Dan’s quality used motors! (Mostly) 1:43 vehicles.

[37114]

1 hour ago, 40 058 said:

Interesting. I don’t know why but I always saw the models and just assumed it was a drain cleaner/waste water truck!

 

Presumably YPF is a Spanish company? I think the model comes from the same partwork as the BMC Sava FG tipper, which are all Spanish working vehicles.

 

Edit; apparently it’s Argentinian! So it’s from the Argentina partwork. Odd because I thought that was entirely made up of cars, SUV’s and pickup’s.

 

Just found this advertisement for the Merc 608d, there’s a little photo of the real YPF bowser.

 

94HP sounds a bit underwhelming for such a large vehicle though! I bet these were a real blast to drive!!

That drawbar unit must have been painful on hills with only 94hp on hand...

[37114]

16 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Here’s a photo of one I based it on for inspiration.

 

Apparently this one was exported in 2009! I wonder where it went? Maybe to sunny climes somewhere like Malta?? Most probably saved it dying a slow death on cold wet salty British roads.

Note also this one has the grey plastic front panel. Much more unusual on these smiley Transits, most were body coloured.

 

It’s a shame Transits aren’t like these nowadays. These ones were absolutely indestructible mechanically. If only they’d been rust proofed better.

That takes me back. I bet the grey panel is a replacement, the corner parts under the headlights were easily broken off from memory and were an MOT failure if not replaced.. Agree about the rust proofing, the wheel arches on the van variants went very quickly...

[40 058]

1 hour ago, 37114 said:

That takes me back. I bet the grey panel is a replacement, the corner parts under the headlights were easily broken off from memory and were an MOT failure if not replaced.. Agree about the rust proofing, the wheel arches on the van variants went very quickly...

Quite possibly a replacement part. From memory the part was made from that same grey plastic as the bumpers, then just got painted body colour with the van it was fitted to. Or not in this case!

 

All my smileys were van versions. One was a 120 swb, all the others were 190 lwb semi high roof’s and one 190 lwb high roof. Wheel arches front and rear always rotted through eventually no matter how clean you kept them. It was moisture creeping in from behind where the two layers, outer and inner arches joined together. The only way to stop it would be to apply a good dose of thin cavity wax into the area when the van was new to stop it before it even started. Sadly Ford didn’t do anything! 
On the front arches there’s also a weird sponge type thing inside the panels for sound proofing, which obviously isn’t good as it soaks up water and holds it against the metal! 
On one of my 190’s the rot got into the seams where the chassis rails spot weld to the floors. Obviously you can’t realistically separate that area to do anything about it though. I kept it going by wire brushing it off and spraying wax all around it but once it’s set in it’s only a matter of time.

 

I had an 84 mk2 lwb high roof too, which was an awesome van! Those old mk1 and 2 Transits are fantastic looking vans. Not as nice to drive as the later ones, but then you’d expect that! Believe it or not the mk2 was the least rusty out of all of them!

[rekoboy]

50, yes 50, years ago as a student I had delivery driver jobs in the holidays. The vehicles were MK1 and 2 Transits - I loved them! They were great to drive, and dare I say it, went like sh*t off a stick, as the saying goes. Memories.

[40 058]

1 hour ago, rekoboy said:

50, yes 50, years ago as a student I had delivery driver jobs in the holidays. The vehicles were MK1 and 2 Transits - I loved them! They were great to drive, and dare I say it, went like sh*t off a stick, as the saying goes. Memories.

My mk2 was a 2.0 petrol, same Pinto engine as used in most Fords of the time, but being a commercial it was the low compression version. Even so, once I ditched the VV carburettor and fitted a replacement single choke Weber carb it was pretty quick for a big van! It did cross my mind to fit the twin choke Weber instead… but it’s a big van at the end of the day! 
Absolutely loved that van.

 

Anyway,

Transit is now sat aside to harden off a few days. It’s all just together loose at the moment but I really like this one. Wasn’t too hard to do either.

 

 

 

 

Picked up a few more cheapies to use as bases for more generic cars, which are much more my thing than movie cars! 
Bond in motion partwork Chevy Nova 4 door’s and a very nice little Renault 11.

 

 

The Nova looks far better plain than in the James Bond cop car colours. 
This one’s on the bench at the moment. Just filled the holes in the roof from the lights & siren so tomorrow it can be rubbed down. The wheels are a bit big for my liking. They fill the arches a bit too much I think so I’ll see if I can find any a bit smaller.

 

[40 058]

More as an experiment than anything, I’ve put a vinyl roof on the Nova.

 

 

 

It’s just cheap decorators masking tape, the type with that textured finish, layer on the sides first and cut to shape then the centre strip so it gives that seam joint vinyl roofs have. 
It seems to have stuck well enough. It’s got a coat of primer on it now too which hasn’t made it lift or bubble so hopefully it’ll take paint ok.

[40 058]

Well, car paints clearly don’t affect cheap masking tape adversely when making vinyl roofs out of it!

Its not lifted or bubbled at all after a few coats of colour.

 

 

 

Of course the vinyl roof section won’t be remaining that colour but it just caught the overspray from the body. But I’d call it a successful test. I was sure the tape would start to peel at least once the paint started wetting it but so far nothing. 
I’ll probably paint the vinyl top by brush, I’m torn between dark green or off white for the vinyl. Interior is currently drying after I snapped the steering wheel off and had to glue it back on being ham fisted with it!

 

Close up photo shows the texture quite well on the tape. Exactly the kind of effect I wanted for it really. 

[40 058]

Another one ‘in progress’ while I’m waiting for the move…

 

You might have seen bits of it around in the background of other photos. 
This will become a Bedford TK luton removal’s truck. I remember these being everywhere at one bit!

Started out with a cheap Deutz truck from IXO. Stripped off the body and cab then because its originally a bonneted cab with the wings cast as part of the chassis I had to shorted it slightly and cut away all the cast wings and cab steps to take the replacement cab-over style cab. New cab is from a Dinky dustbin truck, modified to fit. Still a very nice casting even now!

 

Part of removing all the original cab wings etc also unfortunately meant that the original front axle comes off too but it’s easy enough to make a new replacement in the right place. Annoyingly the Dinky cab has been cast to fit its original wheels almost perfectly, which looks ok as a toy but as a model there needs to be a bigger gap around the wheel, so I’ve cut away the back of the wheel arch/mud flap temporarily to get everything fitting as I want it then I’ll replace that part later.

Cab is secured to the chassis with the factory rivet post filed flat then drilled and tapped to take an M2 screw through the chassis.

 

Body is all loose at the moment but gives an idea of how I’m going with it. The rear body needs dropping down a touch and the floor of the luton section should be much closer to the cab roof.

 

 

 

Nice little FX4 taxi arrived today too!

 

 

 

 

[fodenway]

Good work on the Bedford!      FX4 Taxi - Is it just me, or does there seem to be too much overhang at the front? (the chrome side window frames could do with toning down a little?)

[40 058]

1 hour ago, fodenway said:

Good work on the Bedford!      FX4 Taxi - Is it just me, or does there seem to be too much overhang at the front? (the chrome side window frames could do with toning down a little?)

I hadn’t actually noticed until you said that!😄 

Maybe it’s the bumper being a bit too chunky?

 

They did a terrible job on the back of the model, look at the size of the badge! 
I might try some white spirit on a cotton bud and try to buff it off I think, it’s the bit of the model that annoys me. 
Those window frames are a bit too bright, yes. They’re almost white. I’ve got some darker silver handy so I might go over them.

 

 

I actually ran that registration number on dvla, registered June 75, last tax due June 85. Marked as exported 85. I wonder where it went? I don’t think the original had that much of a part in the film, and don’t think Bond ever even sat in it. Maybe some collector has/had it?

The early chrome bumper FX4 is a much nicer looking car than the later black bumper cars. And a million times nicer than those awful things they use now!

They made a hearse version of the FX4 too strangely. I remember seeing one being banger raced years ago!

[PieGuyRob]

Maybe it is the one driven by John Stead in the music video to Oasis' song Don't Look Back in Anger?

[quicksilvercoaches]

17 hours ago, 40 058 said:

I hadn’t actually noticed until you said that!😄 

Maybe it’s the bumper being a bit too chunky?

 

They did a terrible job on the back of the model, look at the size of the badge! 
I might try some white spirit on a cotton bud and try to buff it off I think, it’s the bit of the model that annoys me. 
Those window frames are a bit too bright, yes. They’re almost white. I’ve got some darker silver handy so I might go over them.

 

 

I actually ran that registration number on dvla, registered June 75, last tax due June 85. Marked as exported 85. I wonder where it went? I don’t think the original had that much of a part in the film, and don’t think Bond ever even sat in it. Maybe some collector has/had it?

The early chrome bumper FX4 is a much nicer looking car than the later black bumper cars. And a million times nicer than those awful things they use now!

They made a hearse version of the FX4 too strangely. I remember seeing one being banger raced years ago!

If that badge is tampo printed, a drop of nail varnish remover on a cotton bud should get it off in no time.  Strange that they've done a nice job on the small details of the taxi plate but messed up the badge so badly.

[40 058]

4 hours ago, quicksilvercoaches said:

If that badge is tampo printed, a drop of nail varnish remover on a cotton bud should get it off in no time.  Strange that they've done a nice job on the small details of the taxi plate but messed up the badge so badly.

That’s a good idea. It is tampo printed, so hopefully it’ll come off.

That little taxi plate is really well done. I don’t know how they manage to do that well then get to something like the badge and just completely screw it up!? Presumably they had reference photos for the taxi plate!

[40 058]

I did some more on the TK removals truck today.

 

Here’s a quick pic of the mess inside! It’s strong though and that’s what matters!

 

 

Made up a rear door frame from box section.

 

 

Then a few doors from sheet. 
Some of these trucks had roller doors, but most at the time had the three door sections. The bottom half hinges down as a ramp, then the top half open up as normal doors. Or would do on the real things!

Much more detail still to add but the basic shape and features are there now.

 

 

I’ve started adding the side skirts at the back end. There’s loads of variety in how these were made - some had skirts all the way down the sides, some only on the rear end. Some had absolutely nothing. Some had bars in the centre area. I’m not sure if I’ll do full skirts or not!?

 

 

 

Once the basic shell is finished I’ll add some strip and angle to look like the cantrail and aluminium strengthening strips used on these, which will also help cover over the ugly joints!

I think the cab needs lowering a touch more too. The gap between tyre and wheel arch is still a bit too big.

The new front axle stuck perfectly overnight so today I’ve added a few more bits to reinforce it a bit. It’s rock solid now and ain’t goin’ nowhere!

[sandsmodels]

i have enjoyed looking at your 1/43rd diecast rebuilds.

i did a small scale version of my own car recently

a repaint of the james bond consul mk2, sadly not an early highline but a lowline, but it will do for now.

great work

[40 058]

5 hours ago, sandsmodels said:

i have enjoyed looking at your 1/43rd diecast rebuilds.

i did a small scale version of my own car recently

a repaint of the james bond consul mk2, sadly not an early highline but a lowline, but it will do for now.

great work

Thanks!

 

Your Consul is gorgeous, both real and model! 
The Bond partwork model is a really nice little thing. I’ve got a few tucked away waiting for custom models. It’s another one of those models in that series where the colour of the car doesn’t really show the details or shape at its best. Plain black just isn’t all that interesting a colour!

 

Id love to do some models of my own cars. But either nobody makes the base model or they’re expensive!

 

Volvo 740 - Minichamps make these but quite expensive.

 

Ford Capri mk2 - Minichamps did make one but they’re £megabucks if you find them. Vanguard’s are doing a new one soon though.

 

Mercury Marquis - nobody makes this type!

 

I’ve got a few base models for some of my previous cars though!

[40 058]

More done this afternoon on the TK.

I’ve lowered the cab down onto the chassis a bit more which has closed the gap between tyre and wheel arch a bit. There should be a decent sized gap but it was a bit much before. This however meant the gap between the luton part of the body and cab roof became too big! So an extra layer of 80 thou styrene filled that gap. Looks a bit naff but you won’t see it soon…

 

 

… Because the reinforcing strips (usually aluminium on the real trucks) cover all the ugly! 
I’ve also decided to fit small half skirts on the centre section of the truck sides. I like to see things like fuel tanks etc on these truck models which would be hidden if full size skirts were fitted.
 

 

 

I really do need to stop using that black marker pen when marking out on these models. As soon is any poly cement goes near it, it turns very watery and thin then gets smudged everywhere and all over your fingers! Paint doesn’t like it either, it’s got a bad habit of bleeding through most paints if you don’t clean it off first.

 

Had a couple of cheapies arrive in the post too. 
Firstly a Mini Moke! I’m no expert with Mini identification features but I think this would be an Ozzy made late Moke?

 

 

And this was with the Moke. 
This one was cheap for obvious reasons! 
No idea how that happened to it but it’s almost like it’s exploded! The chassis has smashed around the screw mountings, bumpers and other bits broken off and even the interior is falling apart.

 

 

 

Aside from one paint chip under the back the body is actually in great condition somehow so I’ll leave it as is and repair all the damage instead of a complete respray. 
So far the chassis is glued back together and seems strong and the bumper is back on the back. 
What I will do though is rebuild it without all the 007 extra’s! I much prefer normal cars to movie cars so that’s how it’ll be put back together. Only thing I’ll have to do is fill two slots on the sills where the ski’s came out. Shouldn’t be difficult though.

[40 058]

Getting close to paint time on the TK removal truck. 
Finished adding the corner bracing strips and added a waist height rub rail too.

 

 

 

Got the rear body mounted to the chassis. Just used the original screw holes in the chassis with a couple of longer self tappers through into the plastic floor. You can see my crude front axle here too!

 

 

Next was add some detail to the rear end. 
Hinges from microstrip and the edge reinforcement sections from plastic strip. Door latch rod from scrap wire. Bit more to do here but it’s nearly done.

 

 

Here it is alongside the Transit tipper to show scale. Looks about right to me! If the TK isn’t exactly 1:43 then it’s very very close!

 

 

While that gets left for all the glue to set, I did the vinyl roof on the Chevy Nova.

Hard to see in the photo but the texture of the masking tape shows through pretty well. I might put some matte varnish over the top yet to stop it being so shiny. Obviously there’s the chrome trim to paint in yet too which will tidy the edges up. 
Interior has been primed and painted green, that just needs some details picking out in silver, brown etc. 

Interior mouldings on these models always come up well after a bit of paint and detailing, out of the box they’re usually just plain black which is a shame as it hides all the detail.

 

[40 058]

Just as a little heads up for anyone thinking about the Dinky TK and its scale, someone on another forum I use has used the GM drawings for dimensions of the real TK and measurements from one of my Dinky cabs and scaled it…

 

It works out to 1:43.14 scale! So it’s incredibly close! Considering I just looked at it and declared it near enough that wasn’t a bad call!! 
It does look right though if you do some work with it to turn it from toy into model.

[fodenway]

22 hours ago, 40 058 said:

Just as a little heads up for anyone thinking about the Dinky TK and its scale, someone on another forum I use has used the GM drawings for dimensions of the real TK and measurements from one of my Dinky cabs and scaled it…

 

It works out to 1:43.14 scale! So it’s incredibly close! Considering I just looked at it and declared it near enough that wasn’t a bad call!! 
It does look right though if you do some work with it to turn it from toy into model.

A friend of mine has a real TK, and has taken measurements directly from it which confirm that the Dinky cab is within a coat of paint thickness of 1/43 scale. He has used several of them as the basis of conversions for lorries on his 'O' gauge layout.

[40 058]

16 hours ago, fodenway said:

A friend of mine has a real TK, and has taken measurements directly from it which confirm that the Dinky cab is within a coat of paint thickness of 1/43 scale. He has used several of them as the basis of conversions for lorries on his 'O' gauge layout.

I wish I had room (and a license to drive one!) for a classic truck! I’d love to have one.

 

The Dinky cab is a really nice looking casting, it’s got a great shape to it and really captures the look very well I think. The only thing that lets them down is the toy like chassis and wheels they come with on some versions. But it was a toy so you have to forgive it. 
So far I’ve got three of those Dinky cabs. One on the removals truck, and two sat spare for future projects. I’ve got another two still attached to their original Dinky chassis and tipper bodies but they’re too nice to take apart so they can stay in my collection. I tend to just pick them up whenever I see them going at a reasonable price to be honest. 
One of those spare cabs might well become a wrecker eventually since I’ve got a spare heavy wrecker body here. 
 

Im actually running out of models that are ‘to hand’ now for modifying/painting. Almost everything is now packed into boxes waiting for a moving date (yes, still!) but one of those that was still sat in the shed waiting its turn was the ex Coca Cola Thames bottle truck, so I’ve started work on that now in between waiting for glue/filler/paint to dry on other things.

 

Simple flatbed for this one. This is a lovely little truck and they’re not that expensive either. Quite a bit of scope for custom bodies on them too. 
Once that yellow paint comes off and something a bit more period goes on it’ll be a nice model.

 

 

 

Here’s a few others that are in progress.

Bond partwork Ford Bronco II. 

 

 

Bond partwork AMC Hornet hatchback. (The one that did the barrel roll over the broken bridge!).

 

 

And I’ve finally finished the Ford F100 pickup too. It’d been sat around ages with no wheels because the ones it comes with didn’t really suit it in the style I’ve made it now so it’s got the alloys from the Bronco above which look much better. 
Theyre weathered in a light sandy colour though so the tyres need a clean off and I might paint the wheels themselves a bit darker grey.

 

Edited May 19 by 40 058

[40 058]

Managed a bit more time on the Thames this afternoon while other things were drying.

 

 

 

More to do yet but that’ll do for now.

Nice easy little build this one! Just needs some coal sacks on the back as a coal merchants truck, or maybe hay bales as a farmers truck. I might keep the roof sign in hindsight, maybe rebrand it as a different company name though.

[40 058]

An annoying example of what goes wrong sometimes.

 

The Bond partwork AMC Hornet had its primer, wet flat, soapy wash off then paint coats put on but unfortunately it dried like this!

 

 

It’s got a shine to its finish but it is, unfortunately, not at all smooth! It’s even worse when you look at it in good light. No idea how or why that’s happened but it has. 
Wet flatting it back with various grades of wet & dry didn’t really help so I’ve had to start over.

 

Thats about the worst that can happen doing these I suppose! But it’s always recoverable.

 

The Bronco II that was painted at the same time came out fine. Same primer, same process, same brand paint. 
It’s actually Peugeot Moonstone blue!

 

[Hal Nail]

18 hours ago, 40 058 said:

An annoying example of what goes wrong sometimes.

One of the reasons I never varnish because its even more annoying when it happens after you've got a good finish on the main coat! 

 

I did some coach roofs the other day. Knowing what can happen, I got everything ready and did 5 or 6 in one go. Even then one wasn't very good and I popped it straight in IPA and redid it an hour or two later. Then chucked the can away to avoid any temptation to try and use it again!

 

Edited May 22 by Hal Nail

[40 058]

Attempt number 2 on the AMC Hornet then.

Paint is still very fresh here but it’s fine this time. No idea why it messed up before. Good thing is, I think this gold colour suits it better. 
It can dry overnight now but it appears to be ok so far.

 

 

 

Stripped another one down while I was waiting between coats on the AMC. 
77 Dodge Monaco, from the Bond partwork. Great cars, and probably the classic US cop car. Also probably one of the most destroyed type of car on TV! The amount of these and the Plymouth Fury version done up as cop cars and smashed to bits on US TV shows must be staggering.

 

 

There’s a bit of bodywork to sort on this model though. Granny had a bit too much Jack Daniel’s on her Cornflakes this morning and wiped the side of her rig out!😆

It does make more work filling and sanding this modelled in damage and I’d rather they didn’t make them like this but the price was low so can’t have everything. 
It’ll become a civilian car instead of a cop car (cop cars don’t really do much for me) so a nice standard car in a nice colour I think. Assuming the dents fill ok. The Sherpa van in this collection was similar and that worked fine but there’s a bit more damage here.