Just the simple things.
Sometimes it pays to drop back a gear and just do a few simple things that are not too taxing. Things like a few simple wagon kits or just some pictures. 
And what could be more simple than the good old Airfix mineral wagon kit? This ones been converted to a diagram 102 variant and weathered with gouache and a hint of AK interactive weathering pencils for the rust. 
Next up a mix and match of parkside bits to produce a Hybar. The rail itself is a neat little etched kit from Rumney Models.
Below a few pictures.
DMU project – Done!
One of the things that struck me as a bit weird with the pics of the class 103 underframes I showed last time was that the bogies seemed to be too far inboard from the ends. The class 103 (and class 110 for that matter) have bogies centres of 40 feet but Hornby have them set closer to 38 feet. This is not something I’ve ever seen mentioned before with regards to the Hornby 110.
On the trailer and the none powered end of the DMBS, because i had used Brassmasters bogies it was simply a case of moving the bogies out. Originally the mounting plate sat neatly inside the moulding (although raised by some 100thou evergreen strip. Now they sit outside of the moulding by 20thou as can just be seen in the picture. At the powered ens U opened out the floor at the inner end and simply bent the forward clip of the bogie to push everything back (the sideframes aren’t the best fit to the power bogie and were way to stiff before anyway!).
The bogies have been backdated with bits of wire and microstrip. 
Happier now. With that, some paint, the seating modified and some LEDs, aside from some windscreen wipers I can call these done.
Class 103
The roof vents were kindly printed for my by my friend John Chivers and I extend my thanks.
Class 129
And finally both units together. 
The last few DMU’s – Part 2
Attention has moved the the under frames of my DMU project. As I mentioned when building my class 114 the easy option for the 103 would be to stick with the 110 under frames and I would expect most people wouldn’t notice. However as per my 114 project that wont really do.
The DMBS. Its easier to start with a center car chassis than a power car as when you cut off the Hornby details it gives you a flat floor to work on rather than just a hole. The battery boxes are from Replica and most of the other (black) bits are spares from a Heljan class 128. The white bits are scratchbuilt and the buffers are from Lanarkshire models. The heating ducts on a class 103 are quite distinctive as is the way the exhausts are routed past the inner bogie.
The DTCL I must add a note of thanks to Eddie Knorn for his assistance in helping me work out were the bits all go.
For the class 129 the obvious thing to do would be to mount the body on a Bachmann class 105 chassis. However the class 129 chassis is a bit different to a normal cravens unit and shares some parts with a class 108, especially the distinctive battery boxes. So most of these one came from a Bachmann 108 with again some scratchbuilt parts Buffers and their stools again come from Lanarkshire models.
With all these there is still a little more to do before paint, namely bogie steps, air horns and lamp irons.
The last few DMUs
Long time followers will recall this old picture of a Hornby Class 110 DMU that I intended to chop up into something a little more ‘local’. With the acquisition of a Bachmann Derby lightweight as a gap filler it kind of fell off the radar a little. I did debate doing another class 100 but in the end I have decided that a Park Royal class 103 would be the target of my attentions.
A little about the prototypes
These units were introduced in 1957 to the Birmingham LMR region. 20 sets were produced and the last vehicle in passenger use lasted until 1983. A few vehicles survived a little longer in departmental use (Derby RTC Lab5 lasting until 1991) or as a Sandite unit (1985). There was another oddity in that one set was converted to a Viaduct Inspection Saloon. This was withdrawn in 1978 but was saved for preservation.
The 20 sets were all allocated to the Birmingham area for their first decade operating mainly Walsall services before moving on initially to Chester then spreading further afield. Although none standard they did use the blue square coupling code so could work with the majority of other DMU types. Pretty early on they started to suffer from cracking in the bogie frames and their poor reliability saw steam hauled services return to many of their diagrams while the problems were sorted out. Aside from the oddballs mentioned earlier they only carried 2 liveries. Green (with or without whiskers and later with a small yellow warning panel) or BR Blue (small panel or full yellow end). None received blue and grey livery.
The Model
The similarity between a class 103 and the class 110 is reasonably obvious and (as with my class 100 and 114 conversions) the desired result can be achieved buy cutting parts out and shuffling them around, Plus a few spare panels from previous projects.
The above diagram may be of assistance. The red lines are cuts or areas than need to be removed. The orange areas are surplus and the blue areas need filling in. On the driving trailer everything aft of the last door stays the same as the class 110. I didn’t cut into the roof.
Initial stages of assembly. You can see the additional panel from another body shell in white.
Face on you can see where the windows are opened up to match the class 103. The new frames are 10 x 30 thou microstrip secured to the inner edges. Incidentally in working on this conversion I have come to the conclusion that the class 110 windows aren’t right as supplied. They need to be wider and the angles tops need a slight curve.
The 2 body shells after a coat of primer and more work with filler. The angled tumblehome Hornby used has been rounded off and any missing hinges replaces with etched ones from Southern Pride. I need to add another cental filler to the DMBS yet.
Why do one when you can do 2?
While in a DMU kinda mood I have started work on a class 129 DPU using a DC kits body kit.
A bit on this prototype as well
3 of these single car units were ordered from Cravens by the LMR. These had a none standard coupling code (yellow diamond) meaning that the could work with the original Derby Lightweights. Introduced in 1958 they lased until 1973 with one going to the RTC initially for brake testing but later for hydraulic transmission tests and gaining the name ‘Hydra’. None of the 3 survived into preservation. Although 55997 was initially allocated to Walsall it was 55998 that was most often to be found working int he Birmingham area during the late 1950s mainly on New Street to Walsall, Wolverhampton or Coventry services. Later it would regularity continue on to Rugby and one slightly unusual service was Alrewas to New Street with produce from market gardens. As with the other DPU class, class 128 they would regularly pull a tail load.
The Model
Charlie supplied his class 129 kit with a standard class 105 cravens DMU cab moulding (no doubt tooling up another cab just for this class of 3 units wouldn’t make a huge amount on commercial sense). So there is a little work to do to make it closer to the prototype, mainly removing the destination box and moving the marker lights down. I elected not to use the supplied flat bass etch for the route indicator box and made my own from microstrip.
The main bodyshell assembled with extra little details. On something so plain sided it pays to add these little things to break up the sea of grey plastic
More thoughts on Brettell Road 2 but not kinda not at the same time
A while ago I shared my initial thoughts on extending Brettell Road. For those that missed it click here.
The initial plan required some modification to the Left hand end of the existing layout but otherwise it was pretty much an add on. Then the coronavirus happened and while plans were firmed up no wood was cut (lazered) and its not progressed to any kind of physical reality. In that time my thoughts have turned to correcting the first regret, that being that Brettell Road 1 wasn’t double track to begin with. This would also have the benefit of replacing the mainline track bed with ply as initially I used MDF. The layout was only supposed to be a play thing if you remember.
This would require some additional tweaks to Brettell Road 1 but actually not as drastic as one might think.
Starting with the left hand end, where the new boards would attach to the existing layout in addition to the track. I was actually quite generous with the track spacing and the double track would fit with only a slight tweak to the wall shown by the arrow. There’s another advantage here as my first plan would involve splitting the single slip across the baseboard joint but the double track pulls everything further in to the layout meaning the entire slip falls on this board. No changes would be required to the bridges.
At the right hand end there’s a benefit to slewing the track away from the front of the layout with space then for the second track in front of it. The plan is to extend the furthest siding a little while shortening the front one a smidge. This would allow me to start curving the front wall just after the canal bridge to generate the extra space. I will need to build a new bridge. None of these tweaks are particularly drastic.
Below is a mock up of how it would look.
Compound finished off.
So back to the Bachmann compound then.
The body looks pretty much spot on to me and the firebox Bachmann had modeled suits the loco I have chosen to do. 40925 was a late survivor and based at Bournville so that’s local enough for me. I added the lifting points to the front frames and the large pipe coming from the smokebox. This is an exhaust steam injector and not all compounds had them. As far as I can tell they were only fitted on one side, that being the side opposite the driver (compounds came in both left and right hand drive versions). The smoke box has been painted in Revell no9 and the difference looks a little stark at this stage.
The ejectors are the Bachmann ones cut down, again refer to a pictures of your specific loco as these varied a lot. There’s a connecting rod that appears to go from the back of the ejectors to somewhere near the slide bar support bracket. In the pictures that show this well it always looks extremely close to the face of the rear bogie wheel. I decided the best way to replicate this was to mount it on the actual bogie instead.
Crew from Modelu – the driver looks distinctly uncomfortable straining to see. As the compounds had very large cab roofs I haven gone for a rain sheet on this model.
On to the tender
The body Bachmann supplied was a later Fowler type with coal tunnel and doors. Of course the loco I had picked had the earlier type without them. Luckily Brassmasters do a conversion kit and coal rails so that was what I used. The floor in the Bachmann model is flat so I knocked up the coal chute from plasticard. Incidentally the supplied handrails are absolutely fine and don’t need replacing. They had to be on the one side for no other reason than I mangled it!
So the model has been weathered (to look tired but not scrap line) and aside from the wheel balance weights I can call this one done.
A slight diversion
One thing that’s always bugged me a little about the above image is the coupling rods on the class 11 (left). I cant remember why but I used the Brassmasters standard rods rather than their finescale ones. Well I finally got around to swapping them over.
Another little distraction is this Bachmann anchor tank wagon.
A simple wheel swap with a new etched discharge wheel and new ladders from Stenson models.
A bit more of a ‘proper’ project was this diagram 1/163 iron ore hopper from Wizard models. Quite a neat little project this one.
Finally, i don’t want to remind anyone but the nights are drawing in again!
A few more trailers
Been busy knocking up a few more trailers.
Starting with this offering from Knightwing. Although the cabs they supply are to a slightly larger scale the trailers, or at least this one, is pretty much spot on for 4mm scale. I changed if from a 3 axle type to 2 axles and fitted some spare Base toys wheels but that was pretty much it.
This 40ft flatbed is something I’ve had for a while. Its from RTI, brought when Frank was still with us. It’s a somewhat basic kit with just the bed, bogie and wheels supplied. The rest is knocked up from bits and bobs.
When I built my last batch of tractor units I printed enough registration plates for the trailers too. Do you think i can find them now?
The Bachmann Compound – part 1
I found a relatively cheap Bachmann Compound recently and thoughts have turned to what to do with it.
Lets start with a little disclaimer. Alan Gibson supplies a set of wheels to convert this loco to P4 and I would have every confidence that just swapping the wheels would get a p4 steam loco up and running pretty quickly. After all a 4-4-0 has got to be about the best case scenario you could really ask for. I didn’t try it myself but we’ve had a wheel swapped GWR Grange (I think) running on Moor Street for years now.
Being relative new to RTR steam locos, this is actually my first RTR tender loco I’ve had since i was a kid, there’s always 2 areas that stand out to me as looking a little weak on pretty much all RTR steam locos. No, not the wheels although big, in your face, wheels do perhaps yield the greatest benefit of swapping to p4 visually. The areas I am talking about are bogies and tenders. More specifically in the case of the latter, tender underframes. They just always seem so, for want of a better description, flat!
The bogie
So to the bogie. There was nothing about the supplied RTR one that i wanted to keep so its a straight swap with a Comet example. As supplied they can be built with central springing for side control but no springing on the axles. Setting some simple springs up however couldn’t be easier.
The loco chassis
To the loco. I decided I wanted to use some of the Comet chassis bits but not exactly as intended. So the first process was deciding what of the RTR offering I wanted to keep and what I wanted to replace.
I wanted to use the sideframes in a sort of Brassmasters easychas inspired way and keep the original Bachmann drive. Initially I thought the crosshead was just an RTR bodge but they do actually look like that. So that and the cylinders were keepers. I also liked the brake gear so that stayed.
The Comet chassis is not designed for this model and is too long. The wheelbase between the driving wheels and hence the coupling rods are also too long. Comet do specify this is the case on their website. The Bachmann frames are actually the right width at the front of the loco but narrow from the cylinders back to accommodate the 00 wheels. The cylinders look, from underneath that they might fit on little pegs coming down from the footplate. They don’t, they slot sideways into the chassis. Its best to pop them off and keep them safe.
I decided to split the chassis behind the forward step to loose some of its extra length. The front part being a relatively easy fit. The rear part needed some trial and error to cut away little sections to get it to fit. The Bachmann model is driven on the front driver ( it looks like the chassis was designed for gears but to both axles but it doesn’t have them), so the Comet chassis was carefully titivated so that the rear axles position matched. I wasn’t too worried about the front driver as I has decided to keep it rigid.
By leaving the RTR style bearings off the rear driving axle you get a little room for vertical movement. A Brassmasters sprung bearing was modified with a bit of tube (the Bachmann and hence Alan Gibson axles are an odd size). The frames were glued in place using 60 thou plasticard to space them out to something more prototypical. The springs are part of the RTR keeper plate so they are too to far back but I decided to leave them as is.
The brake gear needs a bit of modification to fit over the new frames and it was here that I hit a little unexpected snag. Bachmann use bigger wheels than scale. I wonder if this is because its a development of the national railway museum model which being an earlier example had bigger wheels? Anyway the effect of this is the brake gear sits too low and would likely hit the rails when crossing pointwork. The solution is to take a mm out of the top of the keeper plate so that everything moves up a little.
Valve gear
Lets be honest RTR valve gear is generally a bit weird. Its often both too big and to thin at the same time. The Bachmann coupling rods are about scale height (ignoring the bosses which are huge!!) but being only 1 piece of metal aren’t thick enough. So these were discarded and the Comet ones used in their place. Suitability shortened by 2mm.
The connecting rods as supplied are quite good though. Much more meaty and they feature the big square bosses that the Comet ones don’t, so hybrid valve gear it is then! The Bachmann crank pins are 2mm wide (really!) so a bit of tube was soldered in to make them fit the Gibson crank pins. While I was at it I made another 2 collars for the trailing driver a the coupling rods on a compound are outside of the connecting rods.
On to the tender
Body great but underframe – ugh!
Luckily Lanarkshire models do a replacement chassis kit for a Fowler tender. This was assembled as per the instructions. For the outer frames I was kindly supplied a spare etch by Brassmasters and mated this with some Comet springs and axleboxes. I decided to keep the Bachmann steps as they are moulded as part of the tender body.
As is often the case with this sort of stuff, the most pleasing view is the one you wont ever see!
Class 120 revisited.
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.
A somewhat unfocused post.
Something that always bugged me about my Heljan class 27 was the somewhat odd buffers. A long time ago i got a set of replacements from Sutton Loco Works and its just one of those things I never quite got around to. Well now that little job can come off the list.
Finished the roof of my station building – just need a layout to plant it on!
The gutters are a recent introduction from Modelu. I found they don’t like superglue at all but stick very nicely with liquid Poly (in this case Tamiya extra thin).
Popped back to my Kirtley to pick up a few things that irked. The loco to tender gap has been tightened up a bit and the rain cover tidied.
Crew from Modelu
Bit more off a proper project this one. A clasp braked 16 ton mineral from a Parkside kit on a Rumney Models underframe. The only down side to Justin’s stuff is it looks better not painted! A few pics below for history.
Working on wood
Tim Horn and I have been working on a few ideas recently and here are some prototypes.
Starting with a wall mounted version of his display shelving.
Next up a stock box. I’ve long used Ikea ‘Fira’ boxes but for a while they disappeared before returning in some less handy configurations (as well as costing a lot more). The little handle on the front is to stop the drawers sliding out in transit which was an ongoing problem with the Ikea ones.
Each draw can hold 24 standard 10 ft wheelbase sized wagons.
These are a work in progress and Tim is very much snowed under at the moment with work so these are not available yet. I will post here when they are.
Another ‘tweaks’ post
Bit of a random post this time but I have been revisiting a few things. Be warned though these are all really subtle and if I didn’t point them out I suspect no one would ever know.
Starting with the safety valves on my prairie. As supplied it was a pretty flat dish with 4 blobs to represent the valves. A bit of drilling and some wire gives something a little better.
I’ve also gone back (again) to my Dapol railcar for another little tweak.
As its not all that obvious I have fiddled with the bogies a little. Some 3x4mm triangles and some microstrip was used to change the sideframe shape to something more accurate. I also got a spare set of sideframes and cutting the springs and axle boxes of the new ones, filing down the old ones and sticking them over the top had given me more relief.
Sometimes its nice to look back at where we started to see how far we have come.
While i was in a railcar kinda mood this is my detailed Lima one. I haven’t done anything to it, it just tends to avoid the camera for some reason.
Austerity hides at the headshunt. Again no tweaks just a piccie.
Now this is properly subtle. I have revisited the layout with some Tamiya smoke and AK wet effects to see if I could increase the wet look a little. The smoke provides the darkening effect of the rain.
It a little easier to see on the light walls of the pub.
The thing is I know its darker because i knew what it was like before. In order to give fresh eyes something to compare it with I needed a few areas of contrast.
By the warehouse i can leave the area under the canopy dry to give the contrast I was looking for.
and at the other end the areas shaded from the rain by the bridges. Its important to make sure the rain falls in the same direction. So the buildings don’t have smoke applied to the sheltered walls. Its the area above where I feel the effect has come out best.
Project Coronation – Tender part 4
Progress on my tender build continues. This is the front end with some of the detail started.
And the rear end.
Inside showing the fire iron tunnel and and the coal pusher which is a 3d print.
Below are the some images of the tender in its nearly complete state. There’s still a few bits I need such as the ladder etc but focus will now shift back to the loco.
A little something I’ve been dipping into.
One little project I have been dipping in and out of now and then has been the station buildings for part 2 of Brettell Road.
This is the smaller building. The real buildings at Brettell Lane were wooden but of a GWR origin. As Brettell road is more midland I used the Ratio (previously Parkside) LNWR station panels. These or similar were used in the Birmingham area so that was near enough. The canopy valence and supports are from London road models and the poster boards from N brass. The chimney is from Unit models.
The side in the first picture faces away from the public so rather than have a blank wall I decided to give the viewers a sense of being inside the building. (it is supposed to be raining remember, who wants to stand outside?)
The main building is the same but bigger. The above image gives a rough feel of the look im after. I actually shot it like this because I haven’t done the roof yet!
I have mentioned in a previous post the idea of letting the layout have little bit of a life of its own. Originally i was going to use the name Brettell Grove not Brettell Road so why not an old station nameboard with the original name?
Stobart bashing
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.
My Leyland and post post.
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 I used last time for my Link51 lorry. This time with the sides replaced and modification to the leading end. It was a faff to cut 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? Yeah I’ll just write one up for you!!’
A few old and a few new
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. click here
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.
Back to the canal.
Back in the early days of Brettell Road I represented rain falling on the canal as seen above.
Over the years however the effect of this became lost so I have revisited this area of the layout to get the effect back. Also to make the canal look a little more downtrodden. I have used a thin layer of clear resin and the same baking soda in wet varnish trick as I used originally. Results are below.
Some Steel wagons.
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!
Those little Mainline iron ore hoppers.
Anyone modelling in 4mm scale for any length of time has probably come across the Airfix/Mainline/possibly Dapol/ Bachmann 21, 22 or 24 ton Iron ore hoppers. Based on a Charles Roberts version with the standard, at the time, stretched to fit compromises to fit a generic 10ft wagon chassis. They do however make a good little project for ‘tarting up a bit’.
Geoff Kent wrote a great article about just such an exercise in MRJ 182. I have however deviated from his sage advice in a few areas.
The hopper is easy with 3mm cut out center but offset to the side of the bracing to hide the cut. For the chassis I cut it into 3 parts to retain the middle detail. Geoff thinned the base and removed the top of the chassis on his models but I decided to cut the base away around the edge and mount the chassis flush with the top. The chassis being a Parkside 9ft example.
The door closing gear was knocked up from microstrip and a few bits of brass., Shiny bits on the chassis came from Ambis, Mainly Trains and Bill Bedford.
After a light weathering. I still need to add the rain effect yet mind you. The ladders are from Stenson Models.
A couple of AEC products.
A very brief history
AEC (or Associated Equipment Company) was a fairly early producer of vehicles being founded in 1912 and lasting up until 1979. Initially focusing on buses their first prototype commercial vehicle was based on a bus chassis but with the outbreak of the first world war they were ideally placed to produce lorries for the army. After the war lorry production continued right up until the companies last days.
In world war 2 they produced something like 10,000 vehicles for the war effort and readers familiar with Airfix kits have likely come across the Matador model at some point. the company acquired a fair few other companies during its time with Crossley Motors, Park Royal and Thornycroft being just a few of them. They were taken over themselves in 1962 by Leyland Motors.
Leyland fitted their own ‘Ergomatic’ cabs to the AEC line of lorries but they retained the AEC branding. So Ercomatic is a type rather than a model covering Madator, Matador, Mercury etc (the lorry models always began with the letter M).
The Models
So the victims both picked up cheaply from ebay. On the left Atlas editions and on the right from EFE. Both are similar in a way. Both have nicely done cabs with rather rudimentary bodies and slightly odd looking wheels. The proportions of the Stobart example look a little odd as well.
Having looked at pictures of the real things I decided to shorten the chassis and tipper body. The ribs were beefed up a little and a new hood fabricated from plasticard. The hydraulic ram came from my spares box.
The livery was stripped form the cab (as its all metal nail varnish remover is ideal for this and the wheels replaced with some from RTI. Below shows the model after painting and weathering.
The body on the Mammoth was metal and to be honest im not sure what its supposed to represent. I think its some sort of pressed steel effort but I binned it and made up a new body to represent a planked body instead. The strapping is from the mainly trains etch.
I decided to keep the livery on the cab this time and just gently sanded the sign writing off. Wheels again are from RTI. The usual matt varnish and light weathering finish it off.
Last tweak to the presentation.
With Brettell Roads new roof design the last thing to do was remove the original pelmet.
I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that removing it would open up the layout quite as much as it has.
This is the view from my eye height. Obviously this higher angle wasn’t available to me before now.
