Noel

Superb workmanship

Has anybody achieved good results using 50/50% mix of copydex and water to ballast track instead of PVA? i.e. Applied wet over track and ballast after track laid, not just to glue track bed to base board.

Very nice - I'm back in 1968 You are an artist with scenery.

Hi Patrick. Looks good but the photo is out of focus. Will try your technique. Noel

Hi Graham. Just watched your excellent demo video again. BTW, Mr Soundguy's engine recordings may be recorded from actual Irish locos but I don't think they were recorded particularly well. The prime mover engine does not sound as good as the ESU files you are using in your sound projects, nor the DC Kits (wheel tappers) projects on either their V1 or V2 (full throttle) projects. The horns and flange squeal are better, but the idle on MrSG has an annoying clink sound on the actual loco he recorded from. If I could get your prime mover sound quality with 'Real Drive' I'd be a happy camper. Cheers. Noel Ps. Btw, the weathering you did to your baby GMs is exceptional. Was reading over some of your threads on the old forum.

Tease I've two Metrovicks in the pipeline with Bachmann drive chassis to keep me sane until 'some' Interesting and Revolutionary Manufacturer releases a top quality RTR one sometime in the future. With working lights, moving fan blades, electric-uncouplers, working vacuum and air brake system, heated driver seats, airbags, and working rain sensitive windscreen wipers. PS: and a dip switch underneath to change the built in prime mover engine sound from Crossley to GM

If the bridges are under the regulation height for that type of road, all parties involved in a collision or enjoined RTA could sue the local authority. (i.e. as happened in Dublin decades ago when a pedestrian bridge was struck by a crane because the road level had been raised reducing clearance due to being resurface on multiple occasions over the years). Yes that does seem eminently and economically sensible, however there is still a H&S risk of involving other traffic in RTA either behind the truck, or coming in opposite direction when it hits the barrier, either stops abruptly, or goes out of control, or sheds its load, or topples over, not to mention bits of debris showering pedestrians, motor cyclists, cyclists, protected species of Patagonian snails, etc. During summer months it is common practice to see some HGV trailers on motorways overloaded with large round straw and hay bales, held on with mere tensioning straps.

Very impressive setup Eoin.

It's a bit windy right now. F9 to F10, F11 expected in NE. Stay safe folks.

Rails of sheffield - €70 for this when they RRP here for €56 and the paint job is well . . . ? http://www.ebay.ie/itm/MURPHY-MODELS-OO-GAUGE-MM5151-IRISH-CIE-MKII-COMPOSITE-COACH-5151-U23-/201827546360?hash=item2efddbf4f8:g:-GEAAOSw32lYrCTn

Marks Models probably have them in stock.

Patrick, I'm trying to eat, and you posting photos like that has caused my dinner to go cold because those scenes are spell bindingly amazing

Resourceful modelling

Hi Graham. Viva la difference. The sound is fab, but personally I just found the 'Full Throttle' driving experience a little irritating because of the need to toggle 'drive hold' on and off to make a train move in a scale like manner. Again just purely a personal taste thing, but I prefer to to drive using just throttle and brakes like the real thing, and let the software take care of the sounds, notching and coasting automatically. The new 'Full Throttle' versions of LokSound V4 seems more appropriate for mile long USA freight trains climbing and descending gradients in the mountains where speeds are constant but notching varies a lot, unlike a typical CIE baby GM hauling lighter shorter Irish trains. The automatic notching on the LokSound V1 projects (pre-full throttle mode) sound better as trains pull off and stop, as does the Zimo. Again given where the hobby was five years ago all three options are excellent, and offer a great choice now to model train drivers. The driving technique is quite different between the three options so will suit all tastes. I have our hand throttles setup for 28 step speed mode which effectively is almost like having 8 notches using the 'Inc+4' and 'Dec-4' throttle buttons, so driving can be really simple using just throttle and brakes, which means I can watch the train rather than be distracted by cab buttons when operating. Thanks btw for your highly informative sound videos, advice and DCC experiments. If I can figure out how to do PIP in iMovie, I may try and make a video clip demonstrating all three options showing the cab operation in a corner of the screen. I spend an hour last night driving both versions of the LokSound and enjoyed both thoroughly. Cheers Noel

Hi Joe The orange on mm mk2d coaches is not paint, it's orange coloured plastic. It's also the wrong shade by a wide margin. Folks like Glenderg can advise you how to mix or source acrylic paint combinations that will make up the correct shade for either CIE super train livery or the later Irish Rail tippex white lined coaches. Marks models sell a CIE Golden Brown (tan/orange) colour made by precision paints but it is enamel. An alternative to respraying the entire coach the correct shade is to weather the coaches over the day glo orange the come in. Noel

Sick in bed with bad dose of flu so catching up on some older layout threads. Just watched these two incredible videos again ABSOLUTELY S T U N N I N G in every conceivable way Really enjoyable

Next two experiments. No 6 - 3mm closed cell foam track bed, woodland scenics medium buff ballast, gently weathered and rail sides sprayed with RailMatch sleeper grime. No 7 - Not happy with this (next two pics) - existing Peco form underlay augmented with Woodland scenics fine+medium buff ballast slightly weathered with railmatch sleeper grime. A bit of a mess and was difficult to keep ballast off the sleepers. I was leaning towards augmenting the existing Peco foam underlay as a compromise because of its incredible sound proofing, but have decided it has to go. A few more trials to do, but right now I am favouring the 3mm closed cell foam track bed as a replacement with woodland scenics medium buff ballast (which initially is too bright, but fine when weathered with sleeper grime). 3mm cork is still an option, but I have decided against both the 5mm track bed options (woodland scenics and javis cork) as they are just too high. Tried woodland scenics N-guage foam, but the closed cell foam Junctionmad has sourced (thanks btw) seems to have better sound proofing and is easier to cut with a knife, also seems to return to shape better when squashed. Other decision is that I'd prefer a warm brownish colour tint for the ballast rather than modern grey, which while more authentic seems a little less attractive visually in indoor lighting.

Thanks. I've started to convert some of the Bachmann BR rolling stock to a semi-irish look (poetic license) and weather some recently accrued Irish wagons as well as old lima vans, and a few kits to finish, and some of Leslie's. I just adore the look and operations of pre 1975 goods trains, pick up freight, and all that interesting shunting which is great fun with a sound equipped baby GM. Old proverb from my nostalgia memory - "If it doesn't have an engine at the front and brake van and the end - the train had its end bitten off by a shark" Thanks Noel. It's slow progress, but getting there gradually. The tooling up, learning and experimentation has been fun. I lapse into playing trains too much, when I should be cutting, painting and gluing more. I'd really like to get the embankments shaped in foam and plaster cloth the in the next month or so.

Totally NUTS - €228 for an orange roof EGV when they could have bought the black roofed EGV for €65 and resprayed the roof orange, or paid one of the respray vendors €20 for doing it, or buy a Super Train EGV for €56 and have the tippex sprayed on for a few euro by one of the respray vendors. There is collection and there is OCD. They will never ever get their money back. And none of those Mk2d are even the right shade of orange anyway. And €274.84 for two auto-ballasters!!! Well done to the seller.

Unfortunately spraying either from an airbrush or a spray can seems the most practical way to colour weather ballast. It would be impossible to brush ballast by hand. An airbrush gives you much more control and you should use less paint. An airbrush allows you to kill two birds with one stone, both colouring the rail sides and track ballast at the same time which is not really possible with an aerosol spray can because you have limited control over the nozzle or width of spray. I'm no expert but having watched a load of youtubes of varying techniques by very experienced chappies, and then doing 8 experiments myself with various combinations of track bed, ballast and paint, personally found the airbrush was the quickest and easiest way to paint the track and ballast. I tried hand painting the rail sides with a brush and it was a total pain, also tried the woodland scenics track marker and it was a pain (i.e. hitting the chairs and missing rail sides at chairs). Personally I found the 'rust' colours too strong looking and didn't blend well, but was surprised how well sleeper grime paint on the sleepers, rail sides and ballast blended so well. In fairness it depends on your era, nowadays ballast is much greyer and cleaner as it is constantly being maintained, but decades ago it seemed more weathered looking even on main lines.

Hope your referring to the other 'tcc' Noel, cause this Noel can reach the top shelf in our kitchen :) (just)

Hi Tony Just my tuppence assuming the track is laid on the cork trackbed shown in your earlier pics. But there is no right or wrong and others may have better and different techniques. Before ballasting though suggest you test push some of your rolling stock, the especially wide items, along platforms and loading bays to check for clearance. A lot easier to adjust before the track is ballasted. (i.e. some model steam loco cylinders can protrude more than expected and some coaching stock can have protruding steps - despite scale loading gauges not always 100% adhered to). Wire and test point motors and/or controls Ballast track (allowing flat surface runs for later dummy point control rodding, and protect moving parts of points from glue/paint) - allow 24hr to set Airbrush weather track and rails in one go (mask top of point blades). 7 passes of airbrush (1 each side of each rail = 4, plus ballast outside of each rail, one pass between rails over centre sleepers). Clean paint off rail tops and re-test point control work free of friction after ballast/painting Dummy point control kit BTW, your rate of progress on the layout is impressive. Noel

Enjoyed a running session earlier with mixed goods traffic. Have been busy experimenting with air brush on some old rolling stock and off cuts of plasticard, trying different paint colours and weathering experiments. Jeepers it takes a while to setup each spray session and even longer to clean up afterwards. Also continuing experiments with different ballast mixes and track beds. Below Woodland Scenics medium buff ballast on top of 3mm foam track bed, over sprayed with dusting of RailMatch sleeper grime. This is my favourite so far as I think I will prefer the warmer colour of track ballasted this way to contrast with greenery rather than more authentic grey and green.

Short clip of two variants of DC Kits LokSound 141/181 sound decoders (project built by wheel tappers for dc kits). The orange 141 loco has V1 of the project and has bass reflex speaker, the Black and Tan 181 has V2 of the project which had the new 'drive hold' software (i.e. Loksounds new 'Full Throttle' driving method). The clip just shows the locos underway, so next week I'll post a better comparison clip including shunting, starting and stopping, demonstration of drive hold, etc, but this just gives a taste for now. I was really looking forward to driving with the new 'Full Throttle' software, but personally I found it mildly irritating and distracting, and was surprised to discover I preferred the V1 project and let the software simulate notching while I concentrate on driving. It lacks true coasting and realistic braking distances which the Zimo excels at for prototypical driving technique, but the 'wheel tappers' LokSound EMD engine seems to sound better and more throaty than the recordings of an actual 141. In fairness the basic speaker could be the problem with the Zimo project. So my personal preference for baby GM sound options was the Zimo is the most realistic to drive, but the DC Kits/LokSound V1 sounds the best despite lacking coasting and scale braking functions. The V2 drive hold slightly underwhelmed despite the hype about 'Full Throttle'

Suggest jump to 40s in to skip the promo - "Jolly hockey sticks - some dashed exciting trains in these video from 1930"