Noel

I've used a 141 chassis for the C class. Thank you for the encouragement guys, especially considering the pool of talent and experience from whence it came. Seeing what you guys have achieved inspires beginners like me to try and risk mistakes. Really enjoying the iterative trial and error learning process. I've had to acquire patience and spend time planning before lifting a tool. Currently cutting up a 141 chassis to fit in her, which looks like it should fit perfectly once the redundant brake cylinders are removed from the 141 bogie front ends, or the bogies sides are replaced with the supplied resin ones. I'm loath to do that as the Bachman bogie sides are part of a snap fit unit that seals the gears from dirt. Stripped 141 chassis with part of the metal chassis cut away at both cab ends. Managed to adjust the ride height so she buffers up correctly with rolling stock. Chassis recessed into SF resin body shell using plastic stops. The 141 chassis fits well and the bogies do not foul the front end of the loco when crossing points or on curves because the lead brake cylinders have been removed which gives clearance for bogie to pivot. Fuel tank will need some adjustment too. In the cold light of day some blemishes become apparent, so either my mild tendency for OCD will force me to tidy them up, or I'll try and hide them with weathering. Still trying to decide which way I will get the running lights working as this era of C class did not have head lamps. The MM chassis had tiny LEDs on two small cab PCBs and used clear plastic strips to transfer the light around corners to the outside of the 141 body shell. I may try fibre optic cable and reused the MM PCBs, otherwise 1mm LEDs placed through holes in the body where the moulded light fittings are. Why cut up an MM 141/181? Some might ask why I cut up a lovely MM 141 chassis for a mere Silverfox C class kit, but it was just cost maths, alternatives such as a pair of BlackBeetle 27:1 ratio power bogies cost nearly as much as a 141/181, yet I'd still have to fabricate a chassis, and a Hollywood Foundry centre drive chassis would have cost more than an MM loco. I really wanted a precision centre drive chassis with all wheel pickup and all wheel drive for slow running quality and prototypical behaviour when shunting, etc, and sacrificing an MM 141/181 made sense because it cost less but delivered all the goodies including all the electrics such as 21pin DCC socket, lights, speaker cradle, etc. Like many others I've been able to acquire baby GMs for anything between €80-105. I apologise to anybody who considers I have committed modelling heresy Also a B&T C class hauling loose coupled goods wagons or a pair of coaches for rural branch passenger traffic really appeals to me. If this works well, I will try another in flying snail Green livery. PS: stripping the bachmann/MM chassis was painful and as complicated as doing a jigsaw in reverse - I had serious doubts about the wisdom of such a move, but as they say burn your bridges and there can be no going back.

Hi John. Thanks for info, however I was not able to send you a PM, your PM box is full. Noel

Well done guys. The hours that went into the cad drawings and collecting the raw data must have been vast. Great team effort. You must all be so relived and now pleased to see the wagons in their natural habitat on a layout.

C class progressing. Mask templates for front of cab (i.e. masking tape on grease proof paper for cutting to shape) Almost ready for decals, weathering and varnishing. I decided to go for the narrow stepped tan band. Just the red buffer beam and door flashing to paint, then decals, and a few bits to be added. As per Richie's recommendation I have found the Vallejo paints a joy to use (model air). Like their bottles and caps cause you can measure fairly accurately by counting drops from the narrow bottle neck with minimal waste. The paint covers really nice and smoothly and seems the perfect viscosity for air brush use. Hi Paul, Your very kind but I'm a 'complete novice' myself slowly and cautiously trying to learn this stuff. Few pot holes along the way, but really enjoying the journey. The Tamiya acrylics came from idmodels.ie and marks models, the Vallejo acrylic paints from everythingairbrush.com, and the halfords plastic grey primer from halfords. The veda airbrush and compressor from bartsharp.co.uk on Richie's recommendation, and for weathering the railmatch acrylics paints and acrylic thinners from howesmodels.co.uk. Mixing jars and masking tape (tamiya and model craft) from Marksmodels. Noel

Bizarre anybody would pay £99ea when they will be retailing for £79 as per SF's other coach pricing!!! Dave, as these were pre-production samples do you know if John is likely to make correctional changes before going into production? The photo of the 6 wheel HLV seemed to pass the 'duck test' other than the shade of tan, the loose glazing, painted on grab rail instead of wire, and the hideous 1970s tension lock coupling. Needs a NEM pocket.

Congrats Richrua for being the first to post pictures of the wagons operating on a layout. Glad to see the buffers appear perfectly straight on the production models. Your plough van really looks the part on the rake. Looking forward to delivery of the ballasts. Great photos btw, and layout looking fab. The ballast wagons looking excellent.

Thanks for the info. Your success has inspired me to have a go with the SSM brake van. Btw, the finished article looks really great so the 'duck test' is not needed one bit.

Nice job. Thanks, did the primer go straight onto the brass or did you have to wash/rub it down?

Thanks Obi-Wan (Richie). Is there a brand you recommend? So far I've been using Tamiya and Model Craft masking tapes (2mm, 3mm, 6mm, 10mm, etc). The Tamiya white 'curved' tape (i.e. for cab fascia) seems awkward to use, it just won't stick to anything. Richie do you mind me asking what backing material you use to pre-cut tape into difficult shapes? I've tried grease proof paper, but it almost sticks too well to the tape, so getting the tape shapes back off it for transfer to model can be tricky. Noel

Nice one Richrua. Looking good. I have never used brass before, but I am due to attempt one of Des's brake vans, so do you mind me asking a few questions? What primer did you use and did you have to prepare the brass to receive it (i.e. sand, etc)? Did you use solder or super glue to build it, and if solder which kind? Is the Dapol chassis a 10, 11 or 12ft?

That's a good sized room. Best of luck with the project. Look forward to watching it evolve. Model Rail Baseboards may be closer to you. http://www.modelrailbaseboards.com

Confession time - major boo-boo All ready to go - or at least that's what I thought - after using grease proof paper as a backing to cut masking tape templates for cab fascia's Disaster - major mistake 9" white stripe! I used the 3mm masking tape instead of the 2mm. Will have to start again, not happy. Back to square one - redo white stripe properly this time Not entirely happy but its an improvement - White stripe corrected to 6" scale height. She's nearly ready for the tan band. Ah well, I hope I learn from my mistakes!!! Will try and finish this over the next week or so. Btw, this was done using 'Vallejo Model Air' acrylic paints. Pre-thinned straight out of the bottle into the air brush cup. The paint goes on easier and nicer than the Tamiya I've used so far.

Oh lordy lordy yes. The voice of truth. Interesting to hear from more experienced folk. As a newbie to airbrushing it took me ages to clean up the first few times, and I found it quite frustrating, but now I get the airbrush cleaned in about 2mins (i.e. after acrylics). Anyway Kieran those wagons look super and your creative use of the aerosols clearly worked very well. Love the tractor load.

Impressive model engineering. Precise and very neat work.

I'd guess they may be similar prices to John's Irish GSVs which are GBP £79 (€95). Have you seen them close up Dave? Difficult to tell the width from the camera angle in those photos. The deep tumblehome of the prototype HLV was a very distinct characteristic. The paint job looks nice and crisp, but I hope the large hand rail is fitted, and not painted on the production models as per the photo above. Also the glazing needs to be pushed tight against the windows and not have the air gaps seen in the photos.

Thanks for posting those Dave. As pre-production models they look very nice, especially the 3 axle HLV. Agree about NEM pockets and hope he puts hand rails by at the guards door on the HLV and the double doors on the TPO. Google produced two comparison photos. Great for the 60s/70s golden era. There is nothing on his web site yet http://silverfoxmodels.co.uk/category/irish-railways-iarnrod-eireann/ Any idea on pricing?

Unfortunately missed the legendary WMRC layout exhibition due to a last minute hitch that took me 250 miles in the wrong direction. Had planned to come down by train on Easter Monday. I've heard nothing but superlatives for this show, it's spacious venue and the vast number of excellent layouts it hosts. Will definitely make it next year. Looking forward to seeing a few pics and videos in due course.

Hi Kieran. Nice photos as ever. Are the interiors of the mk4 sets getting an overhaul? Noel

The locos look really well on the layout. Glad you've enjoyed the switch to DCC and sound. It adds a whole new dimension to driving model trains. Layout looks really well. I love the walls and green foliage.

SF recommends these Hornby chassis for a plastic "cut and shut" job: Class 25 or 29 or 73, and the C class kit comes with instructions for cutting any of these three. However these are old style basic chassis (i.e. railroad specs) with only four wheel diagonal pickup and one powered bogie.

Yea, if I cut the resin I'd want to ensure the grills ended up flush with the body sides rather than protruding, same for the window frames, well almost flush.

Hi Kieran. Thanks for suggestions. I have considered same, but I've decided to walk before I run on the first loco project. I have the SSM detailing kit, but the grills don't match for C class (i.e. the SF body grill seems incorrectly much wider), I've already filed off the headlamp as the loco will be pre-rebuilt era, and I quite like the existing resin grill on top, which leaves brass for just the front window surrounds, wipers, etc. I will save the SSM detail kit for an A class project where I can use all of the brass. For this C class I have a modified centre drive chassis which fills the internal space, so little point having a see through grill (i.e. on the prototype you could see right through the loco from one side to the other). The three areas I wan't to concentrate on for this first loco 'training exercise', is the quality and precision of the paint job, chassis running performance as per the prototype (i.e. due weight, all wheel drive and all wheel pickup), and DCC sound. Noel

John, thank you very much. You are truly the 'jbikipedia' of this forum all matters Irish railways.

Next project is this. Now what livery to go for? I am torn between Black'n'Tan 1960s, but really like the black livery with the yellow front panel, and then there is the flying snail green livery which would be great for hauling some of my green flying snail coaches. Decisions decisions. First one was to file away the head light boxes. Does anybody have any colour photos of those liveries, very few on the internet?

Wishing our model railway friends a very happy and special Easter. Noel "God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again." John 3:17 (Msg)