Cars, a motorbike, and preparing Loctern Quay

In the run up to the Uckfield show I thought Hexworthy could do with a few more road vehicles in the car park, I've struggled to find "ordinary" modern or recent vehicles, but I did have a couple of (original) Minis from Oxford Diecast, a relatively timeless model. I'd also been given an RAC motorcycle and sidecar, wrong era for Hexworthy but will look at home at Loctern Quay. 

As with any commercial model they looked far too shiny and clean, too artificial, so the first task was to disassemble the cars. Sadly, these models are riveted rather than screwed together, but I've drilled out the rivets of many of my son's HotWheels so he could modify them...

The paintwork was given a very light rub back with a fibreglass pencil - just to take the edge off the shine. I sprayed the Mini bodies with Testors Dullcote, but for some reason this went a little cloudy (maybe it was too thick, or the air too damp?) - looking like faded paint on the red car, but not so good on the green one. I did another light rub back and brush painted Vallejo acrylic matt varnish which seemed to reduce the cloudiness. 

Next the tyres and window reveals were given a coat of matt off-black enamel. The motorcycle saddle and panniers and parts of the car interiors got some matt dark grey to take away the one-colour look, and metallic silver dry-brushed over the brake levers, exhaust, and other parts of the bike. Finally, an acrylic brown wash was applied, worked into panel lines, and dabbed off with damp kitchen roll. 

The vehicles were reassembled with a little glue to hold them together, and a blob of gloss modge podge on the headlights. They look much more natural now - not dirty or rusty, but not quite clean and less shiny. I do have to be careful how I "park" them though, as the windows reflect the lighting too well!

The RAC motorbike and sidecar also look much more natural, being much less shiny and mono-colour.

Loctern Quay has an exhibition coming up, so has had some prep, such as vacuuming and brushing off any dust. I'd given the harbour water a coat of magic water when I did the river on Hexworthy, and the three new wagons have had cards made up for the shunting puzzle. All locos have been tested, as have couplings on all the wagons, of course what works in testing may not work in the exhibition!

So all is ready for the exhibition this weekend at Tolworth, my third show in four weekends! It looks like being a good show, if you visit do say hello. 

Road tanker

The Meridian kit for the round tanker wagon using a Bagnall chassis is based on an example at Snailbeach which had been built using a tank from a road lorry. I recently saw this early road tanker, at an event at Goodwood, which is probably of a similar era. I figured some detail photos might be useful.

The tank is oval rather than round, probably to reduce the centre of gravity, and of course is branded Shell Mex BP (I guess petrol) rather than Royal Sunlight (paraffin). However, it looks to be a similar size to that used at Snailbeach. 

I can't quite work out if the hand-pump on the rear is connected into the tank, or what it was used for.

This tank also has three openings on the top, but equally spaced. The photo isn't very clear but the openings have a metal plate over them with a couple of pipe fittings, presumably for a filling pipe and I guess a vent to be connected during loading. There are also three levers protruding from little shrouds, but these aren't all on the metal plated openings.

However, the levers are aligned to the three outlet pipes at the bottom of the tank. These protrude from the left side and look like they have a tap on the end, although I think it is a pipe connection and valve assembly. My guess is that each lever at the top opens a valve in the bottom of the tank to discharge via the aligned outlet. The tank will be divided into three sections internally, which both prevents surging of the liquid and enables up to three separate deliveries (or three separate products) - modern tanker trucks have this arrangement too. Therefore, there are three separate filling connections and three separate outlets, plus some hoses to connect the outlets to the receiving tank. I'd expect both filling and emptying are by gravity, but perhaps that pump handle on the end is used to dispense?

A close-up of the discharge outlets. The pipes can be seen connecting them to the underside of the tank. The photo of the wagon at Snailbeach suggests that had three outlet connections at the end (rear) of the tank, rather than the side like this. 

Car unwash

I've acquired a couple of road vehicles for Hexworthy, a ubiquitous Transit van and a Land Rover Defender. Both are nicely detailed models by Oxford Diecast, with interiors, UK number plates, and rubber tyres, but they are rather too shiny and clean...

So I disassembled them, which is easy as they are simply screwed together (I've drilled out many rivets under toy Hotwheels cars for my Son to customise!). Removing the wheels, glazing, and interior allows weathering as follows:

• Rubbed down the paintwork with very fine emery and a fibreglass pencil to tone down the shine
• Cut off the mounting screw mounts under the Land Rover, as its high ground clearance made them visible
• The Transit van got dry-brushed rust (enamel) paint around the wheel arches, sills, gutter, and some panel edges - not too much, just a hint suggesting a long life
• Plastic bumpers were painted, almost black on the Land Rover and dark grey on the Transit van
• Window recesses were touched in with black paint where not already painted black
• A dark brown wash was applied and partially rubbed off, filling panel gaps and toning down the paint slightly. A black wash was applied to the wheels. I've started using Vallejo washes, they're convenient and work well
• A muddy brown was then airbrushed along the sills and around the wheel-arches, and up the rear of the vehicles from below, plus a little on the tyres
• Finally, the bodies got a spray of Testors Dullcote (with headlights masked) before being re-assembled

The Transit van is on 1989 plates so I gave it heavier weathering with touches of rust showing through, and faded bumpers (the black plastics of vehicles of that era seemed to fade to grey very quickly). I also painted the interior a darker shade of mid-grey as it seemed a bit pale. It is lacking wing mirrors which I may have a go at making, but they would be rather delicate. 

The Land Rover is on 2012 plates so much newer, consequently I was much lighter on the weathering. There is still a light wash to bring out the panel gap shadows and mud behind the wheel-arches as befits a vehicle that is presumably used on country lanes a lot. The black wash on the wheels has filled the "blind" holes in the alloys, improving their looks.

I'm very pleased with the results, they've lost the deep glossy finish and look more realistic, with signs of real-world use and different ageing.