murphaph

Then let the eBay extortion begin.... https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325251431302

2600 Class railcar. Either one will do 😀

I remap my loksound decoders to put drive hold on F9 as is customary in the US, where the feature originated and has become standard. Non-US prototype sound projects from ESU that have drive hold still seem pretty rare. It's a tremendous feature.

Excellent post. The mk2c's also had a very obvious large hatch on one end of the roof to allow the planned for AC equipment to be installed, the hatch was the same on the later AC stock.

Assuming the delays are because the items are coming in from outside the EU, have you considered ordering from the Dublin warehouse? https://accurascale.eu/

Thanks Steve!

Hey Steve, I think my mails may be landing in your spam folder again. I sent you a mail on the 12th of April and one on the 30th of May. Could you maybe take a look for them please mate (same email handle as my user name here) All the best, Phil

You're grand Noel. I just thought I better chip in because in GB and on NIR later aircon mk2 stock stock did run with earlier stuff but on Irish Rail it was not possible. The MM coach is a mk2 rebuilt to look like a mk2a or a straight mk2a. I've checked my list (which I got from the IRM forum, I didn't compile it myself) and neither of the two coaches in the video can be represented by that MM model. The roe-vac vent one is a mk2c as already mentioned. The one with the vents all in a row could be a mk2a or a mk2b but the model represents a coach built as an open (the roof vents scattered about the place). The video shows a coach built as a corridor coach (vents all in a line and offset to the compartment side). IR did buy 2 x mk2a FKs that were converted to opens but they plated over the centre door so Bachmann couldn't use their tooling to produce these for MM unfortunately. You (currently) need a Bachmann mk2a FK to reproduce the mk2a in that video, then you need to do some minor surgery on it before respraying:

And sound is probably the most subjective feature of a model. I hate loud models because I like to imagine I am viewing them from scale distance away. I am in my mind several hundred feet away from the models I am observing. That's why a lot of us prefer a matt paint job, because you can't make out gloss from any distance, everything looks matt from far enough away, even though in reality rolling stock was often painted in bright gloss colours! With sound I want subtlety. I want to hear the loco fade in as it approaches me and fade out as it moves away from me. Others prefer it to be full blast in your face and that's just fine too. It's simply never going to be possible to please everyone with sound, perhaps more than any other aspect of a model. Some prefer more bass, some more treble or whatever. It's rare that several people will all agree that speaker x is the best. We all hear differently too!

Pretty sure there's no mk2d's in that video Noel (Irish mk2d's were all vacuum braked and couldn't operate with the Vic Berry stock, which was air braked). That's a mk2c with the Roe-Vac vents. I think the other one is a mk2a. Might be a b, but definitely not a c or d. The only currently available resin kit is the SF one but it's the unrebuilt Dutch van. The ones of the rebuilt van from IFM or DC Kits are currently unavailable. I think you have the IFM version, right? I got the last of the DC Kits bodies I believe. The chassis were not available but I sourced the Werkspoor bogies from SF only to take them apart and just use the bogie side frames cosmetically on 21mm brass bogies. I haven't finished my DC kits ones yet, just did the paint job and the bogies. Need to make up a chassis and whatnot: Of course, the moment these are finished IRM will announce RTR ones in far better quality lol.

The sides are basically completely different (windows and doors moved around, windows on one side replaced by vents) and the roof detail is different as the boilers were removed (electric heat on those trains rather than steam) during the rebuild. The gangways are also different, being mk3 style on the rebuilt vans.

I wouldn't be entirely surprised if IRM deemed the BR van viable at some stage, but like the un-rebuilt Dutch vans, they were far more numerous than the rebuilt Dutch vans, which are the only prototypical vans that ran with the Vic Berry air braked stock. Who knows though. I wouldn't really rule anything out from IRM any more after the NIR stock announcement!

It would indeed. The van is by far the least viable bit of that ensemble, though the hypothetical tooling for the chassis and bogies could be re-used on an un-rebuilt Dutch van model which would have wider appeal as they were far more numerous and ran for a much longer time span. But most of the rebuilt Dutch van tooling would be bespoke and there were only 3 ever built and they had a relatively short life too unfortunately. The only saving grace from a financial viability point of view would perhaps be that the era they ran in is seemingly still the most popular era to model.

There's been nothing officially announced but the lads haven't exactly denied that we could probably be expect to see at least some of those coaches. They also asked for interior pics of some so I guess in time it's reasonable to assume we'll see them. I have halted my Lima resprays ;-) No point doing all that work when the IRM ones will be far better. I can wait.

That's a nice little experiment! Much appreciated.

That sounds like a really good tip with the Galeria varnishes Campaman. A bit of googling shows many satisfied modelling customers. Seems the matt is really flat too. I will definitely be giving this a try.

Yeah that's really my question I guess....will the Vallejo varnishes take to the bare plastic as a primer does?

Thanks guys. Ian, I have normal grey and white Vallejo primer but I don't want to actually paint these wagons. They are coloured plastic with tampo printing details. I just want to apply weathering acrylics to dirty them up, so any primer must be clear. I probably wouldn't care on my own models but these are more like toys and get a lot of handling so the weathering needs a bit of help sticking.

Cheers Quarryscapes but I have moved away from rattle cans. I spray at a spray booth, indoors and no matter how clean I keep it, I found rattle cans caused so much turbulence that dust would invariably be kicked up and land on my models during spraying. I do everything with the airbrush now, including priming so I'm looking for a strictly airbrush based solution. Having said that, I see Vallejio has a clear base coat for RC cars which is probably similar to automotive applications. I could try that. I need to get some more Klear (or a local equivalent as Klear is not available here) and try that first I think as it is cheap and if it works would be very economical.

Has anyone tried just using Future/Klear to prime bare plastic? It sticks to floors so I guess it would stick to plastic too? Might be better for the washes to run into the little crevices too if it provides a key.

Yeah for sure, but I guess the same goes for anything you spray through an airbrush. I might just try Vallejo acrylic matte varnish next time. These are cheap Lima goods wagons for my son. They used a lot of smooth coloured plastic rather than painted finishes so there's nothing for the weathering paints to really bite to.

Thanks Jon I shall give that a go. Just diluted down to milky consistency and airbrushed on?

Hi all, I've noticed acrylic weathering paints applied with the airbrush can be relatively easily scratched off models that employ coloured plastic rather than having a painted finish. Is there such a thing as a clear primer to provide a key for the weathering paints? Or can I just use a matte varnish? Anything specifically for this in the Vallejo range? Thanks!

Thanks for your feedback @railtec-models Steve. I hope nobody thinks I was having a go or anything. I have been nothing but extremely happy with Railtec transfers. They are pure quality and always arrive promptly :-)

Thanks Garry. Yeah my mails seem to be landing in Steve's spam folder or something. That's the email I have been using. @railtec-models Steve maybe you could check your spam for an email from murphaph@xxxx. Cheers!