The definition of tedium, cutting the planks for the deck. Needs to be done so do about twenty at a time and then have a break The tie down rings have all beeen added. Buffers are now sprung and the safety chains added but they need the hooks on the end. handbrake shafts on but the handwheels wont be fitted until the wagons are painted. The planks are just sitting on top for now and will be stained in seperate batches to get some variation in tone. I did notice that the brass shows through the gaps between the planks so the top going to have to be painted. train pipe added both ends They have been cleaned with white spirit to get all the soldering flux and swarf off and are ready for grit blasting and etching tomorrow The support jacks screwed down onto a timber baulk as per the loading manual On the deck are four of the shackles and chains used to hold a tank down Here is how they are used. This is a Mk V tank loaded on a 'Rectank' tank carrier which I might do as the next model more soon Kev
Not quite there yet but not far off Loaded with the two Mk IV tanks (one male, one female) I've photoshopped all the background out as it wasn't a pretty site! now this is where we get to the tricky bit of gauge 1. the wagons are to the British 1 scale of 10mm to the foot i.e about 1/30.5. European gauge 1 is 1/32 scale although a few Brits also work to that scale. In the old days tanks and AFV kits led by Airfix and a couple of American kit makers were 1/32 but once Tamiya and everybody else went with them the principal scale for AFVs is 1/35th like these two tanks. I've been building up a collection of first world war vehicles for years now and in the photo below the two Mk IVs and the Whippet are 1/35th. The model T truck and machine gun patrol car, the 3 ton lorry and the Prince Henry vauxhall staff car are all 1/32nd so I can't win really! Years ago Airfix magazine which was a very varied magazine covering all sorts of plastic modelling used to do articles about kitbashing airfix models into all sorts of things. The 3 ton lorry on the left started out as a London bus! So you have to compromise a bit. Now these vehicles were very long lived and i can remember seeing them carrying the British Army FV432 armoured personel carriers to the Warcop ranges back in the day bBlieve it or not we still have one that runs round the village every now and then. Privately preserved in full working order it is seen here taking part in the Askam parade held every June look familier? Yup, a lot like a M113 Kev
Biggest cheat of the lot. My collection of M113s perched on the warflats I've been collecting these for a while having seen the Thai Army ones in action. I started with one and then picked up five, half built, at an obscure model railway exhibition on the club sales stand. No one was intereted in them so I made them a cheeky offer for the lot, they went off to find the member selling them who gladly accepted. smiles all round two M113-A1s, one M113 A2, a M113 ACAV, an M163 AA gun and a M113 Fitter field recovery unit Kev
my mind has started to drifting towards concentrating on doing gauge 1 with a distinct WW1 theme. I've got loads of loco wheels left from years ago to do the right sort of engines plus the plans to make them so as i sat at my desk tonight a niggling thought came into my mind. " what else did i have lurking in the loft?" Back in 1971 when I was 16 I was an avid reader of Airfix magazine and if you will excuse the poor photo quality these were some of my efforts back in the day ( if I recall the pics were taken on a Lubitel 2 1/4 square twin lens reflex camera, horrible thing) A Rolls Royce armoured car converted from an Airfix Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and an Austin Armoured car converted from a 1914 Dennis Fire engine also by Airfix.Just out of shot is a London B type bus altered to represent the ones used at the front Now when we, as a group, were touring with Mardy Colliery we used to be constantly on the lookout for anything the right scale to use for the scenery so at some stage I must have hoovered up this lot that haven't seen the light of day since about 1987 there are three 1904 Mercedes, a Model T and two boxes of Dennis Fire engines that actually contain three. One complete but has fallen apart and two unstarted, there was also an unstarted Airfix 1930 Bentley 3 litre which is out of period. I think I might have a couple of nights in doing some kitbashing when the weather is too rough to go out to the workshop. it will be quite nostalgic to do the Austin armoured car conversion 49 years after the first one! I've learnt a lot since then. Kev
