40 058

Managed a bit more MAN mangling today. Slow going though as I need to let glue dry before handling it too much. Having sorted the chassis shortening to turn it into a tractor unit, I decided to remove the front axle. On the original wrecker it was a 6x6 and I want this as a 6x4 so I’ve removed the entire front driven axle and suspension (all one plastic moulding) and started building up a beam axle style replacement. The original axle should be handy for something else. It still needs work but given where it is, it’s crucial to let the glue dry before putting the weight of the chassis and cab on the new bits! Ive reused the original attachment points on the chassis and made up new mounts to fit them, dummy leaf springs and the new axle to fit the original wheels and metal axle inside. I expect you probably won’t see much of this afterwards but at least I know it’s actually a 6x2 now! Its sitting at the same height as it did before and all six wheels are touching the bench ok so I must have got it more or less right! It looks better with the trailer sat roughly in place too. Definitely too long as it was. Getting there. Slowly but surely.

It is quite addictive isn’t it!😁 I’ll have a look on that site as I really could do with a replacement glazing for it. I think the site is Steve Flowers main site, he usually sells most (but not all) his parts on eBay too. The A60 (or A55!) or indeed any of the BMC Farina’s are lovely cars! Surprised actually there’s any of them left considering the rate they were being destroyed on the banger racing tracks! Shame really. The old Corgi one here I’ll be doing a simple job of, I want it to look similar to how Corgi actually did them just without the learner bits! I do have a few others though from the more modern manufacturers… James Bond partwork A55. A60 from some other collection. I got this cheap as someone has painted the roof! Argentina partwork Riley (Siam built under license). I’ve got a ‘cars of Greece’ partwork Morris Oxford version somewhere too. Its a pity nobody has done the big Farina versions… Westminster, 6/110, Vanden Plas etc etc they’d make fantastic looking models.

For anyone interested in some older toys; Aaaaages ago I got a Corgi Austin A60, the learner driver model. I’ve always liked these but never actually had one. I was always put off by the cast in L plates front and back and that god awful big red steering wheel on the roof! To me those bits really ruined that car. I never understood why they made them like that really and restricted its use in the process. Even as a kid I always hated those parts and thought Corgi really missed an opportunity by doing that with the casting. I’m still convinced if they’d made it as a standard car it’d have sold well for much much longer in other colour combinations rather than only ever as a learner driver car. I suppose we’ll never know now. But, I decided I’d try to make the car Corgi should have made! As you can see, the one I chose to do this to was not exactly the sort that’d be a loss by doing it. I don’t hack up nice versions of these old toys/models. Stripped. Then just grind and file away the cast L plates, and fill the roof. Then paint! Masking up the white stripe was a pig of a job! The cast trims that divide colours are not the crispest of lines on this casting, add in to that over half a century’s worth of dings, chips and damage from being played with and rattling around in a toy box and you just can’t always get a perfect line. But, I will paint the trims around the white stripe in silver, as on the real cars it has a bright trim around it. Corgi didn’t do this on their release. That should tidy the edges up a bit. Colours are Lada Adriatic blue and gloss white - not an exact match to Corgi’s but not far off! Just needs to harden off for a while now, then I’ll do the silver bumpers, grill, trims etc.

Did a little bit more on the MAN tractor unit today. As it was originally a rigid wrecker the chassis was a bit long for a tractor unit, so it needed shortening. This is roughly how the trailer will sit now. Comparing against photos is helpful when doing this, but even so there’s a bit of variation in exactly how they work truck to truck, I guess it just depends on how each one was spec’d when built new and of course any modifications done during its life. And of course what extra equipment it has fitted. Next job was to rejoin the two halves. To start with I just glued the join and let that dry, then once set reinforced the whole thing with some angle and superglue. Once it’s assembled and painted you shouldn’t see much of this! There is a plastic frame that sits on top of the chassis and includes bits like the rear wheel arch covers, lights etc etc so once this has fully cured I’ll see how that fits and modify to suit. That itself should cover up most of the reinforcement strips. There was a slight oversight though. The rear axles have now moved forward which means the first wheel hits the original fuel tank! So that needs altering before refitting. Another thing I need to do after it’s all set is to make a new front axle. The original one from this chassis is a driven axle with a diff, as the truck was a 6x6. There weren’t ever that many 6x6 ones around so a 6x4 is much more suitable for my artic. Luckily on these the axles and springs are separate plastic parts and can be separated, so I’ve just taken the whole front axle and suspension assembly off and I’ll make a beam axle for it from plastic sections. The redundant original axle will come in handy for another project. I could probably have not bothered to be honest and left it as it was as you can’t really see it was a powered axle unless you pick it up and look underneath but it all adds to the fun of building it I suppose!

I couldn’t resist this either, being a van lover. Freight Rover! From the rally support vehicle partwork. 1:43 scale as usual. Not a particularly common van in model form but at one point extremely common on British roads. One for the paint booth eventually.

Got a few more models reassembled again after they passed through the spray booth. 1st generation Dodge RAM pickup. Originally comes in white from the Bond in motion magazine partwork. These are a really nice casting! They look so much better in actual colours too. This one is just some cheap metallic red aerosol meant for motorbikes off eBay. It’s nice paint though, goes on lovely and the nozzle has a brilliant spray fan for doing stuff like this. Bumpers are white on the original model but I chromed these with a Molotow liquid chrome pen. Another model from the Bond in motion collection is the 2nd generation Ford Econoline in ‘club wagon’ mini bus guise. Originally these are a funny greenish blueish colour but I decided to two tone this one! Many of the club wagon versions did get paint jobs like this and were much better specced than the panel van versions. Disassembled this Ebro Coke bottle truck. This particular truck is actually a Thames ET6 built under license in Spain by Ebro, but of course easily can be made into a Brit! Another great looking model, I’m not totally sure what to do with it yet but stripping the paint, ditching the roof sign and making a flatbed or short tipper are most likely. And of course swapping to right hand drive! I bought a pair of these Deutz trucks cheap to use as chassis & body donors. The cabs are not really something seen in this country but the rest is good with a bit of modification.

Little update on how things are going. Transit mk2 is painted and been sat hardening off for a few days. I prefer to get stuff into paint then leave it alone for a few days or even weeks for the paint to fully dry and harden. I find sometimes if you don’t it scratches and chips much easier. This just needs building back up now and details picking out by hand. Then got a nice artic fairly cheaply, but being from the Spanish trucks collection the tractor unit isn’t suitable to British (miniature!) roads, but the trailer was what I really wanted anyway! For the time being the Dodge can take care of hauling the dangerous loads of Birds Custard and the like!

Ooof!! That is nice. Details on it look really good too. I’m guessing you’ve got a 3D printer? I do have a second Dinky AEC Merryweather to rob the cab from, with intention to build an 8x4 with a flatbed. I’ve got a suitable modern chassis for it here too, just needs shortening.

And finally for tonight, the Spaniard arrived! Spanish Dodge. Originally a Barrieros design, later absorbed into the Chrysler Europe brand. Sold in small numbers in the UK as the Dodge 300 or ‘Spanish Dodge’ from the mid 70’s to sometime in the 80’s after Chrysler decided to leave the European market. Renault took over the commercial vehicle range (Peugeot took the cars!) resulting in certain ex Dodge branded commercials getting Renault badges. I’m not sure if the Renault version of the 300 continued to be sold here, although the old Dodge 50 vans definitely did carry on just with the Renault badge. Anyway, a few tweaks to this very nice model should see it look a bit more British in appearance.

While I was at it, I offered up the Ergomatic tipper I built (and still need to finish!) just to see how well that old Dinky cab stacks up. To be honest, I think it’s pretty much bob on! If the Dinky is not exactly 1:43 then I’d say it’s incredibly close. Theyre similar types of truck really just the MAN is a generation newer, so you’d expect it to be a bit bigger, but the AEC really doesn’t look half bad in my opinion. Certainly good enough for me anyway! Not that there’s many alternatives yet!

Did some measuring up today, by eye I mean! As suspected, I reckon I’ll need to cut the MAN chassis down a tad. Obviously there’s no 5th wheel yet but the trailer pin is roughly where it should sit on the tractor’s chassis. Something like this looks better, just with the rear axles closer to the cab. I think it just needs the gap between fuel tank and wheel closing up which should be quite simple to do. But, I think it’ll make for a nice looking rig once done! Trailer needs to lose the side boards around the front end as they don’t look particularly ‘British’ in appearance in my opinion. The trailer does have a pair of ramps that just clip on.

It’s a nice model, that MAN/RABA. I’m pretty certain it’s an IXO base model as you can get it from them but with different load beds or tractors. It comes with the extended cab like mine or the standard day cab type. Since it might be a while before I can dig out the model I need for the load, I’ll just tell you… I was looking on Flickr at trucks etc as I usually do for detail photos, livery’s etc etc and stumbled on this photo. Obviously there is no ERF in 1:43 so I decided I’d do something similar with the MAN. Basically the load are elderly AEC tippers which have ended their days as road trucks and were now in use by a contractor who was in the road building business. They had a very big varied fleet of trucks like that, all now off highway use only for running spoil from one place to another during the construction of various motorways etc around the country. Most of them were absolutely battered and falling apart but they just kept going and going since there were no MOT requirements anymore! Looking further at the photos of all this awesomeness I found a few real weirdo trucks including this. This is the M25 being built, and mixing it with the old AEC’s is a Soviet! It’s a Kraz 256B dumper!! What on earth is that doing in the UK, building motorways!? Turns out a very small number were actually sold here new for mining, quarries etc etc. They were built in Ukraine and used massively by various Soviet Union companies and the military (as the 255) the 256 is basically a slightly newer civilian spec version. These export versions were, strangely, badged and sold as Belaz 256B’s. Obviously this particular contractor had managed to pick a few of them up and had them working on their projects. Interestingly, this same type of truck was also used extensively in its various variants during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster! There was even a specific type of it built for that clean up job in the worst radioactive areas with a single cab (built from lead!), a radiology glass windscreen and special ventilation system for the driver. All of them were used for carrying contaminated materials away from the power station to special dump sites. They themselves became dangerously contaminated in the process and after the clean up finished they were pushed into deep pits along with many other highly contaminated vehicles and equipment and buried. I think it’s incredible how, especially at the time, a big Soviet truck like that could have found its way into road building projects here in the UK working alongside British (and some German too) trucks. So that is what I’ll model as the low loaders load. I already have a good 1:43 256B dumper model that I bought years ago so I’ll simply strip that down and give it a few alterations and a nice shabby coat of blue paint with a hand written number slapped on. Then it can sit on the low loader on its way out to its next construction project! Finding the model is the thing though. I packed it into a big box with many others months ago ready to move! Now I can’t remember which box they’re in or where that box even is!

Looking like my house move might be happening soon judging by the phone call this afternoon so I’m not sure how much more I’ll be getting done with these for a while. With any luck I’ll be able to get myself a proper place to do modelling again though. Heres a few more started. Transit mk2. These were everywhere when I was a kid and are the van in my opinion! They look like a van should and I always liked them, then as an adult I got to own my own one for several years. This is an IXO base model, but from a magazine partwork about rally support vehicles. As a result the decoration isn’t quite as good as the IXO branded premium versions (which I have a few of too!). Of course this particular model is of a left hand drive van, which means the side door is on the far less common side for a British right hand drive van… So I measured out the original door and transferred the measurement over to the other side then used a razor saw to cut a new door gap in. Then made new hinges & handle from scrap plastic card. Then the original doors hinges & handle were filed off and the door outline filled and rubbed down. I wanted a typical Transit van you’d see on the road just doing van things so I’ve gone for bog standard plain white on this one (creative aren’t I!?) First coat on. It’ll need a few more to cover properly but it’s looking ok already. This particular model is the tailgate type rear door but they are available with the double doors too. In between doing bits on the Transit I started stripping down a truck for another project… I picked up a pair of these a while back. One will stay as it is, the other will become something else. RABA trucks are Hungarian built but weren’t sold in the UK (that I know of??) but they used other companies cabs for a long time starting off with DAF then moving on to MAN cabs, which we did get here like this one from the late 70’s on. Of course it’ll need the badge alternating on the grill but these were quite common in the UK. Stripped. The model came apart really well. Nothing broke or caused any trouble coming off. The cab is absolutely superb! Really looks like the prototype. Just needs a couple of holes filling in the roof from the redundant light bar but otherwise it’s good to go. Chassis is also excellent, although I think it might need shortening slightly as I think I’m going to do this as a tractor unit. I’ve got a plan in my head to pair it with a low loader trailer so I think leaving it as a 6x4 tractor unit will fit well. I’ve also got a plan for a suitable load for the trailer which might raise a few eyebrows but I can assure you it most definitely was ‘a thing’! But you might have to wait for that until I can find the donor model… because I packed it away somewhere ready to move house!

It’s the exact spec of the truck that makes a big difference, lighter weight chassis have the smaller wheels and the suspension isn’t so beefy so they tend to sit lower, whereas the heavy weight trucks could used the exact same cab but have considerably bigger springs and wheels making it look much bigger. The Bedford TK was always quite a low cab design though. Even on the big 4x4 military versions the cab looks out of place being quite small. I’m sure I’ve heard people that used to drive them say they were a very cramped uncomfortable truck to sit in. Dinky did indeed do those older cab AEC’s, usually in white with the Esso tanker (or Lucas green promotional edition), blue with the Hynor car transporter, red with the BRS flatbed or army green with the tank/helicopter transporter. It’s another nice casting of theirs, if a bit plain and basic. It’s also roughly 1:43ish. I have one to hand actually, sat here waiting to be given a makeover for a more modern spec model! The biggest problem is it’s a bit under-wheeled. The real one should have larger arches that extend out behind the cab. It is an old toy though so I can’t be too hard on it! I’ll take it apart at some stage and see what can be done with it. Ill definitely be putting it onto a more modern chassis though. Be careful when buying these too… there’s two versions of it. One has the cast grill like mine but some have a plain flat grill with all the details as a sticker! Obviously if you start going down the road of stripping, detailing and painting them your probably going to lose the sticker.

Well, if you do run off some extra’s please consider me very interested in a few! The Dinky D series is good enough with some work, it’s just that oversized nose that lets it down but once that’s shortened it’s pretty good. Likewise the Dinky TK, although I don’t think that’s half bas as it comes. They're all very old now though so a modern spec version would be great. The IXO TK is very nice, but they need to make more of them! They don’t come up very often now and if they do they’re expensive. Ive just bought a Spanish Dodge 300 tractor unit. Obviously they weren’t around over here in big numbers but seem to have been more common here than I thought they were. So that’ll be getting stripped down and turned into a UK spec truck. Theres a few other foreign manufacturers of truck available, Volvo/Scania/Mercedes/Renault that we did get here but it’s the domestic built stuff that’s very poorly catered for. Crazy really considering how many commercial vehicles we exported back in the good ol’ days so there’s a potential market for them all over the world really. Buses are almost non existent in 1:43 though. There’s a small handful suitable for UK roads but not much. I did get one of the IXO partwork AEC Regents… Which is a lovely model, despite the quality control on mine not being the best! Lots of loose parts floating around in the blister box and the grill was glued on wonky (all of which I’ve put right). Id even be happy if they did something popular and common like a Routemaster but there’s very very little so far.