Noel

Thanks David. Your dead right about not rushing. I've taken a breather today (literally). Cheers JB, your very kind. It was your encouragement and suggestion these Hornby's would pass as Bredin's that set me off Absolutely - a huge relief. I spent ages on the masking tape and used the shaft of the lid of a bic biro like a soft blade to stretch and push the tape down over relief features on the body such as door handles, door panel lines, etc. Thanks John. Glad you found my beginners walk useful. More than anything I'm really enjoying the beginning of this journey of discovery, adventure, and even a little mis-adventure. The other night the airbrush started pulsing when I switched to the 0.5m needle/nozzle for wider spray because I hadn't cleaned it properly after the previous spray with thicker paint. And doing the white on a loco body I had the air pressure too low and it spat and blurted out blobs of paint, but was able to tidy it up with a cotton bud soaked in water - another advantage of acrylics is tidying up mistakes. My biggest gaff of the last few days was spraying black when the air brush became so clogged up no air was coming through it at all - bummer I thought I must have completely bunged up the entire innards of the airbrush - BUT, no it wasn't clogged, I'd forgotten to turn the compressor on and I had started using the air left in the bottle from a previous session - air ran out and i though brush was blocked, flick switch on and I felt a twit when the paint started flowing again. You are right John, I spent months avoiding 'give it a go', but finally jumped in. No matter what goes wrong nobody will have died after all! Btw, a 'thank you' is due to Richie (glenderg) for his advice and demo two years ago. It demystified a few myths as you said John, and Richie is a master with an airbrush.

Great clip, thanks for posting. 1982 in terms of railway history is not really that long ago, yet the atmospheric cine film flicker and colour tones gave the impression of 1950/60s era. Interesting coach behind the loco at 0:49s, almost looks like a TPO - on that line?

Thanks guys. Here's a better pic in daylight. It was a relief when I pulled the masking off. Wasn't sure what to expect, but was anticipating the need for some touching up, but alas model masking tape seems to have good sealing properties. Used 2mm tape for the white strip as its closest to 6" scale height. Was careful to try and keep the airbrush perpendicular to the masking tape edges so as not to blow paint up and under. On 3rd and 4th coats I risked a little upward spray to get the underside of the window edges covered and underside of the roof drip rail, but thankfully the 1st and 2nd coats seemed to have created a nice little seal with the edge of the masking tape preventing bleed upwards. If there is one thing I personally have had to learn more than anything else, it is 'patience'. All my life I used to run up and down stairs, across car parks and down corridores rushing to get things done. Not with model painting. I'm dying to pop this on the layout, but will have to wait for weathering and varnishing, new wheels, and passengers.

The level of detail is absolutely sublime. Hat's off to you Gerry. I really enjoyed following this layouts progress.

Hornby Bredin!!! Ok first coach respray attempt into Black'n'Tan livery. Last time I did this it was 1972 but used a paint brush! Decided to use some old Hornby Stanier coaches as training guinea pigs and if it went ok they might pass off as Bredin look-a-likes for hauling behind my B&T 141s. Lots of experimenting with test sheets of plastic, different thinner ratios, trail mixes for a passable tan colour, and a whole load of mistakes, and paint all over the place, but you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs first! I don't know why but I was rather nervous beforehand about wreaking the coaches and/or the airbrush. Anyway its a first step . . . Dismantle old Hornby ex-LMS Stanier coach A doze of Halfords plastic grey primer Airbrush area behind where white strip will be then reverse mask Mask ready to airbrush black on window level and roof Black airbrushed on Remove masking to reveal white stripe - "Brandenburg Division" livery - ready for tan/orange band Masked up for airbrushing tan/orange band below windows - Tamiya orange + brown mix Masking removed with a degree of trepidation and anxiety - wondering would it have worked? Ready for light weathering, then re-install glazing, under frames and bogies (already painted and weathered), some numbers, and then seal with a matt varnish spray can. Loads of stuff went wrong along the way, and made some big boo-boos, but really loving the early learning process. Next - attempt weather a B&T 141 PS: Used Tamiya acrylic paints and Tamiya acrylic thinners

I really like that track plan. Looking good Stephen. Loads of operating potential. I re-read this great thread only month or so ago. Really looking forward to following Amiens street's evolution as it progresses in time. Noel

There clearly is a market for occasional fools.

Very good Eoin. I think my air brush skills are a few decades away from being able to do that!

Ah memories of the RTE newsroom in 1965, which was broadcast in B/W, but had it been colour that is what it would have looked like. Bizarrely it also reminds me of some of the 007 'Diamonds are Forever' sets

In fairness the 60s Aer Lingus livery was visually attractive, bright and sharp, by contrast the original super train livery was rather depressing and dull. The later tippex white lined 'IE/IR' livery was a vast improvement visually.

You've just given me a great idea for my 'orrible Hornby Mk2a 'Slainte Express' coaches (i.e. that I ruined a few weeks ago).

Don't tempt me, I have a possible donor in the form of a silver and black livery 071 that I can't stand the look of, but I think I'll have to keep one in that awful livery for historical purposes. It is a bit of fun. Now a GM 201 in B&T Livery would be fun.

Tony your layout progress is most impressive and the ongoing work looks great.

LOL - I got stuck there in the station for three hours back in 1998 on the 10th of July when the enterprise broke down returning to Dublin. I put on a German accent as the place was rather busy with weekend visitors! But est vas perfektly ok und pepol ver fury nic to mich fur ze duraton ov my delay. Ze replacment lokomotive und zug vas a relev van it inso ze stazion kommen. Ze ozer kaput zug was avay taken. On a serious note how many proper model railway retailers are left on the whole island north and south?

Refurbished Bredin Coaches (Hornby Stanier) for running with IE 071 Freight Grey locos of the imaginary "Brandenberg division" European Irish Sea tunnel service direct to the continent Seating and glazing to be installed in due course

Superb model buildings. They look so realistic and the weathering looks top class.

Looks great Richrua

Very tidy work. Like the colouring.

Hi Tony Just buy one of the Murphy model 071 class models from a retailer, or eBay. (Eg marks models) Noel

Massive performance.

B&T 1960s heaven!!! Could somebody please pick me up off the ground! Patrick your layout and stock is AMAZING

Apologies for delay replying, catching up now. Hi popeye. Its an RTR Silver Fox model of an AEC converted to a driving trailer. I plan to use it with a C class push/pull and an MM 121 class push/pull which was rare but did happen. Cheers Robbie. Early days with lots to do, but hopefully in the next year I will try to make proper custom platforms and make a pseudo Kingsbridge multiple pitched roof, but that is largely transparent for viewing the trains from above. Well it will always be a sort of place the time lord Dr Who visited concurrently in the 50s/60s/70s and even 90s, and even some occasional LMS & GWR visitors Forgive the 'revolutionary' pun and paradox, but B&T livery locos will rule Kingsbridge. Thanks Jason. I now need to darken and/or weather the orange on my other MM Mk2's to match it. Hi rebelred, thanks, but it did take me a few months before I got the courage to get moving and start trying the airbrush, fearing the stock I might ruin. So started trying out the airbrush on sheets of A4 paper, then track weathering which needs little precision and very forgiving, then some old Triang Hornby stock and bodies which I used as training donors, and then finally some stock I didn't want to make a mess of. Btw, I wouldn't take any advice from me, I'm a complete beginner, there are some talented and experienced 'masters' on here. I found looking at lots of youtube videos and in particular reading RMweb threads on painting and weathering very informative. However I risked spending forever researching, especially with the hint of OCD I suffer, rather than just getting out the air brush and getting dirty. I had an irrational fear of destroying my airbrush by not cleaning it up properly. Richie kindly gave me a good head start about this time two years ago with an excellent airbrush demo session, and great advice on air brushes, compressors and paints, but it was only a few months ago before I finally put paint in the cup. I've made some major mess ups but can't learn with out taking a few risks and doing stuff. I've learned that I have a heck of a lot to learn, but loving the journey. Coach resprays will be the next big step up and then weather one of my B&T 141s (shudder).

Its interesting four years later reading this interesting old thread. IMHO, 3D for 00 locos and rolling stock is still not at the races, but good enough for some buildings perhaps. The surface texture is no where near smooth enough yet. I'm sure it may in time, but I guess the future for modellers will remain bureau service providers as low cost home 3D printers good enough for 00 seems doesn't seem likely for the foreseeable future. It feels like 3D is where ink jet printers were back in 1992, but they have come a long way in the past 25 years.

Training experiments continue for newbie to airbrush. Three more wagons with light weathering. Nothing like this BR brake van ran on CIE network, but I just like the look of it. These were done last week - 6xLima vans, beat wagon, mineral wagon, 2xBachmann vans Not too happy with 3D printing results on the two new beat wagons by the platform. They just about survive the 'duck test' but I won't be assembling anymore. First time I sprayed railmatch primer which is a sort of yellow tint cream colour. Didn't like using it, prefer Halfords primer from can. The texture of the 3D surface didn't help. Mind you using Halfords is almost like setting off a fire extinguisher its so powerful. Need plenty of distance and rapid steady movement of can. These 3D prints were disappointing, especially the doors. Weathering pending on these. Ughhh! So far I have found three sources for corrugated open beat wagons, Leslie's Provincial Wagons kit, IFM's RTR, and these Valve Design 3D bodies which fit on Dapol 10ft chassis. I hope to complete Leslie's kit in the next week or so. Anyway have had loads of fun experimenting with airbrush, made tons of major boo-boos, and clogged it up a few times. But finally figuring out how to keep it flowing smoothly and hopefully finding different methods of applying the paint, learning about times between coats, how long to leave the brush before the nozzle starts to dry, tricks for clearing the brush without dismantling it completely, etc. There is so much to learn, but just doing it again and again making mistakes and retrying has been almost addictive. First time I used the airbrush it took me nearly 25mins to clean it when finished, now down to a 3-5 mins. Discovered the hard way different acrylic paint manufacturers seem to need quite different levels of acrylic thinners, and work best with their own thinners. Tamiya acrylics seem to need very little thinners for airbrush, or it goes on too thin like water. Next will be an attempt to respray some coaching stock in early CIE B&T livery. Masking!!!

I was reading a few pieces about this only yesterday. This 'toilet roll' suggests a visit March 26th but nothing confirmed yet: World's largest passenger plane set to land in Dublin No immediate plans for an A380 DUB route though. The visit may be for PR, but also possibly a sort of 'gauge' trial to check ramp access and ground handling systems. RWY 28L/10R is well up to handling an A380. I remember watching the first 747 touch down.