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Road Transport Images Kits


Rowsley17D

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  • RMweb Gold

Has anybody any experience of ordering and making the above kit vehicles? Their website is www.roadtransportimages.com which is a bit clunky. I know they do few complete kits, so you have to order a cab, chassis, body and wheels. The photo of the wheels shows only two and it's not clear (to me) how many you get in a pack. A complete vehicle will cost in the order of £35 which seems pricy to me, so if anybody has made one I would like to know what you think. I want to make a 1932 Bedford WG.

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RTI kits are very much a specialist thing, hence the cost can look a bit high but they are an easy route to a pretty accurate model of many prototype lorries from the 1930s to the present day. For many of these its the only route short of scratch building and the cabs are generally much better than those where alternatives are available. The bodies Frank does are equally good and cover a wide selection of prototypes.

 

It's a while since I bought any wheels from Frank, I tend to buy them in batches so I have them ready to use and I don't always use the RTI ones anyway, but I think the packs are enough for a four wheel vehicle, two front, two rear and a pair of axles. The chassis are pretty bland but they are easy to use and on most prototypes are out of sight anyway. For tractor units which might have the chassis on show, I use Plastruct to build a ladder frame chassis and fashion the spring details, transmission etc from plasticard.

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I'd agree with everything Rangers says.

 

I've used a good few RTI kits and bits. A quick and cheaper method is to use the accurate RTI cabs with chassis' from Base Toys, Oxford etc with a bit of scratchbuilding.

 

Full RTI kits can work out relatively expensive though you will get more accurate wheels to suit your prototype.

 

They are resin and the castings may need a bit of tidying up.

 

If I recall correctly the separate wheels are sold as pairs, I think you get a front and a rear. Obviously full kits come with the full set as required.

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Have used the cabs, chassis and wheels for some vehicles on Troutons.aiming to use to make a refuelling truck for same layout. Good basis on which to build different bodies. Very good if you want something different from Base and Oxford classics and if you enjoy making things. Would not use if wanting to populate a layout with lots of vehicles but excellent for cameo focus. Good range of figures that can be adapted for other scenes .

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  • RMweb Gold

Thank you, gentlemen. I just want the one early 1930s vehicle as in the OP to go in the goods yard on my layout as there would have been precious few motor vehicles around my part of the world at that time. Will ponder an email order later today.

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I can recommend the RTI products, I have as others have suggested, used Oxford Diecast chassis or scratch built my own without problem. For wheels I have bought some cheap EFE 8 wheel lorries in the past, if you are not fussy about colours they can be picked up for less than £5.

 

There are some pictures of the RTI trucks in build on the first few pages of my Peafore Yard thread

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I've built a good few RTI cabs and still have a load more stashed away for the future. As others have said, buying the complete vehicle from RTI can get rather pricey - I've only done one from all RTI parts and otherwise use donor models from EFE, Base Toys, Oxford etc. The cabs are quite fragile and need a fair bit of gentle cutting and filing to remove the flash but with care a nice model will result. Take a look at https://www.flickr.com/search/?tags=roadtransportimages&view_all=1for some inspiration.

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  • 9 months later...

Some new products on the website now for Frank's autumn releases, and the premium price for archived cabs has been abolished - at last!

  • BED18 Bedford CA 1952 10cwt van
  • ERF18 ERF LV series Boalloy 1962 cab with badges and vac-glazing
  • FOR12 Ford H series Transcontinental 1975 sleeper/day cab with badges and vac-glazing
  • KIT 3 Leyland Hippo 19H/1 1950 RAF utility cab 10 ton 6 wheeler complete
  • THO3 Thornycroft Sturdy Star 1946 coach built cab
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Also a letter to customers from Frank which hints that sales of new introductions are no longer as brisk as they once were, only one of the last batch has sold enough to cover the tooling costs. The indication is that with a range covering over 200 types, the choice for customers is now so wide in a fairly limited market, sales volumes simply aren't enough to cover costs.

 

As a result, the established convention of introducing five new kits quarterly is to be abandoned, the time this frees up will allow him to cast one off sales to order, hence the price reduction for the "archive' list. There are also details of a commission service for customers requiring specific types.

 

There is a hint that he may well be forced to consider the future of the range if sales dip to uneconomic levels, it would be a great shame to lose this little known but superb range of vehicles.

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  • 4 months later...

Franks latest newsletter brings the welcome news of BMC/ Leyland EA 220 and 240 van kit, the type so believed of the Post Office in the 70s and 80s.

 

A couple of tipper bodies and a Bedford WTL from 1938 complete the new introductions.

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Franks latest newsletter brings the welcome news of BMC/ Leyland EA 220 and 240 van kit, the type so believed of the Post Office in the 70s and 80s.

 

A couple of tipper bodies and a Bedford WTL from 1938 complete the new introductions.

Excellent news, I had badgered him for a while to do this, part of the problem was a lack of proper pictures of the rear.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Rob,

Excellent news, I had badgered him for a while to do this, part of the problem was a lack of proper pictures of the rear.

Curiously, I picked up an EA brochure last year at National CV Museum in Leyland last year, it cost me a whole pound!

 

Steve

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