BernardTPM Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's about the best that's possible with the Matchbox cab without a total rebuild. Though the front panel is quite good (and actually about the right size!) the rest of the cab is shrunken, so there's not enough between the top of the panel and the bottom of the screen and the side doors are both too low and too narrow. This one has had the wheels replaced (Wiking), the screen extended by filing and the lower edges of the panels (below the doors) filed to create the lower curve. You might get away with it only visible face-on inside a loading bay, but it is impossible to correct the cab door proportions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted January 11, 2010 Share Posted January 11, 2010 Here's about the best that's possible with the Matchbox cab without a total rebuild. Though the front panel is quite good (and actually about the right size!) the rest of the cab is shrunken, so there's not enough between the top of the panel and the bottom of the screen and the side doors are both too low and too narrow. This one has had the wheels replaced (Wiking), the screen extended by filing and the lower edges of the panels (below the doors) filed to create the lower curve. You might get away with it only visible face-on inside a loading bay, but it is impossible to correct the cab door proportions. Looks like quite a passable effort to me! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 Thats a big improvement Bernard I didn't realise that the Matchbox cab isnt the same style as the one in my picture so I guess i'll have to have a look at the RTI one. Are your RM transfers N gauge ones? Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BernardTPM Posted January 12, 2010 Share Posted January 12, 2010 The Matchbox model represents the Dodge badged version in basically pre-facelift condition, though the very early ones had a different elongated pattern lettering, usually red on brushed aluminium within the recess. The black plastic grille was basically just plonked on over the original panelwork. I'm pretty sure the transfers were Mabex 4mm ones. The box part was originally in Pepsi colours. I simply repainted it with Humbrol no. 19 to match the cab, which had to be touched in anyway where I filed away at it, and added the transfers. By no means a scale model, by in the early '80s about the best you could do with Matchbox. Ironically in the late 1960s they made a much nicer job of an earlier 1964 pattern Dodge cab with a cattle truck back that was pretty much spot-on for H0. Stayed in the range for years in a twin pack. If you were doing British H0 late '60s/late '70s I'd recommend that model as a very worthy detailing project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Thanks for the info on Dodge trucks gents. Some more from the toy box that might be of interest to 4mm scale modellers 2 different Mercedes vans from Corgi. Then a Mercedes cab from an unknown maker. The actual toy came with a car transporter trailer and lots of Pepsi branding. On the right a Carama VW split screen van. I intend to convert this into a bay window version for the layout. Thanks to Bernard of TPM for the Blue and Pepsi Mercs. Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Hi All I thought some of the midlanders on here might be interested in this. Volvo Ailsa in the earlier WMPTE livery. Theres a guy in Hong Kong selling these off on Ebay very cheaply! See HERE He has other liveries too. Something has got to be done about that line that separates the 2 halves of the bodyshell though! Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Some people might remember my Leyland tippler from a combination of a base toys cab and wheels and a Kitmaster body. Well I couldn't find any Tarmac transfers and attempts to match a DIY transfer to the body colour were a dismal failure. However these vehicles carried other colours, one of which was ARC Much easier to create the transfers for this one! More to do. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Detail of the 2 flatbeds currently 'going through the works'. The Straps are 1mm masking tape coloured with a marker. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 15, 2010 Share Posted January 15, 2010 Some people might remember my Leyland tippler from a combination of a base toys cab and wheels and a Kitmaster body. Well I couldn't find any Tarmac transfers and attempts to match a DIY transfer to the body colour were a dismal failure. However these vehicles carried other colours, one of which was ARC Much easier to create the transfers for this one! More to do. Cheers Jim That's very tasty, Jim- I presume one of the Keil-Kraft/Knightwing Fodens donated the tipper body and the chassis? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 It did indeed Brian Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Hi All More progress on the boxes too. The transfers are home made using crafty transfer paper. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0rris Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I have to say that this thread is.. absolutely inspirational seeing what can be done with things I would have of a couple of weeks ago rearded as useless toys! I do however have one concern, you have planted a dangerous thought in my head that works like follows; knightwing foden + base toys leyland x modification (new wheels/body extend cab) = british army leyland DROPS vehicle!<br><br>Oh and your very nice leyland is reminding me of this... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
backwaterscotland Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 I do however have one concern, you have planted a dangerous thought in my head that works like follows; knightwing foden + base toys leyland x modification (new wheels/body extend cab) = british army leyland DROPS vehicle! Like this? : www.military-today.com. I think that the DROPS vehicles were originally Fodens but some later ones were Leylands as well. Jim - those trucks look great although the Sunblest one looks very tall to my eyes. Andy B) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0rris Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Yeah, the fodens seem to have been usurped by Leylands and confusingly some badged scammells IIRC, but lets not take this too off topic! Jim S-W... How hard is it too make your own transfers? m0rris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Like this? : www.military-today.com. I think that the DROPS vehicles were originally Fodens but some later ones were Leylands as well. Jim - those trucks look great although the Sunblest one looks very tall to my eyes. Andy B) The Fodens and Leylands have slightly different capabilities. See:- http://www.army.mod.uk/equipment/engineering/1501.aspx Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 BW Models do kits for both Leyland T45 and Foden DROPS wagons. I'd agree the Sunblest does look a bit on the high side but very nicely finished. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Thanks for the info on Dodge trucks gents. Some more from the toy box that might be of interest to 4mm scale modellers 2 different Mercedes vans from Corgi. Then a Mercedes cab from an unknown maker. The actual toy came with a car transporter trailer and lots of Pepsi branding. On the right a Carama VW split screen van. I intend to convert this into a bay window version for the layout. Thanks to Bernard of TPM for the Blue and Pepsi Mercs. Jim I wouldn't bother with the VW type 2 conversion, Oxford are introducing one and the whole body shape is slightly different, the bay is slightly wider and taller than the split giving it a more square appearance. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Hi Guys I concur that the Sunblest one looks too tall. I was a bit 'um' about it but your comments have backed that up so I will take a bit from the top. I think I will also raise the cab a tad too as that looks a little low. Printing your own transfers is easy as its just pressing print and using special transfer paper. Of course you have to draw them up first. Perhaps the hardest problem is finding the reference in the first place? Thanks for the info on the Bay window van. Saves a job. Anyone want a splittie? Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted January 16, 2010 Share Posted January 16, 2010 Thanks for the info on Dodge trucks gents. Some more from the toy box that might be of interest to 4mm scale modellers 2 different Mercedes vans from Corgi. Then a Mercedes cab from an unknown maker. The actual toy came with a car transporter trailer and lots of Pepsi branding. On the right a Carama VW split screen van. I intend to convert this into a bay window version for the layout. Thanks to Bernard of TPM for the Blue and Pepsi Mercs. Jim The Merc 307 looks to have some possibilities, it's one I'd never considered but it is a bit young for my era ('77 - '80). I suspect the MB tractor is better served by the Keilcraft kit (now Knightwing). I've not built the Merc but the Volvo F10 in the range is a first rate moulding albeit slightly overscale but they were big brutes in comparison to the homegrown trucks in the late seventies so it doesn't look out of place at all. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 The Merc 307 looks to have some possibilities, it's one I'd never considered but it is a bit young for my era ('77 - '80). Hiya In case you haven't seen it before this is what I did with my first one. I suspect the MB tractor is better served by the Keilcraft kit (now Knightwing). I've not built the Merc but the Volvo F10 in the range is a first rate moulding albeit slightly overscale but they were big brutes in comparison to the homegrown trucks in the late seventies so it doesn't look out of place at all. Funny you should mention that. Here is my nearly finished Volvo. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 More progress on the corgi lorries. Based on comments made on here I have lopped a scale 18 inches off the height of the Sunblest one. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
m0rris Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Looks brilliant! Just the right height. m0rris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jim s-w Posted January 18, 2010 Share Posted January 18, 2010 Hi All I know you should never compare models withe other models but there is a point to this. Below are ford Capri's and Ford Escorts from the TPM kits and Oxford Diecast (the TPM capri is silver and the escort is blue) Of the Oxford cars the Capri seems the better of the 2. But the tyres on both look horrible! So the lower two pictures are digital mock ups of what the Oxford cars look like with TPM wheels. I know the escort ones aren't right for a XR3i but I plan to convert most of them back to 'normal escorts anyway. Cheers Jim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERS Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 More progress on the corgi lorries. Based on comments made on here I have lopped a scale 18 inches off the height of the Sunblest one. Cheers Jim Looks much better, a first rate model, all the more worthy considering the origins of the cab! What wheels did you use on the F10? I wasn't happy with the Keilcraft ones and ended up with their Foden wheels for the back and for the front, turning the original ones down in the drill to improve the profile, fitting them back to front and drilling the centre boss to represent the Volvo nut ring. Tedious and not entirely successful! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve K Posted January 19, 2010 Share Posted January 19, 2010 Some lovely models made from apparently unpromising toys here! This thread reminds me that I must act on the plans I have for an old Husky* Commer van, which is so close to HO that it would be criminal not to have a go... *Remember them? Pre-Corgi, sold in Woolworths** **Remember them, too? That boarded-up shop in your local Hight St, with "Poundsaver opening soon" in the window Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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