fodenway

I suspected that it had been a cereal giveaway, but I didn't think it was from the same group as the others you mentioned. This one is moulded in quite hard plastic, in three colours - red body, white base and black wheels. I had the Escort, which was moulded in a single colour polythene-type soft plastic (an orangey-red) with the body in two parts, with the division horizontally along the waist line. The windows were open, and there was an interior - I think the grille and bumpers were separate parts. It had inscriptions on the roof and bonnet relating to rallying (it was the big-arched version). I still have the wheels. If it's the same one, the scale was definitely bigger, possibly around 1/70 from memory. The mid-engined car may have been the Ford GT-40.

Another American in 1/76 - The 1956 Ford F100 pickup by 'Boley', marketed as "HO", but actually 1/76. The blue one has had a slight reduction in the length of the bonnet, new wheels (ex-Cararama Chevy) and an interior. The canvas back comes straight from the Oxford Land Rover. The tanker has the bonnet length untouched, but the wings have been widened and the wheelarches enlarged. Wheels are from RTI, and a heavier bumper has been fitted. The tank body came from a supposedly HO diecast 1941 Chevy truck, but measures up at 7'6" wide in 1/76, so it's perfect for the heavier F500 version depicted here.

Another candidate is the Chevrolet 3100 pickup truck, sold in various colours in gift shops as a pull-back toy, also seen as a keyring. The first photo shows the original in blue, and after conversion to the upmarket deluxe version - the Cameo Carrier. The second shot shows the Cameo Carrier with a re-wheeled 3100 with a scratchbuilt demount camper shell.

More 'unintentional' 1/76 scale vehicles: the plastic 1957 Ford Thunderbird has no identifying marks, but was found at a car boot sale for 20p and subjected to the detailing treatment. The wheels are from an Oxford Diecast E Type, not quite the look I was after, but they will do until I can find or make something better. The silver Triumph sportscar has been marketed by several firms, including Marx and Tootsietoy, and aren't too difficult to find. Measurement confirms the scale at exactly 1/76, and the proportions are very good too. With a little work (and some new wheels!) they can become very attractive little models. These have been made into TR3 (red) and TR3A (yellow) versions.

The Jeep was indeed 1/76, here is one with a new bumper, wheels, interior and paintjob along with one which was converted to the pickup, and the Series 1 LandRover that received the discarded rear body to make a Tickford Stationwagon.

It amazes me that wind and solar electricity generation were promoted as marvellous ideas, so why hasn't it been made mandatory for every new-build to have at least one of them built-in as a source of energy, to reduce the dependence on the National Grid if not to provide the entire power needed for the building for some of the time? Given that the sun doesn't always shine and the wind doesn't always blow, why hasn't more use been made of our rivers? Could they not be harnessed to drive lots of smaller generating plants? After all, the rivers provide a constant flow of free, reusable 'fuel' to drive waterwheels geared to turbines.

And therein lies the problem - apparently, at present the cost and amount of the electrical energy required to produce the hydrogen far exceeds the value of the end product. Until an economical (and safe) means of producing large volumes of the stuff is developed, it's a bit like filing the corners off 50 pence coins to make them work in 10p slot machines.

Watching a short film from the mid-fifties, "Calling all cars" yesterday morning on Talking Pictures TV, I noticed a very nice Jaguar XK120 roadster, registration MDU 524 which was one of the featured vehicles. In the story, it started out from London with disc wheels and full rear spats, but miraculously lost the spats and acquired wire wheels by the time it reached Dover! Given the Coventry registration, I would guess that the car was supplied directly by Jaguar for the film. Upon checking the DVLA website later, I found that the car is still on the road. It's quite surprising how many vehicles seen in decades-old films still survive in use today.

Not on this occasion, I was going up the bank - good job I didn't have fifty loaded mineral wagons on behind!

Whilst my knees are not exactly arthritic, they are both approaching seventy years old and have had a pretty hard life. I have a vintage 10-speed sports bike which I thought had developed a dislike of hills (the 'up' variety) before realising that the problem was more with myself than the bike. So, last summer I decided to try an electric bike. I went to a local dealer who will allow sensible-looking individuals to take a test ride. After a quick run-down of my requirements and expectations, I was recommended to try a full-frame job with a rear hub motor, six-speed derailleur gears, disc brakes, tyres of a modest width, front suspension and various levels of pedal assistance. After a short 'show me how' course, I was off. The first section was uphill at about 1 in 10 for 400 yards, followed by a descent of almost a mile to Lewden Crossing on the Transpennine Trail, formerly the Worsboro' Bank with a ruling gradient of 1 in 40 for another mile or so to the old Kendall Green crossing. A steady ride back of a further half-mile or so and I was back at the shop. According to the digital dashboard, my maximum speed anywhere on the ride had been 21.7mph, and that with legs going like bees' wings. If I'd been pedalling my own bike at that rate, I would have been going almost twice as fast - with a corresponding increase in distance for the same effort. Admittedly, that was downhill, but even uphill riding required a lot of leg movement, not necessarily strenuous but very tiring nonetheless. My knees ached for a couple of days afterwards, although admittedly I hadn't been in the habit of riding much in the weeks prior to this test. On a personal note, that bike was £1500, and I decided against making the investment at least until I've tried others. Battery range could be an issue, with the dealer claiming "around 20-25 miles" of assistance on the one I tried. Those bikes are very heavy things to ride without power assist, and my main intention for having one would be to put the bike in my campervan in order to get to some of the longer trails like the High Peak or the former Scarborough to Redcar line, both of which would exceed the assisted range of that particular machine. So, my advice would be to try as many different bikes as you can, taking into account your abilities, expectations and the nature of the terrain where you intend to do most of your riding.

Busmatch did them both, don't know whether they are still produced nowadays. Check with the Model Bus Federation.

My first encounter with Lego would have been around 1962/3, with the gift of an Esso Filling Station set. It comprised sufficient bricks to build said filling station, a set of Esso petrol pumps and a Bedford tanker. There was never any addition to my stock of bricks, but I did accumulate several more vehicles over the years. I must admit to being very (pleasantly) shocked at the price they achieved on a well-known internet auction site. I still have a couple of the Bedfords, and a dark red VW Beetle in excellent condition which I picked up for just £2 in a rummage box at a recent model railway show. Coincidentally, this Beetle is obviously a slightly larger scale than other cars in the series, and a few measurements confirm that it's within a coat of paint of being 1/76 scale in wheelbase, length and width. It's almost exactly the same size as the Oxford Diecast version, although not as well detailed.

Here are my two remaining Ramblers - I originally had six, bought literally for pennies when ERG were closing down many years ago. I gave one away to a friend, two more were sold on (before I realised their rarity) very cheaply decades ago, and the last was converted into a model of the four-door sedan that I owned at the time, and sprayed metallic silver-grey which ruined the surface. I've no idea where that one is now, although the real thing is still around, albeit on SORN. The two Crestas, in pale yellow (not white as I thought) and another odd Thames colour - orange - are pictured. The Thames was picked up recently for £1 but has has had a little black paint applied to the tyres and numberplates, and some silver trim, both of which will be carefully removed in time. The Ramblers could legitimately be shown on a British layout as they were officially imported at the time, although usually in right-hand drive form rather than the LHD of the Minix. The estate versions especially seemed to be quite popular here for a while.

On the subject of Jags, here's a bit of a mystery. The green car is a replica of the Jaguar XJ13, the unique original of which is at the British Motor Museum at Gaydon. The replica has the obligatory V-12 engine mounted amidships, yet according to DVLA, the car is registered as a 1955 3442cc model. The photo of the white Mk V11 was taken by myself (as a youngster) at a campsite in Penmaenmawr, North Wales, in 1962 - the car then belonged to my uncle, and that's my cousin standing proudly in front of her dad's car. Shortly after that photo was taken, the Jag was involved in a shunt with a Ford 100E from which it never recovered - uncle only had third-party insurance, and couldn't afford the repairs to the front end. As far as is known, after standing outside at a local garage for a couple of years, the car went for scrap around 1964/5, and that should have been the end of it. Imagine my surprise when I found the photos of the modern-day PBT 55 ! I am assured by Jaguar experts that the front of the replica is too low to house the old 6-cylinder XK engine, and that the wheelbase of the MkV11 would be wrong for the XJ13 - so what's going on? I've contacted both the Jaguar Owners Club and the Jaguar Drivers Club in a bid to get in contact with the current owner, if only to pass on a little history of the car, but to no avail. On a happier note, Oxford Diecast produced a very nice model in 1/43 (7mm) scale of the original car, after a suggestion from myself.

Some rarities there - the Cresta estate (I have two in white), the ladder trailer and the Thames van in yellow, neither of which I can recall seeing before. Congratulations !

Here's one that I've been tinkering with, one of the Tri-ang triplet sisters on a Dapol Terrier chassis. Not much hacking about to make it fit. Since this photo was taken, I've added a brass dome, cast boiler backhead and various other oddments and details to make a "typical" small industrial loco. I may even get around to fitting outside cylinders. Once I've decided on a colour scheme, it looks like I will have to build some kind of a layout to run it on.

You may indeed! I hadn't looked that far back on the topic, but appear to have repeated that information, plus added another known (and currently available) source of Model Y Fords in miniature......

While you're there, pop round to stand D37, the National Association of Road Transport Modellers, for a chat. We're almost back-to-back with RTI.

Originally in John Day's Railside, or Malvern Models ranges, later re-released in the John Day Vehicle Scenics range. Still available from Daryle Toney's "John Day Models" - see the website. Another range which includes them is Dave Gilbert's DG Autocraft Models, Google "DG Models" for a look at the range.

At the funeral of a former Tracky employee last week, Frank Carter, Tracky's Head man at the time of the takeover, said that although it was widely rumoured to have been true, there never was any such condition attached to the sale.

I've just heard a rumour that this old girl is coming up for sale : 1935 Leyland Tiger TS7, with Weymann body (1950), fully restored by Yorkshire Traction around 1980/81. Used on specials and private hires for a few years, then sidelined after the Stagecoach takeover, it spent a few years on display at the South Yorkshire Transport Museum. It has recently been moved to Stagecoach Chesterfield from where I understand it will be offered for sale.

The ultimate estate car? They were ideal for me, I had three of them. Chevrolet Caprice Wagons, I had a 1981, 87 and 86 in that order (this is the 1986 model). Eight very comfortable seats which would convert to six or three (bench front) literally in seconds, with one hand. The cargo space was immense, and the two-way tailgate with retracting window meant that long loads could be carried. Driven sensibly they would return around 25 mpg on the 5-litre models, which compared very favourably indeed against the Vauxhall Omega 2.5 V6 estate which followed them, and could only average 27.5 mpg at best from a car weighing almost a ton less and with an engine half the size.

A couple more "different" 1/76 scale models - the American Ford C-Series box van started life as the 2021-issued Matchbox toy shown, with the chassis extended and a cut-down Base Toy body and RTI wheels fitted. (These Fords were produced from 1957 until 1990, and were used in large numbers by all branches of the U.S. Forces, and were used in Britain by the USAF as stakeside or flatbeds - a friend of mine had a lucrative business buying and selling ex-USAF vehicles for a number of years, and had large numbers of these. The 1951 GMC came from a Hotwheels toy, narrowed by a 12" hacksaw blade to bring it down to a scale 7'9" width, converted from a hotrod-style pickup into a tractor unit using the narrowed remains of a 1/72 KeilKraft Kenworth chassis and sleeper box. The trailer is also a narrowed KeilKraft 1/72 item, shortened and fitted with stake sides made from Airfix/Dapol platform fencing. The packing cases are by Base Toys. Wheels came from a long-forgotten military (resin) kit. It's worth looking carefully at "toys", a quick check with a scale rule can often reveal surprising possibilities.

The knee window on Base Toy FGs is too long - there's more metal between the back of the window and the start of the door than they've modelled. I also think the cabs are slightly overscale for true 1/76.