You Can Have Any Colour You Like as Long as it's Olive Drab - A Ford Model T WW1 Field Ambulance *** COMPLETED ***

[clive_t]

Hi all, not sure if you can count this as an 'armour' WIP thread, but to be honest I can't see where else to put it - if anyone can point me at an alternative location, please let me know!

 

Well it's been some time since I've done any kind of WIP in this particular corner of La La Land, having been infesting the wingy-things bit for a fair while now.

 

The small size of this beastie will hopefully mean that there won't be a huge amount of build time required, however my intention is that it will eventually be the centre-piece of a small diorama. There may well be a separate thread in the dioramas bit for that, when I get round to it.

 

So, enough yapping - let's get a stake in the ground and share the hand I have been dealt, starting with the boxart:

 

 

Hmm, ok... what about the sprues? Well, they are not big, being consistent with 1:72 scale. The chassis:

 

 

Not too shabby. The wheel spokes look a little on the thick side but I am not about to scratch build anything better - my scanning electron microscope is at the mender's.

 

So what about the bodywork:

 

 

Eeeew, Flash Central! Still, that should all scrub up pretty well once I get going on it.

 

Finally, from the kit anyways - the decals:

 

 

A choice of US or French markings, it would seem. No British although the red crosses in the red circles might be an option there.

 

Absolutely finally for now, my proposed diorama base, courtesy of Messrs IKEA - a 6x4 photo frame:

 

 

That's all for now folks, hopefully I will make a start on this soon, at any rate before I finish my current wingy thing.

[SoftScience]

I'm looking forward to seeing this develop. RPM kits can be tricky to fit, but they sure make some interesting subjects.

[Vaastav]

Looks like an interesting subject. Mind if I follow along??

[Bullbasket]

Nice to see you here on the dark side Clive. Nice little subject, but that looks like some nasty sink marks in the side body panels.

 

John.

[clive_t]

17 hours ago, SoftScience said:

I'm looking forward to seeing this develop. RPM kits can be tricky to fit, but they sure make some interesting subjects.

Thanks, glad to have you along on this, my first venture into RPM territory

14 hours ago, Vaastav said:

Looks like an interesting subject. Mind if I follow along??

No problemo, welcome to the madness! 

12 hours ago, Bullbasket said:

Nice to see you here on the dark side Clive. Nice little subject, but that looks like some nasty sink marks in the side body panels.

 

John.

Thanks John, yes indeed - should be a nice little subject! I am enjoying the mere act of gathering reference photos to hopefully make it a decent result.

 

You're right about the sink marks - they turned out to be harbingers of something pretty nasty on the reverse side:

 

 

Still, the first spade of earth has been turned, so to speak, so 'Tally Ho Yellow!'

 

 

[John]

Neat wee kit, I haven't come across it before. Following with great interest. 

 

John 

 

[Black Knight]

May I show you two of mine?

I used stretched sprue for the supports of the front part of the tilt

I also put in a stretcher bed. I trimmed those big nubs on one side as supports for the bed. I removed them totally from the other side

 

#1. The spare wheel on this one came from a 'Jet Petrol' model car kit

 

 

#2. The accessories on this one came from one of the white-metal suppliers of WW2 bits

 

 

It cleans up and builds into a nice wee vehicle. I didn't fuss about the gaps on the roof edge as it is a canvas tilt and was removeable and photos of the real ones showed that they didn't secure down too tightly.

If you buy more of these you'll find that although the box is the same there can be differences in the parts supplied

My two are in a diorama now

[Black Knight]

On 09/02/2020 at 17:43, clive_t said:

 

A choice of US or French markings, it would seem. No British although the red crosses in the red circles might be an option there.

The British never really used the Ford T ambulance. They used ones built by Crossle, Rolls Royce, de Dietrich and a few others

[malpaso]

23 hours ago, Black Knight said:

The British never really used the Ford T ambulance. They used ones built by Crossle, Rolls Royce, de Dietrich and a few others

My memory of reading this model T book is of photos of hundreds of British Army T Ambulances!  Built in Manchester.

http://www.modeltbook.co.uk/chapter-by-chapter.html

These ones are a different body to the kit above, I think actually by Ford UK whereas most other makes of ambulance would be a coachbuilder on chassis such as RR.

There was a very nice real or recreation of a T-ambulance at a recent local agricultural show.

Cheers

Will

 

Edited February 11, 2020 by malpaso

[Redcoat2966]

Hi Clive, long time no see................Interesting subject Clive, looking forward to following a long on your project.

 

Cheers

 

Simon.

[clive_t]

Thanks all for your comments and interest so far, much appreciated.

 

A little bit of progress - some of the reference photos I have found show some examples of this vehicle having planked sides as opposed to solid panels. I thought that might look interesting, so I removed the moulded studs to make life a little easier, then scribed the planks in. I then used some thin styrene strip to reinstate the studs:

 

 

The plastic is very waxy, and really difficult to sand smoothly. Very like that of the Airfix 17-pounder I did a while back. Still, progress has been made

 

[clive_t]

Some modest progress - the body is mostly together now:

 

 

 

I added some supports on the side walls for to add some cross-members which would ultimately support the stretchers.

[Bullbasket]

Great progress on this Clive. You've overcome those nasty sink marks very well.

 

John.

[clive_t]

On 2/17/2020 at 9:11 AM, Bullbasket said:

Great progress on this Clive. You've overcome those nasty sink marks very well.

 

John.

Thanks John, as it turned out the sink holes were less of a problem than the lumps on the inside of the walls! Still, they are all consigned to history now.

On 2/10/2020 at 9:00 PM, Black Knight said:

#2. The accessories on this one came from one of the white-metal suppliers of WW2 bits

 

 

Thanks for sharing the pics of yours - a question, though: where did you get the figure from, as this kit doesn't have one. My intended dio will rely on my getting one, and preferably a 'second man' to also occupy the cab.

 

Yet more modest progress - the chassis is assembled, albeit with a home-made prop shaft from some styrene rod, as the kit supplied one doesn't reach the transmission:

 

 

Also, after a fair bit of paring away excess plastic from the underside of the cab floor, this has now been glued to the rest of the body in readiness to receive the chassis:

 

 

Small steps, but it's still progress!

 

[Black Knight]

I got my driver from a 'HAT' set; WW1 US Artillery with 75mm Cannon.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1428

2nd row, third across

 

The Ford T seat cushion needs cutting down and the top of the driver's helmet needs cut away as well to get him in.

 

If I find my dio I'll photo it and put the photos into the 'Diorama' section

 

Henry Ford was a pacifist and refused to sell vehicles for any use in war. The US Voluntary Ambulance Service bought Ford T commercial chassis through dealers. The bodies were built to an overall basic design but they were each individually built so there are many variations to them. Allegedly some shipping companies supplied the USVAS with old packing crates which were used for the bodies.

This may sound unlikely but HF used the packing crates he got nuts & bolts in for the floors of his T.

 

PS. Did you know that Walt Disney was a WW1 Ambulance driver?

[clive_t]

On 2/18/2020 at 5:54 PM, Black Knight said:

I got my driver from a 'HAT' set; WW1 US Artillery with 75mm Cannon.

http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1428

2nd row, third across

 

The Ford T seat cushion needs cutting down and the top of the driver's helmet needs cut away as well to get him in.

 

If I find my dio I'll photo it and put the photos into the 'Diorama' section

 

Henry Ford was a pacifist and refused to sell vehicles for any use in war. The US Voluntary Ambulance Service bought Ford T commercial chassis through dealers. The bodies were built to an overall basic design but they were each individually built so there are many variations to them. Allegedly some shipping companies supplied the USVAS with old packing crates which were used for the bodies.

This may sound unlikely but HF used the packing crates he got nuts & bolts in for the floors of his T.

 

PS. Did you know that Walt Disney was a WW1 Ambulance driver?

Thanks for the link and other info, much appreciated. Purely by coincidence, I recently watched the first part of a documentary on Walt Disney on BBC4 (probably still on iPlayer right now), wherein it mentioned that very fact!

 

A bit more progress to report - the front end was assembled and also received some minor detailing. You can't see it very well, but I scribed some vertical lines into the radiator to give it a grille effect, and drilled out the lamps to give them a more headlamp-like look.:

 

 

On the inside, I fitted some simple foot pedals as well as what looks like a battery in some of the reference photos I've seen:

 

 

Another rubbish photo, sorry! Hopefully it will be more obvious when I get some primer on it all. That's for another time though.

 

Thanks for looking

 

 

 

[SoftScience]

Brilliant work. I love seeing this level of extra detail in 1/72.

[Black Knight]

On some issues of this kit the radiator has lines for the matrix, some have an insert piece for it

What you say looks like  a battery are the trembler coils for the ignition. Basically they do the work of the later ignition coil and distributor. They should not be on a Ford T post -1915, but maybe some still used them as the change over of things on them was not instantaneous but took several months

The Ford T has 3 foot pedals, the centre one changes the gear as well as being like a clutch, the left is the brake, the right the accelerator. They are in an upside down triangle shape with the middle pedal under and back from the steering column

This kit doesn't represent the steering wheel truly. It was dish shaped with the hub upwards. Like this it was known as the 'suicide wheel'. It was a simple matter to undo it and turn it over so the rim is higher. Nearly all restored Ford T have their steering wheels this way now

[clive_t]

On 2/21/2020 at 1:38 PM, SoftScience said:

Brilliant work. I love seeing this level of extra detail in 1/72.

Thanks Mr Science, much appreciated

 

On 2/21/2020 at 8:25 PM, Black Knight said:

On some issues of this kit the radiator has lines for the matrix, some have an insert piece for it

What you say looks like  a battery are the trembler coils for the ignition. Basically they do the work of the later ignition coil and distributor. They should not be on a Ford T post -1915, but maybe some still used them as the change over of things on them was not instantaneous but took several months

The Ford T has 3 foot pedals, the centre one changes the gear as well as being like a clutch, the left is the brake, the right the accelerator. They are in an upside down triangle shape with the middle pedal under and back from the steering column

This kit doesn't represent the steering wheel truly. It was dish shaped with the hub upwards. Like this it was known as the 'suicide wheel'. It was a simple matter to undo it and turn it over so the rim is higher. Nearly all restored Ford T have their steering wheels this way now

Thanks, that's something I must add to the ton of things I already didn't know about cars, and Ford Model T's in particular. Interesting idea with the steering wheel, not sure my skills stretch to attempting a replication though

 

On the matter of the third pedal, and having done some experiments with a rudimentary driver figure, it would appear that the pedals I've already added are mostly obscured by said driver's foot anyway, so adding a third wouldn't make a great deal of difference. Still, it's all good to know and if I ever get round to building something similar in 1:35 (of which there appear to be a bunch of ICM kits covering the subject quite extensively) then that may be a goer if it's not already in the kit.

 

Anyways, some more progress - as aluded to above, I have been making experiments with a driver figure - I had a go at making my own from some old Airfix RAF personnel, from which only these seemed to offer any kind of solution:

 

 

In the end, I chose the cyclist for the lower legs:

 

 

... with the upper body from the chap on the far right of the above group photo:

 

 

He needed a fair bit of hacking to get him to sit properly such that I could still fit the roof on, but he's sort of there now. I need to fill some gaps, but with any luck he'll be good for painting after that.

 

I also cut some strips of styrene offcut to make the shelving for the 'upper bunks' in the back of the ambulance:

 

 

... and some stretchers:

 

 

These should be at least partly visible on my finished model, so I will use the remaining RAF donors for some legs to represent casualties being evacuated.

 

Finally for now, everything primed and ready for the next stage:

 

 

Thanks for watching!

[clive_t]

Lots of photos I have seen of the real thing seem to show the vehicle having a spare tyre if not an entire spare wheel, mounted on the right side of the ambulance body. Since the kit lacks one, I thought I might make one of my own, with a cast made of 'Siligum' rubber:

 

 

Once cured, the master is removed and the remaining mould filled with liquid plastic:

 

 

That needs to go off, which given the thickness of the casting will probably take until tomorrow. In the meantime, I sprayed some Tamiya OD on the body and associated bits:

 

 

I haven't sprayed the chassis yet, but when I do it will most likely be with Tamiya dark iron.

[Black Knight]

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,back in the early 1970s Jet Petrol used to give small plastic kits away. One of their sets was 'Vintage Car Rally. The small model kits are to package scale, some are about 1/87, some 1/72-ish.

A few years ago I managed to get some through ebay. The complete one I built. The Ford T became a Staff car in my WW1 diorama. The incomplete kits I have for spare parts. I used one of these spare parts wheels as the spare on one of my ambulances.

If you intend doing more in this scale seek those kits out for spare parts.

[Redcoat2966]

Nice progress Clive........like the casting of your own parts.....must look into that myself......

 

 

Cheers

 

Simon.

[Black Knight]

There be a lot of work for such a small kit, aint there?   

 

May I put this photo here to show others just how small this ambulance is. This is one of mine next to the Airfix Katy K2, which is itself quite small

 

[Bullbasket]

It's coming along nicely Clive. This is a world away from building model railways, isn't it?

 

John.

[clive_t]

On 2/28/2020 at 5:14 PM, Black Knight said:

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay,back in the early 1970s Jet Petrol used to give small plastic kits away. One of their sets was 'Vintage Car Rally. The small model kits are to package scale, some are about 1/87, some 1/72-ish.

A few years ago I managed to get some through ebay. The complete one I built. The Ford T became a Staff car in my WW1 diorama. The incomplete kits I have for spare parts. I used one of these spare parts wheels as the spare on one of my ambulances.

If you intend doing more in this scale seek those kits out for spare parts.

Thanks for the hint, although I am not sure I will be doing anything this small again! Mind you, I think I said very much the same thing when I finished my PST 1:72 Katyusha rocket launcher lorry, so you never know!

On 2/28/2020 at 7:27 PM, Redcoat2966 said:

Nice progress Clive........like the casting of your own parts.....must look into that myself......

 

 

Cheers

 

Simon.

Thanks Simon, it's an idea I have used before on a couple of wingy-thing projects.

On 2/29/2020 at 11:19 AM, Black Knight said:

There be a lot of work for such a small kit, aint there?   

 

May I put this photo here to show others just how small this ambulance is. This is one of mine next to the Airfix Katy K2, which is itself quite small

 

Yes indeed, I am very much a glutton for punishment where attempting to detail things is concerned, particularly this small!

On 2/29/2020 at 11:27 AM, Bullbasket said:

It's coming along nicely Clive. This is a world away from building model railways, isn't it?

 

John.

Thanks John. Yes, as I look out my window at the pea-sized hailstones hitting it, I am some months away from getting anywhere near the railway to be honest!

 

Anyways, a bit more progress - although my first attempt at a spare wheel was a bit underwhelming:

 

 

So I thinned down the liquid plastic by adding more styrene glue, and had another go. This time more successful:

 

 

I also made a start on populating the stretchers that will eventually occupy the rear cabin:

 

 

I will do a very basic spray job on them as I intend covering most of their bodies with blankets made from tissue paper soaked in diluted PVA. That' for another time though.

 

Thanks for watching, and of course the comments