1/24 Terrible Transit Camper

[Max Headroom]

I’m imagining a week in a lay-by in Snowdonia. It’s raining stair rods and the bottled gas has just run out…..

 

Trevor

[Neddy]

Superbly done!  You can almost smell that carpet...  🤢

[Arthur_Dent]

That carpeting makes me itchy just looking at it, it's in severe need of going over with a Rug Doctor or something similar. 

Excellent job 

[Pete in Lincs]

4 hours ago, Arthur_Dent said:

it's in severe need of going over with a Rug Doctor or something similar. 

I would suggest a surgical team and a transplant..

[Anteater]

6 hours ago, Arthur_Dent said:

That carpeting makes me itchy just looking at it, it's in severe need of going over with a Rug Doctor or something similar. 

 

 

By way of neat coincidence, we rented a Rug Doctor this very afternoon to stop our upstairs carpets degenerating into something like that in the camper van. For something so innocuous looking it doesn't half make a serious racket, plus there's the high stakes roulette of knowing exactly when to press the shampoo button. With everything else cancelled for Queen reasons, it's important to take your fun where you can find it. 

[Anteater]

A quick update, I have done a bit more but nothing photo-worthy. The gap in the back doors was bothering me so I glued a bit of braided string in there to act as a door seal.

 

 

 

 

I'll probably have a more engaging update in a few days, perhaps. 

[SprueMan]

I love the work here and the humour too!

Its terrible

 

The shaggy carpet, if I might suggest, should be a bit more worn and dirty though. Countless and unmentionable liquids would have found their way down onto it through the ages I can imagine.

[Anteater]

On 14/09/2022 at 20:56, SprueMan said:

Countless and unmentionable liquids would have found their way down onto it through the ages I can imagine.

 

Eww... 🤢

[Anteater]

The kitchen is complete. To answer MRS_ANTEATER's question about where the hob controls are, I reminded her it's basically a camping stove. The gas bottle and controls and accessed by folding down what appears to be the top drawer. She seemed satisfied with this answer. She used to carry a camping stove in the boot of her car in case of long traffic jams (this is true). 

 

You can't see it but there's a plug in the bottom of that sink, stops the water running away. 

 

 

 

Planning ahead, I've added a couple of cross bars at each end of the big hole in the roof. This is where the pop-up roof will locate. It makes sense in my head, I don't really do plans or measurements.

 

 

 

 

I've painted the headlining a sort of duck egg blue as it looked better than white and covered better too. It's not as if anyone will see it...

 

I would have done more tonight but All Creatures Great and Small was on. 

 

ANTEATER 

[JeroenS]

That's a lovely little kitchen cabinet. Nice and grimy.

[SprueMan]

17 hours ago, Anteater said:

 

Eww... 🤢

I speak of experience of many a festival

[Anteater]

Taking advantage of the long weekend, I've had a bit of a mini-spurt of activity.

 

Lots of work inside, firstly adding the internal door handles from the twin rear door kit. I glazed the doors the other night but forgot to mention. I've also added the lining panel I made for the nsr corner which will allow me to mount the cupboard upright. 

 

  

 

Now, I've never had to make curtains before. Some years ago, I had the foresight to salvage some material from old shirts which have now come in useful. This took ages, with a few failed prototypes along the way. The curtain rails were white but I decided they'd look better in Revell Africa Matt. When they ask me at work tomorrow what I got up to at the weekend, I'll have to come up with something other than "oh yes, I spent five hours trying to get tiny curtains to hang right". It might just be easier to resign in order to dodge the question. 

 

 

 

 

I've also glazed the side windows and used trimline to replicate the slider openers. The rearmost will be over the stove, hence the top vent. 

 

 

 

 

And finally, I spent a few evenings last week painting the front indicators and rear lamps. I think I need to buy some fresh Tamiya amber clear as I'm down the bottle and it's gone pretty watery. Nothing that 5 or 6 coats couldn't fix...

 

 

 

That's your lot for now.    

[JeroenS]

Nice work on those curtains, you could always start a new career.

[Neddy]

Picking up on a suggestion I've just seen in another thread, when you're adding finishing touches to the windscreen, don't forget to photocopy a beer mat and shrink it down to the size of a tax disc for true realism... 😁

[Pete in Lincs]

I just did a catch up, hence all the likes. It's fabulously grotty. Just as they used to be.

[Anteater]

9 hours ago, Neddy said:

Picking up on a suggestion I've just seen in another thread, when you're adding finishing touches to the windscreen, don't forget to photocopy a beer mat and shrink it down to the size of a tax disc for true realism... 😁

 

When the law changed and tax discs stopped being issued I happened to own a fabulously ratty old Ford Ranger pick up, covered in moss, tree sap and surface rust. I took the opportunity to put a ripped piece of old envelope in the redundant disc holder, stating "tax in post" written in green ink with my left hand. It amused me. 

[Anteater]

Thanks to a day off I've been at home spending my time wisely. I've also spent some time on the camper. 

 

The interior now boasts a bed. I debated how to build this as the bed would transform into a bench and vice versa, but I thought it would be more interesting in sleeping configuration. I could have built it "correctly" but I don't need any more self-created complication and any mechanism would be hidden under the duvet. The bed frame is plastic, the mattress and pillows are cardboard/paper, and the duvet is another old shirt. I must have been well stylish in the days when I frequented an actual office. 

 

 

 

 

 

Seat belts for the front. I've also added a fire extinguisher in case that stove gets out of hand. Safety first. 

 

 

 

 

One flaw with the kit is the lack of engine, or anything to stand behind the wide slat grille. Last time I built one of these I mocked up a radiator but this time I've used some mesh and flat sheet behind the slats, taped in place. The tape also backs-off the tin foil behind the headlamps. Must put a bit more Mark-Fix on that Ford badge. 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the rear door now has the resin door handle in place. I've also added a dealer sticker from a batch of various ones I made a while ago. C D Bramall were big in Yorkshire and the North-West in the 1980s and it's feasible the base van might have sold through them pre-conversion. The story MUST make sense otherwise people on the internet who I don't know in real life might think poorly of me. 

 

 

 

ANTEATER

[Neddy]

Brilliant!  I love the dealer sticker and the rust around the door hinges where they all went.  The only comment I would make (and strictly tongue-in-cheek!) is the amount of tread left on the spare tyre.  IRL that would have been worn down to the point where it was good for nothing but a fingers-crossed spare!  🙂

[SafetyDad]

Just found this - love it!

 

Truly horrid exterior colour, awful interior. Totally realistic!

 

 

SD

[bigbadbadge]

Great job on the interior looks fantastic.  The stance and exterior looks ace too.

Chris

[Anteater]

The weather has been awful today, which was a convenient excuse for staying in. 

 

The dashboard. The moulding is a bit simple and you need to make column stalks. There's no radio slot in the dash top and it'd be too tricky to cut one so I won't get into that.  I printed out some better instruments as the ones in the kit are white dials with needles that make no sense, like some bad 1990s tuning rubbish. Not appropriate. All but invisible once in the completed van of course. 

 

 

 

 

 

More living area litter. Somebody said the carpet should be more manky so I have added some carpet mank. HAPPY NOW?! 

 

The books are;

1. Haynes manual (My kind of literature, read many of these, mainly factual content with occasional fictional elements that I presume must be inserted as a long running "in-joke")

2. Jaws (Not read this but have seen the film. It's about a shark called Jaws)

3. A Clockwork Orange (Not got round to either)

4. Wuthering Heights (Might have read this in school but I prefer the audio adaption by Bush, K. 1978)

5. Road atlas of Great Britain (1996)

 

 

 

I've been putting off making the pop-top but seeing as it's been stormy out on these wily windy moors, I got on with it. Easier than expected, at least when making it to my semi-exacting standards. The guide bits sit on the supposed ally strips I topped and tailed the big hole with. There'll be more to come on the pop-top, not least slathering it in primer if the horizontal rain holds off a bit. Yet to be decided if I'll go weathered white or body coloured. 

 

 

 

 

 

Beer Time. 

[Hamden]

 

Stunning progress on this one with great attention to detail.

I think a well worn/weathered white top would look great as from memory I don't recall seeing these with body coloured tops only white(?).

 

   Stay safe           Roger

[Bengalensis]

1 hour ago, Anteater said:

Beer Time. 

Enjoy the beer, and the second one too, they're well deserved. I really like the twists in details. Great work!

[Neddy]

The more I see of this the more it's making me grin.  The carpets - both front and rear - are now thoroughly and appropriately manky.  I love the extra touches - the books and so forth - and the details are spot-on.  All you need is a driver and passenger dressed in kaftans, headbands, barefoot sandals and plenty of beads, man...  ☮️

[Pete in Lincs]

Weathered white, or even pale grey top for me please. 

Like the new carpet manky bits and reading material.