Vehicles For New Street And General Raiding Of The Toybox!

[Jim S-W]

Hi All

When I started out road vehicles (like most modellers in their early days I suppose) were just scenery. However I was always drawn to those extra shiny carama cars on layouts, of various scales, just tipped from the box and not always 'of the period' as being so out of place.

My interest in doing road vehicles properly has turned into somewhat of an obsession and I probably model as much road stuff as rail these days.

Starting with a simple project (dont they all start like that?) weather a few corgi mini's and build the Springside kit for the Mini Clubman. the original mini is on the left. And a big improvement can be had just stripping the caked on paint off and putting it back thinner! The wheels on the middle one have been swapped for those from another springside kit.

The clubman was a whole different bucket of fish! The original kit was just awful and various efforts were made to get it to look like a mini! In the end the only real solution was to use the front of the nose and the wheels and graft them onto another corgi mini. Started simple see?

Cheers

Jim

 

[Jim S-W]

Some variations on a theme in various stages. Mk2 transit vans from a combination of the Corgi trackside model and the Springside mk2 front casting.

I think i'll knock up a tail lift for the Luton.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Jim S-W]

Sometimes the stuff in the toybox needs a bit of a sympathic eye to see any hope for it. I present you..

The Matchbox Dodge Commando. Below after some hacking to the cab and marrying to a base toys chassis and modified box body

The picture below shows where the destruction was required!

Cheers

Jim

 

[ceejaydee]

Having seen some of your vehicles elsewhere Jim I am continually impressed by the amount of effort you put into this often neglected part of the overall scene.
I have a great love of vehicles particularly those from the 70s and 80s and like to see excellent representations of those favourites in miniature.
Those everyday sights are now more-or-less gone and MKII, IV & V Cortinas, MKI & II Escorts, Vauxhall Chevettes (to name but a few) and the like are now rare to see on the road.

 

[28ten]

I do like the road vehicles, it is all about giving a time and place even without seeing any trains. and they deserve the same effort as the trains. What scares me is that the scene is a quarter of a century ago

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

It's good to see the the extra detail going in road vehicles to set the period along with street furniture. As alluded to these areas are often negleted to the detriment of the trains.

Finding the correct vehicles, as I've found is one of the more challenging areas of modelling. They can narrow the time and place more so than the trains. Especially when certain vehicles were only produced for one year or so.

D

 

[Eastsidepilot]

I agree with you Guys, nothing sticks out more like a sore thumb than wrong era road vehicles on a period layout. I have seen this mistake so often at exhibitions even commenting once about the mistake and getting " well who's gonna notice them ", .
So it's good to see your work Jim, I am also keen on road vehicles of all era's especially commercials and something else you don't see very often is motorcycles.

ATB, Col.

 

[Jim S-W]

Thanks Guys

I might do a few bikes but they will need to be parked or at traffic lights with the riders foot down. Bikes in mid flow but not going anywhere are more than a bit odd.

I think that some consideration needs to be made to placement of vehicles as none movement is a bit of a problem. I dont like the faller system but luckily Brum was pretty gridlocked at the best of times! Certainly I can jam up the Navigation street/hill street junction pretty easily buy having most traffic lights set to red and some strategic busses at bus stops!

Cheers

Jim

 

[Jim S-W]

One of Birmingham's distinctive vehicles is the brummy fleetline. With nothing available from the ready to plonk people I had to come up with something.

On the left, my conversion of a Britbus Alexander with my own etched bits and on the right, the same parts used to improve a Paragon kit for the fleetline. Given the cost of the paragon kit I decided the britbus option would be chosen for the remainder of my fleet. A descision that was backed up later by the Paragon kit being no longer available.

The paragon one painted (before I did the Interiors) and below the same for the ex-britbus one.

 

[28ten]

Those are mighty impressive, and I love the drains in the kerb Total modeling

 

[Phill Dyson]

Very impressed with both the bus & the traffic lights Jim........nice work

 

[D1054]

Those are mighty impressive, and I love the drains in the kerb Total modeling

Quite agree. Excellent!

 

[Neil]

.... the original mini is on the left. And a big improvement can be had just stripping the caked on paint off and putting it back thinner! ....

I'm really surprised that more people haven't cottoned onto this Jim. It's not rocket science to split the model, drop the shell in some Nitromors and waft over with a rattlecan. There's often detail in the casting that gets lost under the gloopy paint that the vehicles blessed with. Even if nothing more complex is done, the result is in a different league.

 

[Simon]

Love those buses - happy memories of the Lanch. '80 - '83

Keep it coming!

Simon

 

[Old Buffer]

One word brilliant, the bus even has the correct registration district and year, which is so often missed out.
Alan

 

[Jim S-W]

There's often detail in the casting that gets lost under the gloopy paint that the vehicles blessed with. Even if nothing more complex is done, the result is in a different league.

Absolutely Neil. It appears that the base colour is applied by some sort of dunking method as its liberally caked inside and out. Often doing a huge dis-service to the toolmaker. Heres another couple of pictures of the corgi minis which shows just how much the detail is lost.

Cheers

Jim

 

[Old Buffer]

I note the one Bus Driver has lost his nearside mirror.... not that they ever use 'em anyway...

Ducks to avoid the Bus Drivers here...

Totally agree Jordan, bus drivers and taxi drivers .
Alan

 

[Jim S-W]

Dont worry about it Jordan

Not all vehicles come from the toybox - some are 'proper' kits such as...

A couple of sherpas from Kingfisher minatures. They do 2 types as shown however...

...the royal mail used a version with slidy doors. The resin is quite thick but a very fine circular saw let me cut them out and re-postition them. Additional runners and repositioned door handles and jobs a good un. The transfers are 2mm scale ones.

Cheers

Jim

 

[AdamF]

Boy, these take me back!! Puts me in mind of one I saw in Bristol with a sticker proclaiming "I loves my Sherpal"!

Great conversion work on the PO vans

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Excellent work on the vehicles. I remember seeing the PO vans being driven with the drivers door open!

My attempt at vehicle modifiactaion is an EFE RT bus. Completely stripped, missing panel joins added on the lower and upper body and rebuilt with interior and external details.

D