Consequently I've purchased a few 1:148 scale cars from RailNscale through the Shapeways website. I've never been a great fan of 3D printing in the smaller scale as the stratification ridges are more obvious and are darn hard work to eradicate. But I've been perserving with these, although they are still a long way from finished. The detail painting (lights, etc.,) needs completing, then there is the glazing, and so on . . . .

However, although they are British N gauge 1:148 scale I did find it odd that the Volvo 245 DL was left hand drive - they've obviously been rescaled from continental 1:160 models. The Vauxhall Cavalier Mk1s are correct right hand drive. Perhaps I ought check their size. And even though the 'ridgy' effect was quite restrained on them they have still take quite an effort and time to get to this stage.

G.

Available from https://marstonmodels.com/product/wales-edwards-3-wheeled-milk-float-7mm-143-scale/

I rather liked Base Toy lorries, vans and buses, as they covered a good range and numbers of interesting models from the 1950s onwards. I was sorry when they ceased trading.

I was surprised therefore to receive an email from Rails of Sheffield yesterday, and they have a stock of some B-T Models products - I imagine a limited supply that has become available from somewhere. There are 1/76 and 1/148 items, listed here for anyone who would like to see what is available

https://railsofsheffield.com/collections/vendors?q=B-T Models&utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_campaign=Current Diecast Roundup&utm_id=01KN76Q79T2ESF4K6PJJ9G1AN7&_kx=i6RYPogY5KDJjbWUdjyAak06iR91P6jHiFHLkNjEQMg.RXkVMS

John Storey

The past few months though I’ve started doing a bit of modelling again, but this time road vehicles, which is another big passion of mine. 
I started practicing really on various old toys and models to see how it went then moved on to much newer models.

If there’s interest I’ll keep updating here as I start new projects and do bits n bobs to others.

To start with here’s a few of the older, more toy style ‘practice’ pieces!

This one is a Dinky Ford Transit mk1. Started life as a police van but it was a bit of a mess with various bits broken or missing. In the end I came upon another damaged one cheaply that most of the parts I needs still so I made one good one from the two.

This is it after stripping the remains of the original paint, priming and loosely assembling it to make sure it actually all fit together properly!

I wanted to try painting something that was a bit beyond just a single colour, since I’ve not done anything for a while it’s good to see if you still can!

Masked up and painting in progress.

Unmasked.

A bit of hand painted detailing.

And the finished van.

Now, obviously this isn’t by any means a scale model! It’s an old beaten up toy, but it’s come up well and made good practice.

Plenty more to come, including more ‘scale’ model style stuff!

As part of my O gauge layout set in 1977 (Peasevern Yard) I took great care to get 1/43 scale lorries, modifying IXO models of 1970s Bedfords, rather than using more readily available Corgi models as these are 1/50. I recently bought a Heljan class 60 as I like them and may in the future do a 1990s era layout so decided to build one of the trucks of my youth. An easy option would be to respray an IXO model of a European make such as a Volvo or Scania but I really wanted one of the British makes however there are no models of an ERF, Foden or Seddon Atkinson that suited my 1990s era.

However last year a potential option was presented by IXO in the form of a Pegaso Troner model if I was prepared for a "little bit of work"...

Now 99% of the UK logistics population would never have heard of Pegaso as they were only sold here for a few years and only a handful were sold. Pegaso were a Spanish manufacturer whose owner (ENASA) happened to have acquired Seddon Atkinson in 1980s. Seddon Atkinson was the result of the merger of Seddon and Atkinson trucks in the 1970s and by the mid 1980s their cab was somewhat dated. ENASA collaborated with DAF to design a new cab to be used by all 3 brands. Branded the "Strato" the new cab coupled with the proven chassis and running gear enabled Seddon Atkinson to grow their market share and won them plenty of new customers albeit some of the growth was short lived as the cab was prone to rust, there were electrical gremlins and a few other niggles. ENASA were bought out by Iveco who replaced the cab with their own which  was even more prone to rust and electrical gremlins and Seddon Atkinson ceased production in 2005.

The Pegaso was the closest visually to the Seddon Atkinson so is the obvious choice for this project. IXO have produced a couple of Pegaso Troners but while they have produced a Paris - Dakar rally truck with a sleeper cab, the most suitable starting points for the conversion are either the less common day cab or even rarer cab top sleeper version (a variant Seddon Atkinson never did). IXO models can be quite expensive at circa £70 to £100 plus postage from Mainland Europe but I picked up my donor model on ebay for a bargain £27  and no postage. From looking at the pictures of the model I worked out the cab top sleeper was a separate moulding so hoped the standard roof would be present underneath. 

Most day cab Stratos were owned by fuel or tanker operators and I didn't fancy making a tank trailer. I was lucky to find this photo of an ex Esso tractor unit sold to another operator with a curtainside trailer so ideal for my donor model:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/16212470@N03/51309366403/in/faves-49261102@N07/

So the basic plan is;

- convert to Right hand Drive

- replace fuel tank and battery boxed which were different between Pegaso and Seddon Atkinson 

- remove the high roof sleeper 

- Modify the cab front grille to represent a Seddon Atkinson

- Add the fuel regulation specification modifications such as fire screen at the back of the cab and Exhaust pipe under the cab

- Modify and detail the trailer running gear

- Repaint and add transfers. Jo @Steadfast at Steadfast models has kindly agreed to do the transfers for me.

So the first part was to dismantle the tractor unit... Suffice to say that every part had been either riveted or glued with the strongest superglue ever. The more I dismantled the more I realised that this will be a bit more than "a little bit of work'..

The biggest challenges are;

- The cab roof under the sleeper pod is not detailed and will need a lot of work to get it to look anything like the real thing. I am surprised that IXO didn't reuse the standard day cab tooling and put the pod onto but it is what it is and I love a challenge. 

- The bumper is attached to the cab not the chassis. This makes the grille modifications hard but not impossible as I am likely to fill the current area and rely on a transfer for the grille.

The paint on the cab is easily chipped and will therefore get a bath in paint stripper to take it back to bare metal. Plan of attack is to do the cab mods first as it affects the grille transfers before doing the chassis with the trailer last.

 
Sadly, for various reasons the project stalled and much of it laid undisturbed in various boxes for years.

Another attempt to get moving happened in 2017 where a little progress was made with an articulated lorry but it was a false dawn and the stockpile slumbered on.

Recently whilst trying to sort out the large quantity of clutter that has accumulated I dicovered just how much stuff I still had and felt that it was time to revisit the idea.
 
The concept is for a townscape, set in the West Midlands in the mid-70s, with a reasonable amount of moving road traffic along with that token railway.

January has been spent assembling a selection of vehicles to test various assumptions.  So far there are seven vehicles capable of running - here are the first three of them:

This was one of the stalled projects - a Faller Start Set lorry adapted for EFE bodywork and an OpenCar DCC decoder with radio link. It also has head/tail lights, brake lights and indicators.

Lesson 1: To get a number of vehicles prepared in anything like a reasonable time frame the lights can be retro-fitted later. They are just so *expletive* fiddly - especially when trying to fit them to a die-cast metal cab.

Good news - the magic bits fit in smaller vehicles than that. These are two Oxford Diecast models converted with parts from Merryweather Scale Vehicles and fitted with OpenCar decoders. That's a win.

I have spent yesterday afternoon setting up a PreSale page on my website. I will finish adding pictures over the weekend. Please share far and wide we need the sales. 20% off until the 14th of February (yeah I know had to pick a date) then 10% until end of April.

N'Tastic Presale

Masters are with the caster, I am waiting feedback, Presale orders will be despatch as they are completed hopefully no later than the end of May 2022.

One new vehicle added as part of the Presale is the 1950s Karrier Bantam

Last year I picked up this Leyland Atlantean intending it to be an Strathclyde PTE example after being convinced it was suitable. Alas with some research it turned out that its significantly far from what I really needed.

So more research and it turned out this is an East Lancs bodied vehicle built for Brighton and Blackburn. Some of the Blackburn vehicles ended up with Rennies of Dunfirmline, close enough to my chosen areas so work began. graining on the roof was particularly bad, but with a fair amount of filler and flatting it didn't look too bad. 

A couple of coats of cream, then ,asked up for the red stripes. Probably not 100% accurate, but Precision Rail Red seems to be about right. 

Next, on to the interiors. Pictures here are few and far between, so this really is just an assumption with the paint colours I had to hand. Top deck is still drying but will hopefully soon have all the painting done. Still need to do the wheels, but need to modify them slightly as I want to set the fronts at a slight angle so its not completely square!

Like most of us, I grew up with Dinky, Corgi, Matchbox et al, and am enjoying current proper 4mm scale products on my layout from Oxford, Base, Classix, EFE &c.  But I'm wondering if we aren't being short-changed a little...

Impulse-bought myself an Oxford Morris Minor last week, the original type with the split windscreen and a face like a ripped tennis shoe.  In beige, 1950s Prime Central!.  It's got a lot going for it; it's ideal for my layout, it's recognisably a moggie, the wheels & tyres are pretty good, and most of what was on a moggie is represented on it in some form or other,  And, for less than a fiver, I'm not complaining.  Still...

Our locos and rolling stock are better detailed and finished than they've ever been, as is our chaired Code 75 track and our RTP buildings.  There is more to them than 'toys'.  Ok, they're not perfect, but they are more than acceptable for all but the fussiest among us.  One can make a fairly high-quality and well-detailed fully scenic model railway with RTR and RTP products straight out of their boxes, and a superb one with very little extra effort in the way of weathering and retrofit detailing. 

The road vehicles come across as poor relations in this scenario.  Die cast or plastic injection-moulded, there are problems.  The bodyshells are much too thick, finish too glossy, the glazing doesn't sit properly, the body panels should be separate so that there is a tiny gap between them, not a cast/moulded body-coloured groove, those windscreen wipers aren't fooling anyone, tail lights and indicators are painted on, and the headlights are painted silver.  In short, while they may be better formed and more to scale, they are not much better finished than the toys I grew up with 70 years ago! 

I don't think this is good enough.  I'd rather pay twice or three times as much for a better model that looked as if it was part of the same 4mm scale world that the rest of my layout inhabits.  Why can't scale-thickness outer body panels be bonded to a basic, perhaps clear acrylic shape, why can't doors and/or windows be opened, why can't windscreen wipers look as real as they do on diesel or electric locos & dmus.  Why aren't chrome-plated parts shiny; chrome is supposed to look like polished silver, not brushed aluminium.  Why can't I have 'glass' clear headlights with foil reflective insides, not blobs of 'silver; paint, why can't my red tail lights and yellow indicator lights be coloured clear plastic, again with reflective backings.  Why can't I pose my front wheels in a turned position (actually, I do, but I have to commit acts of precision brutality on them with a pair of long-nosed pliers!).

The current stuff is restrictive.  I want to be able to create a village square cameo where somebody is chatting, caught posed with his/her drivers' door open, with a postman unloading bags through the rear doors of a GPO van.  Why can't my lorry drivers have their sunburned elbows out of an open cab window, with a ciggie in their hand?  Or be twisted around looking where they are going as the truck reverses full right lock into a loading bay?  Oh, that's right, I can't have lorry drivers at all, because the cabs are sealed!

Ok, I can't open my loco or carriage doors either, or slide the ventilaotrs, but that don' mean I don' wanna, not that I shouldna be able ter!

Why can't my buses have destination blinds recessed behind windows, not just stickers stuck on?  It's not acceptable for a diesel's headcode panel to be presented like this, hasn't been since the 60s; come on, guys, we can do better, why don't we?

To sum up, I would be gutted if I did not have the benefit of Oxford, Base, &c, and I'm probably not interested in inctricately detailed kits; i'm not looking for another hobby.  But I want better  road vehicles on my layout!

I'm already in the habit of picking out the panel gaps in matt black, which does go some way towards eliminating the 'Dinky Toy' look, and I suppose I could try drilling out the headlights and replacing them with glass & foil, foil for hub caps as well, but I'm probably not capable of properly addressing the chrome or the other issues.

Anyway a few pictures of the results; Leyland Octopus Tipper (1964-1968), Seddon 16/4 Tractor Unit (1965-1972)and a painted up development mule for the Leyland Bison MK2/MK3 cab (1977)

There is a lot of information in lots of threads about sources of road vehicles suitable for 00 scale layouts other than the made for the market varieties such as Oxford diecast.

I don’t think it’s anywhere in one thread so let’s use the huge collective knowledge at our disposal here! I’m not thinking of where there’s now a proper railway accessory model available particularly; more where there’s none available and therefore unusual sources would be welcomed.

Limit it to 1/72 to 1/80 please as anything else just doesn’t look right!

In no order and just a fraction of what I know about to get the thread started.

BMW E36 3 series saloon by Kentoys

Commer Walk Thru by Efsi (different version to the Oxford one)

Mercedes minibus and mobile shop by Corgi Juniors 

Commer milk float by Lesney

and so on…

Does anyone do a decent diecast model or kit of a Routemaster in that scale?

Less a few bits like steering wheels and sidelights/indicators, the parts of the 6-ton Scarab tractor kit are laid out above. The name plate is an etch which will need some epoxy or thick superglue to attach to the nose. I'm sure ModelU produce some suitable figures for driver and second man in those pre-Hi Viz days - although I suppose high viz waistcoats might just have been coming into use in the late 60s. In any event, cloth cap rather than hard hat would be appropriate.
In practice, I have found that 1/48 seated figures work better visually than 1/43 seated as people were smaller in the 1950/60s than they are today.

Once the instructions are done, the kits should be packed ready for the Ogauge show at Kettering on 7 March 2026 - cost not yet known as it depends on what the final bill for the mould charges will be.

Trailers will be available - Initially a 15foot 3-plank dropside and shortly afterwards, a 17foot flatbed capable of holding a Slater's BD container.

Barry

There appear to have been a couple of lorries used at Mallaig, one was an ERF, the other seen in the picture above was made by GUY motors who by the time the lorry above was made were part of the British Leyland empire/mess. Needless to say GUY are long gone and in fact the truck in the picture (a Big J model) was one of the last to be made. 

So to the model; well the good news is all the parts needed are available in 1:76, the bad news is not by the same manufacturer. EFE make an 8 wheel chassis and tanker but don't make a GUY cab whereas LLedo made a GUY cab and 8 wheel chassis but no tank. Road Transport Images make a GUY cab as well but it is the larger engine version fitted to tractor units and is slightly different to the lorry above. 

I was initially thinking to use an RTI cab but the Lledo model being more accurate seemed a better bet albeit I knew that would entail more labour. I managed to find a Lledo model cheaper than an RTI cab on ebay so that sealed the deal. The raw materials;

The plan is simple;

- Dismantle into the basic parts

- Transfer the Guy cab to the EFE chassis 

- fill and sand the mould lines on the tank

-Scratchbuild some pipe holders and discharge valves

- Respray and add transfers 

I should say I previously did something similar to create an Albion tanker for my Parsons Vale layout so this should be quite an enjoyable project..

Distruction time:

the above photo shows one of the biggest challenges of this project (which I knew in advance to be fair) is EFE and Lledo make their models in a very different way: Lledo mould the cab as part of the chassis, EFE have it separate. I could have mounted the EFE tanker on the Lledo chassis but the EFE one is the correct length and has much better wheels so decided to cut the GUY cab off the Lledo chassis and instead mount it on the EFE chassis:

As can be seen below, I have some more modification to do on the GUY cab to get it to fit by removing some more metal between the mudguards but that is a job for tomorrow 

I've got myself a few Lesney, Husky and Budgie die-cast cars for my railway, most of them in a bit of a state and needing a bit of tlc. I've watched videos on Youtube and been lurking in this area for a little while and have now decided to make my first foray into this particular rabbit hole. I hope that having this thread will encourage me to get on and actually do something rather than just plan to do it.

My first question to you guys is: How does one get in to the Budgie A95 and Rover 105?! The others have the obvious rivets to be carefully ground out, but on the above two models there's no evidence of how they're fixed and I'm worried about bending and breaking the chassis/floor pan.

So here is the result....

i wanted a swedish military truck so i used the body form the bonneted scania tipper and moulted the forward control scania cab from another diecast, which seemed to fit quite well without too much trouble.

a typical later swedish military truck and quite cheap too.

thanks for looking.

The Anglia and 1100 were the first two I acquired about 15 years ago as painted shells with no glazing or wheels. These both have parts from Cararama Minis, back when they were commonplace. They're showing their age a bit now.

My next attempt was a Triumph 2000 into a Mark 1 2.5 PI using bits from the Oxford Mark 2. Painted Ford Purple Velvet so not authentic but I like it.

This Victor is my favourite. Transformed from one of the horrible black-wheeled models with Oxford FB Victor wheels.

LHD Simca. An unusual choice for a UK company. Again this has Cararama Mini wheels.

Landcrab. This still has the original wheels but spaced out to the correct width and painted.

Corsair with Cortina wheels and interior. I slipped up here as it's supposed to be a 2000E but I realised too late that version doesn't have the chrome side strip (odd that the posh one has less chrome than lesser models).

My most ambitious conversion so far. I used to own a Triumph Dolomite and always wanted a model of it, then one day I was looking at a Minix Triumph 2000 and realised with a bit of chopping and changing I might be able to make a passable Dolomite.

As the current owner of an Austin Maxi, for my next trick I intend to try converting a Landcrab into a Maxi using the front end of a Mark 2 Cortina.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dubdee/49888551617/in/faves-49261102@N07/

Blue Circle in the 1970s predominantly brought 3 sizes of tanker

- 2 axle Bedford KM chassis,

- 3 axle Leyland Bison chassis

- 4 axle Scammell Routeman chassis

The latter was by far the most common of the 3 types and were commonly seen on our roads but despite many requests none of the above has ever been produced in the common scales by the die-cast manufacturers.  I have made a model of both the Leyland Bison and Scammell Routeman in 1:76 Using aftermarket cabs from RTi but that option wasn't available in 1:43... until now.

Thanks to Martin at Antalys models@TM2201A, the aforementioned Leyland ergomatic cab became available last year which I grafted onto an IXO chassis to make my Leyland Bison. After much gentle encouragement (bordering harassment) from Dan @40 058 and I, Martin answered our prayers and has now produced the Scammell Routeman cab in 1:43. Furthermore he kindly agreed to produce the suitable chassis, wheels and mudguards I needed for my build.  I haven't pushed my luck and asked for a Metalair tank to be produced so I still need to do some modelling, however  the plan is simple;

- Build the chassis and cab adding on the necessary pipework, blowers etc

- Scratchbuild a body based on the same raw materials from the Bison build. I kept the templates etc that I used to get the curvature of the ends etc correct 

So today the project commenced with the delivery of the bits I had ordered, namely 

- Cab

- Chassis and wheel

- Lorry detailing parts

The detailing parts were required as they included a set of front wheels with step rings, whereas the chassis came with standard wheels. Scammell along with a couple of other British truck manufacturers seemed to think getting in and out of a cab wasn't something a driver would ever do so never designed the cab with proper steps. The solution when this was discovered to be a necessary evil was to bolt a thin ring of steel round the wheel nuts which was far from great in the rain and snow. The wheels in the kit are printed in different resin with some stepping visible on the surface so this was carefully filled on the wheels I will use

A similar task was undertaken on the front mudguards which was easy enough to do. I am grateful for Martin doing these as lots of the Routemans didn't have the full mudguard on the front so this saved me a lot of work

The cab is excellent and Martin’s hard work on the CAD was definitely worth it as it is a complicated shape with many curves. It would be near impossible to Scratchbuild it so without it this project wouldn't be possible 

The chassis comes with separate springs and axles which I glued in place to make a start on the assembly as I am keen to get the chassis built ASAP so I can start on the body build and the adding the pipework.