Flat wagon for the speeder (1/35)

As the speeder isn't capable of carrying much besides a crew, I have hurried to put together a flat wagon to carry tools etc. It is the frame of a Scale Link skip fitted with floor and ends from plastic card. The floor was made to look like it was covered with steel sheet - one half with tread plate pattern.


The speeder shunting in front of the shed. Preparations for work on the line, it seems.

The little wagon is painted in different colours and weathered to appear well used. When painting one of the floor panels I used a Vallejo paint called 'flat earth'. I thought that the idea of a flat earth disappeared centuries ago! In my paint drawer I also found another paint with the amusing name 'skin' - a sort of light pink. It may fit the skin colour of most native scandinavians, but for at least two thirds of this planet's population the colour will bear no resemblance to the colour they see in the mirror (if they've got one). So much for paint names - I'll carry on with the small flat wagon!



Half an hour later the flat wagon is loaded with warning signs. Two workers wait for a colleague to fetch some shovels before driving off to the work site.

The small flat wagon is loaded with some freshly painted warning signs to be reerected along the line after repair and repainting at the loco shed. The signs are etched and available from Freja Modeltog - a small Danish manufacturer. I fitted most of the signs to a length of used rail by soldering and a few to a wooden post with two part epoxy. The hardest part was painting the signs and getting red paint only on the raised lettering. I still don't have any road crossings to erect the signs at, but I like to be well prepared!

Speeder Finished (1/35)

The speeder is finished. There may still be a small detail to add, but I now move on to other projects. The speeder is painted in acrylics from Vallejo and weathered with oil paint and home made chalk powder. I still haven't bought any of the newer colour pigments, even though several of them have received positive comments in reviews. Call me old fashioned... The numbering is made to look like two enamel signs normally used for numbering houses. Very appropriate I think, as the vehicle looks like a shed.

The speeder parked at a tree line. The paint repairs around the rebuilt radiator can just be made out. The speeder was originally fitted with a motor cycle engine. After the engine refit a larger radiator was needed. It also meant that part of the door was cut away.

Spare rails. Perhaps the crew is looking for a length of rail for urgent repairs of the line?

When I have looked at prototype wagons and skips with wooden frames there seems to be no end to the number of iron fittings. I have tried to recreate that look on my 1:35 speeder. Most fittings are made from plastic card and glued with two-component glue. Rivets and bolts are made from my little rivet punch and glued in place with AC glue.

The roof is dressed in my favourite tarpaper material, micro pore tape. It's a tape from the health industry made to position and fix bandages and still allow the skin to breathe. When painted it retains a slightly rough surface which resembles tarpaper. The tape is self adhesive, so it's easy to attach. The tape doesn't seem to loose its grip over time. I have had tape on a roof now for more than five years without any 'slipping'.

The previous post on the speeder covered the electrical parts. Earlier posts can be found here:
Drawing and the first plastic cut
Parts cut out and ready for assembly

For those who care, even more images of the speeder's construction can be found in the Flickr work bench-folder.