Chas's workbench

[Chas Levin]

That is quite extraordinary for 1/72 scale!

Yes indeed - I'll post a picture of the cab sections once they're assembled and primed - pretty much everything's included, short of a set of ignition keys and a sunglasses case!

And a 5 cyl diesel - I imagine a huge improvement over the original 2 cyl diesel (1933-39) and the 3 cyl (1935-39), the 5 cyl being offered 1938-47.

Yes, there was some quite impressive product development through the Ro, Ro-Ro and 3Ro range between those years. They were apparently very successful vehicles - they must have been, given the length of time they were in production and the numbers built.
I won't post any of the photos I've found of them online because I'm never sure about the copyright and usage position, but if you have a google, they do look pretty chunky, don't they?

 

[Chris Veitch]

That is quite extraordinary for 1/72 scale!

Indeed it is - I fancied a diversion into military modelling recently and bought the IBG “Maultier” half track AA gun. The detail is incredible and not what I’m used to from a plastic kit - I’m scared to start it!

 

[Chas Levin]

Indeed it is - I fancied a diversion into military modelling recently and bought the IBG “Maultier” half track AA gun. The detail is incredible and not what I’m used to from a plastic kit - I’m scared to start it!

I'm glad it's not just me then! The only other road vehicle kits I've built were makes like Airfix and Coopercraft, where what little cab detail is present is part of a one-piece moulding, but it did cross my mind that perhaps IBG is typical of more up to date kits in featuring this kind of intricacy: clearly not!
Well Chris, I'd say take a deep breath and just plunge in - 'begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop' as the White Rabbit says in Alice in Wonderland.
I know I've been posting part-labelling errors I've found in the instructions, but that's a minor thing really and the instructions are generally extremely good, the exploded diagrams are very clear and everything's shown in great detail, so although there my appear to be a daunting number of parts, there's nothing actually difficult and a careful step by step approach will do the job.
It's well worth the extra effort I think - you really feel like you've achieved something even though you've just added a couple of foot pedals!
I would advise equipping your self with good light and good magnification though (either a magnifier lamp or a headband) and some good quality fine-tipped tweezers...

 

[Osgood]

.....or go for one of their 1/35 offerings (admits to falling down a rabbit hole yesterday looking at what else IBG offered).
Although it seems that every bit of detail on the 1/35 3Ro is present on the 1/72 version, and they offer a Scammell Pioneer gun tractor and recovery.
Found a lovely 1/35 3Ro build which was towing a heavy dropside drawbar trailer with light(ish) tank - must have been tough trucks.

 

[Chas Levin]

Haha Tony - can't go the 1/35 route I'm afraid: everything I build has to be able to appear (however implausibly) on my 00-gauge layout... well, with the exception of the Airfax 1/12 Bentley Blower further back up this thread. That was a special occasion...
I'll have a look at some of the online 1/35 build photos though, because if everything's the same between the two scales they might be useful extra instructional guides.

 

[Chas Levin]

Here are a couple of pictures of the (1/72) cab interior after a quick coat of plastic primer, so I can paint some detail to the cab interior before assembling it:

 

[Rob Pulham]

.....or go for one of their 1/35 offerings (admits to falling down a rabbit hole yesterday looking at what else IBG offered).
Although it seems that every bit of detail on the 1/35 3Ro is present on the 1/72 version, and they offer a Scammell Pioneer gun tractor and recovery.
Found a lovely 1/35 3Ro build which was towing a heavy dropside drawbar trailer with light(ish) tank - must have been tough trucks.

I too, have just fallen down the 1/35 scale rabbit hole. In my case it's a Tamiya Panther tank. I have been watching a few armour modelling videos on YouTube and I am hoping it will restore my currently flagging mojo.

 

[Chas Levin]

I too, have just fallen down the 1/35 scale rabbit hole. In my case it's a Tamiya Panther tank. I have been watching a few armour modelling videos on YouTube and I am hoping it will restore my currently flagging mojo.

Hello Rob, sorry to hear you're mojo's flagging, hope it picks up. Did you build military kits as a young lad, as I did? If so, I'm sure you'll find it fun because there's a healthy dose of nostalgia inside each of those boxes... I just took a look at that Tamiya - looks impressive! I remember building some Tamiya back then...

 

[Rob Pulham]

Hi Chaz,
Yes, although my childhood builds were all Airfix kits. I don't think that Tamiya were available at the model shop in Bradford . Or if they were, I didn't note them because they were out of my league price wise.

 

[Chas Levin]

You may be right Rob - I was in London, but thinking about it again, I wonder if I'm thinking of Revel...? Like you, the vast majority I built were Airfix but occasionally one of the two model shops I visited had a touch of imported foreign excitement from a rival company. I guess cost was the major factor back then, perhaps also trade tariffs, protected markets etc? I was buying those kits in the 1970s, so we were in the EU but only just, while inports from further afield were definitely a luxury.

 

[Chas Levin]

Progress on the IBG Lancia 3Ro has been slow - the usual things interfering - but some fiddly painting of the cab interior and wheel centres has now been completed - the colour scheme is from a photo of a similar model Lancia I found online:

 

[Osgood]

The right hand driving position had me wondering, so I checked up on Italy's history of 'which side of the road' - probably best described as being somewhat complicated but the last sentence here (from Wiki) gives us the answer:

In Italy it had been decreed in 1901 that each province define its own traffic code, including the handedness of traffic,[22] and the 1903 Baedeker guide reported that the rule of the road varied by region.[5] For example, in Northern Italy, the provinces of Brescia, Como, Vicenza, and Ravenna were RHT while nearby provinces of Lecco, Verona, and Varese were LHT,[22] as were the cities Milan, Turin, and Florence.[5] In 1915, allied forces of World War I imposed LHT in areas of military operation, but this was revoked in 1918. Rome was reported by Goethe as LHT in the 1780s. Naples was also LHT although surrounding areas were often RHT. In cities LHT was considered safer since pedestrians, accustomed to keeping right, could better see oncoming vehicular traffic.[22] Finally, in 1923 Italian Duce Benito Mussolini decreed that all LHT areas would gradually transition to RHT.[22] In spite of this, some Italian heavy commercial vehicles were right-hand drive until the traffic code was changed in 1959.​

 

[Chas Levin]

Very interesting, well spotted, thanks Tony: I must admit I was going along, building it as shown and hadn't stopped to think about RHD being unexpected for a Continental vehicle.
I suppose the variations you've quoted about there were further manifestations of the originally completely independent areas and City States trying to maintain their separate identities, Italian unity not being universally popular at the time it happened.
Having driven in Italy and Sicily in the 1990s though, I shudder to think what it must have been like when swapping between RHT and LHT was routine at regional borders!

 

[Chas Levin]

Morning all, although I'm trying not to duplicate material between forums, I thought I'd post some photos on here too of the London Road Models GNR C2 I've been building, as I put up photos of it in progress further up this thread:



















It's taken well over a year to do, but that also includes time taken learning how to use a bow pen better than I had before, learning about non-rigid chassis and building a few other smaller projects too.

It's an etched brass London Road Models kit, GNR C2 tank (later the LNER / BR C12 4-4-2), with a FlexiChas compensation beam between the front drivers and the bogie, a rear radial truck (also an LRM etch), a High Level Kits Road Runner+ gearbox with a Mashima motor and paints by Phoenix Precision, excepting the black and white lining which was Humbrol, the lining being done with a pen. Transfers are by Fox, figures and lamps by Modelu and the only thing missing is the works plates as I had problems finding a suitably sized pair and have some on order.

I hugely enjoyed the build and the painting - this definitely won't be the last GNR livery loco I build!

I'd like to thank a long list of people who helped along the way with comments, suggestions and ideas, without which this wouldn't have come out as well as it has...

 

[John57sharp]

That is one handsome locomotive. Very nice indeed.

John

 

[Osgood]

My favourite engines for looks and livery must be the GNR Long Toms and 0-8-2Ts but they were long gone by the time any of my possible modelling scenarios

 

[Chas Levin]

My favourite engines for looks and livery must be the GNR Long Toms and 0-8-2Ts but they were long gone by the time any of my possible modelling scenarios

What about Modellers' Rule No. 1 Tony, the "it's my railway and I'll run what I liike" one: couldn't you have one or two that had somehow been missed out in the repainting scheduling...?

 

[Chas Levin]

That is one handsome locomotive. Very nice indeed.

John

Thanks John - that's down to it being a very handsome prototype: I think 4-4-2 is a well proportioned arrangement generally actually; there are a lot of attractive looking 4-4-2 prototypes...

 

[Chas Levin]

Further progress on the 3Ro, with the cab now complete, though only painted on the inside - apologies for the lighting, I found it a difficult subject:



I then took a look at the body sides, where I'd observed from prototype photos of commercial variants that there was often a two-tone paint scheme with the darker shade picked out on what appeared to be two lines of raised strapping along the sides and ends of the body, one at the top and one about a third of the way down - here's a composite of a few cropped examples to show what I mean:


To replicate this, I've used parts of the canopy frame that would have been part of the model if built according to the instructions as a military version - here's a sequence showing these parts cut and trimmed, the filing of narrow grooves lengthways along the sides and ends to accommodate the new 'ribs' and the finished pieces:



Those deep grooves in the side pieces of the sprues were cut with a scalpel in oder to allow the edge of a very thin file to go to and fro along the panels to cut the grooves needed for the new pieces.
Usual thing, the cruel close-ups look a lot less neat than real life, but after a clean up, a mist coat of plastic primer a prayer or two and some proper paint, it should look reasonable I think.

 

[Chas Levin]

Assembly of the body is underway - no new photos as yet, but a quick Merry Christmas to everyone in the meantime