Vickers Royal Navy Deck Tractor

[Pappy]

G'day people,

I realise that this is an aircraft forum but I thought this forum would be the most relevant (the mods may think differently and subsequently move it!) being aircraft related.

I knocked this together last weekend and painted over a couple of nights.

The set contains two complete sets of the tractor, the deck crew and an aircraft tow bar. Additionally, the set includes a boarding ladder for a Sea Harrier (SHAR), although there are no assembly instructors for the SHAR's boarding ladder included.

The deck tractor kit is surprisingly complex and features some pleasing detail. the mesh and checker plate areas are especially nicely done. I am not familiar with the real item but it looks pretty close from what few pictures I have seen, although unmodified, the tractor can only be built with all four wheels tracking straight. I decided to modify the rear wheels so that they are turned, only to find out later that the tractor can have both sets of wheels turned.

The tractors were painted green post Falklands, and I think that I may have over egged the weathering a bit.

I wanted to experiment with chipping using the 'hairspray method', and I found that I was able to get more control over the process the more I practiced. The tow bar feature more subtle chipping as it was my second attempt, the tractor was my first , hence the heavier chipping. No doubt some RN deck chief would have fit if they saw the state of my little tractor! The next tractor will be painted in the later green scheme and being land based will not suffer the same ravages of an embarked vehicle,

cheers,

Pappy

[Benbow]

As ever Pappy very, very nice piece of work. Love your finishing and I think that the weathering is spot on!

[glyn]

They look spot on.Well done.

Glyn

[Grizzly]

They look spot on.Well done.

Glyn

You have done a lovely job of it but as you say it is far to weathered not ship shape & Bristol fashion.

[eng]

Weathering looks absolutely superb to me! Great piece of work indeed.

Eng

[goon]

I like that. A lovely little model.

[moaning dolphin]

Very nice indeed, I think the weathering is just about right especially around the drivers area. I do like the chipping/wear effect, very realistic. All it needs now is a SHar or Sea King to go with it.

Cheers now

Bob

[xffw45343tg]

Lovely model!

Just as a matter of interest, the box art shows an FA2 with the boarding ladder on the left/port side; am I right in believing that the ladder can ONLY be mounted on the right/stb side?

Kirk

[FatFlyHalf]

The kit may not have, but your modelling has wings!

[phildagreek]

Very sharp! Like that a lot, but you're right, the flight deck PO would be screaming at the state of that.

[AntPhillips]

Like that a lot, I've got 2 of these (to finish 1 in Yellow and 1 in green), if I get anywhere close to your finish I'll be very happy.

[Spitfire31]

That's a little gem! It looks well used but not over the top and the offset wheels add that special impression of 'life'.

Really neat piece of work.

Kind regards,

Joachim

[Pappy]

Lovely model!

Just as a matter of interest, the box art shows an FA2 with the boarding ladder on the left/port side; am I right in believing that the ladder can ONLY be mounted on the right/stb side?

Kirk

I don't know, all the pics I have seen have the ladder on the r/h side. The ladder can be attached to either side of the kit. The only difference being that the extended upper 'leg' will be forward when the ladder is attached to the r/h side, presumably as some sort of fall guard? If the ladder is positioned on the l/h side, the top step is open with no forward guard.

You have done a lovely job of it but as you say it is far to weathered not ship shape & Bristol fashion.

Very sharp! Like that a lot, but you're right, the flight deck PO would be screaming at the state of that.

I agree. I like the effect and think that it is well executed, but still overdone. Thanks for your comments.

Thanks to everyone else that left a comment as well, I really appreciate it,

cheers,

Pappy

[kwality8]

Proper realistic! Looks 1/1 scale to me....

[AjD]

Pappy, that's excellent. I love the chipped areas - how exactly did you go about achieving that with hairspray?

[Roof Rat]

Nice one Pappy, I spent many an hour behind the wheel of one of these all be it the previous model.

All wheel drive, all wheel steer, fully automatic stick forward to go forward, back for backwards. had the same engine as a London bus.

Yours truly 1973 / 74 I was 17 or 18. At this time the front tow-bar attachment point could traverse L to R (controlled by the lever lowdown to the drivers left hand side) to give you increased manoeuvrability.

Your right about the deck chief (Captain of the Flight Deck) although in my time he would have been a Fleet Chief, a severe ear-bending would have been issued way before it got to the stage your showing.

Great work, thank you for bring back some memories.

RR

[Gary West]

so real looking!

[xffw45343tg]

so real looking!

Yes, although I think the legs may have been a little short shot. More like pipe-cleaners if you ask me!

[Pappy]

G'day people,

Again thank you very much for all your lovely comments.

Pappy, that's excellent. I love the chipped areas - how exactly did you go about achieving that with hairspray?

AjD, essentially, you paint the chip colour first, spray on some hairspray and allow to dry and then paint your top colour. The top colour is scrubbed off using a paintbrush and water. If you enter search terms like " weathering models with hairspray" into your internet search engine you will find multiple tutorials for both this and the 'salt' method. There are also dedicated chipping fluids available through the 'usual suspects', I cannot say how these perform vis the hairspray. These products claim they are better, provide more control etc, blah blah blah (marketing). I went and bought a no name brand (the cheapest) form my local supermarket. I expect I will get several years worth of use from a single can.

Nice one Pappy, I spent many an hour behind the wheel of one of these all be it the previous model.

All wheel drive, all wheel steer, fully automatic stick forward to go forward, back for backwards. had the same engine as a London bus.

Yours truly 1973 / 74 I was 17 or 18. At this time the front tow-bar attachment point could traverse L to R (controlled by the lever lowdown to the drivers left hand side) to give you increased manoeuvrability.

Your right about the deck chief (Captain of the Flight Deck) although in my time he would have been a Fleet Chief, a severe ear-bending would have been issued way before it got to the stage your showing.

Great work, thank you for bring back some memories.

RR

G'day RR, you are more than welcome!

There is some great detail in that simple photo. It looks like the seat and surrounding floor is painted black? was this some form of anti-slip textured i.e sandpaper paint? Thanks again,

cheers,

Pappy

[Roof Rat]

Good evening Pappy

Yep correct the black area around seat is ment to be black antislip paint but as you might be able to make out this was over painted with general purpose black paint, the seat being covered with black plastic.

Looking at the picture the cylinder by my right knee (pipe cleaner thank you Kirk) was for brake fluid, and above that the gear selector. On my left you have the parking brake (this worked by locking the rear halfshafts so you had to be stationary before applying otherwise you could snap the shafts), and lower on the left is the traverse lever as previously mentioned, with acelarator and two footed brake pedal.

Below the steering wheel behind the fire extinguisher is the dashboard (if you could call it that), you had ignition toggle switch, two start buttons, light switch, rev counter, speedo and battery charge gauge. The battery master T handle and fuel filler were on the rear bodywork, no fuel gauge so each tractor (and the forklifts) were refuelled each morning. There being 6 tractors and 2 forklifts in total.

I hope this has been of interest.

RR.

[Pappy]

Good evening Pappy

Yep correct the black area around seat is ment to be black antislip paint but as you might be able to make out this was over painted with general purpose black paint, the seat being covered with black plastic.

Looking at the picture the cylinder by my right knee (pipe cleaner thank you Kirk) was for brake fluid, and above that the gear selector. On my left you have the parking brake (this worked by locking the rear halfshafts so you had to be stationary before applying otherwise you could snap the shafts), and lower on the left is the traverse lever as previously mentioned, with acelarator and two footed brake pedal.

Below the steering wheel behind the fire extinguisher is the dashboard (if you could call it that), you had ignition toggle switch, two start buttons, light switch, rev counter, speedo and battery charge gauge. The battery master T handle and fuel filler were on the rear bodywork, no fuel gauge so each tractor (and the forklifts) were refuelled each morning. There being 6 tractors and 2 forklifts in total.

I hope this has been of interest.

RR.

G'day RR,

All the info is much appreciated thank you. It appears that the 'dash' and firex are mounted differently to the kit, as these items are mounted on the forward r/h wheel fender. Other differences I picked out was that there is a stowage area beneath the seat (looks like tie down straps) and the absence of the cylinder in front of the left wheel. I have noticed that many of the deck tractors seems to be missing this item, but the stowage bracket is still there

I bet that black paint got really hot when the sun was out?

cheers,

Pappy

[Rod bettencourt]

Cool scale effect!!

Rod

[Roof Rat]

Good morning Pappy

I'm glad you found my post interesting, the area under the seat was taken up with the seat height / front and back movement mechanism, there was a rotary crank handle that adjusted the height and a sprung-loaded mushroom headed lever to adjust the forward / back movement, although the seat was in the full back position most of the time.

As I mentioned in my first post the tractor I'm showing was the previous version to the one you have modelled. The main difference being the older version had 4 heavy wheel arches because the Phantom and Buccaneer were heavy aircraft the tractors had to be heavy also (gives you a better chance of controlling the aircraft when moving). The wheel arches were cast metal about 1/2 ton each, with the Sea Harrier and helicopters being relatively lighter the tractors could also be lighter so the rear wheel arches (weights) were removed as per your model, see below.

Picture 1 (with Sea Harrier nose) shows the version of tractor you have modelled with the revised rear end, the other 2 showing the original rear end with the added wheel arch weights. (sorry about the small size of the pictures) The area between the rear wheel arches was used for general stowage for chocks and lashings.

Other changes are as you have mentioned were the moving of the dash and the adding of the demineralized water tank (for the Sea Harrier).

With regards to the black paint getting hot, when your at flying stations heading into wind there is a very healthy breeze blowing over the deck this tended to keep things cool.

I hope this has also been of help.

RR

[FIGHTS ON]

Nice one Pappy, I spent many an hour behind the wheel of one of these all be it the previous model.

All wheel drive, all wheel steer, fully automatic stick forward to go forward, back for backwards. had the same engine as a London bus.

Yours truly 1973 / 74 I was 17 or 18. At this time the front tow-bar attachment point could traverse L to R (controlled by the lever lowdown to the drivers left hand side) to give you increased manoeuvrability.

Your right about the deck chief (Captain of the Flight Deck) although in my time he would have been a Fleet Chief, a severe ear-bending would have been issued way before it got to the stage your showing.

Great work, thank you for bring back some memories.

RR

So how old are these tractors? I ve seen pictures of them on the EAGLE, INVINCIBLE and they are still in use today. no doubt they will work with the F-35s on QNZL as well.

[rudi]

Excellent, looks great and very realistic.