Road vehicles

Martin Field

Martin Field

Western Thunderer
Hi all,
a good while ago now I made a master for an Austin 7 van kit in 1/32nd scale. At very nearly the same time I also did a chassis cab master (chassis as a fold up photo-etch jobby) for a Bedford Big S in the same scale, for no better reason than the former I figured would be popular and the latter I just liked. The A7 was one of many A7s I've done twixt 1/32nd scale and 2mm so I knew my way round that one and the Big S, my friend had a rust bucket breakdown version in his field (complete with trees growing through the floor!)

Anyway, both were duly finished and at that point I couldn't find anyone who would resin cast anything that big (can you believe that?), so having got an offer from somebody in NZ for the A7, I sold it. I then got an offer for the Big S from a guy in Australia, so I sold that to him. Fed the family for another month. The Kiwi DID produce the A7 and in as many forms as he could screw out of his investment too, fair enough, but I never heard of the Aussie producing the Big S. Can anyone in the G1 firmament rack their brains to recall who it was who did the A7 van and if they ever heard of the Big S being done finally?
Ironically, I have a cab of a Big S, done for someone else, but no chassis, but I have nothing of the A7.

Cheers,
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
What does the master of the Bedford cab look like, Martin?

I could think of a few uses for that as a re-cabbing exercise on some 7mm trucks, so the big question now is:

Could your 1/32 cab be used to generate 3-d printed 7mm (and 1/32) cabs - for example by scanning?

Tony
 
Martin Field

Martin Field

Western Thunderer
Blimey Brian! that's the baby, right down to the single seat (period correct for a van). My p/e too! So, is it still available? And who from? (From whom)?

Tony, I have a spare cab which I can de-militarise and yes I suspect someone like Modelu could scan it and redo it in some other scale. It's basically the old Airfix model (softish plastic) re-popped as a resin slush body of just the cab. No chassis. Unusually, it's 1/32nd, not the more usual and annoying 1/35th.
 
Brian McKenzie

Brian McKenzie

Western Thunderer
Martin Field said:
Blimey Brian! that's the baby. . . .
Click to expand...
Don't know about availability, but if I could find one of these Austin 7 van kits, would you or anyone else want one?
(I'm making the long haul to UK via Guangzhou in three weeks time - nuclear blasts permitting - to visit exhibitions.)

Does anyone know where the louvered bonnet panels of a 1932 Hillman Wizard could be measured? One of these 6-cyl cars became the power source for a small shunter at our local port during WW2.

-Brian McK.
Timaru NZ
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
Brian - suggest you drop an email to Coventry Motor Museum.
They have a website but do not list their exhibits.
Can't find anything for sale currently through specialist dealers ( who would probably let you inspect in their showrooms), but might be worth checking before you come over.

Tony
 
Brian McKenzie

Brian McKenzie

Western Thunderer
Thanks Tony. I emailed Coventry before your last message arrived. I see that a 1932 Hillman Wizard is also used as a wedding car at Southport, apparently one of the five remaining in UK.

Martin, Greg Keay in Auckland still has stock of the Austin 7 van kit for sale at NZ$125 = approx 67 pounds. I could transport a couple if there's any interest. (I'm also delivering castings to the Midlands Model Engineering Exhibition, plus visiting other model rly exhibitions including Uckfield and ExpoNG.)

Brian
 
Martin Field

Martin Field

Western Thunderer
Hi Brian,
thanks all the same, but I don't see me paying £67 to get one of my own kits. I seem to recall telling him that part of the price for the master was a complete kit,but nothing ever came. I could knock out another one inside a week!

So, nobody heard of the Big S Bedford chassis/cab model then? Why would he pay me £500 for a pattern and then never use it? Very odd.

Cheers.
 
Martin Field

Martin Field

Western Thunderer
24th? B;limey, that'll be a big 'un! No, mine was definitely 32nd, because the slot racers were keen to get hold of it as a basis for a recovery/transporter type of vehicle for their scenic tracks.
 
David Halfpenny

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Martin Field said:
There are caricatures and there are proper wrong 'uns! That's a Morris
Click to expand...

Sorry, Martin, I thought I could get away with just one page of a long article.

Here's the same tractor wearing an intermediate Ford cab, top, and its original Bedford cab below.
The final cab, above, appearing to wear a Morris badge, is documented as a Dodge.

Scan0001.jpg

[QUOTE="and 24th is not Gauge 1 scale.[/QUOTE]

Well actually it is when the prototype was 3' 6" Gauge :)

Agree it's not 1:32 though. David
 

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Martin Field

Martin Field

Western Thunderer
Haha, that's cheat'n' about the gauge, but good to see the actual Bedford version. I might just pinch one of these slush re-pops I have here and make a 1/32nd scale model of that critter. I do love critters! I've no idea what the difference is twixt R and S cabs.
 
David Halfpenny

David Halfpenny

Western Thunderer
Nor I, Martin.
Can probably find you some more pictures of what some Kiwis call the most powerful i/c log tractor ever.
Haven't the heart to tell them about America :) D
 
Osgood

Osgood

Western Thunderer
I think the R Series refers to the Australian/NZ -sold 4x4s (our 'RL' model). Which was basically a 3 ton 4x4 version of the 7 ton S Type, for which the cab was developed.
 
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