Frogeye

It's a great painting and that's a nice model version. Not seen the BMSS figure before. I had a go at scratchbuilding one some years ago from Airfix bits.

Thanks. Will try that.

Thanks Flintstone I have tried that site but not much help there I am afraid. I have a twin cam 32nd scale slot car from George Turner which is excellent and I am now trying to scratchbuild the transporter vehicles.

I am trying to build the austin twin cam car transporter in 1/32nd scale from about 1935. I think the lorry is perhaps a 12/4 but I know very little about commercial vehicles. Does anyone have dimensions, wheelbase, track, height etc. that would at least get me up and running. Any help appreciated

Thanks for the support folks. Just managed the last few fiddly bits. I thought the lap counter under the dash in the reference photos was interesting. I used an excel spreadsheet image, substantially reduced printed onto decal paper. The decal was positioned onto some metallic food packaging foil. It’s not that easy to see behind the steering wheel but I thought it was worth including. I also made up a new starting handle from rod and aluminium sheet The straps on the bonnet are lead foil. The thing is now assembled and the bonnet seems to fit reasonably but can be carefully removed to view the engine – thankfully. Thanks for looking

Thanks very much for the encouragement. With the warmer weather I’ve been able to tackle the paint spraying of the bodyshell. I used rattle can automotive Ford Diamond White. I found I needed to use a grey primer because the yellow colour of the plastic in the kit insisted on showing through white. I also completed the beefing up of the exhaust including the pierced bands made in milliput then drilled. The fitting of the front nose was causing a real headache. The kit fitting lugs underneath just wouldn’t locate. So I cut them off and added the pierced lateral tubes shown in the reference photos. This now helps with positioning the nose with the tubes located into small plates I added to the chassis rails. I also managed to fabricate the oil can which sits in the engine bay in the reference photos. Further research reading has revealed that the engine ran with 8 plugs on the inlet side and 4 on the exhaust rather than 8 each side as I originally thought. So I’m in the process of removing four plugs which is proving a bit more difficult with the engine glued in position. Still you live and learn - sometimes. Thanks again for looking.

I had a go at the same modification for my Alfa but I don't think it's anywhere as neat as yours. The other mod I tried was widening the front nose behind the front engine mounting plate. Looking at the reference photos I thought this was deeper than on the Pocher block so I packed out the engine plate. This also helped me with moving the engine back, although I didn't go for the full 10 mm, more like 7 mm Not sure it applies to your build but I also made up the vent for the gearbox I saw in reference photos of the Alfa Following your work with admiration.

Very nice painting. Where are the figures from? Not seem them before.

Thanks Harvey for your support and encouragement. I am not used to working in this larger scale and it’s very much trial and error. Often more of the latter. The engine is nearly there apart from some final tidying. I have beefed up the exhaust manifold which seemed rather spindly by sleeving it with styrene tube and started carving some manifold flanges from plasticard. Also now trying to work out how to make the engine visible. I’ve cut the exhaust side body panel in line with the exhaust manifold which is more like the 1.1 car. I’m thinking that the whole section will lift off to see the engine like this. Not sure yet how to secure the panels and what to do about the retaining straps. And then I need to get back to the bodyshell. Thanks for looking.

A bit more progress to report. I needed to make up some spark plugs. There are eight on each side of the engine, but I think they weren’t always all fitted. I used the same garden tie wire I had used for the wheel spokes and filed a short length of thin wire cable sheathing to a point. I think it came from a USB cable. I added a thin section from hexagonal rod to make up the base. The wire is used for the plug lead. And here is the inlet side fitted. Exhaust side. I’ve also done some work on the inlet manifold to make it beefier like the reference photos using milliput. The binding which was apparently used to reduce fracturing due to vibration is also milliput. And then trial fitting to make sure there is clearance with the steering box. I’ve now started to put some paint on the inlet manifold using AK extreme metal paints applied by brush. I did have some problems where I’d used an automotive matt black undercoat and a thick application started to eat through to the underlying white plastic. Don’t know if anyone else has had a similar problem or whether it was just the particular undercoat I was using. Anyway I hopefully managed to rectify it. Sorry if a couple of the photos are a bit blurred - phone camera. Thanks for looking.

Managed to get some reasonable castings of the rocker box cover so had a trial fit with those. Thought I’d try a bit of paint on a scrap one while I was at it. Also fabricated the core plugs (I think that’s what they are) and the water pipes from the pump to the four cylinders. I managed to find some scrap kit parts for the Magnetos (think I said distributors last post!). Gave it all a coat of primer and started filling in the gaps and imperfections. The extreme metal paints have arrived today so I should soon be able to try them out. Looking forward to it.

Thanks for the feedback folks. Much appreciated. Ian. From what I remember of the SSK kit the handbrake certainly could do with some refinement. I don’t remember a gear lever - perhaps I never got that far. I have been preoccupied with the engine this week. Needed to improve the engine mountings as a starter. This reminded me a bit of some of the many discussions on the Pocher Alfa. I decided the cylinder head detail was too small in scale and lacking the detail of the external valves and springs. A master was made up in milliput of one cylinder rocker box cover with valves constructed using model railway track pins wound round with garden tie wire. A silicone rubber mould was made in order to cast the four that are needed, I think that these modern casting resins are excellent for producing fine detail. Also been working in the engine bay on fabricating the steering box. This is the trial fitting just to make sure there is enough space. It was also necessary to fabricate a radiator as this will be visible from the engine bay. Next will be creating the two horizontal distributors at the bulkhead end of the engine.

A little more progress to report. I started work on the front grill. It needed the Mercedes three pointed stars adding. The first one was carved and shaped from milliput and a simple silicone putty mould made (in blue). Two stars were then cast in resin and fitted. I managed to fine some suitable mesh for the grill protector which was added together with a fine wire frame. The correct radiator filler cap was carved from milliput on the end of a styrene tube and trial fitted. I was a bit disappointed that the tyres in the kit have no tread pattern. I thought slicks a bit early for 1914. So I managed to find a tyre tread image on the internet and made a set of decals. Not perfect but a bit more presentable. Also started work on the fly screen. Carved from plasticard and with a fine metal mesh insert. I think the paint will need to be fine for this.

Lovely model with a nice period colour. The wheels look really good. Are they the kit wheels?

Thanks for the encouragement folks. I managed to get some paint onto the re-spoked wheels and thought I would have a trial assembly of the rolling chassis. I had to trim down some of the axle stubs but eventually I got them to fit. Also wanted to see whether the cockpit interior would sit OK. I think the metal tank on the floor is for oil and the two clock type keys protruding through the hole are for adjusting the rear and transmission brakes. I have now started to look at the engine. This is the item that comes in the kit. And this is what it should look like Don't know yet whether I'll be able to find a way to open the body panels to be able to see it but it seems a shame not to. I might need some advice on decent metal paints for the copper and brass when I get that far.