The Fordson 7V from Mesheau & Son, Sundborg (1/35)

My Fordson 7V is now ready to help build the Danish welfare society. As a tribute to Pete Mesheau in Canada (who inspired me to build this kit) I fitted the lorry with markings from the haulage company P. Mesheau & Søn (Mesheau & Son) from the thriving city of Sundborg (also a prominent station on a standard gauge railway in 1:87 scale). The Sundborg railway has a blog that constantly keeps one inspired and updated (or should that be backdated?) with info on railways, cars, buildings etc. from Denmark in the 1950's. See for yourself on Sundborg MJ.



Mesheau & Son's Fordson 7V backing into the shed at Nystrup with a load of new locomotive wheels. The wind screen wiper is a spare etched part from a Resicast fret.

The wheels offloaded, the lorry moves off again to pick up a load of gravel for the return trip. From papers in the Nystrup Gravel archive it appears that both Billard locos received new wheels in the mid fifties..

After the modifications to the original resin parts from Wespe Models were done in the last post, I was in for some scratch building. That is often easier than modifying kit parts or making warped parts more or less straight again. The cargo bed was made from 0,5 mm. grooved sheet from Evergreen glued back to back to have grooves on both sides. Metal strapping was added from plastic strip and left over etched brass from a Part set for the Eastern Express GAZ-AA lorry.

The lorry is here seen almost ready for primer and interior painting. Before priming the cab will be fitted with glas and closed up. The cargo bed in white plastic shows clearly against the yellow resin parts. A total of 64 home made or spare parts were added to the 21 parts I used from the kit.

The driver is a hodge podge of several parts from my spares box. Before painting he really looked like a product of the well known scientist Frankenstein. I tried to get him to fit in the narrow cab and still have a firm grip of the steering wheel. The grip could be firmer, I guess...

A driver is born: Legs from an old Italeri GMC-driver, torso from a Dragon Soviet tanker, while Tamiya supplied head and arms. I cut the feet off the figure to make it easier to adjust the steering wheel column and fit the cab. An advantage of modelling in 1:35 is the abundance of figures that can be adapted to fit almost any vehicle.

Alfred the driver painted. The cab interior is also painted and weathered. The cab can now be fitted. Notice the Resicast fire extinguisher within easy reach in case of an emergency. Safety first!

 I did the paintjob exclusively with Vallejo colours. The dark blue colour is 'Steel Blue' 71087 while the light blue is 'Mediterranean Blue' 71111. Mudguards and wheels are gloss black while the tires are black grey. The decals from 'Skilteskoven' went on fine. I airbrushed a layer of gloss varnish to give a good foundation for the decals. With decal solutions it is possible to have the decal film disappear completely, even on a tailgate with grooves. After the decals where down I gave the cab a layer of gloss varnish, while the cargo bed was given a layer of matt varnish. Unfortunately the tailgate varnishing didn't come out perfect, the layer becoming at bit too heavy, causing a 'fogging' effect. Except for the bottom of the cargo bed, I kept weathering very light.

Quality gravel from Nystrup being hauled to Sundborg by British lorry. The gravel is a removable insert for the load bed.

A fun project - not at least because I got to use a lot of little bits of plastic and spare parts.

The Google blog tool keeps track of many things and it tells me, that this was the 100th. blog post on Nystrup Gravel. I won't celebrate the occasion, but just notice that blogging has made me a much more productive modeller. I hope you enjoy seeing my modelling as much as I enjoy modelling.