Heather's 1940 obsession again!

[Heather Kay]

You all know my obsession. It has extended beyond just the planes to include period correct vehicles and structures that can act as set dressing or little dioramas. This thread will include several 1/76th scale vehicles, all destined to bolster my 1940 RAF MT section.

 

 

A Humber truck. A Flightpath kit. I’ve been putting this one off for a long time.

 

 

Here's why I’ve been putting it off. It’s almost entirely PE, and at 1/76th it is bordering on too small to see.

 

 

Mind you, I’ve managed to build a pair of FP Fordson tractors. Perhaps this won’t be so bad after all… 

 

 

Almost every airfield with a maintenance hangar had one of these Ransomes & Rapier cranes on the books. This kit was originally intended for a model railway goods yard.

 

 

All cast whitemetal, and I’m really looking forward to getting this put together. Well, it can’t be any more difficult than the Humber...

 

Not strictly speaking a military vehicle, but the Dennis Ace tipper was quite common with building contractors during the 1930s. This Milicast "Flying Pig" will be a civvie model, representing one of the civilian contractors called in to repair bombed aerodromes during the Battle of Britain. I really ought to find a nice steam roller to go with it.

 

 

Another Milicast resin kit, this time the Ford WOT3 workshop body. These resin kits shouldn’t take long to assemble. Famous last words!

 

 

The final one is this Matador Models Morris Commercial. The RAF was quite a big user of the D-type between the wars, though not in this body style. I may decide not to build this one straight off, although it would make an interesting kit bash into an ambulance body. I wonder if the bits from the old Airfix Emergency Set Austin K2 could be used? We shall see.

 

 

[Dandie Dinmont]

Great collection Heather! Looking forward to seeing these come together.

 

Craig.

[Mjwomack]

Lesser mortals (well me) would be intimidated at building just one of these; especially the etched brass Humber that you open up with, though the Millicast tipper at the end would keep me awake at nights as well. But you, casually bundled them up into a job lot.

Curiously, I was just looking at the Langle models Ransomes in N gauge, while reminding myself that I have no justification for it whatsoever, other than it is Ransomes of Ipswich (there's an out of town shopping centre of the site now- wonder what that will be replace with in the land after Covid), so I'll be watching that one with extra interest. It'll be kill or cure, because either I'll realise that I can never match yours in the civilised scale or be overcome by the urge to buy one.

Talking of scales, and I'm very broad minded on this, I have the impression that you're relaxed about mix and match for 1:72 and 1:76? It's always struck me as one of those points where the plethora (use that in Scrabble) is particularly unhelpful.

[Heather Kay]

15 minutes ago, Mjwomack said:

I have the impression that you're relaxed about mix and match for 1:72 and 1:76?

There's not much choice, if I’m honest. There are 1/72nd vehicle kits out there - and I’ve got some in my collection - but almost all the rest are 1/76th.

[Jinxman]

You have the stash that keeps on giving - what a collection of vehicles here and on your other builds! 😀

[dnl42]

Very nice collection of vehicles! This will be fun to watch 

[TonyW]

If I end up with a load of airfield accessory kits on top of the already too big 'to do' pile, it will be all your fault.

 

That crane is going to make me look for one before morning, I just know it. What a nice looking thing.

[JeroenS]

You're spoiling us @Heather Kay!

[Mjwomack]

Anyone can wake up in the night worrying about covid, the state of the economy etc. Me? I woke up with start and thought, 'Hold on, that etched brass chassis isn't in the hard to see 1/43 Dennis thread; it's in the microscopic 1/72!' I checked with my guide dog and he says it's impossible.Awestruck before things even start..

[Mjwomack]

8 hours ago, TonyW said:

If I end up with a load of airfield accessory kits on top of the already too big 'to do' pile, it will be all your fault.

 

That crane is going to make me look for one before morning, I just know it. What a nice looking thing.

https://www.langleymodels.co.uk/awd1/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=5892&search=crane 

I' m not really helping am I?! 🤐

[Heather Kay]

I really hope I can find the time to do these builds justice. If I get a couple completed, especially the complicated ones, I think I’ll be happy.

 

Of late, I’ve been trying to add to my German motor fleet. The ground support gear of the 1940 Luftwaffe is not easy to pin down. I’ve my eye on some interesting kits, but since they’re injection moulded, they won’t appear here.

[Killingholme]

On 3/16/2021 at 7:00 AM, Heather Kay said:

Of late, I’ve been trying to add to my German motor fleet. The ground support gear of the 1940 Luftwaffe is not easy to pin down. I’ve my eye on some interesting kits, but since they’re injection moulded, they won’t appear here.

 

To be honest, I suspect quite a lot of it would be British vehicles too! A lot of captured Dunkirk softskin vehicles ended up in second-line duties with the Germans in France.

[Edge]

Nice collection Heather and an area I am becoming more attracted to. There seems to be a bit of a phase of new ground support kits lately (Bedford QLT, Alvis Salamander) to fuel that interest too!

 

Look forward to seeing how you tackle these, white metal & brass looks a scary combination!

 

Edge

 

[Heather Kay]

27 minutes ago, Killingholme said:

A lot of captured Dunkirk softskin vehicles ended up in second-line duties with the Germans in France.

That’s a good point. Of course, I knew that. 

 

I should add the Ace Austin 8hp Tourer and Tilly to my list.

[Killingholme]

I expect with your model railway background, you'll be about the only person on here not scared senseless by the prospect of building an almost entirely etched brass kit!

[Heather Kay]

With Big Dennis reaching a natural pause in proceedings, let’s take a look at something smaller.

 

The Humber will wait a while. I need to get my eye back in to the smaller scale. Let’s take a peek at one of the Milicast resin jobs. How about the Fordson for a start?

 

 

Hoo boy! Flashtastic! Now, I’m going to be charitable. I’ve not had much Milicast experience, and I purchased these kits at an exhibition some time ago. My guess is the resin was poured in a bit of a rush to meet the show deadline, and QC went a bit by the way.

 

 

While the detail is all there, I have to question the wisdom of casting such fine details in resin. Before I even attempt to remove parts from the pour blocks, I’m assessing what can be left out altogether and what can reasonably be recreated with brass rod and sheet. 
 

It seems bizarre, doesn’t it, to be considering scratching parts in a kit, but I want the thing to be at least a little bit robust when it’s finished.

 

 

The one-piece workshop body isn’t at all bad. However, I’ve learned to check carefully for air bubbles. I’ve been over this casting already, and applied the black Sharpie to highlight potential issues.

 

 

Potential issues like this fag paper thin moulding on the nearside front wing. Ouch.   I think the only solution with this will be some Milliput all over the inside to reinforce what is there, because as sure as heck it won’t survive the initial cleaning up.

 

What about the instructions?

 

 

Huh? Oh, wait...

 

What we want is on the other side! Full marks for, uh, recycling paper. Anyway, I think it’ll take me a while to pick through the information here, clean up and repair the castings, and then perhaps get into construction.

 

Perhaps the Humber might be a better first choice.  

 

[Mjwomack]

If anyone can....👍

But I am confuddled by millicast as a manufacturer because this seems to have come from a different firm to the ones that @PeterB has got. Maybe it was as you say a rush job to get them to the show on time

Looks like another delicacy ahead

[PeterB]

Now you have got me confused MJ!

 

Heather is building a batch of kits from more than one manufacturer including Matador Models and Milicast. The instructions for the one she is building in the most recent pic, in spite of apparently being copied on scrap paper, is from Milicast in Glasgow as far as I can see, back in the days when Tom Welsh was running it - he retired a couple of years ago and somebody else he knew took over. He was a lovely man to deal with in my experience, and when I ordered my first half dozen or so models from him he threw in an Austin Tilly and a Standard Tilly as welcome gifts - I gave the history of the company in my Cruisers-part I thread. I have never bought any of their trucks so I don't know what they are like - the parts will probably be thinner and less robust than my tanks, though having said that the side panels on my Sexton are see through. A combination of perhaps trying too hard for scale thickness and the fact that the rubber moulds are only good for 20 to 30 castings and no doubt deteriorate a bit during the process. I know that both his wife and mine were both critically ill in hospital when first I spoke to him so he may have been a bit distracted for a while, and although they both survived, his sadly passed away a couple of years back hence his retirement. Perhaps this is one of those produced when he was not at his best.

 

Still it gives Heather a chance to demonstrate her scratch building skills!😁

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited March 24, 2021 by PeterB

[Mjwomack]

9 hours ago, PeterB said:

Now you have got me confused MJ!

 

Heather is building a batch of kits from more than one manufacturer including Matador Models and Milicast. The instructions for the one she is building in the most recent pic, in spite of apparently being copied on scrap paper, is from Milicast in Glasgow as far as I can see, back in the days when Tom Welsh was running it - he retired a couple of years ago and somebody else he knew took over. He was a lovely man to deal with in my experience, and when I ordered my first half dozen or so models from him he threw in an Austin Tilly and a Standard Tilly as welcome gifts - I gave the history of the company in my Cruisers-part I thread. I have never bought any of their trucks so I don't know what they are like - the parts will probably be thinner and less robust than my tanks, though having said that the side panels on my Sexton are see through. A combination of perhaps trying too hard for scale thickness and the fact that the rubber moulds are only good for 20 to 30 castings and no doubt deteriorate a bit during the process. I know that both his wife and mine were both critically ill in hospital when first I spoke to him so he may have been a bit distracted for a while, and although they both survived, his sadly passed away a couple of years back hence his retirement. Perhaps this is one of those produced when he was not at his best.

 

Still it gives Heather a chance to demonstrate her scratch building skills!😁

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Ah same name different firm, sounds like p&d marsh for railway buildings. What's heartening is that people are willing to take these firms on. There can't be much money in them so it must be passion for the hobby is the reason

[Heather Kay]

I am coming round more and more to idea the kits I have from Milicast are suffering from being hurriedly put together for the show. The exhibition was in Faversham, Kent. Milicast travelled down from Glasgow for a one day show in Kent. I think they needed to make stock quickly, and the usual quality controls were bypassed. I have a little list of other kits I would like to add to my collection, and it’ll be interesting to see if the quality is there when they’re produced under normal circumstances.

 

I also agree the level of finesse the pattern maker has attempted is very high indeed. The Fordson cab doors have full interior detail, for example. I can’t fault the concept, even if the execution in this case has been a bit off. It just means a little actual modelling to do!

[PeterB]

Hi Heather,

 

I suspect most of the trucks are from the Premiere Range as the Battlefield series tend to be just one or two large pieces of resin with a few smaller bits. The "kit" approach of the Premiere range allows for a lot more detail and hollow cabs for example - the Tillies were just one solid lump with recesses for windows. The downside is that some of them are very old masters/moulds and you will get a bit more flash and some pretty thin pieces. Some of the "softskins" look very good but I have shied away from buying any as I prefer Tanks.

 

Pete

[CedB]

Well I'm in to pick up some great tips, as usual!  

[Heather Kay]

On 26/03/2021 at 09:17, CedB said:

Well I'm in to pick up some great tips, as usual!  

Don't hold your breath, Ced! Resin kits are not my favourite medium.

 

 

After some very careful work with razor saw and sharp Swann Morton No10A blade, all the parts were extricated from their pouring blocks. When I say "all the parts" I elected to leave the brake, clutch and accelerator pedals, gear and brake levers out of the equation. For one thing, they are just too small to even contemplate cleaning up, and for the other, they can’t be seen in the finished model. To my mind, they are just completely pointless at a scale smaller than 1/48th in a closed cab.

 

 

There was one casualty. The radiator brush bar snapped. Frankly, I’m amazed it survived pulling from the mould! Full marks to Milicast for even trying!

 

 

To attempt a rescue in the poorly moulded wing, I backfilled with putty, reinforced with CA at the edges. It seems to be holding. Such areas were often damaged in service, so I may end up modelled a bit of a dent there. You may notice numbers scrawled on parts. It helped me go through the check list and number parts to ensure I had everything I needed.

 

 

As it turned out, I didn’t have everything. The offside headlamp. This is another little hint and confirmation to me this kit was moulded and packed in a hurry. The blackout lamp for the nearside was there, complete with both wing-mounted sidelights. I decided to raid my Bits Box, and found a pair of whitemetal headlamps from a Crossley crash tender kit. 
 

A bit of very careful drilling and reaming out with a taper broach and the lamps are fitted. I’ve drilled a tiny hole at the base of the driver's door window for a mirror - yes, even the mirror is cast, on its rod. I’ll leave that until a good while later in the build, as it’s bound to be snapped off.

 

 

Praying the superglue will hold the repair long enough to fit to the chassis later.

 

 

Chassis work. Some thought has been made into construction, with pegs and holes provided for most parts. The rear axle has two pegs which drop, with a bit of care, into holes in the leaf springs. I’m using CA throughout this build, so I use a short length of thin brass wire to drop the glue onto the joint and let the stuff wick in where it can. Seems to work, though I might need to consider epoxy resin reinforcement in places later.

 

 

The rest of the chassis bits. The drive shaft is in two parts, front axle and exhaust pipe.

 

 

That didn’t take long. I carefully filed the mating slots on the front axle beam and the springs so they were a little deeper. Hopefully that will make a more robust joint.

 

 

Separating the wheels from their pouring block resulted in a small flat section. I like a slightly flattened tyre anyway, as it implies the model has some weight to it like the real thing. Sanding the flat areas a little more, I made a felt pen mark at the opposite side so I could see easily when the wheels were pretty much at the correct angle. The rear wheels were an ever so slightly tight fit on their axle stubs, so some care was needed to ensure they were square in most directions before dropping CA on. I hadn’t expected to be able to fit the front wheels at an angle, but they were a much looser fit on their stubs. So, I angled them to add a bit of life to the model. For once, this little lorry might just sit square and true - a rare thing for most of my builds!

 

I think I need to paint some interior fittings, glaze the cab and body, and probably get this all assembled before lunch! 

[PeterB]

Hi Heather,

 

Coming along nicely. I guess that like mine your "kits" came in a plastic bag though Tom always posted them to me in sturdy boxes. Given the size of some parts, their rather tenuous attachment points and the brittleness of the resin I suppose it is inevitable some bits will break off as indeed they always used to do on Airfix kits, but in theory they should still be in the bag. I have I guess something over 40 of their models and to be fair very few parts were completely missing though I suspect I lost a few of the smaller ones when I opened the bags to look at them. Fortunately, as with the exhaust pipes on my A9 tank they are often easy enough to replace, at least on the tanks! As I said before I have never built any of their "softskins"  but with a bit of care and skill I suspect they can be quite good. The only problem could be glazing, but then that is true of most injection moulded plastic trucks as well - I think the only one I have that includes windows is the relatively recent Airfix set of 2 Bedfords.

 

Cheers

 

Pete

Edited March 27, 2021 by PeterB

[Heather Kay]

6 minutes ago, PeterB said:

guess that like mine your "kits" came in a plastic bag

They did come in cardboard boxes. I later decanted them into bags for convenience. To be fair to Milicast, there isn’t a "sprue" that would hold the missing lamp, although there is in the GS truck version. 
 

I've reminded myself I need to add wipers when I’ve glazed the windscreen. 

 

The worst part with tiny resin kits is the cleaning up. The material can be brittle, and easily snapped. Even now, though the front wheels are firmly attached to the axle stubs, the axle itself could readily snap just outboard of the join at the spring.