P4 New Street

[Allen M]

Hi all
A question. Is there such a thing as a wrong Land Rover or tinkers Transit?
So many where built, rebuilt, modified, patched up and fixed with what ever was available that just about anything could be correct.
There is an old tatman (sorry general trader!), now in his 80s lives near me. He has had the same aluminum drop side/back truck body fitted to at least 3 different chassis's to my knowledge.
Regards
Allen Morgan

 

[Wagonman]

Twelve year old Ford Focus ST225, modified to 320BHP from 96 miles (day 1), now running over 350BHP at 238000 miles. Same smile every day I drive it.

Ian

When the Focus ST first came out Clarkson (who else) had some scathing things to say about the choice of initials, even enlisting the support of a female member of the Top Gear audience to make sure everyone twigged. Finished by saying they must never introduce a diesel version. Did they?

 

[Lancastrian]

When the Focus ST first came out Clarkson (who else) had some scathing things to say about the choice of initials, even enlisting the support of a female member of the Top Gear audience to make sure everyone twigged. Finished by saying they must never introduce a diesel version. Did they?

Hi,

Not the MkII, but certainly the MkIII !

Ian

 

[mickoo]

Of the 3 cars i did last time the Land Rover defender was the easiest. That's before I encountered the phenomenon of the Land Rover enthusiast. At least as bad as the VW enthusiasts and enough to give the most ardent P4 modeller a run for their money I was (in a very polite way and from several sources) informed that it was wrong as in a too late version.

Friend and fellow Calcutta Sidings operator Brendan supplied the above image of (one of) his. Turns out the Oxford one is a ford engined one and you can tell by the different bonnet shape (not sure why i didn't notice this). These were introduced in 2007. Also Brendan's didn't have a sunroof and the roof ribs were different.

So the bonnet 'hump' was ground down and the new raised bits added from 5 thou plasticard. The sunroof was filed and new ribs added from microstrip. The wheels came from a RAC version again from Oxford Diecast.

Sometimes......life is just too short

This is the problem when someone tells you something is wrong, you feel obliged to correct it, in some cases, not knowing, really is bliss

 

[Jim smith-wright]

The diesels have escaped to Brettell Road again. Actually its just a convenient photo background but there you go.

New Street isn't known for its freight operations but there were some services booked through the station on a fairly regular basis. Normally late at night and of those steel traffic was quite common. To that end I have recently finished off a few old Cambrian bogie wagons that have been lurking in my half started box for a while now.

First up a BDA. When I started this model there was no Stenson Models so sometimes, letting a model live in the half started area for too many years works out as a positive. The little kit for the braking gear lifts the model. I've used Jon Hall etched bogie inserts with the Cambrian bogie sides but if you want better, sprung bogies with nicer sideframes then Stenson models do those too.

I replaced the supplied bolsters (when i say replaced I actually mean lost!) with microstrip which better suited the wooden ones fitted to the earlier conversions anyway!

In a not entirely unrealistic scenario, a class 56 heads towards Round Oak.

BAA also from a Cambrian kit.

... and a BBA.

Although my Yorkshire DE02 is part of the Brettell Road fleet they were still very much around in the late 1980s and still in their original wasp livery so this scene isn't implausible either!

 

[AJC]

I like those very much - and I wasn't aware of the levers for the BDA (which were the same on the original bogie bolster Ds - and the main reason why I haven't done another one of those, though I have a set of the really very nice Stenson 1962 Gloucester bogies for just such a purpose. Excellent stuff.

Adam

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Lets start with the humble Austin Maxi. A recent-ish release from Oxford Diecast. My first impression was 'they have used their oversized tyres again but on looking at the real thing I think what threw this one off was the track was too wide with the wheels filling the arches much like a more modern vehicle. So with the track was slight reduced, inner window frames picked out in black. matt varnish and weathering I can call this one done.

Added a bit of a load to one of my smaller trucks. The wheelbarrow is a nice 3d print from 3D Printing Corner. (Home - 3Dprintingcorner)

One of my early kit builds that has never been quite right is this Volvo from a Knightwing kit. Its always looked out of proportion to me so I have had another look at it.

I binned the chassis and used a spare from one of the cheap Atlas Stobart models you can find on ebay. for the cab itself I cut about 2mm out of the width. I am happier with it now.

Back to the new. The trailer that came with the chassis used on the Volvo was stripped and resprayed. I used a different tractor chassis and a cur down Base toys roadtrain cab. The windbreak is also a spare from an Atlas ford cargo.

I came across this livery wile looking at old shots of Brierley Hill for Brettell Road. I thought it nice to tie the 2 layouts together a little. The logos were drawn up in illustrator and printed on crafty transfer paper.

 

[Jordan]

Re the Volvo F10/F12, I made one many years ago too, and thought the windscreen didn't look right, but as Jim has noted, just below the screen was black, making the depth of the screen look far better than how it looks if not painted properly.
This was my model, I didn't narrow the cab. Photo isn't sharp as it's a scan of an old print.

Technically the driver is breaking the law, as he's showing an orange HazChem plate, but hasn't been loaded yet!!
Last one I drove had been demoted to a Yard Shunter, and was rather rough, but in their day they were 'the' truck to have, apart from a Scania (R143 for preference!!)

 

[Jordan]

Just for a bit of fun, I ran this registration through the gov.uk vehicle tax checker.
It confirms it was a Volvo 2-axle 38t truck, built in 1980, last changed hands it seems in 1987, & has been "untaxed since Oct 1989".
However, it gives it's main colour as being red.

 

[Eastsidepilot]

One of the details that niggles me with model trucks is the fact that the wiper arms are sometimes the wrong hand also !

Col.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

With apologies to those coming here to see trains road vehicles are still drawing my attention. This time let's start with some Leyland products.

The Leyland roadrunner (1984 version). A combination of cab and wheels from Road transport images, chassis from the Atlas stobart ford cargo and a body from scratch.

Next up a terrier in post office colours. Although a 70s design these seemed to last quite late. Again RTI cab and wheels, base toys this time for the chassis and the body from scratch.

The tail lift is an approximation from a photo I found years ago and kept in my 'that might be handy one day' folder.

Sticking with the post office. I did this Roadtrain cab years ago and never got around to the trailer. the source is the Atlas curtain sided one U used last time for my Link51 lorry. This time with the sides replaced and modification to the leading end. It was a faff to cur the old sides away so I would just scratchbuild the box next time...

... which is what i did for this smaller version. Again the tractor unit was finished off years ago although I have recently replaced the wheels with RTI ones.

Overall I have put together quite a fleet of Royal Mail vehicles now.

Next time...

More Atlas Stobart vehicles are lined up for the chop at Jim's Dodgy Car and lorry dealership. 'lovely little runners, one careful owner, service history? It's ok - you don't need one of those!!'

 

[AJC]

Nice work, Jim! Given that it's Birmingham and the layout of that area it's right that the road vehicles should have equal attention - there's more of them for a start. I'm currently giving their presence a lot of thought for my small corner of rural Somerset but in that case, they'll be more movable set dressing: quite a few different vehicles but only a handful will be present at one time.

Adam

 

[Heather Kay]

With apologies to those coming here to see trains road vehicles are still drawing my attention.

Wait - there are trains?

Like Adam, I come here for the road vehicles. The railway is just part of the scenery.

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Funny you say that heather as that’s how new street went very early on. The railway in isolation became less and less significant

 

[Jim smith-wright]

Last time I ended with a selection of Eddie Stobart vehicles that looked somewhat nervous, not without good reason.

The simple (or should I say least mauled) option from these is shown on the right. Basically a simple repaint with a new headboard (is that what they are called?) of the DAF 2800 tractor. On the right the same cab mated with the chassis of the much out of period volvo unit. The fuel tank and other chassis details were cut off and transferred over as well.

The left over chassis was mated with an old KeilKraft (now Knightwing) Mercedes cab. Like the Volvo mentioned in an earlier post it was reduced in width by about 3mm.

Finally the tipper truck (the same base model that I have cut about previously) was mated with the Daf 2200 cab and chassis to produce yet another variation. I shortned the body on this one as well but not by as much as my AEC blue one.

In all the vehicles that have logos these were drawn up in Illustrator and printed on Crafty computer decal paper.

 

[AJC]

Those DAFs look like superb castings and your additions really make them sing. It's a shame that there aren't so many earlier vehicles of a similar standard available in 1/76 diecast. Nothing that can't be worked around of course, but the odd reliable shortcut would be a blessing.

Adam

 

[Jim smith-wright]

One of my earlier DMU conversions was a class 120. Built from Craftsman overlays on a Lima 117 it's done many shows on Moor Street and was probably due a bit of an overhaul.

I had already rebuilt the underframe to better match the prototype and a few years ago I swapped the bogie side frames for Dapol ones* as they better matched the Swindon design the class ran on.
*the older ones from their trans pennine mode not the newer ones from their bubblecars

The big thing I wanted to address was the inner ends. When I built the model the inner ends were void of detail and the instructions just said to stick the Lima gangways and exhausts back on. However the class 120 exhausts are somewhat distinctive and look nothing like what Lima supplied. So the ends have been detailed up to better match the real thing.

As mentioned before I am a fan of the Masokits gangways for DMU's however I don't see a lot of point using them if they are hidden behind the exhausts. So for this model i have use paper bellows and moulded gangways I had in my spares box.

 

[Yorkshire Dave]

Finally the tipper truck (the same base model that I have cut about previously) was mated with the Daf 2200 cab and chassis to produce yet another variation. I shortned the body on this one as well but not by as much as my AEC blue one.

In all the vehicles that have logos these were drawn up in Illustrator and printed on Crafty computer decal paper.

Err..... shouldn't it be WIMPEY

 

[Dave Holt]

Not if it's bulk delivering beef-burgers.
Dave.
Or should that be Lancashire Dave?

 

[Steph Dale]

Or should that be Lancashire Dave?

According to the map I saw on the BBC yesterday, he's now 'Greater Manchester Dave'...!

Steph