Aston On Clun. A forgotten Great Western outpost.

[John Besley]

If you took two identical vehicles and cut out a door and the bonnet, combining the parts as you would end up cutting into the body work extensively you could end up with a unique model of a car being worked on....

[malc60015]

10 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

There's two bedrooms in this place, same as the last one, so the "spare room" doubles as railway room, art studio, music room and study.

There might be the odd stabby items around but bicycle, motorcycle and car parts all have their own home. Could I interest you in some rust free panels for a 1955 Vauxhall Velox?

 

 

It certainly is although I am trying to work out if we have space to build the terminus at Clun, outline planning consent has been granted!

If it’s 1955 Vauxhall Velox AND RUST FREE there won’t be much left😁😁

[MrWolf]

Course it's rust free, I don't charge for the rust! 

Post 1957 is when you really started to have major rust problems with everything. Most designers were still struggling with the Idea of monocoque bodies and were building in some lovely rust traps. Add to that the steel strikes pretty much worldwide which led to us importing cheap steel from some very unlikely places. It caused Vauxhall and everyone else problems until about 1962 and that was followed by a general cheapening up of all cars from about 1965 due to the state of the UK economy.

Post 1970 we have the big joke that was BL and people turned to Japanese and Italian cars that had all the gadgets as standard and in many cases far better design. Unfortunately they didn't understand our weather, the application of road salt and of course, everything built down to a price to offer that better deal. 

So they became the kings of corrosion for the next two decades, not that it mattered as you traded in every two or three years.

 

It's surprising what has survived hidden away.

 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Course it's rust free, I don't charge for the rust! 

Post 1957 is when you really started to have major rust problems with everything. Most designers were still struggling with the Idea of monocoque bodies and were building in some lovely rust traps. Add to that the steel strikes pretty much worldwide which led to us importing cheap steel from some very unlikely places. It caused Vauxhall and everyone else problems until about 1962 and that was followed by a general cheapening up of all cars from about 1965 due to the state of the UK economy.

Post 1970 we have the big joke that was BL and people turned to Japanese and Italian cars that had all the gadgets as standard and in many cases far better design. Unfortunately they didn't understand our weather, the application of road salt and of course, everything built down to a price to offer that better deal. 

So they became the kings of corrosion for the next two decades, not that it mattered as you traded in every two or three years.

 

It's surprising what has survived hidden away.

 

 

Nice piece of modelling there Rob.

 

It's so realistic that you'd almost think it was the real thing but if it was there be rust all over it.

[MrWolf]

Number 23 crossing into the loop, still devoid of sanding gear and brake rods amongst other things! But progress is happening.

 

[Graham T]

That looks grand Rob!  Quite a beefy-looking loco as well.

[MrWolf]

Thanks Graham, whilst hunting for pictures of this loco I found numerous pictures of similar Beyer Peacock 0-4-4T locos destined for places like Egypt. Perhaps, like the pair of 2-6-0 tender engines that the M&SWJR purchased, it too was a cancelled export order? It does have a rather colonial look to the cab. 

[MrWolf]

Not much modelling today, we've been out walking and naturally, got soaked, for once that was most enjoyable, nature levelling things up as ever.

 

But I've done a little more at number 23 and painted the concrete floor of the garage with a grey / beige / pink blend and stippled in a little talc.

 

 

Grot will need adding once everything is dry and cleaned up.

 

As there's been much talk of dogs and foxes on Chufnell Regis, it reminded me that I have this chap. Actually a 3d print from eBay of an English Setter, a coat of paint turns him into a different breed.

 

 

As close as I can get to representing this chap.

 

 

I had a fox in the garden after my neighbour's hens once. It didn't end well for the fox.

 

[Graham T]

Nicely painted Rob.

[russell price]

On 23/07/2022 at 06:38, MrWolf said:

 

That is still an impressive model every time I look at it, especially as I know what you started off with.

There's a number of rules that I have to apply when detailing the inside of the garage (Thanks for the link on the tools @Andy WD) particularly from the position of what not to put in, given what is available details wise.

Racking or pigeonholes is likely to be ex WD or similar.

No brightly coloured rolling toolboxes.

Avoid advertising that has post WW2 logos or products. Esso products appeared around 1934 when Standard Oil bought out Pratt's / Anglo American, but the signage lingered for years, many oil drums etc bearing both names.

 

In other news, the little BSA three wheeler is almost finished. Still plenty of paintwork to tidy up!

 

Does  the 3 wheeler have a nice uj or ux reg no . Shropshire went on to AAW in 1936/7 so AAW even?

[57xx]

13 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Not much modelling today, we've been out walking and naturally, got soaked, for once that was most enjoyable, nature levelling things up as ever.

 

But I've done a little more at number 23 and painted the concrete floor of the garage with a grey / beige / pink blend and stippled in a little talc.

 

 

Grot will need adding once everything is dry and cleaned up.

 

As there's been much talk of dogs and foxes on Chufnell Regis, it reminded me that I have this chap. Actually a 3d print from eBay of an English Setter, a coat of paint turns him into a different breed.

 

 

As close as I can get to representing this chap.

 

 

I had a fox in the garden after my neighbour's hens once. It didn't end well for the fox.

 

 

Is he the Police sniffer dog, checking out the mysterious white powder that has appeared in the dodgy lockup?

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, 57xx said:

 

Is he the Police sniffer dog, checking out the mysterious white powder that has appeared in the dodgy lockup?

 

Dodgy looking powder turned out to be theatrical concrete. From experience, the dog is probably looking for old radiator hoses to chew up.

 

 

[MrWolf]

1 hour ago, russell price said:

Does  the 3 wheeler have a nice uj or ux reg no . Shropshire went on to AAW in 1936/7 so AAW even?

 

The car is allegedly the 1934 model, so possibly an RUX prefix?

 

If of course anyone knows of a suitable source of transfers for registration plates? 

 

I did at one time have an incredibly scruffy Citroen Visa registered A***BUX, it cost £80, was run for about ten months until the MOT ran out and the engine expired more or less in the same week. I managed to get it running enough to make it the three miles to the breaker's yard and got my £80 back.

 

Possibly the best/ worst car I have had.

Edited July 25, 2022 by MrWolf

[MrWolf]

What with @russell pricetalking about number plates appropriate to the area,  I have been reminded of a problem that I need to solve with the garage building before I go much further.

 

On the white painted gable I want to have the name of the owner and other details.

 

I don't really have the means to design and print my own, and I don't think that I can make a good enough job of hand painting it over the moulded planks.

 

Does anyone have any ideas?

 

 

[Nick C]

Custom transfers? There's a few firms that will do them, e.g. Railtec https://www.railtec-models.com/faq.php

[BroadLeaves]

How about https://www.fox-transfers.co.uk/general-alphabets-linings ? They do them in various typefaces and at least the Gill ones are the right era and would have been in use in the 1930's. As small as 1mm high, too.

[Moxy]

Road Transport Images do registration numbers

 

https://www.roadtransportimages.com/shop/category/registration-numbers

 

What I have done in the past if I wanted a sign with small lettering is create the sign in Word using the smallest typeface available, (usually 6pt), then print the sign out at say 25% of full size, reducing it further to the size you need.  It's a lot of trial & error to get it right size, but if you only want one or two registration numbers it might be worth experimenting.

[stevel]

4 hours ago, MrWolf said:

 

The car is allegedly the 1934 model, so possibly an RUX prefix?

 

If of course anyone knows of a suitable source of transfers for registration plates? 

 

I did at one time have an incredibly scruffy Citroen Visa registered A***BUX, it cost £80, was run for about ten months until the MOT ran out and the engine expired more or less in the same week. I managed to get it running enough to make it the three miles to the breaker's yard and got my £80 back.

 

Possibly the best/ worst car I have had.

Did the same thing with a Hillman minx in the 80's, best value car I had in the UK. Bought a car for a dollar when I first came to Canada and sold it for $100 three years later.

[russell price]

Yes road transport images do them, RUX would be 1959/60

Edited July 25, 2022 by russell price
Wrong year

[MrWolf]

57 minutes ago, russell price said:

Yes road transport images do them, RUX would be 1959/60

 

So they hadn't used up the whole of the *UX *** permutations by 1936, just changed over to different area letters and reverted to them somewhere post WWII?

 

Would you be able to find out what the first initial letter was used as current in 1934? 

I used to have old motor trader listings as to what was listed where and when. 

Also a lot of the numbers seen as reproduction are for commercial vehicle models rather than the distinct (at the time) series of letters issued for private cars.

 

Thanks to you and @Moxyfor the info on Road Transport Images, I'll have to look them up, it will be interesting to see what is available..

 

 

Edited July 25, 2022 by MrWolf

[russell price]

1934 would I believe have been UJ****. Interesting ly UX seems to have been used before UJ.  UJ 5626 was a 1935 Bedford of Carpenters Bishops Castle Whilst Clun Valley had AAW 14 on a 1937 Bedford too.

[russell price]

Shropshire did yux in 1962 then in 1963 started at****AW etc , I think there were possibly some genuine 1963 AAW***A then AAW ***B from 1964.

[MrWolf]

Thanks, I should get away with something like UJ4486 for 1934 then. If I still had a PC and printer it would be a simple task to make my own.

 

I think that I will be buying some of the general lettering sheets from Fox to sort out the garage signwriting.

[MrWolf]

On 23/07/2022 at 08:22, John Besley said:

If you took two identical vehicles and cut out a door and the bonnet, combining the parts as you would end up cutting into the body work extensively you could end up with a unique model of a car being worked on....

 

That would be an interesting addition for sure. 

What I already have planned is something part dismantled at the back of the yard. I have a couple of kits that are supposed to be WWI era Ford T commercials.

They're not all that good, but the basics will make for an interesting bit of junk amongst the weeds.

[russell price]

that would be about right i would think. 

I would also be looking at fox transfers too