IRM Plough Preordering Now Open!

[Warbonnet]

Perfect for you @Noel 😂

[BosKonay]

A reminder of the detail and interior, and remember the plough is our first 'DCC Ready' vehicle, and will feature interior lighting and two rear tail lights, on both vans in the pack!

 

[dave182]

I'll take 1 of each pack, but it will be June before I'll be parting with my cash as the tax and insurance are due on the wheels at the end of this month!!

[Railer]

Will be interested to see if the IR or IE vans sell faster. The IR era will always be special to me. 

[BosKonay]

2 hours ago, dave182 said:

I'll take 1 of each pack, but it will be June before I'll be parting with my cash as the tax and insurance are due on the wheels at the end of this month!!

Hi Dave

You can order on the website and choose bank payment. That way your order is secured and you can send on funds as suits you. 

At the rate they are selling we’ll possibly be sold out before they arrive !

[Warbonnet]

1 hour ago, Railer said:

Will be interested to see if the IR or IE vans sell faster. The IR era will always be special to me. 

IR leads by 5 at the moment

[Noel]

39 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

You can order on the website and choose bank payment. That way your order is secured and you can send on funds as suits you. 

Thanks, that's useful to know.  Just ordered a rake of Tara's with that Payment Method. 

[dave182]

46 minutes ago, BosKonay said:

Hi Dave

You can order on the website and choose bank payment. That way your order is secured and you can send on funds as suits you. 

May the rate they are selling well possibly be sold out before they arrive !

Ah ha! Didn't know that! Order will be placed presently!

[iarnrod]

When were the grills fitted to the windows as these were not present when originally built, but I guess many panes of glass replaced over time necessitated them being fitted?

Will the grills on the model be glued on or will they be easy enough to remove if you wanted to backdate the plough? Also, any idea when that 'No Admittance' sign was applied? Plan to model a CIE version so trying to figure out which version of the plough would suit best from the two releases?

[Northman]

Order put in.

Edited April 16, 2018 by Northman

[Northman]

Edited April 16, 2018 by Northman

[DiveController]

17 hours ago, iarnrod said:

When were the grills fitted to the windows as these were not present when originally built, but I guess many panes of glass replaced over time necessitated them being fitted?

Will the grills on the model be glued on or will they be easy enough to remove if you wanted to backdate the plough? Also, any idea when that 'No Admittance' sign was applied? Plan to model a CIE version so trying to figure out which version of the plough would suit best from the two releases?

Like Railer I’ll take the IR version but my order is not yet in. I would be good to know if there there was to be a CIE version which wound actually suit better especially if these are selling out so quickly!

[Noel]

3 hours ago, DiveController said:

Like Railer I’ll take the IR version but my order is not yet in. I would be good to know if there there was to be a CIE version which wound actually suit better especially if these are selling out so quickly!

Likewise the CIE version would appeal to me too (i.e. without the window grills). Ordered the IR version in the mean time. 

[iarnrod]

CIE version also had another difference to the model proposed in that there was half doors on the entrance either side. Not a total deal breaker, but something to consider if you plan on doing a CIE version from either the IR or IE versions that IRM will release.

Leads me to yet another question, drawing shows IR liveried version with the doors, and I've seen a photo of one of them in early 2000's still with doors, so will IR liveried model come with or without doors? Apologies, Fran et al, must have your heads wrecked with all the questions at this stage.

Edited April 17, 2018 by iarnrod

[Warbonnet]

Sorry men, it's been flat out here! 

The model does have half doors,  Richie switched them off for the time period being modelled / represented by brake codes etc in the CAD render, which is of course the later state. 

All the details for the earlier liveries are on the model, just in case we do the CIE livery in the future. 

[Noel]

6 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

Sorry men, it's been flat out here! 

The model does have half doors,  Richie switched them off for the time period being modelled / represented by brake codes etc in the CAD render, which is of course the later state. 

All the details for the earlier liveries are on the model, just in case we do the CIE livery in the future. 

Thanks Fran.  On the IR/IE versions do you think it would be easy for modellers to remove the wire window grills? (i.e. will they be separate pieces glued over the glazing or are the an integral part of the body).

[Warbonnet]

Hi Noel, they will be easy removable. 

Cheers,

Fran

[Noel]

19 minutes ago, Warbonnet said:

Hi Noel, they will be easy removable. 

Cheers,

Fran

Ah that's brilliant.  So if I switched to the IE version all I might have to do is remove the window grills and add a black CIE broken wheel logo.

[Dead Kennedy]

Hi there, the ballast plough vans look superb and are priced very reasonably but very sad CIE original livery has not been produced. I hoped each new release of IRM models would be the last i'd ever buy, but rather than risking ending up with no ballast wagons i am having to take a chance on the later liveries and may have to purchase again in CIE livery if they come out in future. So many enthuasists on this site desperate for CIE livery. Also, if we make do & purchase IR and IE does this mean CIE versions will not be produced / phased out in future? Would IRM risk producing a CIE version if they feel most would be purchasers have settled for a later varient. I hope you find these comments constructive, they are not meant to be negative. Alan

[iarnrod]

26 minutes ago, Dead Kennedy said:

Hi there, the ballast plough vans look superb and are priced very reasonably but very sad CIE original livery has not been produced. I hoped each new release of IRM models would be the last i'd ever buy, but rather than risking ending up with no ballast wagons i am having to take a chance on the later liveries and may have to purchase again in CIE livery if they come out in future. So many enthuasists on this site desperate for CIE livery. Also, if we make do & purchase IR and IE does this mean CIE versions will not be produced / phased out in future? Would IRM risk producing a CIE version if they feel most would be purchasers have settled for a later varient. I hope you find these comments constructive, they are not meant to be negative. Alan

Fully agree. It's amazing to see RTR Irish wagons being produced to such a high standard, but there does appear to be a definite slant towards the IR and IE periods in the actual and planned releases so far. 

I'm in the exact same position in that I held off buying ballasts initially as was fully sure that the earlier CIE brown livery would be produced and now find myself scrambling to find ballast wagons that I will most likely have to repaint. IRM 2018 announcement said plough van was to be produced in both older CIE and later I.E. liveries but then was disappointed to see painting diagrams only show IR and IE liveries to be released. Forthcoming Guinness wagons again only carry the I.E. era cages, spoil wagons are totally I.E. era and even the weedspray rake is I.E. era. All savage looking models, but not suitable for modelling the CIE era. Happy that at least that the forthcoming fertilisers and 42' Bell flats fit into CIE era, and I might even buy a weedspray pack to backdate the tanks to CIE period, but at the moment, will hold off on Tara's until blue livery is produced.

Maybe the majority of interest among modellers lies in the IR and IE eras, but pretty sure that a survey on this site last year showed the CIE era right up there with the IR and IE eras.

I got back into railway modelling thanks to IRM, and the prospect of RTR wagons being available, but have to say that I'm now considering if modelling the CIE era (my favourite period) is still a runner or if I need to start modelling IR or IE era, as freight has always been where my interest mainly lies. Some modellers will model all eras and some will only model one era, and I fit into the second category.

As the previous poster said, this is nothing negative towards the IRM lads, as I realise they have to make financially sound decisions on what models or liveries to release, but more an observation or constructive comments.

 

[BosKonay]

Suffice to say that, given enough time, we'll cover all eras and all prototypes

[Noel]

CIE era my personal preference too, especially pre 1975. The three wagons that I could almost guarantee would brake all sales records are Bulleid corrugated single beat, double height corrugated beat, and H-Van. The most populous wagons that ever ran on Irish rails and operated over the entire network. These done to the exceptional IRM RTR standard would simply fly . . .  

Edited April 18, 2018 by Noel

[BosKonay]

6 minutes ago, Noel said:

CIE era my personal preference too, especially pre 1975. The three wagons that I could almost guarantee would brake all sales records are Bulleid corrugated single beat, double height corrugated beat, and H-Van. The most populous wagons that ever ran on Irish rails and operated over the entire network. These done to the exceptional IRM RTR standard would simply fly . . .  

Only a matter of time Noel  

[Garfield]

In fairness, we have never said we would not be releasing ploughs, ballasts, etc. with CIÉ markings and I think it’s a little unfair to say there’s an IR/IÉ slant in what we’ve produced to date when most of what we’ve turned out so far (i.e. ivory and orange cement bubbles) carries a big fat CIÉ logo on the side.  

However, there are several factors we have to consider when we decide what to produce and ultimately the head has to overrule the heart when making these choices.

One factor is the suitable RTR motive power customers have to hand: the majority produced is appropriate for the IR/IÉ eras, so while CIÉ may do well in surveys, if customers want to simply buy rolling stock to run with their locos then it should match what they have. That doesn’t mean we won’t produce the products with CIÉ markings, it just means it won’t be the first lot off the production line. (Similarly, while some customers are shouting out for Midland six-wheelers, it doesn’t make sense for us to produce one when there’s no RTR loco out there to haul it - and the reality is that most people aren’t going to build a suitable steam loco kit). If more locos appear in CIÉ colours, that'll help change our thinking...

Another factor concerns ‘product fatigue’ and diversification of what we offer. We could have done all variations of the ballast wagons from the outset, but that would’ve required a greater outlay while also putting all our eggs in one basket. It took a year for the ballasts to sell out – anyone sticking to a single product and waiting that length of time to exhaust supply before moving on will find themselves in a tight spot very quickly. The upshot is that we still have the tooling, so we’re free to revisit these items in alternative liveries once the range is diverse enough to prevent people getting bored of seeing the same one or two items over and over. It makes sense for us to maximise use of all our moulds (which, incidentally is another reason why we chose the current weedsprayer and not the older version, in answer to Iarnrod's comment above).

That's just some of the reasoning behind it. There's more, too, but you get the idea...  

[iarnrod]

All valid points, Garfield & Co. However, the post on this site re. the 2018 releases did state the plough was being released in original CIE livery, so was a little surprised and disappointed when this wasn't so. In fairness, I said there was an IR/IE slant overall in what was produced to date AND what is to be released in 2018. The ivory bubbles may have CIE logos on them, as that's what they carried to the end, but the dates on the service codes are all in IE era on the models. The only true CIE era model produced to date is the orange bubbles.

As I've stated, the launch of IRM got me back into modelling as I never thought I'd see Irish wagons being produced in RTR format, and I like everyone else, appreciates the huge gamble the four IRM lads took in launching the range. As I've already stated, I don't want this to sound negative as it's merely an observation/ constructive comments.

Edited April 18, 2018 by iarnrod

[Garfield]

1 minute ago, iarnrod said:

All valid points, Garfield & Co. However, the post on this site re. the 2018 releases did state the plough was being released in original CIE livery, so was a little surprised and disappointed when this wasn't so.

I understand your frustration, but if we were to adjust a business plan to suit a typo we'd be covered in hot sauce fairly quickly.

[Dead Kennedy]

Would it be possible to produce a number of blank ballast plough vans and those interested could access the appropriate CIE decals off Railtec? All of my locomotives are CIE era. 121s due out some day will also cover the CIE era thoroughly.

Edited April 18, 2018 by Dead Kennedy
Spelling

[Noel]

1 hour ago, BosKonay said:

Only a matter of time Noel  

There is no 'Like' button available on your posts @BosKonay so here is one

[Garfield]

31 minutes ago, Dead Kennedy said:

Would it be possible to produce a number of blank ballast plough vans and those interested could access the appropriate CIE decals off Railtec? All of my locomotives are CIE era. 121s due out some day will also cover the CIE era thoroughly.

As I said above, we will look at CIE versions of everything in due course. I don’t see the point in turning out blank vans as the reasons I gave above apply to oddities like that also, plus there’s the double whammy that it’s (a) an additional outlay and (b) would ultimately reduce the demand for our CIE versions when they’re produced. 

[WRENNEIRE]

16 minutes ago, Noel said:

There is no 'Like' button available on your posts @BosKonay so here is one

Unfortunately you have a like button Noel, but I cant bring myself to press it   

 

[Noel]

Isn't it a wonderful problem to have. Ten years ago there was virtually zero decent RTR Irish rolling stock. Now the supply and standard have sky rocketed so high thanks to MM and IRM we can afford to raise our expectations and are becoming spoilt for choice. Once upon a time if a poor model had orange paint on it we were happy it was 'Irish', now we might notice if the font on wagon lettering is marginally the wrong type face.  

For IRM rapidly increasing numbers of satisfied customers, fuelling ever higher expectations is also a welcome problem for any successful business. In the fullness of time due to age profile in the hobby the sales of CIE era may surprise - or it may not, but I'd bet my favourite Black'n'Tan 141 on the former.  When you raise the bar you also raise customer expectations.  Managing that can be fun. Happy days ahead.

PS: 7 out of the 17 MM baby GMs were done in a CIE livery. 

[Dead Kennedy]

Again with utmost respect to IRM who are doing a superb job; i bought the ballast wagons but would have waited/ bought alternative CIE versions but was told there were no plans to produce future versions so i took the chance. I would be looking to sell my current ballasts to fund the CIE version if/when released. If a proportion of the original release of (excellent) ballasts had been CIE era they would probably have sold out quicker. 

The cements all issued with the CIE logo or 'bulk cement' wording and remained ( with a very small exception) that way until caked over in cement powder so saying that CIE era was favoured on that project is not entirely correct.

IRM production is so good it is just frustrating to see a product launch and have to either pass it by and hope or get the wrong version to avert risk of never getting it or waiting maybe years for the right version to come out.

I hope to see the blue Tara Mines and CIE roundel Fertilizers in the near future. Also, when producing Ammonia in the future, please consider the original CIE versions in early runs or maybe alternate between the three eras on projects. Skipping out on the spoil wagons and weed spray in IE livery gives me the chance to afford the Ferts & (hopefully) CIE era liners.

[Warbonnet]

Hi guys,

we do accept your point of view and we thank you for your suggestions and feedback. The plough is probably the riskiest project we are undertaking as there is so few we can produce. It is a very niche model in a very niche sector of a niche hobby, so the risk is great. Thankfully it so far has sold well, but we know there is only so few we can sell. Based on our market research and experience selling models so far, CIE has lagged behind the more modern eras such as IR and IE, so we decided to play it safe for now and go with those two liveries.

Having said that, we are not ruling out doing a CIE liveried set in the future. It will just be based on the success of the IR and IE pack and sales of other CIE era models we have made so far, such as packs B-F in Cement bubbles. While they have sold well overall, ivory has certainly outstripped orange in pace of sales, and as Dead Kennedy says, can probably be attributed to greater longevity into IR and IE era.

We are also concious of ‘overheating’ wallets, and with Ferts with CIE roundels as well as Bell and B&I liners to come there is new stuff coming for CIE era, as well as spoils and weedsprayer for modern day operations, as well as there being ivory and orange bubbles already on the shelves for the discerning roundel modeller.

Anyway, to conclude, we will make plenty for CIE modelers, both this year and beyond. This includes blue Tara’s (in time!) and yes, ballast hoppers with roundels and should sufficient demand dictate (250 of you) CIE roundel ballast ploughs to match. I hope this helps clear up any confusion. These things just take time and LOTS of cash that we need to make out of other models to fund the next tranche.

cheers,

Fran

 

 

[iarnrod]

Thanks Fran.

I think Dead Kennedy hit the nail on the head when they said it's hard to see such top drawer models become available but not in the livery of your chosen era. 

I have nothing but respect and admiration to the four IRM team members for taking the risk to set up IRM initially, and also for taking the risk for such a niche item as the plough vans.

I also fully appreciate that IRM is a business after all, and needs to be run with a 'business' rather than a 'modellers' head, and your explanation for going with the IR and IE liveries for the plough vans makes a sound and valid business case in anyone's book. 

I look forward to giving IRM a good chunk of my bank balance for many years to come, and long may the top drawer IRM model releases continue. 

[Railer]

Hi team, just looking at the new site. It lists the Plough Vans for July delivery now instead of August as first announced. Have these been moved up by any chance?