migrate data including user accounts, posts and treads, PMs, attachments, internal links, etc, and lots more. Possible upgrades to the LAMP/WAMP stack as well. Hats off to Stephen for the successful effort. Functionally the new software is a big improvement over vBulletin bringing lots of new features many of which were on folks wish lists. It is a brave undertaking to take on such a large and complex migration project, and all the unseen work associated with test migrations and setups that have gone unseen in the background over recent weeks. Visually it is also an improvement, but the new software functionality is the big gain here. Thanks Stephen