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vehicles

A few old and a few new

Lets start with the humble Austin Maxi. A recent-ish release from Oxford Diecast. My first impression was ‘they have used their oversized tyres again but on looking at the real thing I think what threw this one off was the track was too wide with the wheels filling the arches much like a more modern vehicle. So with the track was slight reduced, inner window frames picked out in black. matt varnish and weathering I can call this one done.

Added a bit of a load to one of my smaller trucks. The wheelbarrow is a nice 3d print from 3D Printing Corner. click here

One of my early kit builds that has never been quite right is this Volvo from a Knightwing kit. Its always looked out of proportion to me so I have had another look at it.

I binned the chassis and used a spare from one of the cheap Atlas Stobart models you can find on ebay. for the cab itself I cut about 2mm out of the width. I am happier with it now.

Back to the new. The trailer that came with the chassis used on the Volvo was stripped and resprayed. I used a different tractor chassis and a cur down Base toys roadtrain cab. The windbreak is also a spare from an Atlas ford cargo.

I came across this livery wile looking at old shots of Brierley Hill for Brettell Road. I thought it nice to tie the 2 layouts together a little. The logos were drawn up in illustrator and printed on crafty transfer paper.


Tweaking the lighting and yet more rain.

I wasn’t all that happy with the positioning of the yard lamps shown last time.  The one on the right masked the tail lights on the lorry (as several people didn’t notice them) and it didn’t do enough to light up the entrance to the yard. Leading a couple of people to enquire how the lorries actually got in. So I’ve had a bit of a fiddle. I’ve moved the light further along so that the back of the lorry is in shade.  This on its own didn’t do enough to illuminate the gate area so…I’ve added headlights to the lorry.  (this picture was taken on a phone).  They are much to bright really but you can’t see them from the front of the layout anyway. Here is what I was aiming for.  Again its too bright for a lorry of that era but I’m happy with a bit of artistic licence for effect.  You can see the difference when the headlights are blocked (on the left).

I have also been busy with more AK interactive wet effects fluid.  Below are a few overviews that give a better hint of the rain. Finally another video, time for another cuppa and a biscuit!


One of those finished things posts.

The advantages of working on more than one project at once is that, firstly, I don’t get bored and secondly every so often you seem to finish a lot of things together.  This is one of those instances with several things that have featured recently have reached the finish line sort of together.

loading-gaugeMy loading gauge has been painted for a while but now its been planted too. I love stuff like this as its one of those things that I hope disappears into the scene and becomes unremarkable. Perhaps once in a blue moon someone will notice it but, much like the real thing I like stuff like this just to be ‘there’. It’s not supposed to get people’s attention. (don’t worry about the big gap under the wall – that’s not been permanently attached yet)Thames-and-AustinMy Ford Thames and Austin A40.  The colours of the Austin have a somewhat obvious Birmingham influence. Cartwrights was a furniture store in Brierley Hill but I have no idea if they used Austin vans or even if they had any road vehicles at all. ex-coke-wagonThis was a quick win project – Started life as a Bachmann Coke wagon which I imagined was sold to Round Oak and had the coke rails removed. I just liked it because it had a local livery and i’ve never done a distressed private owner before. The lettering was attacked with one of those brass brush wheels in a mini-drill and then the wagon was weathered. The w-irons needed a but more work with the mini-drill and a burr to get the wheels in but this was really minimal effort modelling! DE2-paint-1And so to the big project of the last few weeks – the DE2 shunter.  I have to admit I didn’t relish the thought of painting its striped livery but by using some 4mm making tape from a company called Jammy Dog it wasn’t too bad at all. (click here for their website)      A few more pictures below.DE2-paint-3 DE2-paint-2coal-emptiesThis is the sort of train I had in mind for the loco – Pushed up the hill with the loco at the rear and no brake van. I will need to add a shunter to the front wagon at some point.

van-train-bwFinally another moody shot of the Jinty heading out of the yard on a train of vans.


More vehicles, greenery and a first for me.

more-commercialsThe above 2 vehicles represent a return for me in a small way in that both come from manufacturers I have used before and in both cases I was a little bit disappointed previously . On the left an Austin A40 from Road transport images who I used before for a dodge cab on New Street. In the case of the dodge cab I felt it was a bit too rounded and didn’t really capture the look of the real thing all that well but I must say I’m much happier with this little van which was an impulse buy at this years Scaleforum. This is one of their all in one kits which is unusual for them as they usually sell all their bits separately so you can build the vehicle you want. Road Transport Images

The Lorry is a Ford Thames from John Day models. In this case my previous experience was with a diesel-powered Transit bus and again I wasn’t all that impressed. This model couldn’t be further from the transit though as its much better cast with very little work to do. I swapped the supports in the bed for wire as they were a tad scruffy and the bed and cab both needed a little bit of evergreen 40thou section to make them fit a little better but I like it! John Day Models

unloved-trackI decided that the track in my little yard looked too neat so I have attacked it with some powder paint (rubbed in with a finger then sealed with Klear) and some weeds. I’m much happier with how it looks now.
loading-gaugeAlthough I don’t have a goods shed I do need a loading gauge. I’m reliably informed that these were used to ensure that wagons leaving the yard were within gauge and not as some sort of protection for goods sheds. The above example is a typical midlands one and started out from the Smiths kit, I filed off the moulded lifting gear and replaced it with some spare handwheels (from Brassmasters) and bits of wire and brass.
weighbridgeI mentioned in the title a first for me and this is it. Not that i’ve never built a weighbridge before (Although I haven’t) but i’ve never actually built a kit building before. When I was a kid my dad built some for me, usually Airfix kits and Linka, but all my buildings have been scratchbuilt up to now. So in the interests of breaking new ground this is a Wills kit. I turned the door over as hinges on the outside indicated it opened outwards which seemed a bit odd to me. I also filed off the panels on the end and rescribed the bricks and fancied a brick-built chimney but it is still a kit building. Oh and the guttering is bits of brass from Eileens!

Finally, you may have spotted earlier that Ive bedded in (most of) the abandoned warehouse, a few pictures follow:abandoned-line warehouse-bedded-in


More wagons

wooden-opensWhat you see above is a variation on a theme, both started out as Parkside kits for the same wagon (although different generations of the same kit) and both have been built to represent something slightly different to what was intended. On the Left a clasped brake version achieved by substituting the supplied chassis for a PA16 chassis kit from the same supplier. On the right the supplied chassis modified with vac cylinder and tie bars (0.7mm L section from Eileens).

steel-opensA selection of steel opens built pretty much as intended. The far left is a Red Panda kit the others are Parkside with the usual extra detailing. It’s good to see that the Red Panda kits have reappeared from Parkside although the example shown here remained available continuously.

abandoned-lorry-2I decided I quite likes the idea that when the building shown in the last update was abandoned an unfortunate lorry was left behind too. Perhaps it wouldn’t start or its been dumped there?  Having mooched around for a suitable victim I quite fancied a kit rather than ready to plonk and I havent built a vehicle kit for a while. I settled on a Coopercraft Bedford ML and set to work.

The kit is quite poor if i am honest. There’s loads of flash and the fit of the parts isn’t great. I also decided that the windscreens were far too small but being all plastic it’s not too much hassle to fashion something presentable and as I’ve mentioned before I find poor kits strangely rewarding. I attacked the bed with a circular saw in a mini drill to gouge out some of the planks and simlulate rot.  The above is the more presentable side!

abandoned-lorry-1On this side I cut off a wing and cut down the tires to simulate flats. The rubber at the bottom was added with filler. The lorry was first weathered with a light blue to simulate fading, varnished and then gouache was used for the rust. another coat of varnish and washes of enamels were added to simulate dirt and grime. Finally the whole thing was dry brushed with Klear to make it look wet.

On the subject of road vehicles I will be doing a demo at Scaleforum this month so please stop by for a chat if you are going.

http://www.scalefour.org/scaleforum/2015/


Cars

british-carsRoad vehicles are a good distraction from all the other projects on the layout and are also quick.  By building them this way you can amas quit a lot without really noticing it.  I have a 3 drawer Ikea box full so far, which as a project on its own would be quite a daunting task.  The cars above are nearly finished except for number plates and tax disks.  They are (left to right)

Austin Princess, from Oxford Diecast.  I was concerned that the tyres looks too big but on looking at the real things, if the are, it’s not by much.  Handily its screwed together so it’s a simple disassembly, matt varnish, add people and weather job.  No excuse really for the tipped straight from the box onto the layout thing that (for me) ruins so many nice layouts.  I also tided up the window frames while I was at it.

Mini – from Corgi but with new wheels and a more modern front grill from the Springside kit. I also enlarged the rear window and replaced the rear lights as well as removing the external door hinges.

Morris Marina – again from Oxford and treated as per the princess.  Nice to see well proportioned tyres on the newer Oxford models.

Austin 1800 – this one is an old Minic model with wheels from a Cararama Mini (tip borrowed from Kier Hardy’s website).  The tyres were cut in half as they were very wide as supplied.

All of these will be kind of old for my layout (the 1800 especially) and there’s still a big gap for 1980’s cars . However I believe a layout should have a good proportion of cars from at least the decade preceding the date it is set and really I probably should have at least as many cars from 1972  as models released in 1987.

 


30th July 2010

I have been busy working on buses again. I have now split the road vehicles section into 2 parts, 1 for commercial vehicles and 1 for buses. Plenty added to both sections.

A few updates to the stock section too, the main one being a new section for the class 155 DMU. Click on ‘stock’ in the main menus to have a look around.

Work has progressed well on the London end of the station and finally I have uploaded a gallery of pictures taken by visitors to the DEMU showcase in June to the shows page.


8th February 2010

Just a quick update this time. I have added a few more vehicles to the vehicles page.


21st October 2009

Time for another update. There are a few new sections to the website as well as a conclusion to an ongoing project!

First up I have had a track building urge again and good progress has been made on the London/Derby end station thoat. To see more go to the track page.

A new section on how I am building my roads can be found in the scenary section.

If you have roads you need vehicles to go on them! See more in the Vehicles section.

Finally my staff building is finished!