Isn't spring coming soon? (1/35)

In Denmark where Nystrup Gravel is placed spring certainly hasn't arrived yet. Even though it is almost April and Easter is approaching there is still frost in the air and snow on the ground. In the old documents I have dug up from the archive of Nystrup Gravel it seems they also had trouble with the weather now and then. One year the managment gave in to complaints and bought stoves to heat up some of the buildings.

Cast iron stoves ready for installation. The all wooden flat wagon was used for all sorts of internal transports. The flat and its twin have been seen loaded with track panels, closets, stones, furniture, machinery and garbage.

My stoves are from Paulo Miniaturen. I bought my examples from Epokemodeller that carries a wide selection of Paulo products. One of the stoves is fitted in the loco shed where it provides a better work climate.

Jung ZL 114 (1/35)

In the fall I bought a resin kit of a Jung-loco from French manufacturer U-Models. I had hoped to fit a Bull Ant drive unit to the loco, but there wasn't room enough. Instead my Jung will run on a Black Beetle from Steam Era Models of Australia.

I have now begun to assemble the kit. The first step in the process was to make the BB fit in the rather narrow loco. After carving out room for the top of the BB I made a simple bracket from scraps of plasticcard. I'm glad that the bracket is hidden inside the loco, because it is one hideous piece of modelling! But the hodge-podge of plastic does its job and keeps the Black Beetle safely in place.

Current status of my Jung ZL 114. I still need to work a bit on the position of the rear axle boxes.

The kit comes with two different types of buffers. I chose to use none of them, although the castings are very nice. In daily use on Nystrup Gravel I suspect that my homebuilt buffers will be sturdier.

The two types of buffers provided in the kit. The lower type seems to have been quite rare - possibly a one-off? I think the buffer in the top photo will be too weak to work properly in normal service on any model railway. The resin being way too thin and brittle to stand the rigours of shunting skips.

The type of buffer I will fit to my Jung-loco. The cast metal buffer provides added weight to the loco.

The Jung model ZL 114 were built in approximately 800 examples between 1935 and 1960. Only few Jung-locos came to Denmark as Danish manufacturers had a firm grip of the market for small internal combustion locos.

Bedford O Tipper (1/35)

Along with many modellers I seem to buy models when they are available and not when I have time to build them. With my interest in a very narrow field of seldom modelled subjects it is an absolute necessity. The kits that suits my taste are mostly produced in very limited quantities or difficult to obtain. Sometimes the producers aren't in business for long. So I shop when I can and build later. This was also the case with my Bedford tipper. Bought three years ago the kit is only reaching my work bench now with the Opel finished (well almost, I noticed I hadn't fitted wipers at the windshield and I broke off the open door while taking pictures).


A preserved Bedford O tipper. See more restored Bedfords in this Flickr-album where I also found the blue tipper..

The Bedford O is a 1:35 resin and white metal kit from Roadcraft Models.The company is almost untraceable on the internet and probably best known for a 1:35 kit of a Series 1 Land Rover (that I unfortunately have never seen for sale). I have only seen Roadcraft Models advertised at Scale Link.

The kit is accompanied by some good instructions. An exploded view drawing shows what goes where while a small booklet with text explains how best to prepare, assemble and finish the model. This kit is obviously made by a modeller for modellers - and test built as well. The instructions are proof of that. Surely other short run producers could learn a thing or two (or 27) from Roadcraft Models!

Chassis building progressing. A little work on the tipper body has been done as well. I used two componet epoxy glue for the main parts. I like epoxy better than AC-glue when fixing large and heavy white metal parts together. The white metal chassis parts will result in a heavy model.

If you read Danish you can find a nice article on the Bedford O on the Sundborg-MJ blog.

Planning Ahead (1/35)

I have always been planning my modelling projects well in advance before starting to build. Some projects needs planning because parts must be aquired from the other side of the planet, some because I just need to find out what a particular valve did and if the axles were really placed asymmetrically under the locomotive, some simply because I like to individualize each model - even if otherwise built out of the box - and that takes planning.

My list for 2013 (a list for a year's 'production' usually takes well into the following year to finish) is long as ever and contains a pretty normal mix of locos, wagons, lorries, landscape with some electronics and lighting projects added.

A loco I plan to build. The 'preserved' upper part of a pre WWI Danish built single cylinder IC loco. 

The classic Bedford O will be seen near Nystrup Gravel in the shape of a 1:35 kit from Roadcraft Models.

On the list I also have a Jung ZL114, two Hudson bogie wagons with steel sides, a crawler tractor, more lights and welding flicker in the loco shed and Tamiya's Citroën TA.

I must be a rather determined modeller as almost every model I have had listed on a piece of paper or in an electronic file has reached a finished state - sooner or later. What I like to model isn't changing much either and that probably raises my productivity a bit too.

Finished Opel Kapitän (1/35)

Director Holm from Nystrup Gravel aquired a model 1939 Opel Kapitän just before the war broke out. Tight import restrictions made it impossible for him to get a new and fancy American car and he continued to use the Opel well into the 1950´s.

The director on visit at the loco shed. The weather is obviously warm as the rear door is left open for some fresh air.

I worried that the assembly of doors and roof would be very difficult, but the final assembly worked out fine. The warping of the roof was rather easily dealt with by taping it down while the glue set. A slight gap was taken care of with Humbrol plastic putty and sanding. The time spent on painting director Holm's yellow haired 20 year old daughter probably wasn't worth the trouble, as not much of her can be seen through the door.

The 1:35 Kapitän with the roof taped down while the glue dried.

After priming with 'Chaos Black' I painted the car with Vallejo's 71036 mahogany from the 'Model Air' range. It is prethinned and works great from the container straigt into the air brush - no fuss! I did the chrome lining and bumpers etc. with Vallejo 'chrome'. A steady hand and good eye sight is an advantage. The kit's decals weren't good. They all disintegrated when they came in contact with water. Not quite what you would expect from decals! I managed to save the dials for the dashboard, though. The license plates are from 'Skilteskoven' my usual supplier of special decals.

Even though the car turned out better than expected I think it will last some time before I set out to build another ICM kit. Even if ICM do some pretty interesting subjects, their kit design with many subassemblies and a lot of tiny parts makes building quite time consuming and painting difficult. Fortunately I have a Tamiya Citroën TA waiting to be built. Probably with only half the number of parts!

Previous posts on the building of the car can be found here:
Progress on the Opel Kapitän
Director Holm's Opel Kapitän