Adam1701D

I've recently been backdating a couple of the new Dapol Sprinters into something a little more suited for the Sectorisation-era layout that is starting to reach fruition. As the green around the nose shows, this is a former Central trains 153 that has been revinyled but needs a little touching up here and there. Where's my silver-grey? A 156 in Regional Railways Central "Express" livery. This really suits these units - the chromed window surrounds makes the livery look far smarter than the 158. And finally, a line up of all three recent N Gauge Sprinters - the GF 150/2 (with RR Merseyrail vinyls) and Dapol 156 and 153. This really goes to show just how far British N Gauge has gone in a fairly short time.

I've had a bash at 153 in fully upswept NSE (in the later Turbo style), as if these units were in use by Thames for the Greenford shuttle. I think i shall produce these sides as full vinyls in N if anybody fancies having a go! I've just backdated my own Dapol unit to Reggie Rail.

OK, I couldn't resist... It's a re-vinyl'd Dapol 153 - I thought I'd take the easy way out and do a modified version of the scheme applied to the 121s without the upswept ends. The asymettric window spacing of the cabs would make this a nightmare to look right.

That looks superb. I have to admit I'm quite taken with the 395s after a blistering run to Ashford and Margate on Saturday. These units are the new CEPs!

If any talented Photoshopper would like to have a go at a 395 in NSE livery, there's one to play with here (taken by me on Saturday) Please feel free to do as you like with this picture

I hear that Venos are sponsoring a new video game... Catarrah Hero

I've now got some paint and "First Draft" vinyls on the 201 and she's starting to really look the part. I've used Games Workshop Snot green (dark) and Scorpion green (Light) for the stripes and BR diesel roof grey for the bufferbeams and underframe. The silencer is currently gunmetal, tough far too clean and will be rusted down in due course. The loco still needs glazing, varnishing and end pipes adding. The side vinyls are too light and will be tweaked for production.

I'd love to, though the job situation is a bit dicey at the moment...

Fully you should mention that...my 2700 is started as a cut/paste jobbie from esisting 323 artwork! Pity the real one is a 20m shell...oh well

I've finally been able to progress with Valve Design's superb little class 201 bodyshell. it has had considerable smoothing off done, along with a couple of coats of silver and recycled Dapol 66 bufferbeams. Starting to look the part - the fun part will be the IR Intcity livery - expect some vinyl cheating to follow!

I've still got a set of PC Models OO Mk1 sides somewhere. Those screen printed sides are really a work of art and gave me a lot of inspiration for the ERG stuff!

Wow - that promises to be an awesome project. We'll have to get a wiggle on with those 2nd generation EMUS...

And I'm not talking about a taste for Guiness...still prefer a good quality bitter, I'm afraid. Whilst researching the Irish Rail coaches for the ERG range, I'm really starting to see the appeal of the traction scene over the water and increasing numbers of my former "demo" coaches are now sporting Orange...so far three each of Mark 2d and 3. I reallylike the look of the De Deitrich Enterprise stock, with the GM-style Driving trailer and the new IR mark 4 coaches with the platypus-esque DVT and have a feeling that some conversions based around the GF Mark 4 may not be far off. So what to use for traction...? I've ordered a 3D Printed Class 201 bodyshell from Valve Design, which is now shipping. This is designed to fit the Dapol 66, which I happen to have going spare and I'm really looking forward to getting this built and painted. Could be the first of many, methinks. From what I can see, there's precious little Irish N Gauge around, so perhaps I can do my bit to give it a bit of a kick-start. Who knows how things may develop?

...actually, I've never been but, it seems, there is a growing following for Irish N Gauge. I have had a few requests in the past to produce overlays for IR coaches and thought "why not?" Given that a lot of IR stock is of UK design, such as the Mark 2 and Mark 3 coaches, these have been fairly easy to replicate, thanks to some superb web resources like Fotopic. As I already produce the Class 442, modifying the artwork for the hauled IR Mark 3s is fairly easy and the finished coach really looks different to the UK counterparts. The most fun conversion I'm working on is the IR Class 2700 DMU, which looks a little like a 158 (which i've used as a basis), though has doors in the three-quarter positions like a 165. It won't be the most perfect scale model but should give a good representation of the prototype. Tomorrow I'm going to have a bash at the Class 6100 Mark 3 Control Trailer - a sort of DBSO (without the B) - it's going to involve some butchery to one or Mr. Farish's finest. It's a little wonky and I haven't cut the windows out yet but looks like an interesting little DMU...

Looking forward to seeing how this one develops, Gareth.

The second draft of the 59 stock is a lot better and bodes well for the future. I've been pretty busy with some other bits following some requests, viz the Class 158 in EMT livery in both N and OO, OO Turbostar in Transpennine livery (a real pig to do), and more N Gauge Renaissance coaches. The Renaissance stock has given me a few ideas for other "international" releases in N. Unfortunately, I can't get onto my FTP site at present to do some much needed updates. It's supposed to chuck it down tomorrow, so I may even be able to tidy up a little...

Those of you who were at the N Gauge Show last month might recall that Bob of N-Train had made some interesting bodyshells for London Transport 1959 stock. I have finally got around to the rather fiddly process of producing some vinyl overlays to try to bring these to life a little. This is the absolute first draft and has a few dimensional errors that will be corrected in due course.