Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

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Triode
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Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Sun Nov 28, 2021 7:58 pm

Inspired by Jim S-W's excellent work in this field, I've begun building and detailing some road vehicles for my unnamed North Eastern layout.

First up is a VW T4 van using the Oxford model with added details and lighting. It also has a DIY steering mechanism intended to run on a Magnorail type system, but I doubt whether that will come to fruition on my first layout and may be something for another time.

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Next is a mk3 Transit LWB, also from Oxford with wheels from Paragon Kits.

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More to come soon.

Cheers,

Liam
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jim s-w
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby jim s-w » Sun Nov 28, 2021 9:57 pm

Good stuff Liam. Got the lights spot on to me
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barhamd
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby barhamd » Sun Nov 28, 2021 10:31 pm

The VW needs 'also available in white' written on the rear doors.
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Daddyman » Mon Nov 29, 2021 6:55 am

I've never seen road vehicles capture the character of the real thing so well before. But - and I may be wrong - I can't picture dirt accumulating on a road vehicle like that.

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Paul Willis
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Nov 30, 2021 12:10 pm

Daddyman wrote:I've never seen road vehicles capture the character of the real thing so well before. But - and I may be wrong - I can't picture dirt accumulating on a road vehicle like that.


Plenty like that down here in rural Somerset.

It's not just the road dirt, but being in a rather damp valley means that many vehicles spring up coverings of moss in the panel seams when they are parked. I'd pop out and find an example to photograph, but it's just started raining again!

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Paul
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Paul Willis
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Paul Willis » Tue Nov 30, 2021 1:36 pm

Tut tut...

Nothing more than we'd expect from the North East ;-)

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Cheers!
Paul

PS - very nice couple of vehicles, by the way. Temptation to check if they were still on the road was too much.
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Triode
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Tue Nov 30, 2021 2:16 pm

You can blame Oxford diecast for that one lol; it's the registration on the model out of the box. :mrgreen:

I did change the registration on the T4 though: it's based on this one here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dgk_88/84 ... ist-dRL4tu

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Tue Nov 30, 2021 7:58 pm

After a protracted painting process, here is a short MCW Metrorider in the Wear Buses livery of the early-mid 1990s. Prototype example here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/adammalar ... C2r-Dje7Gy

It's built from the Sunrise Models kit with some reshaping and interior detailing. See if you can spot the patriotic SAFC fan amongst the passengers...

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Terry Bendall » Tue Nov 30, 2021 8:51 pm

Triode wrote:here is a short MCW Metrorider in the Wear Buses livery of the early-mid 1990s


That looks very nice.

Terry Bendall

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Simon_S » Wed Dec 01, 2021 12:25 pm

Is that a Microsystems Wayfarer 2 ticket machine? I had a summer job making parts for, and assembling, the cases for them :)

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Triode
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Wed Dec 01, 2021 1:08 pm

That's the one :thumb . Paragon Kits make them along with a few other types.

I'm not well versed in ticket machines, so I can't say whether this is characteristic of the Wayfarer type, but I always remember the Wear Buses tickets being long, arrow shaped strips that I made into paper darts during the journey! :D

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Simon_S » Thu Dec 02, 2021 10:55 am

Amazing the parts you can get! The Wayfarer tickets were the arrow shaped ones as you say, I turned many hundreds of the rollers that guided them out of the machine. They were very popular machines, I saw them all over Europe as well as the UK.

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Thu Dec 02, 2021 11:42 am

Heres one: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmightycat/27443861578/

Brings back memories. If I was on a Wear bus in the 1990s, it was usually on the way for a walk around Penshaw or Low Moorsley. Everything seemed much further away back then!

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Sun May 22, 2022 9:42 pm

Another road vehicle to share before it goes in for painting. Here is a Series 3 109" wheelbase Land Rover destined for the orange livery of the North East Electricity Board (NEEB), as seen here: http://eblrs.org/neeb/ As my day job is in the electrical industry, I knew I had to model a thing or two related to it. If all goes to plan, the Land Rover will be placed in a small substation diorama on my first P4 layout.

The model is based on two Oxford diecast Land Rovers: a short wheelbase Series 3 and a long wheelbase Series 2. Unfortunately a long wheelbase Series 3 isn't available, so a cut-and-shut conversion was my only option in 4mm scale.

The roof rack was scratch built. Details of the chassis were improved with a separately fitted exhaust and leaf springs, as well as a front-mounted winch.

I've fitted working lights as per all my vehicles so far, but given how time consuming this is I think I'll use them more occasionally from now on. The Land Rover was probably the most challenging to date in this regard, but the possibility of a night-time power cut scene meant it had to be done!

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby ClikC » Sun May 22, 2022 10:09 pm

Triode wrote:Here is a Series 3 109" wheelbase Land Rover destined for the orange livery of the North East Electricity Board (NEEB), as seen here: http://eblrs.org/neeb/


What a particularly garish Orange, I love it!

Excellent work, I love the lights too! What are you using to defuse and reduce the light? It's one of the things that irks me about a lot of RTR stuff, is the ridiculously bright LED's used to represent marker light etc. I considered roughing up and applying washes to lenses and plastic bits to reduce the amount of light emitted.

Regards

Matt
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Triode
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Mon May 23, 2022 10:27 am

Hi Matt.

If I'm fitting the lights from scratch, I normally just try a few different resistor values until the brightness looks about the right level. Matt varnish on the inside of the lens is a good diffuser - this is what I used on the bus and the VW van further back in this thread. I suppose adding more layers of varnish could make the lens more opaque and help to dim an overbright LED.

The Land Rover headlights were tricky because there isn't enough space to get a forward facing LED directly behind the opening. My solution was to mount the LED facing downards and add a polished nickel silver 'reflector' at 45 degrees to deflect it forward. This also prevents the light spilling out into the wheel arch.

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Mon Jun 06, 2022 7:49 pm

Finally completed, here is a Leyland Atlantean with Alexander A type body based on the Marsden Models kit. It is finished in Northern livery as it would have looked in the late 1970s to the very early 1980s when this type seems to have been phased out on Tyneside. Prototype image here https://www.flickr.com/photos/66289212@ ... jkV-QXK5k3

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Liam
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby davebradwell » Tue Jun 07, 2022 8:15 am

Well, well! I haven't seen a 53 bus for years. With the companion 54 it was a very good service with the added thrill of passing another on the High Level Bridge, something they've wimped out of, I note.

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby John Donnelly » Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:03 am

Nice work, just the way I remember them :thumb

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Triode
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Tue Jun 07, 2022 9:27 am

davebradwell wrote:Well, well! I haven't seen a 53 bus for years. With the companion 54 it was a very good service with the added thrill of passing another on the High Level Bridge, something they've wimped out of, I note.

DaveB


The 53 route still seems to be in service, but now in the hands of 'Voltra' electric buses: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidsbus ... 1828366548

Have to say I prefer the Atlanteans!

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Sun Jul 17, 2022 10:22 pm

A couple more road vehicles in progress.

A VW T25 (Oxford Diecast), fitted with a scratchbuilt roof rack, exhaust and wing mirrors. The seats where also lowered to fit some Modelu figures.
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A Ford Capri Mk3 (also Oxford), with added exhausts, driver, wing mirrors mud flaps and reduced diameter tyres.

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More soon

Liam
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Sun Dec 24, 2023 9:09 pm

A very belated update for Christmas Eve!

The Ford Capri is finished with a driver added:

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Also a Vauxhall Cavalier Mk2 from the Oxford model. I drilled out the painted sunroof and replaced it with perspex and replaced the tyres with plasticard as the rubber ones seemed too chunky.

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For both models I toned down the finish with some matte varnish and picked out some panel lines with a dark wash.
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Paul Willis
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Paul Willis » Fri Jan 05, 2024 10:05 pm

Having the matt finish on those vehicles works really well.

It remains a complete mystery why people can pay so much attention to everything within the railway fence, and then just plonk down a shiny diecast model of a bus on a bridge...

Hopefully we'll see more of these in future.

Best,
Paul
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Triode
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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Triode » Sat Feb 10, 2024 7:39 pm

Another belated update. This time the VW T25 van is finished. I added crew from Modelu and some ladders to the roof rack. The lettering on the side is done using DIY laser printed transfers and based on this picture from Newgate Street in Newcastle from 1982: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jp4712/83 ... vpp-8ZsRjH

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Re: Road Vehicles Workbench - 1970s - 1990s North East

Postby Hardwicke » Sun Feb 11, 2024 6:00 pm

I've been interested in this thread but after looking at todays cars, and photos of cars in the past the dark lines at the doors seem rather too pronounced.
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