I've split my latest project away from the Mardy Colliery thread as the relevance isn't really there anymore. Looking forward to next year I might not be doing many, if any, shows with the z gauge layouts so perhaps it is time to get back into the garden in Gauge 1 in a limited way. havn't firmed any ideas up yet but it will almost certainly run from the workshop down the side of the house to the front garden and balloon back. As I've finished the two Warflats and work on the drawings for the 'rectank' is in my cad files it looks like the theme will be the 'Great war' i.e WW1 During the war many locos were requistioned from the railway companies by the War Department ROD (Railway Operating Division, Royal Engineers) and of course they supplied as many ancient clapped out examples as they could in this famous shot before the Battle of Cambrai ( The first use of mass tanks in combat) various 0-6-0 locos are assembled to haul long trains of Mk IV tanks, loaded with fascines. So we have already seen the Warflats I finished recently In the Mardy thread i mentioned that I was going to have a few nights in the office upstairs as the weather is pretty vile, although not vile enough to stop me going out in the fog and dark last night to film a pair of class 37s coming through the village station! So. plastic modelling mainly. Completed the third WD Model T as a truck based on article in the Airfix magazine from way back and prototype photos. The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that they are Right hand drive as the donor vehicles were made at Fords plant in the U.K I also mentioned for nostalgia's sake that I was going to build again an Austin Armoured car 49 years after the last one the original seen behind a Rolls Royce amoured car kitbash of the Airfix Silver ghost back in 1971 when I was 16
So the Austin is less a Kitbash and more of throwing most of the original kit away. Donor kit. Stil crops on auction sites for not much money today Obviously looks nothing like an armoured car. This is what we are looking at The fire engine chassis has to be lengthened and the rear axle moved back. This is a combination of bits recovered from the one that had fallen apart years ago and a new unopened kit Seen behind it is a Mk IV Tadpole tank with its lengthened body to cross wider trenches. This is the Emahr 1/35th kit. A bit crude but can look quite nice with a bit of work Next, some serious lateral thinking!
Back in '71, the advice on how to do the turrets was to roll 10 thou plasticard around some sort of former, tape it up and chuck it into boiling water to heat form it. Never did get the hang of on how to do and I was damned it I was going back to that. I had some thick wall brass tube that was nearly right but didn't want to mix metal and plastic on what is supposed to be a bit of easy, indoor,modelling but looking up in the workshop roof was a container labelled 'plastics' "Wonder what size perspex is in there" I thought? Stone me, only some 33mm, clear, perspex rod. So staright into the lathe to part off two turrets at that diameter and then turn down for the lower parts. Bored through at 4mm for the pivot. The nice thing about Perspex, I think it has different trade name in the USA but was initially used for airplane cockpit canopies etc, is that it bonds to polystyrene easily with Plastic weld So, armoured bonnet and cab from 30 thou plasticard, floor from 40 thou and the two turrets The steering wheel 'drooped' whilst the glue was setting and needs to come off again Now the two Hotchkiss machine guns were where the lateral thinking came in. I hadn't any Scalelink white metal ones left and anyway it was a shame to cut them in half just for the ball mount and barrel so what was I going to use as a 6mm diameter ball i could drill a hole through? Answer a 6mm BB pellet out ot the 1/6th RC M1 Abrams tank! with a short length of hyperdermic needle as the barrel. I know it look odd unpainted but i think it will realy be convincing when painted The perspex gives it some weight. Must paint inside the radiator area and cab interior before the hatches go on D J Henry's classic sketch of one in action more soon Kev
Wow! You certainly chose an unusual modeling focus, but it seems not everything needs to be scratchbuilt. Nice work on the armored car!
I tried Grandt Line rivets first but they were too fine and chose instead to use some I got off Tony Riley years ago, They look a bit clunky but should be less obvious when the model is painted. Fire engine fenders cut down to suit. I wasn't happy with the front end and fitted a deeper front plate and the starting handle. This is the driver side which does not have a door. I've modelled most of the visors in the open position and the radiator shield The wheels are just pushed on at the moment to make painting easier. Side door left ajar. The door latch works I'l put the workshop heating on tomorrow and put the first, reveal coat of Hycote primer on to check for blemishes Realised as well that I had built the perfect loco to pull the train years ago and then sold it North British Railway J36 0-6-0 65222 was scratchbuilt in Nickel Silver . The class were named after significant battles and people of the first World war and 65222 was named 'Somme' after the battle of that name that resulted in such a catastrophic loss of life . The model was built to 1F i.e gauge 1 with finer wheel standards. opening smoke box door and the small standard snowplow. Fully sprung and working inside motion maybe I ought to build another one of these? more soon Kev
Still have to decide what markings to put on Colour is Tamiya Khaki Drab. I've got the option to add stowage boxes and petrol cans to it in the future Seen with the other half started one in the loft. The 1904 Mercedes. armoured and supplied to the Australian Armoured car section. Again based on an Airfix kit. This vehicle was very much a one-off and I have never found a drawing for it but was able to cobble a sketch together based on the known chassis dimensions and one photo of the left hand side. Because the turret had been removed and the end visors were open I was able to use the light and shadows plus the posoition of the steering column and spare wheel to work out the basic box The side door and cab top have been left off as it would be impossible to paint the inside otherwise. The photo more soon Kev
Wow, you really have some neat models in a rarely modeled focus area, at least as far as model railroads go.
Now the wife has got a Mercedes ML that some of the kids have described as 'the tank'. This would have been its Great Grandad! The soldier in front is on punishment detail and is spending his day peeling potatoes for the cooks. you'll see him again in a minute I found another picture of it (still with its turret on) and realised halfway through painting that the radiator shield was compeletly wrong and had to replace it So with still loads of Airfix Fire engine bits still kicking around the next project was the classic Dennis 3 ton GS truck. The red bits are from the original fire engine kit The hooks used for tying down the canvas cover are small jackstay eyebolts opened up slightly. I've left the engine covers off as if it has broken down painted and decalled but needs weathering So the Christmas dinner. The cooks are preparing the meal as some soldiers wait patiently. Matey is still peelin spuds provisions are being unloaded from the model T truck as a pair of Mk IV tanks are sat on the warflats. On one of the warflats a windup Gramaphone plays Silent night on an old 78 I'l go into more detail on these detailing bits soon Merry christmas and hopefully a Happy New year Kev Who has finished off the Chataue Neuf de Pape and is now finishing off the Premier Cru Chablis, shame nobody else in the family likes fine wine!
usually, but not all the time I've did the Y type lorry a while back with a full top but bizarrely have never seemed to photograph it. I'll rectify that as the canvas was a technique I hadn't attempted before and other modellers might be interested Back soon Kev
So the Y type was a lorry made by AEC and was basically a truck version of the London B type bus, This model wes kitbashed from the Airfix bus model All the alterations were done in 30 and 40thou plasticard but the canvas tilt was a bit of a challenge. In this shot (excuse the background) we see the Tank Regiment preparing to tie down one of the prototype Tadpole tanks with the chains and ratchets The canvas tilt was one of my old linen handkerchiefs stretched over the hoops and fixed to the sides with Mekpak liquied cement (Plastic weld would have worked equally well) with the cloth soaked in it and pressed into the plastic Knowing what I know now I would have put the ropes on first The hood was sprayed along with the rest odf the truck Might do the Dennis at some stage Kev
So I was scrolling through a well know internet auction site. not looking for anything in particular when I spotted three Airfix B type buses. I don't normally buy kits that other people have built but they had a low start price. Got all three for £20! Two are in London General Omnibus colours and was the Army version with the windows boarded up commonly known as an 'Ole Bill Bus' used to transport troops to the trenches I wasn't going to do anything with them straight away but as it is still too cold to go out to the workshop I thought I'd get stuck in. I soaked the two LGOC ones in warm soapy water to get the paper advertising stickers off and a soak in MicroSol got the waterslide decals off Windows were boarded over with individual planks and some wonkiness in the suspension sorted The paint was enamel (probably Humbrol) and was rock hard but I was still concerned it might react with the acrylic plastic primer so fingers were crossed First light coat with some red not covered The two finished in Khaki drab. Lead vehicle has a detachment of French 'Chausser Alpin' mountain troops hitching a ride with their banner hanging down the side. Second vehicle has wine barrel and a bicycle on the cab roof held on with thread. I did not go mad with the weathering I've got some more French figures coming so the second bus may well have them on as well. The blue uniforms add a splash of colour. The real, preserved one in action in Northern france Kev
Just found this. 100 year old footage of the British and USA two foot gauge trench railways in the First world war. Full of details and definetely making me think of doing something like this in 1/32nd Particularly the Baldwin Gas mechanicals Kev
Got a full set of drawings and the chassis is an ideal one to do on the panrograph engraver. Need to source some wheels Kev
