What! A Lorry Again?! (1/35)

Well, one could be tempted to think that this blog is slowly changing its primary subject. I can however, assure you that I am not becoming a lorry modeller. Several nice narrow gauge models for Nystrup Gravel are in different stages of construction. Both at my own work bench and abroad.

Inspired by Pete Mesheau from Canada I have begun construction of a Wespe Models' kit of the utterly British looking Fordson 7V. You can see Pete's Fordson in this post - just scroll down, but remember to enjoy the images of his speeder. The Wespe kit is in resin and not one of the best resin kits I have built. I had to replace several parts with parts from my spares box. Removing flash and preparing the parts for assembly took some time as well. But if you fancy a 7V in 1:35 this is the only kit there is, and the main cab part is actually very good.

The very basic instructions for the 7V kit. The parts count is low, so one could probably do without.

The Wespe kit depicts a truck made to tow a semi trailer, so to build a lorry with a standard drop down side cargo bed I had to make some modifications to the chassis. And build a cargo bed from scratch, of course. First I removed the brackets for the semi trailer coupling and made the chassis ready for the new cargo bed. I also had to remove some strange raised areas on the cab front. I think they are meant for markings on the military lorry, but as I'm building a civlian version they are not needed on my model. Info and drawing on a Fordson 7V can be found in issue 92 of the excellent magazine with the long name - Narrow Gauge and Industrial Railway Modelling Review.

The chassis has received the first modifications while the cab still needs the peculiar raised areas sanded down.

Aligning wheels and drive train took some effort, as there are no clear location points. But with some trial and error I managed to get a chassis that keep all four wheels on the ground. I used Araldite to glue the wheels in place, as the slow curing glue leaves plenty of time for adjusting fit and alignment. An exhaust pipe was added from brass pipe. The kit contains two fuel tanks. I fitted only one, as none of the photos I could locate show more than one tank. As the cab is almost devoid of any interior detail, I added gear lever, hand brake and fire extinguisher from Resicast parts. I am also in the process of building a driver.



Chassis on four wheels ready for a scratch built cargo bed. The major sanding jobs on the cab are done and only minor adjustments to obtain a good fit to the chassis remain The small pencil marks shows me where I still need to sand a little.

Do you still need inspiration for your own building of the Wespe kit the image below should provide all you need. It is from a series of great paintings done by Mike Jeffries. You can see more of his paintings on his website called Transport Artist.

An image that almost makes me feel sorry I wasn't born earlier. This 7V is fitted with a tipping body. The painting shows many of my interests: A long coal train in the background, an excavator and a nice British lorry. Many thanks to Mike Jeffries for letting me show his great work on my blog.



New Skips for Nystrup Gravel (1/35)

Just as 2013 drew to a close the Hesketh and Snoodyk series of skip kits in 1:35 scale were released. I have not yet seen any of the kits built, but hope that Nystrup Gravel will soon take delivery of a number of them. From the images available online the skips looks very promising. With my little railway being a gravel line it relies heavily on skips. So far the skips have been Scale Link skips rebuilt in various degrees and a batch of Slaters Plastikard Hudson skips. From drawings and images the Hesketh and Snoodyk skips will likely be a good representation of the type of skips that has been the dominant type of steel skip on Danish narrow gauge industrial railways.



Painted and weathered skips of both braked and unbraked type. Photo: Hesketh Scale Models.

More info on the skips and prices can be found on the website of Hesketh Scale Models.

Nystrup Gravel's batch of skips will be delivered through the well known Danish dealer of skips, locomotives, rail and spare parts, V. Spøer from the town of Middelfart (and no, the city's name has nothing to do with gas...).

Aerial view of V. Spøer's premises in Middelfart, probably during the 1950's. A few skips can be seen in the centre of the photo, while track panels and rails are stocked on the area to the far right. Cropped part of a Sylvest Jensen photograph (NKS 04382) now residing in the collections of the Royal Danish Library.

I worked a lot with skips in 2012 and below are a few links to earlier blog posts on those activities:
Filling Scale Link skips with gravel
Two skips with brakes
New British skips for Nystrup Gravel

Danish Army Bedford QL (1/35)

During the Christmas holidays I started building a IBG-kit in 1:35 of a Bedford QL-lorry. The build progressed well despite some rather confusing instructions. I had great help from a build log on the military modelling website of Track-Link. The lorry is now finished and has already been out on a few missions around Nystrup - mostly driver training.

The Bedford QL during a pause around Nystrup. The tilt is supplied with the kit and must be one of the best out of the box-tilts made so far. Weathering has been kept to a minimum. The Cold War is on and conscripts are plentiful and the sergeants have to keep them busy - washing down vehicles is an obvious task. But where is the driver on this lorry?. 

I built the kit out of the box. Having had plans for a Bedford QL for many years I had a Resicast conversion for the open cab'ed Italeri Bedford Portee. From the Resicast set I used the seats as they had more detail than the kit's. I also used the Resicast resin wheels as a load to make sure the cargo bed didn't appear completely empty. The tires also hide the fact that the interior of the load area is devoid of any detail. I fitted a little of the missing detail with plastic strips and also added some bolt heads to the most visible part of the interior. The tires were secured to the cargo bed with some wooden balks and rope.


Cargo bed with Resicast wheels. The frame has been primed. In the cab the Resicast seats can be seen.

Cargo bed and tilt painted and ready to be glued together. Notice how the areas farthest away from the rear end of the cargo bed have been left in black primer. In that way the depth of the cargo hold is enhanced. The tires have only been hurriedly weathered.

A view of the cab interior. Not much of this can be seen, so detailing is kept to a minimum. The windows are covered with masking tape.

My QL ready for primer and paint. Fuel tank is from my old Resicast conversion set as is the turning indicator in etched brass on the cab. The yellow resin to the left is parts from the Wespe Models' Fordson 7V semi trailer truck.

The lorry is still missing Danish army license plates. I have sent a message to my usual supplier 'Skilteskoven' (Forest of Signs), and hope they can help. It may seem odd that Danish army license plates were red with a prominent yellow coat of arms (at least from a camouflage point of view) but I'm sure it will add a nice element of colour to the otherwise rather drab military vehicle.

Well, the driver wasn't far away. Here he poses in front of his lorry before he has to make his way back to the camp.

More From the Archives

I am currently in the midst of several modelling projects that seems to drag me into more work than I had anticipated. While that isn't too bad, as I'm sure they will end up being nice models, it can also be somewhat frustrating not finishing anything for some time. I suppose most of you fellow modellers know the feeling?

Fortunately the old Soennecken binder from Nystrup Gravel is able to supply a little content to the blog while you wait for progress from my work bench. This time I publish an image that I'm convinced isn't from Nystrup Gravel. As far as I know Nystrup never owned a loco like the one in the photo and the skips also look a little too large to fit the types used at Nystrup.



Train of skips on an unknown location in Denmark. The loco was built by the Danish company Kastrup Maskinfabrik. The company's logo can be seen on the radiator screening, while the plate with the works number has obviously been stolen, as it normally had its place above the screening. That the loco is missing any lights could indicate that the image is from Nystrup, as very few of Nystrup's locos were fitted with lights. But all known Nystrup locos were numbered, which points to another location. The size of rail (although difficult to see clearly) also suggest that the photo wasn't taken at Nystrup Gravel. Photo: Achive Nystrup Gravel.

One possible source of the image could be from a series of trips the shop manager of Nystrup, Mr. Thorleif Petersen, made to other gravel industries on the Danish island of Sealand. From a few letters in the binder it seems Mr. Petersen had an interest in locomotives and machines that went far beyond what was needed for his job at Nystrup.