toffee Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Hi, I'm building a late 1960s micro, and I need a small to medium sized road van, what's the best one to buy ? Not bothered by price or livery as it will be stripped anyway. Are all 1:43 models true to scale ? I have been told some are not. Which ones capture the character of the real thing ? Are detailing parts available ? Any thoughts are most welcome as I don't have a lot of knowledge on road Vehicles in 7mm. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 Oxford diecast do some very nice and reasonably priced vehicles. Like this: P1010009 by John Kendall, on Flickr Corgis are pretty good too but be careful as there are slightly different scales. I got this Lee Brothers "pantechnicon" preowned: P1010001-001a by John Kendall, on Flickr I'm on the lookout for a bus. John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted April 18, 2017 Share Posted April 18, 2017 (edited) Remembering the late 60s, the van that seemed very common, before Transits came to dominate, was the Bedford CA, which Oxford make in (accurate) 1:43. Also the Ford Thames, which, again, Oxford make. The Transit came out in 1965, so was itself pretty common by "late sixties". I had a nice Dinky one at the time, along with the Zodiac and Mini, in a jolly good police set, which apparently now fetches £150-200 in good condition, but I think Corgi make one at an affordable price now. Comer Walk-thru vans were very common, too, as was the Commer FC, which Corgi used to make in milk float guise, with milkman. Kevin (please excuse the nostalgia burst below) Edited April 18, 2017 by Nearholmer 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toffee Posted April 26, 2017 Author Share Posted April 26, 2017 Thanks for the replies, I've decided on a Bedford CV and await its arrival. Hopefully we might get some more people giving their thoughts on what's good ( and bad ) in the vehicle world. As I said I'm a bit clueless on what's a good model and to scale and what's a complete no-no. All knowledge is good ! John Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted May 14, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 14, 2017 I find Oxford to be very good at road vehicles, and you can rely on the scale, but a little work will improve them considerably for anything but cabinet display use. To my view, Ox and for that matter all rtr model vehicles are finished in far too high a gloss. To illustrate my point, go outside and look at a road vehicle, even a new clean one, from anything more than about 30 feet away, and the high gloss finish appears flatter than close up. To recreate this on a model railway, even in 7mm but more so in 4 or 2mm scale, a coat of semi-matt varnish, so that there is still a bit of gleam but not blindingly, makes a huge difference. Tweaking the front wheels slightly on some vehicles to suggest that they have not been parked absolutely straight has a subtle but effective, er, effect, as well. My general advice would be to go for vans common in your period and a few year before; models just recently introduced would be a bit thinner on the ground, and unusual, one off, vehicles, while looking good and being very attractive to the manufacturers, are going to stretch credibility a bit; it is best to model the mundane and workaday look in order to produce a convincing overall effect. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brossard Posted May 14, 2017 Share Posted May 14, 2017 Quite right Johnster. Another on my long list of "to do" is to "weather" the vehicles I have collected. I'd like to know how others have tackled this. John 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Giles Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 (edited) I don't use varnish at all - instead, I rub mine down with 2000 grit wet and dry- used wet, till it's completely flat, and then buff it back up with a kitchen towel, and if necessary a little Duraglit, until I get the amount of shine I want..... Edited May 16, 2017 by Giles 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted May 16, 2017 Share Posted May 16, 2017 Somewhere I read that black wax, patinatingvwax that can be bought in furniture restoration places, rubbed into the panel joins and doors on lighter-coloured vehicles helps. I tried it, and it certainly does - an easy way to get rid of the toy look. K Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian G Posted May 23, 2017 Share Posted May 23, 2017 These are 1:48 http://www.asam.co.uk/index.html Ian G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Johnster Posted May 31, 2017 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 31, 2017 Somewhere I read that black wax, patinatingvwax that can be bought in furniture restoration places, rubbed into the panel joins and doors on lighter-coloured vehicles helps. I tried it, and it certainly does - an easy way to get rid of the toy look. K I just gave mine a coat of acrylic matt varnish, which makes a massive difference. And, scraping the transfers off my land rover, I discovered that the bare metal beneath is exactly bare land rover metal colour... Good tip about the wax, though, and might have an application for weathering railway vehicles. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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